Here’s Never Hill giving us an insight to the band and their upcoming EP release Epilogue.
Can you introduce yourself and tell me a bit about the band?
Hey we are Never Hill, a five piece from Nuneaton/Coventry area in the Midlands. We have been going for over a year now under our new name and with our new members. We consist of Adam (frontman), Dan (guitar), Jacob (guitar and vocals), Jake (bass and vocals) and Pete (drums). We would consider ourselves straight up rock with some other elements, and similar sounding to bands like Deaf Havana, Lower Than Atlantis and The Dangerous Summer, that kind of vibe.
How did the band get started?
The band originally formed with myself (Dan) and Adam (frontman) who decided we really wanted to write some pop rock kind of tunes. I had originally played in a hardcore band but always grew up listening to pop punk music, Adam then joined the hardcore band just before we split and then yeah, we formed what used to be The Oceans Above and is now Never Hill.
Where do you draw influences from?
We all listen to pretty varied stuff but have a definite pop rock influence. We liken ourselves to bands like Deaf Havana, Lower Than Atlantis, You Me At Six and The Dangerous Summer. Lyrically, we write about life; Adam focuses on his own personal issues and I think people really relate to it when the message is obvious in a song.
Do you have any role models in the industry?
I personally think that anyone in the industry doing well for themselves is a role model. I have learnt being in a band for over 10 years now that it is such a saturated industry and very hard to get to the level where you can make a living off of it. So kudos to anyone doing well basically.
What has been your best experience in the industry?
I would have to say our hometown shows. Every time we play there it gets better and better and the local fan base is so kind to us. Another great experience is recording. I love being in a studio and hearing the songs come together piece by piece. We have been recording our Epilogue EP with Ben Sansom from Lower Than Atlantis, so it’s been great to meet him too – he’s a legend!
What is the most difficult thing about the industry?
Hmmm… I would have to say certain groups of people in the industry and dealing with certain types of promoters – as controversial as that sounds. People who aren’t in bands I don’t think realise the struggle of trying to get fans to shows. When a promoter asks you to bring X amount of people to a show or they’ll be disappointed in you is a lot of pressure. You can’t ever force people to a show and then if you can’t get the people to shows, then you don’t get the gigs and it becomes a horrible cycle. Some promoters are fantastic and really helpful and understand completely what the industry is like; but some just don’t seem to get it and just care about money, and most of the time us bands end up paying to play shows.
There is also a lot of people out there taking money and preying off of naive bands. We were unfortunate to have a lot of money taken from us for nothing in return. It hurt us in the early days as a band and so we find it hard to trust anyone offering us deals.
You’re currently getting ready to release your new EP Epilogue – can you describe your writing and recording process for it?
Epilogue has been written over time. All of the tunes had been written, played live, changed, played again, and changed to a point where we were happy. Then we went into the studio and we re-wrote it again. We recorded at Titan studios in Watford with Ben Sansom from LTA so the recording was a blast. He has some insane skills and produced us really well and is in a similar styled band that has made it in the industry, so we just latch off of everything he says and whatever wisdom he can pass down. The songs mean a lot to us personally, and a lot of the tunes are about Adam’s life, but there is also one about myself and all of us boys can relate to them all. They are easy to relate to because we don’t go over the top with metaphors. Over all I would say it’s been a long process but we have learnt a lot from it.
Which song on it are you most proud of?
I love Fire which is our lead single. We released a music video for it a few months back and it has all the elements of a cool tune. It starts off real raw with just Adam on an acoustic sounding like he’s in the room with you, then the drums hit and boom you’re into the tune and it starts driving away. Catchy, bouncy and fun but with a cool message in it.
Were there any songs that were more of a challenge to perfect?
Starting Line is probably one of them. It’s actually a real old tune for us and we have re-written it a couple of times, so that took a while to get it sounding the way we wanted it to. It sounds nothing like the original now!
And finally what are your plans for 2016?
Our plans are to tour and build our fan base. We have a tour in January so that should be good and a couple in the pipeline. The most important thing for us though is our fans, so building new fans and also keeping our current fans happy with new material. I’m sure you’ll be hearing some new music in 2016 too! We would also love to play some more festivals, they’re always fun.
