In 2006 THE NEVERMORES rose from the ashes of two previous St. Louis bands, Thee Lordly Serpents and Tomorrow’s Caveman. The band consists of lead vocalist/guitarist John Ebert (Everywhere, Thee Lordly Serpents), bassist Steve Marquis (The Geargrinders, Tomorrow’s Caveman, Electric Triceratops), drummer Roger Ward (Vulgar and the Woodcutter, The Tommyknockers, Thee Lordly Serpents, The Fuzztones) and lead guitarist Jason Sanders.

Operating under the influence of a style of music that was never very popular, even in its venerable heyday, THE NEVERMORES have remained under the radar of much of the local music scene’s aficionados (wankers). They have, however, made great impressions on real garage nuts. They’ve been featured on three installments of Lo-Fi Saint Louis, headlined the annual Hunnert Car Pileup outside of Chicago in 2008, Greaserama in Kansas City in September 2009, and were asked by authentic ’60s garage punkers Gonn to open for them, not once but twice last year. Generally appearing in dank subterranean clubs or dirty back-room dives, THE NEVERMORES crank out an ear-piercing, twin-guitar, frantic sonic assault, with grimy, throbbing, fuzz-drenched bass and a savage, pagan drum beat that’s appealing to stoic head bobbers and uninhibited butt-shakers alike.

Recorded in a drafty, dilapidated warehouse and mixed in the embalming room of a former mortuary, THE NEVERMORES’ debut album, Nevereverafter, practically oozes with a slimy mixture of overt Edgar Allan Poe references and fuzzy garage scuzz befitting their lo-fi mindset and obsession with Roger Corman’s classic B-movie retellings of Poe tales. With songs such as “I Lost Lenore,” “Tell-Tale Heart” and “Annabelle Lee,” you can almost hear the screeching and groaning from Ligeia’s tomb in the background. Although their music is technically “garage rock,” it’s somehow got a much bigger sound. The boys like to refer to it as “warehouse rock.”

Garage rock lives—and even flourishes—in the scene that these four Poe-quoting degenerates have unashamedly set on the release of this LP. From the sucker-punch of “Hideous Eye” to the swimming-pool percussion of “What Don’t You Know?,” all of the bases that have already been covered are covered here once more, but possibly Nevereverafter. Click here to buy or download a copy for yourself.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

Once inside a rock club dreary, while I sat stupefied and beery, before many a dull and tedious song by some forgotten bore. While I nodded, nearly snoring, suddenly there came a roaring, tremendous chords that sent me soaring, so I asked the guy working the door: ‘Who are these garage-rocking giants that compel me to get out on the floor?’ Quoth the door guy: ‘The Nevermores.

-Jason Toon (Riverfront Times)

POINTS OF INTEREST:

• Played both the Show-Me Blowout and Hunnert Car Pileup festivals in ’07 & ’08
• Played the Greaserama car show/music fest in Kansas City, 2009
• Nominated for “Best Garage Band” in the St. Louis Riverfront Times, 2008
• Opened for classic ’60s garage band GONN in St. Louis twice in 2008
• Featured on three episodes of the Lo-Fi Saint Louis video podcast
• Drummer Roger Ward toured Europe twice with the Fuzztones, in 2005 & 2006