Neverest: In it for the Long Haul

Neverest talks about the future, their first national tour, and their latest EP, About Us.

Signed to 3 Street Management, which is run by former pop music stars CJ Huyer (3 Deep) and Howie Dorough (Backstreet Boys), Toronto pop-rock band Neverest has just released its latest EP, About Us.


Days before the boys set out on their first national tour, Youthink caught up with Neverest’s frontman Spee Chalkiotis over the phone to talk about the band’s new EP, the future and what it was like to perform for Howie Dorough.


YT: You and your bandmates come from a variety of musical backgrounds. Do you feel that helps Neverest stand out from other bands?

SC: Absolutely. For example, we listen to rock, we listen to funk, we listen to jazz, classical, we listen to pretty much everything! And I think as a musician, the more you listen to, it can only make you better, and you begin to fuse different genres, and then you start getting into some creative stuff. That’s where the really good stuff lies.


YT: So your band had to do an a cappella performance for Howie Dorough after a show. How nervous were you when you performed for him?
SC: Oh, man! I was getting judged by Howie as a performer, as a person and as a potential client, like as someone who he’s looking to manage. So we were being judged on so many multiple levels that it wasn’t just like playing for someone you don’t know... that’s a whole different type of nervous.


YT: What would you like your fans to say after listening to the EP?

SC: For me, as a musician, when I put a CD in, I don’t want to skip a track, you know? I like it when I can let the CD play and be like, “I love every single song.” That’s kind of what I want to achieve with this EP and with future albums. We’re all perfectionists and we want to get this thing done right. That would be the biggest compliment to me if someone could say, “I love every single song.”


YT: Are you surprised at how fast things are moving with Neverest?

SC: Very much so, to be honest. We haven’t released anything in the States and we have fans from California, fans from Venezuela, this is like international, and we’re connecting with them because of the Internet, because of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter. It’s unbelievable the amount of people that you can reach with your music, and it’s so special.


YT: Besides your tour, what can fans expect from Neverest in 2011?

SC A lot more music, a lot more videos, a lot more connection, a lot more interaction, a lot more shows. I don’t think we’re going anywhere anytime soon. That’s not what we want. We’re not striving to be one-hit wonders; we’re in this for the long haul. So expect to see us for a very long time.