two friends grew up going to shows in a town, now the poster child for defeated americana known as flint michigan. it was the late eighties and everyone was looking for anything to distract them from things crumbling to the ground. at the time and almost ever since flint had one of the highest violent crime rates per capita and astronomical unemployment rates. skateboarding, shows and hardcore music were what kept these two kids out of "real trouble". almost two decades later the two friends ended up in washington dc purely by chance. after a short discussion about the band they never did right ....and realizing both of them were still straight edge now well into their 30's .....the decision was made to put out the record that they meant to put out when they were kids. they called on some friends, wrote seven songs and met up at inner ear studios in arlington virginia to lay down basic tracks about a week later. having never practiced as a full band, tracking still managed to get finished from load in to load out in under five hours. credit for this seeming impossible acheivement is given to the other capable musicians and engineer that took the reigns that day. andrew black (the explosion, good clean fun and georgie james) on drums. aaron freidman (torn apart) played the guitar and wrote the lions share of the music. nick anderson played the other guitar and manned the controls.now the hard part: vocalsafter sitting on the project for a little while chad koeplinger stayed after work and cut his vocal tracks at the tattoo paradise shop in wheaton maryland. shawn brown (dag nasty, swiz, sweetbelly freakdown and jesus eater) helped out on the song titled last dream. which nick later captured a guitar solo from shelby cinca (frodus, frantic mantis, the cassettes) for. next a flight to detroit to the white room studios where john smerek recorded john brannon (negative approach, laughing hyenas and easy action) for the track "check". flight back to dc and a car ride to richmond to catch up with martijn (no turning back) from the netherlands to trade lines with chad on "lone wolf". then we did it......we braved the dreaded warp tour and grabbed a vocal from frank carter (gallows) in just about five minutes from the first time he ever heard the song. jason hamacher (frodus, battery, combat) and skinny ben (barfight) joined george dilla at tattoo paradise in dc to add to the backing vocal tracks. then in the eleventh hour tony sylvester went down on his lunch break to southern studios in london and had harvey birrell track two versions of his vocals for "pulled through". one long day of mixing and mastering at silver sonya studios and the project was in the bag.steve conley, who illustrated the new star trek comic based on the original television series did the art for the cover and shelby cinca made sense of it all. the Better Never ....ever "7 was made available through wyatt earp records (www.wyattearprecords.com). if you can find one please enjoy the fruits of our labor and a dream fulfilled. here is to friendships that last a lifetime.check also the page at www.trig.com/betternever.
