NeverTree

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Climbing Up The Nevertree
FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS TO GREENER PASTURES
By Ian Joulain 944 Magazine
In a noisy, dimly lit bar, the guys in Nevertree begin to set up their equipment. Tony McIntosh, rhythm guitarist and backup singer, stares out at the crowd with his hand above his eyes, shielding himself from the bright lights above him. The hat he is wearing looks like the kind that you would see paired with an old man in plaid pants that were pulled too high.
Trevor McIntosh, Tony’s little brother and bass player, stands across the stage alternating between tuning his bass and drinking a beer. He chews his gum in anticipation of the night’s set. As they sit there on stage fiddling around with their instruments, they look as if they are preparing to play for an empty room. Their comfort level and carefree attitude is a refreshing site to see.
For a band that has been together for only 20 months, they have made giant strides from where they started. “Our first show was at the Studio Suite in LA, and we played for beer that they served to us in little Styrofoam cups,” says Jeff Niebaum, vocalist and lead guitarist.
Trevor adds, “We had to go back for like 30 refills because the cups were so damned small. We didn’t care, though. We were just happy to be playing anywhere.” At that point the band was in its infancy, still finding themselves musically. This show sparked the need to refine their sound.
The birth of the band can be traced to the back of Niebaum’s truck. Niebaum and Tony would go to parties and play guitar and as the night went on, people wandered up to the truck and listened to Niebaum’s soulful voice coupled with his and Tony’s guitar playing. From those jam sessions, the ideas of moving from the back of the truck to a stage began to brew. “I was still not comfortable with playing in front of others, but for some reason it just clicked and I knew this was something I wanted to do,” says Tony.
With the band still incomplete, Tony suggested that maybe he should bring in his brother to play with them. Though Trevor was not a bass player, he did own one, which made him perfect in Tony and Niebaum’s eyes. A guitar player by trade, Trevor went up to play with his future bandmates and with the pluck of one string Niebaum delegated him their bass player.
The three were settled in and set out to find a drummer to complete their lineup. After a carousel of would-be drummers, Nevertree settled on 19-year-old Drew Fenton. “To come across this kid was just God sent,” says Niebaum. Fenton, who is the youngest in the band by seven years, met the guys through various McIntosh family functions. He was friends with Tony and Trevor’s youngest brother and knew that they were in need of a drummer. A big fan of the band Thrice, Fenton adopted a rough, hard-playing style. His chaotic drum playing blended perfectly with the acoustic rock-soul sound that Niebaum, Tony and Trevor had been crafting.
“It funny to think how everything came together,” says Niebaum. The word fate gets thrown around cheaply, but for Nevertree, they swear it’s the case. Each individual in the group has a mutual respect for music and with that, the group plays off one another and the music just seems to happen.
While the band does the writing process collectively, Niebaum came in with a few songs he composed on his own. He recalls spending hours on end at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at Sunset and Fairfax just writing away. “I swear, I looked like that typical Hollywood asshole jerk, who goes out in public and puts their creativity on display,” says Niebaum. It didn’t matter what people thought, though; Niebaum knew that eventually his words and music would be heard.
Nevertree recorded an EP entitled No Taking Back some months ago, but have since grown tighter and are anxious to record a follow-up full-length release. The band has about 18 songs, but they will be quick to remind you that they are always working on new things. “We have about four more songs in the works and we hope to have them cleaned up before we go to Nova Scotia,” Tony says.
As for touring, Nevertree will perform the Nova Scotia shows from May 24 to 26. They worked out a deal and will have their stay sponsored by Red Bull and Molson. They are going to be playing at Bubbles Mansion, a bar owned by Mike Smith, a cast member on the immensely popular Canadian TV show, Trailer Park Boys. The band also has plans do some radio interviews and other media activities during their brief stay in Halifax. Niebaum had the idea about bringing their music to different places and his relationship with Smith put this idea into motion.
Recording plans and Canadian venues aside, Nevertree has set its sights on having fun and making some good music in the process. Nowadays with wannabe rockstar primadonnas at seemingly every turn, Nevertree’s collective identity strays far from that debilitating persona. Niebaum insists that while he may be standing in front of the band when playing, he is by no means the frontman. “We are just a band,” Niebaum says. “We share everything and we do have a mutual respect for one another. There is no front man, there is just us.”
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