Artist Spotlight - Rick Lemperes from NeverAnother

NEVERANOTHER is a hard rock band from Vancouver, BC in Canada, and they have been around since 2010 when lead singer and founding member, Rick Lemperes,

In this interview I talk with Rick from NEVERANOTHER about the journey of the band so far, where they want to take it, and how they craft their music.

Check out the full interview and give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed the conversation!

Quick Band Bio:

Band Name: NEVERANOTHER
Website:
Location: Vancouver, BC
Members:
Rick Lemperes - Guitars & Vocals
Sean Lang - Guitars & BG Vocals
Stuart Hall - Bass & BG Vocals
Todd Wold - Drums & BG Vocals
Founded in 2011

NEVERANOTHER on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NeverAnother.Band/

Check out their music on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3OtuAkaMUlGGWTGj4vnhRx

NEVERANOTHER on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrJ5VTu8fQ93kqKrirz-ppg 

Isaac Kuhlman 0:05
Hey, everybody, it's Isaac from poweredbyrock.com here. I'm sitting here with Rick Lemperes from NeverAnother, which is a Vancouver hard rock band. I think I call it a hard rock band. I don't know if that you described as that, Rick, but we'll kind of get into it a little bit more. You guys have been making pretty rocking music for about 10 years now, since 2010, when you started the band, and I'm going to just ask, you know, what's the journey been like creating this band because you were in other bands, obviously, before and I assume that you've been a hard rock and metal fan for a decent amount of time. And you guys are sounds pretty cool. So kind of give you the journey of what that's been like over the last 10 years and what happened to kind of make this thing come to life.

Rick Lemperes 0:47
All right. Well, I just figured it's time to start a band again, back in about 2010. I've been going through the music scene since about 1982.

Isaac Kuhlman 1:01
Okay. It's me feel young because I'm I was born in 1981. And I'm 40. So I'm like, that's a long time. Rick. It's a long time.

Rick Lemperes 1:13
Let me just calm the dinosaur down there. Anyway, yeah, though. It's been a great ride. Really, we started out we kind of threw something together just a five song EP, just to get something out and into the ears of certain people. It went really well for something being slapped so, so quickly, and we just kept on going. I've been through a couple different bandmates teammates, changes and such. Yes, exactly. Yeah. And the crew I have right now though. We're a four man. We're all born in 67. So it's kind of cool. Kind of a bunch of old guys doing what we still love. Yeah. But yeah, we're pretty heavy. Heavy rock.

Isaac Kuhlman 1:58
Yeah. Yeah, I've listened to some of the music. I mean, it's kind of, I mean, it's in the same vein as like a Metallica. But it's got elements have like other things like, like a little bit of Tool in there. And some, some more like the more technical elements, which I kind of liked. And, you know, when I just hear like thumping metal, I'm kind of turned off after a few songs. But with yours, it kind of experiments in a little bit. Every, you know, in almost every song, something slightly different, which is what I found pretty interesting about your guys's music. That's why I wanted to talk to you today. So kind of explain, you guys make the music and what kind of goes into that? Well,

Rick Lemperes 2:32
my brain is kind of corrupt. So I write all the music and it kind of comes out on paper I introduced to the guys and this is what we have. We're currently recording our fourth studio project right now, which is coming along really nicely. So we do try and keep it versatile, though. I try and keep the music, you know, from acoustic all the way up to yelling at people. Yeah, but it has's to make sense at the same time.

Isaac Kuhlman 2:59
Yeah, exactly. And that's one thing I noticed about your lyrics. And, you know, this is it's glad I'm glad you brought up the fourth album, because we'll talk about that in a second. But the lyrics actually can kind of follow along where most time in metal, it's just yelling, and it's so much like grunting grunting noise, you can actually tell what's happening in the song. So it's nice to actually be able to follow and have a little bit of a, you know, you know, the pathway of the song or the journey of what's happening in the story. So I did like that about that as well. So what can people actually expect from the fourth album, what's different about this one and what's kind of the same.

Rick Lemperes 3:31
A lot of the production is going to be pretty darn good this time around as well. We've got a good team working in the production end of things the engineer, Ryan Tobias, he's really good with with the board. We've got a good mastering company helping us out as well. So and the music is very versatile. We've got everything from Congas to acoustics, right on up to some very heavy stuff.

Isaac Kuhlman 4:01
Nice. Very cool. Now I know you guys have a show coming up at the Roxy on February. I think it's 10th From what I got. It's either the fourth or the 10th. I think I saw two different dates, but I think it's the 10th because I went to the site to purchase the tickets to see if that was the correct correct date. But that's obviously in Vancouver, BC so you're up in Canada. What's something you might say about your live shows? And what can people kind of expect to see when you guys are up there on stage performing?

Rick Lemperes 4:26
Well, we keep it pretty energetic. We don't really hold still for very long, and just pounding out the music that we love and everybody's head starts banging. So it's it's a good sign.

Isaac Kuhlman 4:40
I'm ready to have some beers and have some fun, I

Rick Lemperes 4:41
suppose. Oh, yes, please. Yeah, please drive careful. Don't drive if you drink or drink. You don't drive.

Isaac Kuhlman 4:55
Yeah. Now you guys like Go ahead.

Rick Lemperes 4:59
Yeah, no We got another we're doing a cancer fundraiser at the end of February as well out here in in the good little part of Vancouver actually the outskirts and we got the studio working out pretty good right now it's taken up a lot of our time. Yeah,

Isaac Kuhlman 5:18
so you guys are probably obviously rehearsing for the album but also rehearsing for the shows is that does that change things of how you go into because are you now throwing some new songs into your live sets? Or is it like only the new songs or how does that kind of work because obviously everybody's got their i Hey, you know, I know you guys for one song or another or this is my favorite song If you don't play it. I'm going to hate you guys forever for not playing that show. Right. So what kind of goes into your guys's setlist and how's that working between the album and the live show right now?

Rick Lemperes 5:47
Well as time goes on, too, we do like to keep things interesting. Yeah. So we do add the new stuff to the setlist as we progress in it and we feel comfortable enough to present it. Yeah, I don't know it's I don't know.

Isaac Kuhlman 6:07
You still keeping the Sing along stuff in there?

Rick Lemperes 6:10
Yes, we will keep our good old songs in the setlist. There's a couple that kind of fall off the backpack there, but we do drag them in when certain crowd really likes few songs. So

Isaac Kuhlman 6:25
so if they start chanting for a song, you know, all right, we'll throw it in here. As long as you practice it enough, like Oh, come on, guys. We haven't played that song in six years, but whatever.

Rick Lemperes 6:36
Yeah, yeah, even long. That was some of them. But yeah, we'll try our best to make everybody happy. Good luck.

Isaac Kuhlman 6:44
Yeah, and I have seen a couple of like, the live the live videos from some of the stuff that you guys are posted online. And it seems like you guys have a lot of good, a lot of fun and a good crowd. I mean, you don't see like, you know, just all biker dudes in there just punching and moshing and stuff like that. It's, it looks like a pretty mixed crowd of, you know, pretty respectable and responsible adults, metal loving adults, though. So, kind of talk to me about your fan base, and how that's kind of led you guys to where you are and, and how that keeps you going?

Rick Lemperes 7:12
Well, you know, we kind of have a lot of that 80s blood in us, you know, late 80s, early 90s, heavy metal stuff. That kinda is the music that everybody really liked. And still does want to hear, you know, in a lot of aspects. And that's just kind of what we want to keep doing. Keep rocking it that way. And it's just a perfect fit for NeverAnother

Isaac Kuhlman 7:37
nice, nice. So why did you come up with the band name and NeverAnother anyway, I didn't actually see that anywhere on there. But yeah, kind of explained to him where the bandeian came from,

Rick Lemperes 7:47
oh, I just kind of came up with a whole bunch of them. But I had to narrow it down to a few Roulette Wheel of Fortune thing there. But, you know, really, it has a few meanings, you can look at it from different angles, you know, there's never another opportunity to do certain things. There's, there's all kinds, there's never another person like you. Yeah. So it's just a perfect fit again.

Isaac Kuhlman 8:19
Yeah, I did see some of the inspirational messaging on the website, which I thought was pretty cool. Because, you know, especially when you get into like hard rock, people kind of take, I wouldn't say take life and positivity for granted. But positivity is not necessarily like goes hand in hand with metal and hard rock music and every band's aspects, but I like that about you guys just kind of uplifting message and positivity and stuff like that. So that's another very commendable thing. And again, like I said, if you guys were kind of like a we're out here, you know, Satan worshippers, or whatever. And all we care about is everyone chaos and anarchy. I might might not have had you on I don't know. Like, it'd be interesting conversation, but it's a lot more fun to have people actually spread positivity through the world.

Rick Lemperes 9:01
That's much better way to go. We got to lift people up.

Isaac Kuhlman 9:04
Yeah, exactly. So this is gonna be kind of a interesting question. Because like I said, you know, I emailed you guys's management at one time and said, you know, metal is not exactly my go to genre. It's not like something that I normally stick to. But I do get into bands like certain bands that will connect on different genres. What would you say to someone who might shy away from music just because of a label like metal or hard rock? And you know, say hey, you know, listen to it or whatever, what would you say to them?

Rick Lemperes 9:33
Well, I would say you have to give it a shot. Listen to the message, listen to the skill within the music. We've all been playing I've been playing since 1975. So there's a lot of love and time and effort put into it and give it you know, give a give the vocals a chance to have lit haven't gotten to this to the storyline. Yeah, cool. We're not We're not there to really scare too many people.

Isaac Kuhlman 10:01
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, there are some people. And again, this is just how the genre is like metal hard rock that literally go out and like, costumes and, you know, try literally, it's like, their whole thing is like, we're supposed to be scary or something. It's like, what's the point? Like, we're all adults, like, I'm, I'm 40 years old. I don't I don't need to go to a Halloween costume. Or a Halloween party every time I want to watch a band like, just play.

Rick Lemperes 10:27
We do like to have Halloween parties we do. But yeah, it's

Isaac Kuhlman 10:32
not every time out, right? It's not like you have to feel like that's the thing?

Rick Lemperes 10:35
No, not at all. It's you. We just do what we love every time. We enjoy getting up. There's therapy for us.

Isaac Kuhlman 10:42
For sure. Yeah. Now, obviously, you had mentioned and we've talked about this kind of as we've been speaking, but the band is full of rock veterans with tons of playing experience. And you just said you've been playing since 1975. So how does that experience help create the music and experience you want to achieve? And how does it kind of make songwriting? And just the way you guys come together as a band? You know, is it more? Is it more professional now? Is it easier to make songs is it like, set time and you can actually get stuff done? You know, because when I was in high school, I was in a band. I've been in a couple bands since but it's it's always a chaotic thing trying to keep everybody always says the term herding cats. It's always trying to keep everybody in line. Like, Hey, we got band practice you good. Now I got a thing blah blah blah was like, why can't you just come? Like, why can't you just show up? But I assume with kind of rock Veteran experience like you guys are probably a bit more ready to to be there on time. And it's not something like, like a, you know, high school band.

Rick Lemperes 11:37
That's correct. Yeah, we do take it serious doing what we love. But we're having fun doing it as well. Yeah, that's really important to us. I mean, we're old enough to be smart about it. But honestly, yeah, I don't know. As far as long term. We've been at it for a long time. And writing music. I've been writing songs since late 70s, early 80s. So over time, you just kind of find your groove. And yeah, if feel, you just grow it grow with it. You get better at everything. You do more practice more time you spend. Oh, there's my dog.

Isaac Kuhlman 12:19
He's trying to get his cameo in there. So when you guys when you actually bring the songs to the, to the rest of the band, is it? Is it kind of like a quick, quick turnaround of like, actually getting the music put out there and putting a song together?

Rick Lemperes 12:33
No, it takes some time. I'm pretty picky. Not to be a jerk about it. But I do want it. I do know what I want to hear. Yeah. And the drummer being the original guy with me. He and I have quite the chemistry. It just kind of falls into place every time we get together. Our biggest our new bass player is awesome as well. And we got Sean he's the he's the newest member. It does get chaotic at times, introducing new riffs and stuff and putting songs together because they're so intricate. But you know, it's just kind of other people trying to get inside of my head. It's pretty difficult.

Isaac Kuhlman 13:16
Yeah, it's like, it's like a painter trying to explain what he sees in, you know, until he actually paints it out that nobody knows what the hell he's talking about. Right?

Rick Lemperes 13:25
Oh, yeah. It takes time to put a good song together.

Isaac Kuhlman 13:29
That's good. Yeah, it's good, good perspective, because, you know, some bands are just like, we get it. We are all like in sync. And, you know, some like, obviously, with with lineup changes, it does make it more difficult over time. But yeah, at least I mean, at least, you know, the process is there, and you work through it and make it happen, because that's the most important thing is getting the end result, right.

Rick Lemperes 13:49
Mm hmm. Yes. The show must go on.

Isaac Kuhlman 13:52
Yeah, exactly. So just out of curiosity, what do you find is like, what's the ultimate goal forever? Another? Are you looking to do like, actual long distance touring? Are you trying to get more listeners and play regional shows? Or what kind of what kind of elements of like traveling or, you know, kind of success? Are you looking to achieve obviously, everybody wants world fame. But what does that look like? If like three to five years from now you guys are like really doing Well? What do you think you guys are up to?

Rick Lemperes 14:17
Oh, we'll go wherever they take us. If they allow us. We love our culture everywhere. I have toured through, you know, ladies, kind of 90s. But I'd like to do with this new group of guys. We have a good product to show and tell. And I think one but you know, we'll keep writing. We'll keep playing our shows. And if all goes well, we'll see you soon.

Isaac Kuhlman 14:47
Nice. Yeah, well, I'm in Vegas. So you guys can fit right in here. There's, there's tons of 80s and 90s acts that you know play that kind of genre of music. So if you guys make it down here, definitely show up.

Rick Lemperes 14:59
Okay, Excellent. Well hits you up for a couch.

Isaac Kuhlman 15:03
Yeah. Perfect. All right, so I got some rapid fire questions here just to get some quick hits on some of the things that might be. People might want to know about you and your band. But first question is what bands influence your music specifically for NeverAnother?

Rick Lemperes 15:21
Okay, I'm gonna throw out Megadeth Godsmack. And some good old Metallica, I guess is in there. Nice. Yeah, but there's other stuff too.

Isaac Kuhlman 15:34
Yeah, like I said, there's elements of little things here and there that other bands, I think probably throw in there. But yeah, I mean, Metallica, Megadeath. I mean, those guys go hand in hand. Godsmack. That's another good one right there. And that's cool. So yeah. Other than your own music. What was the last album? The last full album you listened to?

Rick Lemperes 15:53
The last full.. Testament, the latest...Well, not. I guess Testament put out a new one now. But this one's from 2018 or so. Okay. Great stuff.

Isaac Kuhlman 16:05
Did you just recently pick it up? Or like have you heard it and you just recently listened to it again?

Rick Lemperes 16:10
I I picked it up. At a CD store. Just rare... had to do it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I love Testament. They were great back in the 80s. But they're better now. A lot more talent.

Isaac Kuhlman 16:28
Very cool. What bands would you like to tour with if you got the chance?

Rick Lemperes 16:32
Well, anyone? Megadeath, Metallica, Queensryche. Savotage. I like a bunch of those guys. Whoever wants us on tour. We're there.

Isaac Kuhlman 16:47
Nice. Very cool. If you could play with any musician alive or dead, who would it be?

Rick Lemperes 16:54
Oh? Well, I've been on stage with Dimebag Darrell back in 94. Cool. And yeah, that was quite the experience.

Isaac Kuhlman 17:07
Were you playing with him? Or how did that come?

Rick Lemperes 17:09
We're on stage in Seattle. Yeah, we were doing a show down there. But.

Isaac Kuhlman 17:17
And for any of our listeners who might not have the time big girl, former guitar player from Pantera, I believe, right? Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, incredible. Yeah, yeah. Works. Unfortunately, not with us anymore. But yeah, he was fantastic guitar player.

Rick Lemperes 17:31
That's correct. Chabad. He was very influential. Yeah. Okay, we're

Isaac Kuhlman 17:39
live or dead. Who would you want to play with?

Rick Lemperes 17:42
Off? Cal? Chris Oliva from Savotage

Isaac Kuhlman 17:45
Okay. Okay, interesting. And then off the top of your head. What would you say is one of the best albums of all time?

Rick Lemperes 17:56
Kiss alive one. Okay.

Isaac Kuhlman 18:00
Did you say Kiss Alive One.

Rick Lemperes 18:02
Kiss alive one. Yeah. Okay. Okay, that was one of my favorites. That and Alice Cooper billion dollar babies.

Isaac Kuhlman 18:10
Nice. Yeah, too. I mean, those guys talking about anthemic songs and just rocking positivity when they play. They don't get the image. Their image may be a little different specially Alice Cooper, but they're all about having fun and being you know, all about positivity. I mean, Alice Cooper's radio show love listening to that thing. I mean, he still DJs I think, I think he's still doing anyway. But yeah, he did that for years.

Rick Lemperes 18:35
I hope so.

Isaac Kuhlman 18:36
Yeah. So I feel like people have got a pretty good idea of what never another is about got a little bit more into your head. Rick, do you have anything you want to say before we head off and kind of end this interview for today?

Rick Lemperes 18:51
Well, I just like to say to everyone, stay tuned, we got a wicked album coming right on up. And if you call for it enough, we'll be in your town soon, too.

Isaac Kuhlman 19:01
Nice. And we'll put some links to your music and everything below the below the video. Very cool. Thank you. Nice, guys. Yeah, go make sure to check out the links on the to the YouTube, Facebook, website, Spotify, everything that they got. And then you know, everything else that never another has coming up. It's going to be awesome. And I thank you, Rick, for you for coming on and having this interview today. And I look forward to seeing what comes out of the fourth album and what's going on with never another in the month of February.