Rejoice! It seems the 90’s is back! There has been such an influx of bands in my inbox lately that clearly take inspiration from that oh so awesome alternative rock scene we all grew up listening to. The latest band to come to my attention, Neverlanded, gets their roots from bands like Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins and create some truly cool sounds. The issue is, it’s nothing new. With one exception.
As much as I love it, this sound is becoming stale very quickly. If this band had been around in 1991, I’m sure they would have made their millions Tunes like Brainsane have that sound but are brilliantly catchy! But in today’s world, they really should be looking to develop their sound beyond the grunge formula. Even the tones are very similar. In spite of this, this trio are clearly excellent songwriters if they can be compared to Kurt Cobain and if you are looking for that particular sound, you can’t go far wrong with Neverlanded. As much as I am growing tired of this sound, Neverlanded have a single that is actually extremely cool and is definitely more suited to a modern audience. This Friend of Mine is definitely a slower song compared to the rest of their discography, but still contains all the anger and emotion. The sound is still reminiscent of that scene, but is refreshingly modern, thanks largely to wonderful song writing, better production, and an all-important change of tone. If you were to listen to any song from Neverlanded, please, I beg you, listen to This Friend of Mine, it has all their strengths of display and is definitely the direction I encourage these three to go in. I also must applaud them for their support in the transgender rights movement, after all, challenging gender norms has always been a huge part of the punk scene, especially in the 90s with the Riot Grrl movement.
I would really encourage my readers to check Neverlanded out, in spite of my distaste for this new trend of modern grunge, the songs are still excellent, and they show great promise in certain moments. If they can refine their sound just a little more they will really be on their way then.
Peace, Love and Cowbells,
Oscar