Neverkept

It's hard not to get swept up in Neverkept's crowd-rousing rush. The Philadelphia-based pop-rock band play the kind of songs that aren't afraid to stare down the darkness, with the light at the end of the tunnel flashing in their bared teeth. With the release of their debut single, "Vertigo," in spring of 2018, Neverkept quickly won over a devoted legion of fans who latched onto the urgency of the group’s message. Now gearing up to release their first album, Neverkept continue to push themselves in exciting new directions, tackling heavy themes with the same spark that made "Vertigo" such a compelling introduction.

All five members of Neverkept -- vocalist Dorian Cooke, guitarists Jay Miller and Aaron Mong, bassist Neale DiMento, and drummer Pete Adams -- are longtime friends with deep roots in the east coast DIY scene. They founded the band with the intention of doing something different from their previous projects, wanting to dig deeper into more mature lyrical themes and more complex musical structures. Their influences range from U.K. electro-pop project The Japanese House to prog-metal stalwarts Mastodon, a diversity of taste that shines through in Neverkept’s layered production and irresistible melodies.

Even before he officially joined the band, Cooke was never far from Neverkept’s studio space, visiting their writing sessions to offer suggestions for lyrics and melodies. The first song he contributed to, "Complicated," sees him tracing the wreckage of an unstable partnership over Neverkept's snaking twin guitars and densely layered vocals. "I never wanted to be just another crack in your hourglass," Cooke sings at the chorus, his voice capturing the simultaneous frustration and exhilaration of a relationship that always feels close to working but never quite does.

Not long after, Cooke stepped in to track vocals for "Vertigo," and everything clicked into place. "It was just so exciting to finally record with them." Cooke says. "Once we started seeing how the songs were coming out, we were like, wow, this is a very new feeling."

The urgency and theatrics of Cooke's vocal presence helped steer the band toward an exciting new sound. Energized by the way "Vertigo" sounded, Neverkept decided to release it as their debut single. It quickly began racking up streams on YouTube and Spotify, where it was featured on an official playlist. Soon, Neverkept noticed that more and more listeners had begun adding the song to personal playlists, too. With just one track, the new-minted band had made a splash.

Neverkept are looking ahead to 2020 with plans to release their debut album. In the lyrics they’ve been writing, they’ve tackled heavy topics like coping with anxiety and questions of self-worth. Their mission is to sing about the parts of life that are often difficult to speak about, rupturing taboos around mental illness and other fraught social topics, while always keeping their eyes trained on hope.


Having just come off their very first tour, Neverkept can’t wait to see where their songs will take them. "There's no limits at the moment," notes Miller. "We want to write music that we all are in love with."