Punk pals: Meet Neverdie

A short chat with punk band Neverdie.

The Polaris Project is always up for helping out great bands raise funds with their Crowdfunding Sessions, and punk band Neverdie is no exception. The band is a four-piece composed of Tani Cariño, Bren Pasamba, Pat Santos, Lip Dalangin, and Ralph Gonzalez.

We got to chat with Neverdie ahead of tonight's gig to talk about their skate crew beginnings, the local music scene, and the reason they post food reviews on Twitter. 

How did you guys form the band?
Tani Carino (T): Neverdie started out as a skate crew back in 2004. New skaters kept joining as the years passed. Eventually we found out some of them played music. I guess it was a natural step to form a band and use that name.

Bren Pasamba (B): Tani formed the band originally with Gabba Santiago, Nikee Banares, and the old bassist. They were the original line-up, but when they got their first gig, Nikee couldn't make it so I filled in... and never left. The sessionist who overstayed (laughs).

How has the local music scene changed from when you guys first started playing gigs?
T: It’s definitely a huge change. We started when productions were requiring bands to pay so that they could play shows then go on and line them up with 20 other bands. It’s a better time now but still, bands like us still end up drawing the short end of the stick. We also used to play with a variety of different bands from different communities but nowadays, everyone tends to keep to their own. The new guys might have a different experience though because of our age differences. Indie back then had a different definition as well which we still adhere to. Now, it’s mainly used as a marketing tool to sell bands.

B: The landscape has undergone a lot of change, but it still feels the same. The excitement of playing your first show in SaGuijo, or Route [196], or Mow's, still feels the same after how many shows. The marketing "game" feels more "competitive" though, it could just be Social media but whatever keeps the scene alive I guess.

Lip Dalangin (L): When I started gigging around 2010, the shows always had a mixed genre. I didn’t reach the scum prods with ticket selling.

How do you guys make your music? What is your dynamic when it comes to songwriting?
T: I keep a bunch of lyrics on a folder in my hard drive or blog. If I feel like writing, I’ll just store them there. Once I think of a riff, that’s when I try to connect the lyrics to the rhythm part. The rest of the band goes on to assemble/disassemble the songs. Then we practice it for a few days, try to gig it and see how it does in a live setting. If we’re not satisfied, we’ll make improvements.

B: We usually make riffs on our own at home and bring it to practice to construct if needed. We also write depending on stuff we want to try, like a new drum pattern or fill, then we hammer everything out together except the lyrics, that's Tani's department.


What are the notable differences in the way your audience/fans respond to your music?
T: I’ve had people come up to me and say that our first full length was able to ease their mind on a lot of things that were bothering them. We write songs for ourselves but it’s always heartwarming to hear that our record has gotten them through the toughest of times. We’ve had people we never met, grab the mic during our set and sing along while at the same time someone would be crowd surfing as well.

B: I don't really notice? I just know that when I see people nodding along to our songs, I'm happy. Bonus na if may nag-mosh and/or sing along but having people there and giving us a chance is reward enough.


This is slightly unrelated, but we’re curious: Why do you post food reviews on your Twitter account?

T: Bren thought of it and we just went with it. We obviously love eating. We try to eat anywhere we can. It’s also something we enjoy doing since we try our best not to take ourselves too seriously.

B: We got the idea from Lip, our bassist. He used to try new stuff and post Facebook statuses about them and I tried them as well. That's how I got hooked to a lot of the food I like now. Social media can be such a drag sometimes, so maybe if we put up content like that, fun and easy to digest (pun intended), we'd be spreading a little positivity to our corner of the internet.

Catch Neverdie tonight, September 23, at Mow’s Bar, Matalino Street. Tickets are at P200 with a free drink!


You can download Neverdie's music for free here. Mow's Bar is located at 20 Matalino St., Quezon City. Check out The Polaris Project on Facebook for more updates.

Article by Nola
Photos courtesy of The Polaris Project
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Nola spends most of her time writing and drinking beer. All the things in between are for sleeping and eating pork chop.