Never Say Die

The Calm has Ceased

Never Say Die, formerly known as Another Day, began in late 2000 as a four piece featuring Steve Mandlehr on guitar and vocals, Mat Schneider on bass and vocals, Nick Stinnett on drums, and Ben Burge on guitar. By the time they started playing shows in June 2001 Ben was no longer in the band and they were just a three piece. They played 3 shows in this arrangement before adding Pose No Threat guitarist Danny Hibbard on as a second guitarist. The early Another Day songs were divided between the "dark" songs and the pop punk songs, the latter of which were written by bassist Schneider. Mandlehr, Hibbard, and Stinnett were influenced by Bad Religion, Danzig, and AFI, and wanted to take the band in a direction similar to those styles of punk, which prompted Schneider to leave the band in early 2002. He was replaced by Eric Stuart of The Seaside Panel and City of Ghosts, and this would be the final lineup of the band. After this point the songs were not only darker and heavier, but better crafted and played much faster. Mandlehr's live vocals changed from a teenage wail into a vicious scream, which was heightened by Hibbard's intricate guitar work, Stuart's melodic bass lines, and Stinnett's general thrashing of the skins. But what made the band unique was the fact that they couldn't be lumped into one genre. They left many showgoers scratching their heads wondering, is this metal? indie rock? punk? screamo? experimental? Their sound encompassed all of these, but they were unfortunately overlooked, and thus broke up before they had the chance to get the attention they deserved. They recorded a 6 song EP which was to be called "Like Martyrs," but there was a dispute over the costs of their sessions with the sound engineer and it was never mastered and thus, never officially released. They played their last public show in August 2002.

--Nathan Brockman

Members:

Releases:

6 song demo as Another Day
6 song EP Like Martyrs

Compilations:

None

Shirts/Merch:

None