Robex Lundgren virkblogg.

How was the band formed? Ben - Neverworld was formed out of the ashes of a couple of bands, Sentinal and Killer Messiah. When those bands split we kinda merged into Neverworld. Basically all the members of those two bands who shared a vision decided to get together and do something serious. That was exactly five years ago now!

Can you tell about your band? Ben - I sure can! Neverworld is a band that borrows from a time when heavy metal was new, exciting and on top of it's game. We incorporate all the classic elements of metal and try and bring it kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Our stuff is a real mixture of light and shade. Sometimes epic, sometimes hard, sometimes mellow but always melodic. We love to tell you a story and take you on a journey

Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? Ben - We all live about 30 miles north of London in England. We have Gary Payne on bass guitar, Mike Vaughan on drums, Jack Foster on lead/rhythm guitars, Daniel Potter on keyboards and myself, Ben Colton on vocals and lead/rhythm guitars

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? Ben - Right from the start we wanted to make an impact on the metal world. This is our shot, our best chance at being somebody so it's very, very important to us. We consider ourselves an audio visual band and we want to get to the top. It's a long hard road but we won't be turning back now!

Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? Ben - I would say if you like metal and the sub genres you should like what we do. Like i said earlier we incorporate a lot of the styles into our sound. Listen closely and you will hear traditional, epic, progressive, thrash, power etc but the one constant is melody. That is really important to us and i'd like to think makes us accessible to most metalheads!

Where was your first gig? Ben - Our very first gig was back in 2011 i think in the old city of Norwich. Quite a way from where we live. No bad thing when you consider we absolutely sucked!

Where was the latest gig? Ben - We just played our last show of 2014 at our local club in a town called Hitchin. It was a special night. The place was packed and buzzing, just the way we like it!

Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? Ben - With the first album i wrote a lot of the music and all the lyrics but everybody played a part or wrote something. That isn't the case with the new material. We are currently on a break from playing live to write and record the second album which is very much a team effort in every way. We have our own studio which we meet up every week to write together and i'm really loving that. Being creative as a group is awesome. Everybody gets a say in what's going on and has a part to play. The next album will be really diverse

Who has the best since of humor in the band? Ben - Actually everybody in this band has a brilliant sense of humour. We are always laughing. I couldn't work with people who don't know how to have a laugh! So yeah we are all equal in that department!

What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? Ben - It's all good really. The hard thing is getting to the next level but we embrace that and do our best with everything that comes our way. Genre wise we've been called power, prog, prog power etc. I just call us metal!

Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? Ben- It's basically the genre that has influenced us the most i'd say. I love all sorts of metal, hard rock etc but trad metal has everything. I think people forget that trad metal is pretty much a mixture of rock, blues, classical, soul, jazz. It's the sort of music that just has everything going on. Light, shade, hard, melodic, epic...it's all there. Our music is about all kinds of things. We like to write about Neverworld which is the dream world we all visit when we sleep. With that in mind the possibilities of song themes are endless. But we write about anything that grabs us really. There are no rules in Neverworld!

Do you write your own material or mainly covers? Ben - All our own

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? With Neverworld we released our debut 'Visions Of Another World' back in March and All Seeing Eyes are about to release our first album at the end of this month

Do you have any clips on YouTube? Ben - Both Neverworld and All Seeing Eyes have a ton of stuff up on YouTube

How old are you?/What got you started in music? Ben - I'm 33 and the oldest in Neverworld. I was 4 years old when i discovered metal and that was pretty much down to my second cousins. They had the biggest record collection and one of them is a fantastic guitar player. That really inspired me. I've always known that was my calling in life

At what age did you start playing? Ben - I got my first guitar for my 8th birthday

How old were you guys when you first stood on stage? Ben - I'm not sure about the others but i was 12 or 13 i think

What year was the band started? Ben - Neverworld was formed in September 2009 and All Seeing Eyes came about in early 2013

Best/worst gig you've played? Ben - Worst gig was the first! My personal favorite gigs were Club 85 in Hitchin in November 2013. It was an epic night and the last time my Dad saw me play before he passed away. Second was on tour in Greece when we played Larissa. The place was packed! Thirdly we played with Freedom Call in London in March this year and again the place was rammed full of metal heads. It was the same night our debut album came out and it was just a fantastic experience

Which band is the best you´ve seen? Ben - I'm lucky i've seen most of my favorite bands. The best 4 for me was seeing my heroes Fates Warning, Crimson Glory, Manowar and Winger. All those shows were special

Is it always the same songs live? Ben - No it all depends on how long we get to play. Next year we will have a completely different set. We'll still play the crowd pleasers but will start to play the stuff we are writing now too

What has been the best/most promising gig so far? Ben - The show with Freedom Call. It was the first time we'd played to a sold out audience and our album sold a lot of copies that night. It was an almost perfect night

Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? Ben - We've done 2 mini tours with the band Wardrum. They came over to the UK for 3 shows and we went over to Greece for a couple. That was a truly awesome experience. One we hope to repeat soon!

How big crowds do you usually play for? Ben - It varies. This year we have played to a lot of people. We've done the mini Greek tour, a couple of open air festivals and all the shows we've done have been very well attended. We've been lucky

What are the plans for the rest of the year? Ben - Just to write and record the second album. We are half way in already

How do you get psyched up for a gig? Ben - Depends on what i've got to do that day but i like to watch a few concert DVDs or listen to some good music to get into the zone

What are your goals with your music? Ben - To go as far as i can possibly go!

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? Ben - There's a lot of great music out there. The older stuff has been influencing me since i was 4 years old but there's still a lot of amazing music coming out all the time. If it's good it's good!

What are your sources of inspiration? Ben - Well i'm pretty sure my entire CD collection has influenced me to some extent but i also love and get a lot of inspiration from films. Mostly John Carpenter and Stephen King

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? Ben - I see it from both sides. I grew up buying music. If you wanted it you either had to buy it or get someone to make you a tape! The landscape has now changed and made it very hard for bands to make money from their art. I think that sucks but i also understand that a lot of people simply don't have £15 to spend on an album. What it comes down to is greed. The music industry is full of that. If the labels priced their stuff fairly they'd sell a lot more than they do currently. It's a catch 22 situation. We shall have to see how the future pans out

What would be your dreams for the band?  Ben - We want to go all the way. I was just saying about the landscape of the music business and how it's completely changed from the glory days of the 80's and 90's. It's much harder for any band to 'make' it now. I absolutely hate the fact that the way pop 'singers' make it now is mainly the fast track via 'reality' shows. As if the world needs more manufactured crap but for some reason the majority lap it up. It'll be a tough ride for us i'm sure. We may never get a major label deal but one thing we will never do is sell out. We will always make honest music and do what we love. My dream is to do that for a living but i'm also realistic. That will probably never happen but i'll never stop trying and i'll never stop writing metal music

Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? Ben - I just love good music. Obviously i'm a guitar player so the majority of what i listen to is guitar based. Whether it be classic rock or hair metal. I love it all as long as it's played and written well. I'm a huge fan of the classic metal bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Manowar, King Diamond. I also love the prog stuff like Crimson Glory, Fates Warning, Redemption, Magnum, Dream Theater, Circus Maximus, Kings X right through to the hooky stuff like Van Halen, Whitesnake,Thin Lizzy, Winger, Mr Big. The 'grunge' era was also a big influence on me because i was 13 when that exploded. Bands like Alice In Chains, Mother Love Bone, Candlebox, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Mutha Day Out etc. It's pretty much an endless list. My CD collection is huge and all of it has influenced me in some way i think

What do you hold most dear? Ben - Well my family, my girl and my friends. Things are just that. People are special. Saying all that my guitars, CD and DVD collection are worth killing for! Haha!

What would be your greatest fears for the future? Ben - I don't really have any to be honest. What will be will be. All you can do in this life is try and be the best person you can be and work your ass off if you believe in something

When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? Ben - Just the usual really, if a string snaps or you fall over or something! I don't worry about it while i'm up there but i do think about it before i go on!

What songs and what years were they released? Ben - With Neverworld we released our debut EP in 2010 and then our album came out in March this year. With All Seeing Eyes our first album will be out either this month or early next

What do you work with outside of the band and the music? Ben - Outside of the music i work a day job. I'm in a relationship and that is a huge part of my life too. I like to work out and watch wrestling, a good movie or TV series to escape reality for a while

What would you do if there was no music? Ben - I wouldn't be around to find out!

How important are your fans? Ben - They are as important as it gets. We've been blessed with an absolutely awesome fanbase from all over the world. I'll always do my best to please them because they have given us a chance to do what we love. Basically if you love Neverworld or All Seeing Eyes then i love you!

What's the most memorable thing a fan has done for you? Ben - I remember everything. When they share our music, when they tell us what they think, when they are singing along down the front at a show, when they ask for a signature, when they buy an album or a shirt. Whatever it is i remember it and i'll always be very grateful for that kind of support. It means the world to us

How often do you rehearse? Ben - When we have shows we have a session once a week, sometimes twice. It depends really but we've been playing for a long time now so we can rely on each other to be alright on the night!

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? Ben - Hey man i like them all! If i was asked to show someone for the first time what we do i'd probably pick 'Ghosts' and 'Eminent Reprisal' because they both have depth, light and shade and an atmosphere

What do you feel is the best live band you've seen? Ben - Either Crimson Glory or Winger. Both very special bands to me and incredibly talented musicians. I'm very lucky actually because Ben Jackson from Crimson Glory just did guest vocals on a track on the All Seeing Eyes album!

What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? Ben - That's easy. If you love something you can't give up on it. Neverworld is our baby. We won't stop until we've done whatever we have to do. When we first started 5 years ago we had zero fans. Now we have thousands all over the world. I know what we have is special because of that

Do you have any webpages? Ben - Yes you can order the album via our website www.neverworldmetal.co.uk

Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? Ben - Believe in yourself, work your ass off, never put off until tomorrow what you can do today! Also listen to lot's and lot's of music. Soak it all up. Be a sponge! Then use it to be awesome 

Describe your show, visually and musically Ben - We like to be as tight and as close to the album as possible. We pride ourselves on that. There's always good crowd interaction and our set is pretty high tempo mostly. We literally give you all we have to give

What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Ben - The biggest one i think is getting people to actually listen to you. There are literally thousands of bands out there, why should they listen to you? You gotta really keep picking away at people sometimes and that is annoying but necessary i'm afraid. Getting big gigs/tour supports/festival slots is also very hard

What is best/worst with playing the clubs? Ben - The best thing is the intimate intensity and the worst? I don't know. I enjoy playing the club circuit. You don't always get great sound and sometimes the stage can be too small for an animated 5 piece band like us but i'm not complaining

How would you describe your sound in one sentenceBen - Heavy fucking metal straight from the heart!