The band's debut album, the self-titled _Nevermore_, has been out since February, but the band has been hard at work touring, pushing their music, and getting prepared to hit the studio soon. Speaking with Dane and bassist Jim Sheppard (the band is rounded out by drummer Van Williams and guitarist Jeff Loomis), both are unhappy with the state of metal nowadays. The direction of most of today's metal seems uninspired and lifeless in their eyes. They want to bring back metal and disregard commercialism.

"We certainly aren't playing anything that is trendy right now. Our music is heavy metal with a melodic edge, and that is what we have always been into," says Dane. "A lot of bands are selling out now and going for whatever the trend is, and that is what we have always tried to avoid: staying away from the trends. It seems like the bigger bands that are successful have softened and become more acceptable, and it is funny to see that they are going against everything they believed in when they started out," notes Dane. "They have become the thing they didn't want to become."

He continues, "In the last few years the death metal scene has really been stagnant. You get all of the bands that come out sounding the same. I think in the next coming years, you will see a lot more bands doing different things, more original sounding within their genre than what is going on around them."

Nevermore formed out of Seattle's Sanctuary which parted ways in 1991. Sanctuary was one of the premier metal bands from the American northwest region, releasing two albums on Epic (_Refuge Denied_ and _Into The Mirror Black_), but afterwards, internal problems brought the band to an end. After the break-up, Dane and Sheppard picked up the pieces and formed Nevermore in hopes of shredding metal once again.

Has it been tough to start from scratch once again? "It is always rough for bands starting out. It always is, even if you are fitting into the mold of what trend the music scene is going," accounts Dane. "I think it will take a lot of touring and playing on our part, as well as a second album that is going to kick ass. A lot of people in other interviews are asking me if I feel successful. Success to me is a lot different than how other people define it. To me, we are successful because a lot of bands like us don't get to go out and tour Europe or the States and put out records. In that respect, I think we are lucky and have achieved some success."

About the move from Sanctuary to the formation of Nevermore, Sheppard says, "when we started with Nevermore, we had really nowhere to go. But as soon as we found ourselves and knew what we wanted to do, we knew that the only way to go was up, and that is what we plan to do as things start to move for us. We are happy with the direction we are going, but like most first albums we are still finding ourselves, and with the second Nevermore album, we will be more progressed in the direction that we are going."

Having already started work on the new album, what are Dane's thoughts on the newer material they have begun working on? "I think we will still be developing our style like we did with our last record, and the new stuff that we are writing. I see the development coming under way. Hopefully, a year from now, we won't slow down, but be gaining momentum. Hopefully, we will be more comfortable seeing that we are falling into the pocket of our songwriting style."

"We are definitely starting this band out the right way," assures Dane. "The last band (Sanctuary) was fucked from the beginning because we got signed to a major label and we didn't do things correctly. It was like jumping on a ladder half way up and trying to claw our way up. We are starting from the bottom where we should've been with Sanctuary." The end result? "It has been a blast so far," says Dane, grinning.