On December 27, 2024 guitarist Jeff Loomis and drummer Van Williams took to social media teasing the return of Nevermore in 2025. In March, they revealed a new Nevermore line-up is now complete and that they are “gearing up for the next chapter of Nevermore.” The band’s fanbase is quite naturally divided on these developments, as many people believe there cannot be a Nevermore without vocalist Warrel Dane, who passed away in 2017.
During a recent interview with Venom Inc. prior to their show in Munich, Germany, we spontaneously asked guitarist Curran Murphy for his thoughts on Nevermore’s rebirth. Murphy did two stints with the band as a touring guitarist, for The Politics Of Ecstasy (1996) and Dead Heart In A Dead World (2000) albums. The floodgates opened and Murphy offered the following:
“I could not be happier for Jeff and Van. I’m ecstatic. I’m so fucking happy that Jeff and Van have decided to do this. I know it’s a tall order to replace Warrel Dane, but I know for a fact that Jeff won’t settle for anything less than something that’s going to be the correct homage to Warrel’s legacy. It will be something that they can build on and create more new music with.”
“The other reason I’m so excited about it is that I remember my time as their touring guitar player is that I think Jeff will be able to create the music exactly how he wants now. It’s going to be ‘I want to do it this way, and everybody has to say yes.’ The crazy thing is, Jeff isn’t wrong to have that mindset.”
Murphy elaborates:
“This is a true story. Before Dead Heart In A Dead world came out, I was learning the songs with Jeff, we were rehearsing at Jim (Sheppard / bass) and Warrel’s house. We would rehearse, hang out afterwards, have some drinks, and one day Warrel came to me and said in that deep baritone he had: ‘What did you think of ‘The River Dragon’ solo?’ I told him it was incredible, amazing, and he said ‘Just so you know, in the studio there were 14 more guitar tracks on that. I literally had to walk up to the console and say ‘No.’ I went down and started muting tracks until we got what you hear on the record. That’s how the solo happened.'”
“I’m not making fun of Warrel,” says Murphy. “Not at all. He had this way about him that was just awesome. The first thing in my head was, ‘Wait…. there are 14 other tracks on ‘The River Dragon’ harmony guitar solo? And you walked in and muted shit?’ Was Warrel wrong to do it? Probably not. But that could have been a B-side! I wanna hear what was originally recorded (laughs).”
Conversation turns to our respective favourite Nevermore songs, and Murphy shares an inside story on Loomis and Dane’s artistic relationship:
“When I first auditioned for Nevermore for the Politics Of Ecstasy tour, I didn’t even know who they were, I didn’t know who Sanctuary was. I know, my street cred’s going out the fucking window (laughs). A guitar player friend of mine told me about this great band called Nevermore that needed a touring guitarist. He wanted to focus on his own band so he gave me Jeff’s number, so I called and left Jeff a voicemail. I didn’t hear anything back for three months, and I eventually forgot about the call. Three months later Jeff calls me back, I set up the audition, then told him I had to take the bus out to them – it was a three-hour hike – and asked that even if I didn’t get the gig, even if I didn’t even get to plug in, could I stay somewhere for the night? I did the audition and it clearly went well (laughs), so we went back to Jeff’s apartment and hung out.”
“At some point Jeff brings out this big cardboard box and dumps it on the ground, splattering cassette tapes all over the floor. He starts pawing through them, saying ‘I’ve gotta play you something…’ He puts it on, it plays for about 15 seconds, and he says ‘Nah, this is crap! I’ve got something else…’ After about six or seven cassettes he finally found what he was looking for, and it was some of the most incredible music I’ve ever heard. It was unbelievable. I asked Jeff what it was and he says, ‘Oh, I wrote that when I was 13…’ or something like that. It was insane. So we spent the rest of the night drinking wine and listening to these cassettes. It was awesome.”
“So the next day – I’ll give you another Warrel impression – we’re in rehearsal and Warrel walks up to me when we were taking a break and says (baritone voice), ‘So, did Jeff show you… The Box?’ I played dumb, like, ‘What box?’ and he says ‘The box full of cassettes that he has of demos he thinks suck.’ He then went on to say, ‘We were short on songs for The Politics Of Ecstasy and Jeff didn’t want to write or finish anything, so I just went into The Box and grabbed three cassettes at random, threw them at Jeff and said ‘These are on the record…’ and walked away.’ (Laughs) I couldn’t believe it and I asked Warrel which songs they were. He said they were ‘Passenger’, I think it was ‘The Tiananmen Man’, and ‘The Learning’.”
Nevermore was a unique beast in the metal world, lethal and progressive in their own way. Murphy chalks a good portion of that up to Van Williams, the engine behind the band.
“I’ve said this before and I will always say this: Van Williams was the first guy where I finally understood what it was like when a drummer has an innate sound to how they play. Something like on ‘This Sacrament’, it’s got a swing and a sound and a feel. When my time with Nevermore was done and I was playing with some other bands, if they wanted to jam some Nevermore stuff it just didn’t feel right even if the drummer was amazing. It wasn’t Van.”
“So the whole thing about the rebirth of Nevermore, I cannot fucking wait. I’ve heard some Jeff Loomis music that nobody else has ever heard, and we haven’t heard one tenth of what he can do as a musician.”
Read Warrel Dane’s final interview with BraveWords, conducted in 2017 four months before he passed away, here.
Follow BraveWords on social media… Facebook page, Facebook Group, X/Twitter, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky and YouTube.
Visit https://linktr.ee/bravewords
The post Former NEVERMORE Touring Guitarist CURRAN MURPHY Weighs In On Band’s Rebirth – “JEFF LOOMIS Won’t Settle For Anything Less Than Something That’s Going To Be The Correct Homage To WARREL DANE’s Legacy” appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
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During a recent interview with Venom Inc. prior to their show in Munich, Germany, we spontaneously asked guitarist Curran Murphy for his thoughts on Nevermore’s rebirth. Murphy did two stints with the band as a touring guitarist, for The Politics Of Ecstasy (1996) and Dead Heart In A Dead World (2000) albums. The floodgates opened and Murphy offered the following:
“I could not be happier for Jeff and Van. I’m ecstatic. I’m so fucking happy that Jeff and Van have decided to do this. I know it’s a tall order to replace Warrel Dane, but I know for a fact that Jeff won’t settle for anything less than something that’s going to be the correct homage to Warrel’s legacy. It will be something that they can build on and create more new music with.”
“The other reason I’m so excited about it is that I remember my time as their touring guitar player is that I think Jeff will be able to create the music exactly how he wants now. It’s going to be ‘I want to do it this way, and everybody has to say yes.’ The crazy thing is, Jeff isn’t wrong to have that mindset.”
Murphy elaborates:
“This is a true story. Before Dead Heart In A Dead world came out, I was learning the songs with Jeff, we were rehearsing at Jim (Sheppard / bass) and Warrel’s house. We would rehearse, hang out afterwards, have some drinks, and one day Warrel came to me and said in that deep baritone he had: ‘What did you think of ‘The River Dragon’ solo?’ I told him it was incredible, amazing, and he said ‘Just so you know, in the studio there were 14 more guitar tracks on that. I literally had to walk up to the console and say ‘No.’ I went down and started muting tracks until we got what you hear on the record. That’s how the solo happened.'”
“I’m not making fun of Warrel,” says Murphy. “Not at all. He had this way about him that was just awesome. The first thing in my head was, ‘Wait…. there are 14 other tracks on ‘The River Dragon’ harmony guitar solo? And you walked in and muted shit?’ Was Warrel wrong to do it? Probably not. But that could have been a B-side! I wanna hear what was originally recorded (laughs).”
Conversation turns to our respective favourite Nevermore songs, and Murphy shares an inside story on Loomis and Dane’s artistic relationship:
“When I first auditioned for Nevermore for the Politics Of Ecstasy tour, I didn’t even know who they were, I didn’t know who Sanctuary was. I know, my street cred’s going out the fucking window (laughs). A guitar player friend of mine told me about this great band called Nevermore that needed a touring guitarist. He wanted to focus on his own band so he gave me Jeff’s number, so I called and left Jeff a voicemail. I didn’t hear anything back for three months, and I eventually forgot about the call. Three months later Jeff calls me back, I set up the audition, then told him I had to take the bus out to them – it was a three-hour hike – and asked that even if I didn’t get the gig, even if I didn’t even get to plug in, could I stay somewhere for the night? I did the audition and it clearly went well (laughs), so we went back to Jeff’s apartment and hung out.”
“At some point Jeff brings out this big cardboard box and dumps it on the ground, splattering cassette tapes all over the floor. He starts pawing through them, saying ‘I’ve gotta play you something…’ He puts it on, it plays for about 15 seconds, and he says ‘Nah, this is crap! I’ve got something else…’ After about six or seven cassettes he finally found what he was looking for, and it was some of the most incredible music I’ve ever heard. It was unbelievable. I asked Jeff what it was and he says, ‘Oh, I wrote that when I was 13…’ or something like that. It was insane. So we spent the rest of the night drinking wine and listening to these cassettes. It was awesome.”
“So the next day – I’ll give you another Warrel impression – we’re in rehearsal and Warrel walks up to me when we were taking a break and says (baritone voice), ‘So, did Jeff show you… The Box?’ I played dumb, like, ‘What box?’ and he says ‘The box full of cassettes that he has of demos he thinks suck.’ He then went on to say, ‘We were short on songs for The Politics Of Ecstasy and Jeff didn’t want to write or finish anything, so I just went into The Box and grabbed three cassettes at random, threw them at Jeff and said ‘These are on the record…’ and walked away.’ (Laughs) I couldn’t believe it and I asked Warrel which songs they were. He said they were ‘Passenger’, I think it was ‘The Tiananmen Man’, and ‘The Learning’.”
Nevermore was a unique beast in the metal world, lethal and progressive in their own way. Murphy chalks a good portion of that up to Van Williams, the engine behind the band.
“I’ve said this before and I will always say this: Van Williams was the first guy where I finally understood what it was like when a drummer has an innate sound to how they play. Something like on ‘This Sacrament’, it’s got a swing and a sound and a feel. When my time with Nevermore was done and I was playing with some other bands, if they wanted to jam some Nevermore stuff it just didn’t feel right even if the drummer was amazing. It wasn’t Van.”
“So the whole thing about the rebirth of Nevermore, I cannot fucking wait. I’ve heard some Jeff Loomis music that nobody else has ever heard, and we haven’t heard one tenth of what he can do as a musician.”
Read Warrel Dane’s final interview with BraveWords, conducted in 2017 four months before he passed away, here.
Follow BraveWords on social media… Facebook page, Facebook Group, X/Twitter, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky and YouTube.
Visit https://linktr.ee/bravewords
The post Former NEVERMORE Touring Guitarist CURRAN MURPHY Weighs In On Band’s Rebirth – “JEFF LOOMIS Won’t Settle For Anything Less Than Something That’s Going To Be The Correct Homage To WARREL DANE’s Legacy” appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
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