“’Ariana’ represents the concept of a dream mate,” says Christopher Harold Wells of psychedelic alternative rock band The Neverlutionaries whose new single was released on Friday, October 2, 2020 via Polychromatic Records. “Upon finally meeting her, what would I say? How would I feel inside at that moment and what would those feelings sound like?”
“Ariana” as a concept and a fantastical love interest is an idea as old as music itself, and The Neverlutionaries take that concept and breathe new life into in the midst of the current cultural, pandemic and political climate. Regarding the origin of the band name, Wells explains, “The idea is that people are so lost in modern times, with so many issues to contend with and no great source of positive energy in which to draw from, that a real and true revolution seems impossible and it may never be. Hence, The Neverlutionaries. When I came up with the name late last year, there was a palpable tension in the air in our country, like something was about to blow. And it did.”
Taken from the band’s upcoming debut slated for January 2021, “Ariana” is a dreamy atmospheric track with swirling-delayed guitar effects waxing on the aforementioned desire. “The song is about the way love makes your soul dance about and how the feeling moves you,” Wells explains. “The music is like life with many movements and changes… harmony to discord and then to resolution. Like the ocean waves, the rhythm is never exactly the same and that where the magic is.”
An intercontinental musician who was originally born in Philadelphia by way of North Carolina and now splits his time between Nashville and San Francisco, Wells created his band with the intention of melding his rock ‘n’ roll roots with his love of jazz, alternative and shoegaze, bringing energy and artistic collaboration to a set of songs he had been working on for some time. The Neverlutionaries’ sound came alive with catchy, heavy, textural, sometimes trippy sounds and moved with thought invoking, soulful lyrical delivery that nods to the rock and soul strains of Lenny Kravitz and the artistically structured and sensual legacy of Prince.
Working alongside #1 Billboard debuting producer Jaimeson Durr (Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Train, Wyclef, Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart) at legendary San Francisco Hyde Street Studios (Green Day, Tupac Shakur, George Clinton, Dead Kennedys) on The Neverlutionaries’ debut, Wells was literally stopped in his tracks by the pandemic, so he set up at home while quarantining in North Carolina to resume work on the LP.
Pulling together a veritable who’s who in session musicians, Wells coordinated efforts with friends and collaborators including legendary guitarist Kenny Olson (Bootsy Collins, Steven Perkins from Jane’s Addiction, Norwood Fisher from Fishbone, fabled drummer James Gadson), San Francisco drummer/producer Chris McGrew (Pamela Parker and The Fantastic Machine, co-owner Wally’s Hydeout in Hyde Street Studios C where Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Santana, CCR and CSN&Y recorded), pianist Ryan Hickey (producer, Wally’s Hydeout), session/studio drummer Nick Baglio (Gucci Mane) and guitarist Jonnie Axtell (Psychefunkapus). The revolving cast of musicians in Wells’ orbit also includes Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist/former Parliament Funkadelic keyboardist Peter Keys, southern rock outlaw rapper Alexander King and the aforementioned Kenny Olson who play together in a rock funk side project called the All Time Low Stars.
Surrounded by musical talent as a child growing up, Wells had blues, gospel, soul and jazz musicians peppering his family tree alongside his father, former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Harold Wells. The multi-instrumentalist started his first band as a teenager and over time has fused rock, soul, blues, electronica and psychedelia into his sound. Eager to bring his ideas into fruition, Wells formed Peasants of the Apocalypse, an industrial rock band, who during their 7-year history went on to open for Metallica, Everclear and Def Leppard. Wells has also worked with and shared the same stage as Lauryn Hill, Bubba Sparxxx, Captain Kirk of The Roots and many others.