Down by the Ohio River in the heart of the Midwest, at a pirate themed laser tag arena, The Never Setting Suns became a band. In late August of 2008, drummer Tyler Griffin and songwriter Corey Larrison were playing in a two-piece noise rock band that had been asked to perform at local laser tag arena in Cincinnati known as “Scaly Wag Tag.” At the time, Corey had been splitting his guitar signal into both a guitar amp and a bass amp. However, for the Scaly Wag show, the two decided to enlisted the help of their good friend Chris Courts to play bass on a couple of songs to make it a three-piece noise rock band. After playing a 1am to 6am show of unending nonsense, the three decided to formally become a band. Taking influence from artists such as Modest Mouse, Built to Spill and Explosions in the Sky, the band began writing in the vein of explosive indie rock and started playing local shows to share their songs.
A typical live show is an extremely high energy performance. Drummer Tyler Griffin, with an affinity for harder sounds, tends to shred several sets of sticks while crashing out brilliant moments of intensity from his kit. Singer Corey Larrison, a Neil Young obsessed shoegazer, uses an array of pedals to loop ambient melodies to cut through with dirty guitar riffs. Bassist Chris Courts, the most attractive member of the group, holds the bands chaos together as he lays down the smooth underlying melody of each song. On occasion he will also pretend to gun down the audience with his bass.
As great friends, the band released a five song self titled EP on March 6th of 2009 that has gone up on iTunes and is available at Cincinnati’s local record stores. The EP uniquely captures the introspective lyrics and passionate song writing of the group. Recorded at Live Love Studios in Cincinnati, engineer Noah Smith and the band sought to use unconventional recording techniques to foster a more personal appeal to the songs. A good example of this can be found in the closing number, “Wrapped in Plaster,” when Corey recites an ending incantation through the pickups of his guitar from inside a bathroom. Overall, the appeal of the EP comes out of the friendship between the members, whose chemistry as musicians composes the beautiful intensities of the recorded piece.
Currently, the Never Setting Suns are recording a full length album at Ultrasuede Studios in Cincinnati with engineer Chad Wahlbrink and producer Gary Shell.
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