The Never Ending: More Than Just a Band

Finding music happened differently for each of the members of The Never Ending. For guitarist Kyle Moore, his discovery of music came from the influence of his father. Moore’s father is a musician, therefore music has been a part of Moore’s entire life. He’d watch his father play and he’d be inspired to learn. He’d attend numerous concerts and memorize records front to back. However, it wasn’t until high school that Moore began to learn guitar. “I was like ‘Dad, I want to learn guitar.’ He [was] like, ‘Alright, whenever you’re ready, the guitar’s in the closet. Just go get it.’ He never was like, ‘Alright, lesson one we’re doing this’. It taught me if you want something, go for it.” This is a mantra that Moore has taken into account for his every- day life.

Drummer Johnny Franco started at fifteen years old when he was inspired to learn percussion by an older drummer playing at his church. Eventually, Franco saw one of his favorite bands, Dream Theatre, and was inspired by drummer Mike Portnoy. “[He] was taking the drum solo with long hair, spandex, and everything and I was like, ‘that’s sick. I wanna do that one day.’” Franco looks up to drummers such as Portnoy and wishes he played the drums for Pink Floyd’s album, The Dark Side of the Moon.

For Debby Ryan, music came into her life as a shoulder to lean on. “For me, growing up, I moved around a lot. It’s very Penny Lane from Almost Famous, but like when you’re ever bored or lonely, go to the record store and visit your friends. And that’s something that is so important to me. Music has always been present as something that made everything a little bit easier and more fun. Writing was something that I realized that I needed to do to survive.”

Read the rest of the feature here.