A cool night in Indianapolis. A venue roaring to life with music and dancing. A small window is at the back of the venue, helping the acoustics and allowing performers to see out into the street. As the night goes on, snow slowly starts to fall. Gradually, the small drizzle of snow turns into a raging blizzard. As one band leaves, they realize they are going to have to drive seven hours home in the raging blizzard for work the next morning.

“And as we’re driving, there are overturned trucks, like every like maybe two miles there’s an overturned truck on the side of the road … if I did not have work tomorrow I would just pull off and go to the first hotel,” said Ryan Erdmann, the guitarist of the band Never Better.

This is just one story of many that Never Better has to tell. Never Better is a local band to Illinois. They have been playing under this name for one year. The band consists of drummer Sabrina Cordero, vocalist and bassist Micheal Balzano, guitarist Brian Paglia, and Erdmann. 

Never Better writes and performs original songs such as “3:33” and “Finding A Light In The Darkness.” Erdmann is the typical writer of the group.

“I’m trying to put more of a positive spin on things and make it more about mental health and just like situations where I’ve struggled and had issues with my own life… even though it’s something negative that happened to me something positive came out of it type of feel to it,” Erdmann said.

Along with playing as a band, the members of Never Better all have separate jobs. This tends to conflict with practice schedules and sometimes shows. Sometimes they have to drive long hours home from a late show just to make it to work.

“I would say, for me, the only thing that sucks is that we don’t get to do one day a week, practice. Cuz I just like being around these guys. I think it’s such a family…,” Cordero said.

Work schedules get in the way sometimes. The band can luckily afford to practice one day a week. Keeping practice constant and thorough. This also allows the band to have constant communication and a close relationship. They all work a range of jobs from a 9 to 5 desk job, to being a manager, but there is nothing that will stop them from making music.

“Probably go crazy, honestly,” Erdmann said. Music has been in their lives for years. Having experience from lessons as a kid to school bands. All members have worked in previous bands but have ended up together. They hope to continue making music together.

‘Never Better’ plays at a range of locations all over Illinois and sometimes into neighboring states. They have a constant update of upcoming shows on news on their website neverbetterband.com. You can also listen to Spotify and Apple Music. They all want to say thank you for reading and hopefully listening. Thank you for giving listeners a place to feel safe. Thank you for your support. Thank you for the music.