Third of Never’s new album Damage The Pearl is the soundtrack to a feature-length film set for a 2026 release. The film is loosely based on a narrative inspired by the songs. Third of Never’s lead singer Doug MacMillan (also known for his work with the Connells) and guitarist Jon Dawson star in the Brent Clark film. The band is rounded out by founding member Jode Haskins (lead bass), Charles Cleaver (keyboards), and drummer Brandon Ruth. Also appearing on the album are Who/Pete Townshend keyboardist John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick, Steve Potak (Connells), and Sara Bell (Lud). On June 6th the band’s set will focus on material from Damage The Pearl, along with material from their previous four albums and the debut of two new songs. For music, video, and band interviews, visit www.343Collective.com.
Erie Choir
“Erie Choir is almost an anagram of my name,” Eric Roehrig explains with a slight chuckle. “The album titles are all anagrams—the first one is called Slighter Awake, which, taken altogether, says ‘Eric Roehrig takes a while.’” It’s been eight years since Old Rigs, Erie Choir’s second album, which arrived nine years after the band’s 2006 debut. Roehrig characterizes himself as “easily distracted,” but “patient” is a better descriptor for his songs and their lengthy gestation periods. The gorgeous arrangements, the earwormy melodies, the layers of sly humor and poignant observation in the lyrics—all of this comes from Roehrig’s unwillingness to rush, to let the songs appear and dictate their direction.
The Carrboro, NC-based songwriter came up in the Chapel Hill indie rock scene, splitting lead duties in Sorry About Dresden with the late Matt Oberst. Roehrig first started Erie Choir in the early 2000s as a channel for his acoustic folk musings that didn’t quite fit with his main band, but over the past 20 years, it’s morphed into a full-throated, muscular rock and roll outfit. What began as a quiet solo project gradually accrued trusted collaborators, slowly solidifying into the longstanding lineup of today: Roehrig, fellow Sorry About Dresden alumnus James Hepler, Bob Wall, Jack Watson, and Ben Spiker.
Scivic Rivers
Scivic Rivers is the musical nom de plume of American singer-songwriter Randy Bickford; the new self-titled album is his seventh LP.
Bickford’s songs have earned him wide recognition from fellow lifer musicians and critics alike. Pitchfork described his writing as “tracing a single thought or sketching a single image throughout the course of several bars, building suspense and making you wait patiently for the pay-off”.
Scivic Rivers represents the next epoch of Bickford’s work. In retrospect, it makes sense: he released his initial output as the Strugglers, often emergent and spare as the bones of his songwriting hardened. In time, he found himself upright and walking in his craft, releasing a pair of albums under his own name, Brice Randall Bickford, still personal but now breathing with life and rich arrangements. But all walking is controlled falling, and the coming years would invite and even require a new horizon.
