Founding Nevermore Bassist Jim Sheppard Calls Apparent Return ‘Completely Disrespectful’

A couple days ago, we were excited to learn that there might be a return of the prog metal outfit Nevermore after both Jeff Loomis and Van Williams teased its potential return. I mean, they broke up back in 2011, so it’s been a minute.

But if you were one of the many fans online that were stoked to hear that the band might be making a comeback, you may want to temper those feelings, because founding bassist Jim Sheppard and his wife Priscilla took to social media to blast the apparent “reunion”.

“Since I have been receiving a few messages from James fans regarding a post Van Williams made on social media, I feel I need to respond to you with an update.

“James has never been contacted about Van’s plans with Jeff using the Nevermore name. I am sorry you think James is involved. We do not know about their plans, and it is completely disrespectful of them to use the name Nevermore without consulting Jim Sheppard, as he is one of the founders of the band.

“We are waiting for clarification on this alleged project and will proceed from there, whether or not clarification comes from them. No further comment for now. Thank you.”

You may remember that Nevermore split up back in 2011 over some personal differences (and some alcohol-related issues) between both vocalist Warrel Dane and Sheppard and Loomis and Van Williams. At one point, Dane said Nevermore was “the greatest band that alcohol ever ruined.” Some years later in 2017, Dane passed away at the age of 56 due to having a heart attack while in Brazil working on his now posthumous album Shadow Work.

So with Sheppard and his wife now voicing their opposition to this whole thing, we’ll have to see if this whole Nevermore is actually going to happen now. Only time will tell.