Music that’s fit for not one, but three kings.

Been dying to listen to some Indie Punk? If so- you’re in luck- because the group, Three Not Kings, has just released their new single, “Never Enough”, on sound cloud.

Neil, Ian, and Colby, Three Not Kings, pictured from left to right. (Credit: Three Not Kings)

Meet Neil, Ian, and Colby. Three musicians, all dedicated to playing Indie Punk music, a unique genre that’s gaining popularity among rock and punk fans alike.

Beginning with a prospective high-school talent show, and a battle of the bands soon after, Three Not Kings has been together for quite some time, but not nearly as long as the band name has been around.

According to Neil, the group’s guitarist, the first time he thought of the band name, Three Not Kings, was way back when he was in sixth grade! Although the name wasn’t used in an actual band for quite some time, he and Ian used the title in a game called Rock band.

In the last few months, the band has composed and worked with many songs, their first to be released being, “Never Enough.”

The song took “close to twenty four hours (to record)”, Ian, the band’s drummer said, but much longer to write and create.

The Lyrics, by Neil, were actually written in his English class, and the riff was made up in April of last year.

“Never Enough, took us a while- we’d write bits and pieces, but it became a full song probably last July- or August,” Neil said.

He also added that some of the song writing process included him and Ian, sitting on his bedroom floor and shuffling chords together.

Besides the time it took to compose the song, the recording process consisted of many takes- well- many takes of everything except the bass part.

“I came in and did the bass part in like- one take!” Colby, the groups bassist, exclaimed, after Neil commented on the 70 or 80 vocal tracks the group took for the song. This line- got a laugh out of nearly everyone in the room.

Besides this song, the group has plans to release an EP this fall, but their main focus is on playing live music, at the moment. One of their most interesting songs- to me at least- was one about a taxi driver crashing into a palm tree.

Before playing through the song, the three conversed over the piece’s actual title- as it was just going by something along the lines of “Neil’s sad song” - by the end of the interview, it was confirmed that the song’s title, was indeed, “Taxi driver crashing into a palm tree.”

Wondering where such a song title could come from? Well I wondered too. According to Neil, song ideas come off the top of his head, literally and figuratively. “I just think of stuff. The taxi one... I got that off of my hat,” he said.

Pictured above, is the hat that inspired "Taxi driver crashing into a palm tree" (Credit : Three not kings)

On the other hand, Colby mostly subscribes to Chuck Berry’s songwriting theory,“ I write about girls, write about fun, write about cars... but it’s kinda just - anything that’s happening in my life right now - I’ll write a song about it.”

While those two primarily cover the writing of the group’s music, Ian is always there to, “make sure it’s not really out of hand, or cringey sometimes.” Besides this, he also improvises and creates every drum part featured on the bands set list.

Interestingly enough, Ian is a primarily self taught drummer, “I’m pretty much self taught, in drumming,” he said, “ What I learned off of, are basically rock band drum charts... a lot of it is Metallica - and it’s really fast; It really challenged me to work.”

Pictured above is the group's drummer , Ian. (Credit: Three Not Kings)

Because of this background in drumming, a significant portion of Three Not Kings’ music features a fast tempo, and is inspired by metal. Speaking of fast paced, before each show, the group follows a tradition of going to Maverick to get bang energy drinks, going to Chick-fil-A, and then finally shouting at each other, just before going on stage.

Another interesting fact about the group is their sticker collection on Colby’s bass. The common favorite, is a sticker of naked Homer Simpson, and a literal Pokemon card.

The sticker collection on Colby's bass guitar. (Credit: Three Not Kings)

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Check out the Band’s single, “Never Enough”, here!

And their Instagram is linked, here.