NEVERMORE's reunion has carried one unanswered question since it was announced: where is Jim Sheppard? The founding bassist has been publicly absent from the reformed band, and in a new interview with Italy's TrueMetal.it, guitarist Jeff Loomis and drummer Van Williams have explained why.
"It's just we haven't spoken to Jim in, like, so long," Loomis said. "We decided just to move on from the negativity. We wanted people on our same level of thinking and people on our same page. And when you go on stage with people that are thinking like you, like, positive, it makes for such a bigger force as a band. And there was a lot of negativity going on at that time."
Williams went further, and framed it as a decision about energy rather than blame. He and Loomis stayed in touch through the years after the split — through Loomis's ARCH ENEMY stint and through personal difficulties on both sides — while contact with Sheppard simply stopped. "Unfortunately, Jim was part of something that we weren't really in contact with because of a lot of that negative space back then, and that we could tell it's not gonna change," he said. "People have to change for themselves. And I can't blame it all on one person." He added that the band had cleared the reunion with "the higher-ups" before proceeding: "So we didn't owe anyone a call. Nothing against the guy — not at all — but it's just for us to start fresh in a new mindset, we had to go this direction."
The current NEVERMORE lineup pairs Loomis and Williams with guitarist Jack Cattoi, bassist Semir Özerkan and vocalist Berzan Önen. It made its live debut on April 1 at IF Performance Hall Beşiktaş in Istanbul.
The band effectively ended in 2011, when Loomis and Williams left over differences with Sheppard and singer Warrel Dane — who later described NEVERMORE as "the greatest band that alcohol ever ruined". Dane died in December 2017 in São Paulo while recording his posthumous solo album "Shadow Work".
Sheppard, who has retired to Alaska with his wife Priscila, a wildlife photographer, gave his own account in January 2025. "In my heart, NEVERMORE will always be Warrel, Jeff and I living in a one-room apartment, slaves to an eight-track recording machine, non-stop songwriting insanity," he wrote. "I'm disappointed no one reached out to me concerning the name NEVERMORE, a name that means blood, sweat and tears. With that said, I wish them the best."