Neverlove on the war

Neverlove's Stance on the War in Ukraine

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, members of the band Neverlove announced a concert tour across Russian cities, offering superficial condolences to their Ukrainian friends:

...despite the dominance of the well-known agenda, despite the pain of realizing what is happening to our Ukrainian friends, and despite the looming catastrophe of consequences to which our country is doomed, there is no way in hell we are just going to take and toss away our primary life's work...

In October 2022, the band announced on Telegram a concert tour, proclaiming that "they didn't give a damn about any circumstances whatsoever" and scoffed at artists who had left Russia:

...in two years of existence we haven't played a single tour without an apocalyptic vibe, first due to covid, then due to war, then due to mobilization, and when the f...ing aliens arrive while our tour is booked, guess what we will do? Exactly, shove it down their throats along with anyone lecturing us about the appropriateness or inappropriateness of hosting anything, and we will embark on our f...ing tour, figuring out options to play on Mars later. We don't give a damn about any circumstances, someone else's ethics, or someone else's bullshit, and this autumn we will play the hottest concerts in your cities while other artists back down or jerk off in Georgia...

In April 2024, after a Neverlove concert was canceled due to a "misunderstanding and miscommunication that arose around the song 'NATO Instructor'", the band rolled out a post on Telegram confessing that they are "for Russia" and constitute the "most constructive and patriotic Russian metallers":

...our agenda is open, straightforward, and clear: partying, heavy metal, pumping iron, awesome concerts in Russia and for Russia (and of course for Russia), and recently motorcycles. 'Instructor' will vanish from streaming services in the coming days, its removal is already underway, and I have already purged it from the YouTube channel.

Concerts in the Occupied Territories

For the autumn, the band announced a major concert tour that included Russian-occupied Ukrainian cities: Mariupol, Donetsk, Sevastopol, and Simferopol.

Following their tour of occupied Ukrainian cities, frontman Yaroslav Stepanov posted several TikTok clips and Telegram posts where he openly denies the reality of military occupation. The artist recorded a video against the backdrop of a Russian tricolor sign at the entrance to ruined Mariupol, declaring: "everywhere here is the tricolor and people who consider themselves Russian".

Yaroslav described his impressions of these performances as follows:

...we opened a brand new chapter of domestic rock and metal in Donetsk with a double sold-out show, in Mariupol with the first concert in modern history, and in Crimea... personally, my worldview shifted immensely during this raid. Or rather, it didn't change, but grew stronger in the conviction that we are absolute legends, that we always backed our people and always strove to reach them despite any bullshit from outside. ...the youth are openly proud to be Russia and tell off anyone who claims they ought to feel ashamed of it. I saw with my own eyes how proud these people are and how passionately they tell anyone to f... off if they have the stupidity and audacity to say anything contrary to them.

The band continues to live and work in Russia, actively touring across cities of the Russian Federation and the occupied territories of Ukraine.