Never Heard Of It is trying their best to make sure everyone does hear of them.
The Southern California based pop-punk rock band is opening for Bowling for Soup and Lucky Boys Confusion at the Marquee Theatre Tuesday.
Well aware that their name confuses people, lead singer D.J. Dell'Osa said, "It started as a joke in high school when Jeff (Anenberg, lead guitar) and I were a two-man cover band. It was just a saying we had back then that stuck."
NHOI has since evolved into its current five-member line-up and has been furiously touring and promoting for about two years, Dell'Osa said.
The band features Dell'Osa on vocals, Anenberg on lead guitar, Rick Avery on bass, Elmo Jamz on drums and Greg Lynch on rhythm guitar.
"Our sound is happy, fun, feel-good music," Dell'Osa said.
Unlike many of the up-and-coming bands trying to survive in the music business, NHOI has gotten to where they are now almost completely on its own. Members employ friends as their tour manager, promoter, Webmaster, music techs, and publicists, and do much of the promoting work themselves.
True to their humble natures, they even name their tours things like "I Hope We Don't Break Down Summer 2001 Tour" and "The Can We Crash at Your House Tonight Tour".
However, unlike many independent bands, NHOI has no problem with bands on major labels and is in the process of working out a contract with one themselves, which should be finalized by the end of the year, Dell'Osa said.
"Being on a major label is a good thing because of all the money, support and distribution that comes with that," said Dell'Osa. "The bands we're touring with right now all have major label contracts and we respect them and they respect us."
NHOI holds the distinction of being the only band ever on the Warped Tour to play all dates two years in a row (2001 and 2002) without a record deal. They have two recordings out: an LP, "Limited Edition" and an EP, "The New Sh*t," on their own imprint, Unmotivated Records.
"Warped Tour was great because of all the different genres of bands that play, groups that we would never get to play with on a normal tour," Dell'Osa said.
Their current tour with Bowling for Soup is also going well, Dell'Osa said.
"They're one of my favorite bands to see live," he said. "They literally play until they are kicked off the stage, sometimes for over 2 1/2 hours. They take shots in between songs, get the crowd up on the stage and buy people drinks."
Despite the fact that they haven't even finalized their record contract yet, NHOI is still basking in the light of rock success.
"I'm having more fun doing this than I would doing anything else. I really can't ask for anything more," Dell'Osa said. "We get to do whatever we want most of the time and the bands on this tour are all so close."
Dell'Osa said Phoenix is one of the band's favorite places to play.
"We all love Arizona. That was one of the first places we played before going on national tours, because it's so close to home," he said.
Once finished with the current tour, NHOI will go overseas for the first time to play shows in the U.K. and Europe, and then will go back to the studio to keep working on their next full-length record.
For more information on Tuesday's show and more on NHOI, go to www.neverheardofit.com.
Annemarie Moody is an entertainment writer for the Web Devil. Reach her at annemarie.moody@asu.edu.
