When you hear “queer band from London,” the mind might drift toward something melodic — a bit poppy punk punk with a message stitched into the chorus. Neversaid aren’t that. The trans-fronted quintet hit with the kind of force you’d expect from a band raised on Counterparts, Stray From The Path, and Terror — two–steps, breakdowns, and a non-stop action delivery that will keep you moving.
Their new single “Apathy Of A Spokesman,” out March 5th with a music video directed by Veronika Butkevitch, takes aim at a very specific target: people who say they’re on the right side but never seem to show up when it counts. Not the far right — they know where the far right stands. The song is about supposed allies. The chorus line says it plain: “what do you stand for when you’re standing in my way?”
Vocalist Lila Samuel doesn’t leave much room for misreading. “Within the punk and hardcore scenes, it’s generally agreed upon that we oppose right wing ideologies. That’s great,” she says. “But I’ve had way too many conversations about the social injustices we witness every day, only to be met with a mild condemnation of said injustice without any solution.”
She draws a clear line between the political categories she’s addressing. Liberals, in her view, seek progress through reform within capitalism. Leftists want to dismantle a system that relies on exploitation and division of the working class. And centrists? “Centrists seem to think that fence-sitting on issues such as fascism and genocide is a nuanced and intellectual take.”
Samuel has been a leftist for as long as she’s been politically aware. Growing up in a diverse part of South East London, she wasn’t exposed to much open bigotry early on — which, she admits, led her to believe many forms of it were uncommon. Adult life corrected that. “In my adult life I have unfortunately been exposed to disgusting amounts of racism, sexism, ableism and anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric.”
She’s quick to point out that the threat goes well beyond words — neo-nazis in the UK murdering queer people, politicians caught on recordings suggesting asylum seekers in small boats should be shot. “The threat isn’t just hurtful words, it’s acts of violence and oppressive policies that further marginalise the most vulnerable in society.”
What frustrates her most is a pattern she keeps seeing among liberals and centrists — the idea that the far right and the far left are somehow equivalent. “This apparent widespread adoption of horseshoe theory is completely ridiculous, and is void of any nuance,” she says. The phrase “everyone is entitled to their own opinion” comes up constantly, but Samuel argues that deploying it in conversations about fascism reduces human rights issues to a matter of personal preference. And it’s not just the opinions she’s pushing back against — it’s the violent actions of people who hold them.
She lists real-world consequences without flinching: the racist and Islamophobic riots in the UK since 2024, the enormous rise in anti-LGBT hate crimes over the past decade, the domestic and sexual violence women face daily. “When I’m talking about fighting back against said hatred and violence, to be told by centrists and liberals that it would make me as bad as those I’m fighting against, it makes me question whose side they’re really on.” The same people, she notes, are quick to condemn anti-fascist action but nowhere to be seen when fascist violence occurs.
She points to a specific example. When Charlie Kirk died, social media filled with posts about how “no one deserves to be killed for their political beliefs.” Those same accounts, as multiple genocides unfolded in the Middle East? Silence. As immigration enforcement agencies in the US kidnapped people to deport or imprison them without due process? Silence. “Their outrage is selective, as they value their own intellectual and perceived moral superiority over the lives of society’s most vulnerable.”
There’s a class dimension to the lyrics too, and Samuel doesn’t shy away from it. “It’s easy to condemn aggressive resistance when you have enough wealth to not be affected by the issues at hand,” she explains. She’s watched well-off liberals defend capitalism simply because the system benefits them — blind to the working class struggle to keep food on the table and a roof overhead. That struggle, she argues, is an integral feature of the system, not a bug. “To maintain the system, politicians like Nigel Farage and Donald Trump, alongside the mainstream media fund culture wars to divide the working class. Racism, patriarchy, queer phobia and ableism are literally built into the system.” Claiming to support marginalised communities while defending capitalism is, in her words, a contradiction that only maintains the status quo.
The band itself — made up entirely of trans people and immigrants — would seem an obvious target for discrimination, especially in today’s UK. But Samuel says their experience within the hardcore scene has been the opposite. “I think the hardcore scene, at least on a local scale, are pretty good at self-policing, and keeping bigoted attitudes out of our scene.” She’s felt a real sense of belonging, booking many of the band’s shows herself through her promotion company Nosegrind Events.
She names the people who’ve had their backs: promoters Cut & Run, Real Life Presents, and 0121 Queercore. Venues like New Cross Inn, Signature Brew, and especially The Camden Eye — where she regularly puts on shows — have always made her feel safe as a trans person, “despite the danger that the trans community faces elsewhere.”
Bands she wants to shout out include Viatorem, Not Like This, Death Of Youth, Hearing Tests, Emergency Broadcast, Windowhead, and Louse.
A telling detail: a couple of Samuel’s bandmates asked not to be named in this article because of their immigration status and the current political climate in the UK.
Neversaid formed in 2020 and have been relentlessly touring the UK since, sharing stages with Hawthorne Heights, Dream State, Graphic Nature, and Bex, and selling out headline shows at The Hope & Anchor and The Camden Eye. The lineup is Lila Samuel on vocals, Justin Yeung and Saga Mak on guitars, Max Kiley on bass, and Jae Taylor on drums.
Their previous single “The Sound Of Skin Breaking” landed in late 2025.
