Forever No More
An interview with Khatelyn Bujak/Lead Singer for Forever No More
by Laura Sorensen
September 2015
Fovever No More from Tomah, WI
Hailing from Tomah, Wisconsin, Forever No More busy themselves writing messages of life, turmoil and bliss wearing their wear their hearts on their sleeves with every performance. The band started in 2013 and released their 2014 debut EP “Forever No More” followed by their sophomore release “Dark Brings The light”. I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with vocalist Khatelyn Bujak, here is an abbreviated version of our conversation.
Maximum Ink: Tell us how you came up with the band name Forever No More?
KB: This is a really funny story. The band started probably three months prior to us having a name for the band. It was Christmas two years ago. We were in my Uncle’s basement and Trent our lead guitarist who is also my step dad said “What are we going to name the band?” Me: “I don’t know.” He’s like “It’s gotta be somethin’ cool.” I’m like “I don’t know.” I said “I kind of want an oxymoron. Things that are totally opposite. I really really like Forever. Forever and Ever.” I just kept thinking Forever No More, Forever No More, and I love Edgar Allen Poe. I thought this would be great, the whole thing with The Raven, kind of stormy and dark, especially our intro song. Trent said “Oh I like that” and I said “Forever No more will be a Raven.” He said “Yes, that’s it.” When we got back together with the rest of the band I said “We have a band name!” It was actually on Christmas Eve that we finally decided our band name would be Forever No More.
MI: How did you all come together as a band?
KB: Trent is from Tomah, WI. Basically he’s been in a band since he was in high school. When I relocated to Tomah we just sort of fell into play. I wrote music and he heard me singing one time. He’s like, okay, we’ve gotta do something. We had a bass player but he had to leave because of his job. After we lost our bass player we thought “Hey, doesn’t Eric play bass?” So we offered for him to join us and he was totally on board. Trent ended up buying another guitar, a big cab that gave us two different tones that would duplicate the sound of including a rhythm guitar. It was a mess for a while too and I was like “Okay, can we just stop getting rid of people now?” (Laughs)
MI: After I saw you perform at Madtown Underground Throwdown, I would describe your music as moderately hard rock. Is that how you feel about it or does it depend on the audience?
KB: I do think that we’re moderately hard rock. We’ve got some Pop aspects in there, some of our songs are a little more upbeat. I’ve compared ourselves to some other bands who are also in the same genre as we are. It’s almost like an Evanescence or Halestorm type of feel. I’m not sure exactly what their genre of music is but it’s always been under that soft hard rock. I would definitely say that rings true to what we sound like..
MI: You have two CD’s right now, “Forever No More” and “Dark Brings The Light.” What is the inspiration for how you write your songs?
KB: When we first started as a band I was just out of college. I was in a very serious relationship for almost three years. It ended up not working out for a horrible horrible reason, so that fueled the fire for “I hate this dude, I’m gonna write bad songs about him!” I just kept writing stuff on paper, poems and little tidbits, anything that popped into my mind while I was at work bartending. That was the inspiration for our first CD. Then I realized wow this sounds really hateful. I think I could do a lot more with just writing about bad relationships in general. I have a lot of life experiences that I would like to share through music. Other people overcoming that, also pushing through that as well. It’s just been the inspiration of finding yourself and finding what pushes you past anything negative. Going forth don’t worry about the past, don’t dwell on the negative.
MI: Where would you like to see the band go with your music?”
KB: I can see us going both ways. I would love to just do the local scene forever. Everyone is so nice, the people you meet are spectacular, the other bands are so supportive, it’s like a family. I would like to say we’re going to be opening up for all of these major acts, that we’re going to be a huge act and travel and tour, that would be phenomenal. That’s every local band’s dream, but we like to stay as humble as we can. Where I see the band going in the next year is taking on more shows than we’ve done this summer. We’re going to double it next summer. I really want more production on stage too. That’s where I see us in a year. I want to offer people more visually. That’s our goal right now. And merchandise, more of it. (Laughs)
MI: If you did have the opportunity to tour what would be the dream band that you would tour with?
KB: Oh my gosh, that is such a hard question. So many bands out there are so, so good. Honestly if I could pick one band it would be Filter. My boyfriend got me really hooked on Filter. Their music is so great and they’ve got this production. I would love to tour with them. Or Fear Factory. They are so cool. Awesome guys, super talented and their new CD is phenomenal
MI: Have you guys had any of your songs played on radio? Like local stations.
KB: Yes, and that is so weird when it happens, it is the weirdest feeling. There’s a Locals At Lunch station that’s out of La Crosse 95.7. We’ve been on that quite a few times, just recently with a couple of our new EP’s “Misplaced” and “I Own Me.” That was exciting. There’s also something called the Internet Lounge. We were on that a couple of times. We’ve also been on another internet radio called The Great Unknown. They’ve played us a few times as well. We’ve been hitting up the local radio stations as much as we can. It’s awesome when you hear yourself on there, it’s really cool.
MI: Do you have any music videos yet?
KB: No, but we know what song we’re going to do one to. It’s on our new EP, we want to do a music video to the song “I Own Me.” There is another song but we’re actually keeping it quite sheltered. The song itself is very powerful. So yes we do have plans to make a music video. We’re shooting for most likely next fall.
MI: Which of the band’s songs is your personal favorite?
KB: It changes. If I had to pick one that’s on an EP it would be “Around Me.” I wrote that song about my grandfather after he passed away. I was able to write a song and mend from it every day. This is how I mend those scars, this is how I move forward from this huge turmoil that sucks, but you’ve got to get it on paper and if you’re going to sing it, that’s how you heal. To get yourself through all of the negative. “Around Me” is definitely one that will always have that special place in my heart.
LS: What compelling factor can you share about the band that would inspire people to come see you perform?
MI: Well, we could say that we offer free beer, that would inspire people. (Laughs). What we write and perform is basically our hearts on our sleeves. We write about turmoil, bliss, happiness, sadness, anything that anyone in a crowd can at some point relate to in our performance. I think that should be what inspires people to come see us. At least one song out of this performance really spoke true to me, it means something to me now. That’s what I hope, that someone could benefit from or come across our Facebook page and read that part in our biography and say, “Yeah, I’m going to come see you guys” or “Yeah I heard that song and now I’m obsessed.’ That is our goal, for you to hear that song and be inspired, and share with your friends.