Never Ending Passion for Rock Music

February 12, 2009 by Marcus Wente

Never Ending Conflict is a four-piece band originating from Minster and Bluffton, Ohio, which just released its newest CD, One Slip Away.

The new CD has a vocal sound of Breaking Benjamin, with unique sounding guitar riffs and drumming. “It’s hard to describe how we sound, we have a unique style and many different influence,” said Tony Schmiesing, drummer for Never Ending Conflict.

The vocal sounds and bass groove of One Slip Away are unique, and come straight from the vocal cords and fingers of Dusty Ellis, the band's bass player and lead vocalist.

“I never really wanted to be a singer, but I stepped up when we needed a singer, and have worked my butt of to get where I am right now,” said Ellis.

Ellis’s unique sound is somewhat similar to his vocal idol M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold. “He sings really well and doesn’t look like he’s trying to hard at all,” said Ellis.

However, even though Ellis is the lead singer of the band, he doesn’t write all the lyrics. Some of the lyrical writing is left up to the drummer, Tony Schmiesing, who has been playing for eight years.

“I would say my influences are Breaking Benjamin, Avenged Sevenfold, and Dave Matthews Band," Schmiesing said. "They revolutionized and developed their own style and branched out. That’s why I would say I look up to these band and their drummers."

Kory Michael, guitarist for Never Ending Conflict, had something similar to say about his guitar heroes. Michael said, “I would say my guitar heroes are Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page, and Synester Gates, because they were all innovators of guitar playing, and had their own style.”

Michael started playing bass originally, but switched to guitar and has been playing guitar for five years now. Michael also aids Schmiesing in writing some of the lyrics for the band.

The newest addition to the band is Luke Rausch, the second guitarist for Never Ending Conflict. “They make fun of me every now and then for being the ‘old man’ of the group,” said Rausch.

Rausch got his start with a band named Lessr from the Bluffton area until recently joining Never Ending Conflict. Rausch whose been playing for thirteen years is the veteran of the group.

“My guitar heroes would be Tom Morello and James Hetfield because they play a bit heavier which is what I like,” said Rausch.

Never Ending Conflict has the same dream as any other aspiring band, “We hope that we make it big so we don’t have to have an everyday job, or go to college.”

The band can be reached at myspace.com/neverendingconflict.