Never Was has been many different bands. In its current form, it is a quartet featuring Brandon Davis on bass, Bea Labikova on woodwinds, and Patrick O'Reilly on guitar with Joe Sorbara on drums and percussion. The long path to this configuration has included trumpeter Madeleine Ertel, multi-instrumentalist Naomi McCarroll-Butler, bassists Adrian Russouw and Reknee Harrett, vibraphonist Racha Moukalled, and guest artists including Lina Allemano, Noah Franche-Nolan, Tania Gill, and Kae Murphy.

Some or all of these distinctive musical adventureres have been gathering for many years in the Southern Cross Lounge of Toronto's much-beloved Tranzac Club for a semi-monthly residency exploring original music in the Black American Creative Music tradition.

The group's name comes from a Sorbara composition called "It's a line that never was," itself named after a curious sentence from The You Train by science fiction and fantasy writer, N.K. Jemisin.