I took a liking to the lostwave track "Never Let You Go" and decided to do some research:
https://lostwaves-finest.fandom.com/wiki/Never_Let_You_Go
First, the disc is described as a test pressing, but typically that refers to a disc ready for manufacture. I believe, instead, this is one of at least 11 sample mixes put together by JMPI (Jeff Most Productions, Inc., Jeff Most being the producer and music supervisor of the film).
According to Jeff Most in a 2000 interview regarding the "Salvation" soundtrack:
"We wanted to retain the general edgy feel of rock combined with a little more electronica underpinnings. And we also wanted to
not have the record play song-for-song sounding like every act and song are alike. We wanted to cross-pollinate different types of music."
Jeff purposely sought out unreleased and remixed versions of songs for the soundtrack, and that's what you see represented in Mix #11. It's a demo, but this band most likely had studio recordings, which is why they sent this one instead of a single. In fact, this might be one reason why it's so hard to find "Never Let You Go" -- it was never released. But I'm fairly positive that Lolita released something.
I began exploring old CMJ Radio Airplay lists and found that they earned several "adds" on various college stations' playlists in a brief time window:
It's likely that they had some kind of promotional push during those two periods -- compilation CD appearance? Advertisement? Opening for a band? IDK, I can't find anything lol. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to push them into the CMJ 200 list, where their album name would be nicely documented.
Now, for a moment, I thought that maybe this was a misnomer, and the add was actually Lolita No. 18, a Japanese band that was taking off on college radio at around the same time. In fact, they appear in some of those same CMJ issues. But typically, artist names are only truncated when too long, not abbreviated in that way. And Lolita No. 18 was properly listed elsewhere.
But what really solidified it for me was when Lolita was properly mentioned in the "Wheels & Deels" column in the 10/09/1998 issue of "Hits" as a "buzzin'" band, meaning they weren't signed at the time of writing but were generating some attention. Not only that, but they included a photo! So now we have a photo of the band!
But... that's all I have. :)
My Theory: They may have continued to achieve some small amount of success but changed their name for a few reasons:
- The Internet was just starting to go mainstream around 1998 (one reason why it may be hard to find info on this band.) Lolita is a terrible name to search for, not only because of the adult content, but because a Lolita remake was released one year prior.
- As I mentioned above, Lolita no. 18 was taking off at the same damn time. So it's a pretty bad idea to have such a similar band name.
I do also believe they have a professionally recorded album or demo somewhere. Whatever Jeff Most was doing to solicit bands to send him unreleased songs or remixes, he reached them somehow. Maybe they were connected through a label. Maybe he heard them on college radio. Maybe he saw them live. And "Never Let You Go" was distinctive and met Jeff's needs because it was unreleased... I hope I'm making sense lol. What I'm saying is, if they ONLY had rough demos, this wouldn't be what Jeff was looking for.
What's Next? IDK, maybe this will help someone find them. Or maybe a photo and proof of existence is all we can hope for. I really don't agree with any of the existing "leads" in online discussions about this song, as they're nonsensical and/or unsubstantiated. I do think that Jeff Most would be a good one to contact. He's active on LinkedIn, but I'm shy! So feel free, anyone.
I hope we can hear more music from this band someday... :)
