Submitted photo Infidels — from left, John Koury, Pete Drivere, Dave Lisko and John Hlumyk — release its album “Never Forever,” and will play an album-release show Oct. 11 at Westside Bowl in Youngstown.

“Never Forever” is the title of the new album by Youngstown’s Infidels.

Longtime fans might wonder if the title was the answer to the two often-asked questions, “Will Infidels ever release a new album?” (Never) and “How long will I have to wait for a new Infidels’ record?” (Forever).

Infidels — Pete Drivere, guitar and vocals; Dave Lisko, guitar and vocals; John Hlumyk, bass and vocals; and John Koury, drums and vocals — put out its first single in 1985, followed by more singles, an EP released in France and two full-length albums (“9:25 and Seven Seconds” and “Wondrous Strange”) by 1990. The 13-year gap until “All for Nothing”” in 2003 is nothing compared to the 22-year wait for “Never Forever.” A child conceived when “All or Nothing” was released is old enough to buy the band a celebratory beer for the follow up.

Lisko and Koury in separate interviews said they never expected it to take this long. The COVID-19 pandemic was a big factor. The band records at Drivere’s studio Ampreon Recorder, which had to find a new home when the Ward Bakery building was sold. Koury and Drivere (and later Hlumyk) were active for several years with Frank Secich in the Deadbeat Poets, and Drivere now plays guitar in Candace Campana’s band. And in a band with four equal partners — it is the rare band where all four guys are songwriters and trade off on lead vocals — even decisions such as cover art can take a while before finding consensus.

But perhaps the biggest impact is that Infidels is a band that prefers to do its recording when everyone can be in the studio together, Lisko said, and he now lives in Rochester, N.Y., which limited his availability.

But the band has had the CD copies in hand for months and the purple vinyl LPs for a few weeks, and “Never Forever” will be available Friday for streaming and for purchase through Bandcamp and some music retailers.

“I’m excited because I think it’s a really solid album,” Koury said. “I think everyone brought really good songs to the table, and I think Pete took a lot of time recording them and mixing and mastering. I mean, he just did an incredible job with the sound of the album.”

Infidels’ sound has been called power pop, rock and at least punk-adjacent. Rootsy influences always have been present, but several new tracks have an Americana vibe. Hlumyk’s “Easy for You” wouldn’t be out of place on a Mavericks’ album. Koury’s “Box Full of Tears” gallops along to a western rhythm. Even Drivere’s “Happy Man Blue,” which closes the album, has more of an acoustic, back-porch blues vibe than the electric guitar-driven rockers that are his forte.

“I think when we were first coming up and playing, we all loved The Beatles, The Stones, Led Zeppelin, punk rock,” Lisko said. “That’s what we knew, that’s what we loved. We all listened to it. So we were three-chord, fast-paced. You get older and it’s like, ‘What am I mad about? Car payments?’ So some of that edge gets taken off for more mature songs.

“Now we all listen to very different music from each other. We’re still based in those same bands that we loved, but I love Radiohead. I love Queens of the Stone Age. I’m really into Wet Leg right now. Pete loves Neil Young and Tom Petty. John Koury has such a vast array (of musical interests). We aren’t four guys who listen to the same stuff anymore. We listen to different things, and I think that sort of bled its way in.”

The band drew on material from all facets of its existence. The rocking lead track “When the Clock Strikes 12” is a song Lisko wrote during a burst of creativity at the onset of the pandemic. On the home-recorded demo, Lisko played the guitar riff with a staccato rhythm that he compared to Devo. Drivere suggested a more rock-style, and Lisko loved the change. The demo also had a synthesized drum track. Koury thought that sound worked perfectly for the song, so while he’s the one playing drums on the track, he tried to mimic that robotic 2/4 time of the demo.

“Happy Man Blue” originally was worked on in the late ’80s with Hlumyk on lead vocals. “Evil Change of Seasons,” co-written by Koury and Drivere, made its first appearance in a frenetic version on the four-song 45 “X4” in 1986.

“I always thought it was a really good song, but the ‘X4’ version is just really fast,” Koury said. “It was one of the first songs I’d ever sung in the studio, and I always thought my vocals sucked. When we were talking about songs, Pete said throw that in there. Someone would throw in a song, we’d rehearse it and record it, and when we got done, it was like, ‘OK, this is a keeper. This could be on the album.’ It’s not too slow, it’s a great tempo, and I think my vocals are much, much better.”

Since Infidels are a band that draws from timeless influences rather than current trends, the songs written this decade fit seamlessly alongside the ones initiated in the last century.

In addition to the release of “Never Forever,” earlier this year Infidels were included on a 3-CD compilation “I Wanna Be a Teen Again — American Power Pop 1980-1989,” released by the British label Cherry Red Records. Infidels’ “I Can’t Make You Mine” is featured alongside songs by such major artists as Cheap Trick, The Go-Go’s, The Bangles, Girard’s Stiv Bators, The Smithereens and Ramones.

“That blew my mind,” Koury said. “We’re in really good company.”

Infidels will play an album-release show on Oct. 11 at Westside Bowl with The Jellybricks opening. They’ll also play the Beachland Tavern in Cleveland on Nov. 1 with Dave Swanson’s Mystery Airship and Lisko is working on a Rochester-area show as well.

While Lisko has written enough songs since the pandemic to fill his solo debut album that will be released in two weeks and begin work on a second solo release, he said he set aside a couple of songs that he believes would be great for the next Infidels record.

Hopefully, we won’t have to wait until 2048 to hear them.