Published: June 9, 2010 4:44 PM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA (Juniorscave.com)
New Music Spotlight June 2010 Edition
Evertheory
Music Now Artist/Band Spotlight Weekly Series
Evertheory
The band Evertheory beautifully uses elements of popular 90s metal/hard rock sound with a nice modern twist that easily sets them apart from your average indie bands. Our Webzine recently interviewed the members of the band about their music and influences. The outcome from our online conversation with the band yielded one of the coolest interviews we have conducted in a long time. Here is what transpired.
Isaac: Let’s get started with this interview. When and how did you first become interested in music? How long have you been playing music?
Sharon: Jae and I became interested in music during our childhood. We started out listening to mostly pop music in the 80s. It was just easy for us to get into a lot of the popular music such as New Order, Simple Minds, A-ha, and OMD because they were all just fun to listen to. We were surrounded by a musical family as well.
I started playing piano when I was 6 on my dad’s little Yamaha keyboard. I was playing little nursery-type songs like "On Top of Old Smokey", so I wasn't a prodigy or anything :). I took piano lessons when I was 12 and quit a little bit after because I felt I wasn't improving as fast as I wanted to, and got bored. I picked up the acoustic guitar right after. My dad showed me the C chord and I just took off from there.
I listened to music on the radio and basically played the songs by ear. That's how I learned other chords and rhythm. I then started putting riffs together. It was not until a couple of years after that Tim gave me my first electric guitar. That is when I switched to playing electric guitar.
Jae: It was a favorite pastime as a kid during summer breaks. I just started singing along one day.
Tim: I also grew up in a musical family. Most of my family members are singers; my father played piano as a kid. My mother listened to Soul, R&B and Jazz as well as classical music and was a phenomenal singer! All my brothers and my sister would sing too. So it was natural for that to influence me in my childhood.
I taught myself how to play bass as a 13 year old because one of my friends introduced me to heavy metal and rock, and showed me what a bass was. A lot of the other music still influences how I think about playing.
Isaac: Who would you say are your biggest musical influences and why?
Sharon: Sarah MacLaclan - For her poise on stage and beautiful voice. Pink Floyd - Because of their excellent musical composition. I take a lot of inspiration from David Gilmour on guitar. My Bloody Valentine - I love their layered wall of sound. I emulate this in our sound especially when we play live. We like to play with a lot of layers during live shows. Radiohead - Because they put a lot of hard work into everything they do and with great creativity. Muse - These guys put on some pretty good live shows.
Jae: Ed Kowalczyk from Live, Geoff Tate of Queensryche, Heather Nova, Sarah McLachlan, Jann Arden.
Tim: My first major musical influence is my late brother, Daniel. He was a rapper named Big Logic and his skill and determination to make it in the industry before he passed away last year is always on my mind. He worked very hard in his craft, and during his life, gathered a mental library of all forms of music, and appreciated all forms of music.
This influenced me as a kid, and is a big part of what drives me now to do well now. My other major influences include Tool-I respect them more than most other bands because of their attention to detail and their will to create the music that THEY want to make. Soundgarden is another because of the different ways they would put rhythms and songs together.
They were really ahead of their time. Vangelis influences me because he is a pioneer who was not afraid to try new ideas with his craft. I also paid close attention to Joy Division because again, they were on the edge of the avant-garde. Peter Hook's musical style of bass playing really opened my eyes as a beginner.
Isaac: What has been the greatest highpoint in your career so far?
Sharon: There have been several of highpoints. One was getting our song 'Rain' air played at UK internet radio podcast, Ourobouros Podcast. Another was opening for bigger bands such as Opus Dai and Divide The Day. Lastly, it was being involved with the huge festival Skinnie Magazine's Top 100 Bands Festival. Not only were they highpoints but definitely great experiences.
Tim: My personal highpoint was finally completing and then holding our first album. I am still really excited about that.
Isaac: What has been the greatest disappointment in your career so far? What did you learn from that experience?
Sharon: The greatest disappointments come when we really put a lot of effort in so many things and yet things do not happen as we expect. We all know we just need to keep trying and keep doing what we love to do and have fun at the same time. Positive things have happened though, like being selected by Junior's Cave Magazine :) YAY! Recently we've been getting noticed by Internet radio and being featured online by OnlineRock.
We are soon to be interviewed by our local newspaper as well, which is another huge thing for us. So things are coming up for us. We just need to keep trucking'.
Tim: The biggest disappointment for me has been the people who do not follow through with what they tell us they are going to do. That is a personal pet peeve that is a layover into the band experience, though! Hahaha!
Isaac: What draws you to want to play the type of music that you do?
Jae: It's because in the music we create, each band member’s part is so different in its own melodic way, and yet if you put it all together, it makes a one complete and unified sound.
Tim: We also like to enjoy what we create. Every song is different. Each one is a new story or adventure. The challenge is to make sure that they all retain an Evertheory element, from composition to melody to lyrics and harmony. This is what also draws us to play this way.
Isaac: What do you feel it takes to play this type of music that you play?
Jae: Although our taste in music and influences all vary, we do have one thing in common...we appreciate all types of music and the amount of work and thought one puts into their songs. We all found a common ground in our music because its “melodramatic” sound captures our passion about people and life.
Tim: I'll add that to play the type of music we play really requires first and foremost an open, visual mind and a real will to pay attention to the composition. We always talk about how we want to create "movies in listeners’ minds" with the music we play. So that means that from the start, the concept of the song is really important. To play this music, you have to really be willing to think out the ideas of the songs and determine what you want the listeners to "see" with their minds.
Isaac: What do you think you will create that will make your performances and who you are stand out in the music industry?
Jae: We believe that our music will create a new genre in music. Many people have told us that we have our own sound.
Tim: We will create detailed, layered, music that is still accessible to listeners and yet continues to break new ground. Many bands lose who they are with a gimmick or stagnation. Evertheory continues to compose music from many different angles and from varied methods. It is this aspect of our band and the efforts of so many members with such colorful backgrounds and influences that will insure that each performance is refreshing and fun for the listeners, and satisfies our goal to create our voice in the music industry.
Isaac: If you had the opportunity to do one cover, what cover would you do and why? How would you put your own spin on this cover?
Jae: That is a topic that we have yet to agree on. A lot of the songs that we would like to cover are from the 80s and 90s. It’s hard to choose one or even two songs from those decades because we want to make sure we do it justice.
Isaac: What does it take to be a good songwriter?
Tim: To be a good songwriter you have to be able to clarify and simplify all of the complex ideas in your mind about a song, write it down, share it with others and have most of the original idea continue to shine through.
Isaac: How difficult is it to juggle music, family and work obligation, and life in general? Explain.
Jae: Very difficult because we have been missing out on events such as birthdays, get-togethers and other fun things we enjoy
Tim: So far it is really tough. I actually have mandatory times set aside for getting away from creating music when I can hike, ride my bike or create art.
Isaac: What is your definition of being an Indie artist/band?
Jae: An Indie artist or band is an unsigned band that creates music freely without the control of an outside musical/entertainment figure.
Tim: A band that is completely focused on the craft of creating music for the audience directly.
Tim: We would like to continue to play and eventually be able to tour the country and beyond. In five years I would love to be able to look back and say, "Wow, we did it!"
