Evaride – Heartless

By starrymag | November 13, 2017

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) How did the band get the name Evaride?

Josh: I think two and a half years ago (probably even longer) I started sponsoring a child through a charity organization I work closely with called Food For the Hungry. I was actually given the opportunity to meet the child and see his community and sponsor a new community. In that time when I was there, the child I met and had sponsoring was named Evaride. We were filming a documentary and one of the camera guys said, “Dude! There’s your band name.” We had actually been struggling for a long time to come up with a name. I was like, “Okay, cool!” Evaride is a very unusual name before and I’ve actually never heard of it until then. I put it to the other guys and loved the story behind it. They thought it was a really good idea.

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

Josh: Growing up I listened to anything – whatever my mum and dad listened to. It was like Toto and Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin and Seal. When I started branching out and listening to my own music it was more like Linkin Park, Korn and Slipknot and the UK rap scene.

Hayden: I grew up on similar music to Josh because my dad was into classic rock like early 70’s and 80’s. He liked bands like Led Zeppelin, Van Halen and Def Leopard – a bunch of different rock bands. As I grew up and matured as a musician, I started playing everything from jazz like John Coltrane and blues. I kind of branched out into every musical style.

Sean: Growing up, my grandparents used to watch me a lot. I remember on the car ride home from school they would always have like classical music on like Frank Sinatra. Then, I grew into my own liking of music and started with the boy bands of the 90’s like NSYNC and Backstreet Boys and then grew out that and got invested in The Police, Sting and Phil Collins. I kind of had that pop-funk phase of Green Day and that’s kind of where my influences started to shift.

Q) Please tell us the message behind your single “Heartless.”

Sean: The song is all about knowing there is hope and light at the end of the tunnel. It came from a point in my life where I kind of hit rock bottom. I was dealing with a lot of difficult things and felt a lot of people could relate. I’m sure everyone has been affected by either depression, anxiety, the loss of a loved one or addiction. Everyone at some point has gone through a dark time and sometimes when you are in that dark point you can’t see the hope and light. That was kind of where the lyrics were inspired from – hopefully providing hope to people who can relate to this situation. And when they are in this situation they can use this song almost as therapy and know they aren’t they only ones who have been through this. There is hope and there is light. The grass is on the other side. That’s where the lyrics came from and then I brought the idea to Hayden and Josh. Even though the lyrics were somewhat dark with the hopeful sentiment Hayden really brought the guitar part to life in the instrumental by playing off the melody of the vocals were doing. Same thing with Josh. He really brought the energy up with his drum grooves and drum beats. He really gave it the light that it needed. Because of the dark lyrics it almost has to have the uplifting and upbeat feel to have that hope. That way they think, “Even though it’s a dark time and things aren’t looking up, I feel there is hope still.” We want to give hope to people who are experiencing something negative or a dark time.

Q) How does the music video play into the message of the song?

Sean: We actually shot the video twice. With the first video, we were trying to follow the storyline aspect of the message of the song. We aimed really high and overshot the mark with it. So, we ended up reshooting and going with the one we just released because we felt a lot of people don’t know who we are and who Evaride is. They know us as individuals, but they don’t know us as a band. So, we really wanted to capture the essence of us in a live performance so that you can see our faces and put together the sound that we create. As far as the message goes, it’s kind of like a girl’s perspective of a dream sequence. She is kind of going into this surreal reality of seeing us perform and it’s kind of like a dream thing. There are very bright colors, which is kind of like the hopeful message. By the end of it, she kind of wakes up and snaps out of it. Even though the message isn’t as dark as the lyrics, it’s a perspective that things can get better and things aren’t as bad as they seem in the moment. There is hope on the other side.

Q) How much of a hand do you have in the production of your music?

Josh: We are all very passionate. We very much keep on top even if we haven’t produced the work on the track. We’ll be there hand-in-hand making sure everything is the way we want it. We’re very, very involved. And if there is something that we don’t like we’ll say it. If we’ve all got some sort of production idea than we’ll do that as well. We don’t just leave it up to someone. We want to be shown your idea and tell you how we’re hearing it. We’re very, very hands on.

Q) What can fans expect from a live Evaride performance?

Hayden: Our background and when we started this band – Josh is a live touring music. I’m a live touring musician and Sean was a live performing musician on Broadway. We all thrive in live performance situations. So, our show is incredibly high energy as well as our songs. The way we have our set and the way it flows is a very thought out show. A lot of what I do is create shows for other artists so we kind of all use our talents to bring together one awesome production. So, they can just expect a high crazy- energy pop rock show and, hopefully, leave wanting to come back again.

Josh: And there will be at some point a few backflips from Sean off the stage. If he fails, it’ll be even better viewing. You could potentially be the next viral video.

Sean: That’s why they are saying high energy.

Hayden: Hopefully, there won’t be any failed attempts.

Sean: If he fails, we’ll be there to kiss his knee.

Hayden: Post it on YouTube.

Q) Can we expect an EP or album from the band soon?

Sean: We’re in the studio right now working with a couple of producers writing and recording. Hopefully, something will be out in Spring 2018. So, plan for that!

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans?

Josh: It’s the way the industry is now. When social media first came out I don’t think anyone realized what a game changer it would be.  It’s shifted the whole way the industry works. I guess it’s something that I just feel like I have to do. If you fall behind on social media, it’s kind of detrimental to the finished product you are trying to push out. Honestly, we all really, really enjoy being in contact with the fans and hearing their feedback – whether it is positive or negative. We just enjoy being relatable. When you are a fan of someone you kind of wish there was a way to be in contact with that person and feel like you are a part of their lives. I feel like social media is really the perfect thing for that because it has kind of given an insight into you as a band or artist personally. There is that connection you can have almost one-on-one with a fan that I feel like can be a really, really special thing. I think it’s an incredible age that we live in that we can do all of these things and I’m super excited to see how it is going to progress in the future. I think there is a lot an artist can do with social media with the fans. I love it.

Q) You have all worked with some incredibly talented and well-known acts. Which artists that you have performance with have you truly influenced you or that you took something away from?

Sean: I was on Broadway with American Idiot, the Green Day musical. I had the honor of doing the show with Billie Joe Armstrong when I was in it. It was just incredible because when we were doing it Broadway had us doing seven to eight shows a week, which was crazy. It was great though because that’s how I was able to build up my stamina for going on tour. There were definitely times when you’re in a theater and you think that person is a recording artist so they’re not going to be able to sustain an eight performance a week schedule. Let me tell you, he is a rock star! He has vocal chords of steal! He sang his face off every single show and sounded as good if not better each show! The one word of advice that he gave to me was basically to leave it all out on stage every time. You never know if tomorrow is going to come so just give it your all and put your whole self into every performance. I’ll always remember that and give that to my performances. I have him to thank for that.

Hayden: What I’ve learned from pretty much every artist that I’ve worked with in any situation is that no matter what the show must go on – no matter if you are sick or if there is a problem. I think there has only been one case where an artist had to pull out of a show. I think what I’ve taken mostly from that is how to handle things like that – any situation they are able to go on stage every night and make the show go on.

Josh: I guess the main thing I kind of learned was influence when I was touring with One Direction. It was how they are with their fans and how being real and super open is one of the best things you can do as an artist and as an influencer. People relate at seeing how these fans and people really related to them as artists and also as people. It was inspiring. I saw how they were with them and it didn’t matter what celebrity was there – the fans came first. They did things for the fans. That was singlehandedly the most important thing because the fans are the most important part of a band. At the end of the day we’re just entertainers, almost servants in that way. We’re just here to entertain. Without the fans, that’s it. I feel like a lot of bands and artists really lose sight of that and really just care about how many followers they’ve got or how much money they can make or being seen wearing the latest thing. That’s one thing – they were not materialistic. They were very much there for the fans and if they can make an impact. That’s what I took away. I feel like that’s the right way to do it and that’s how I want to do it.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your music?

Josh: We just want to say genuinely from the bottom of our hearts thank you so much. The support is completely overwhelming and the love is something that each of us are super grateful and thankful for. We’re super excited to keep embarking on this journey and make some great relationships and have fun times. We want to be old men someday looking back and going, “You know what? We helped influence people.” But the fans aren’t just fans either. We consider them friends and these are people who have changed our lives. And hopefully we have changed theirs! So, thank you so, so much. We genuinely love everyone.