Rock Impressions - Interviste

INTERVIEW WITH EVEREVE (italian version)
by Giancarlo Bolther

E-mania is your fourth album, a very important goal. What do you like to tell us about that?
On one hand you can say that it's the same procedure as every time. Writing songs, getting into the studio, recording, releasing, playing shows and so on. But as everybody knows, life revealed some big surprises during the creative process for E-MANIA. At the end of last year we got aware that it will be bad for the development of our music to continue the cooperation with Ben, our former vocalist. And so MZ Eve 51 decided, to pick up the microphone to become Evereve's new singer. He had our absolute support during these amazing and at the same moment stressy times. E-MANIA is the where you really can hear and feel the heart of Evereve. Not that the older stuff doesn't mean anything to us, but human beings learn permanently and we never ever were that close to a perfect expression of ourselves. It's our fourth album that's right. Each one was the most important one at the time where it was fresh.

Which are the differences between your four albums?
There are some musical differences that are quite obvious: On SEASONS and STORMBIRDS we tried to put as much ideas into one song as we could. REGRET meant a turning point in our career as musicians. For the first time we tried to reduce ourselves on the basics. Unfortunately the line up was not that stable so in some way it was not that perfect like I wish it could be. On E-MANIA marks a complete new beginning: No compromise concerning the line up and the music. Some people may say, that we're fooling our old fans. This is definitely not true. We're artists and always looking for a new goal. This time we tried to express our feelings within short and compact songs. You still can hear that it's Evereve just reduced to the essentials. Let me compare this whole issue to the art of painting: It's so easy to create an impressing picture with millions of colours you can use, but it's much harder to show reality only using black and white. This is real art in my eyes.

You have had some terrible times, but i believe that this new record is here to say that you are still alive and well. What does this new record mean for you?
It means the best art we ever performed. We went through some hard times, that's right. But we never doubted if we should continue or not. We always knew that the heart of the band is still working. So E-MANIA is no sign to show that we still are alive because we never were dead. It represents the best music we ever wrote and we hope that there are some people who understand what this band is about: Being honest and strong while we still allow ourselves to show our human weakness.

Can you tell us about the new songs?
The major theme of E-MANIA is the human weakness we're faced with everyday. We're persons who laugh a lot and we enjoy our happy moments. But there are times when we recognize that life is fading away. You lose friends, parents, just people who mean something to you. Our modern society wants to make you believe that we can control everything but there are so many issues that remember us how small we are. To trapped in this situation is maybe the key to understand E-MANIA.
Musically I would say we got more extreme. Doubting about that? Well, let me explain. The guitars never were that heavy and the keyboardsounds never were that spacy. The drums and bass never were that groovy and the vocals never were that emotional and catchy. Enough said?

Where do you find inspiration for writing them?
Everyday life inspires us but not directly. When we're entering our rehearsal room we take our experiences with us but we consciously leave the outside world behind. We create our own reality, where we can just follow our feelings. It's heart thing.
Do you have a philosophy?
Mine is quite simple: I want to have the possibility to change my life completely from one day to another. If I'm not satisfied I'm going to do something different. Another thing is: Never ever do something you don't wanna do. Next rule: Don't take anything for granted. Last rule: You're never the victim it's always up to you to change your fate.

Your vision of the world is...
My view of reality is: The world is bad but life is worth living it. I'm quite satisfied with it. What would you do if you only know the good moments? You wouldn't be able to enjoy them. So I'm thankfull for the good times and the bad times. It always depends on your point of view.

Which are the songs that characterize you best and why?
My favourite song is DEMONS because it represents the music and the lyrics of E-MANIA perfectly. If somebody who wants to give us a chance is short of time he or she should check DEMONS because it's my personal primus inter pares.

Many people say that lirycs have a great influence on the youth, what do you think about that?
I don't believe that music turns teenager into killers. There are many other circumstances that are responsible for massacres like the one that happened in Littleton. I think that lyrics in general are most of the time a mirror of the artists thoughts and our society. Most musicians I know reflect what they see if they keep their eyes opened. It's an interpretation of the real world and if music/lyrics make somebody thinking, then I cannot see any bad aspects about the lyric thing..

I've found in your sound a great influence from the eighty dark wave with a modern approach, you really play as a band from that period, with the same inspiration, but with a personal and a new sound. Are you according to me?
If it comes to the composition process we don't care about influence. There were many bands in the eighties that created dark and moody moments that may have inspired us. But this happens subconsciously. We're a bunch of five individuals sharing a certain vision how Evereve should sound like. This vision lies in the depths of our hearts and there is no space for thoughts like: Wow, this or that riff sounds cool, so let's try to transform it into the context of our music. We're living in the year 2001 and that's something we're aware of. One thing is for sure: We don't belong to the that kind of people who cling themselves to the so called "good old times".

Which are your fave bands, the ones that inspires you best?
There are bands/artists I admire, but inspiration comes from my heart and balls. As you know I'm the bass player and if I feel physically alright about what I'm doing on my instrument, then it feels good. I'm sure you know what I mean. One of my alltime favourite artists is David Bowie: He's around for 30 years and his ideas are still fresh. I like musicians that can develope and he's the perfect chameleon.

What do you think about the actual gothic scene? Don't you believe that there are too many bands now?
In general we do have the problem that it's quite easy to produce and to release a CD these days. The main interest of the industry is to make as much money as possible. So they flood the market with cheap products sold for the full price. It doesn't matter if an album includes something special or not, if some people buy a CD, it's alright for the companies. In earlier times the industry had to calculate. Productions were much more expensive and so they had to think, if they invest their money in order to get it back or not. Nowadays the risk is not that high anymore. I don't complain about that, because it won't change anything. I use my energy for more creative things.

Do you think that this is good?
It's reality so I wouldn't say if it's good or bad, it's just the way it is. It's our fate, destiny, fortune - call it like you want - to live right here and right now and my driving force is to make the best out of it. I don't view other musicians as competitors. If I meet up with other bands I enjoy to see some friends. Otherwise life would really suck. I definitely don't wanna die because of a gastric ulcer.

How do you live the day-to-day reality outside the band? What kind of person are you as men and as artists?
This question is strongly connected to my philosophy. Life is worth living it and it offers several chances. I like to enjoy every aspect of life, that includes the life inside and outside the band. You should know very well, what I'm talking about: Dolce Vita. Those two words don't mean that I enjoy being lazy it's just the opposite. There's another property that describes me quite well: I'm a perfectionist. I wanna get as far as I can no matter what I'm doing. The only boarder that exists lies within my head.

Which are your ambitions and expectations about the future?
To get as far as I can and to have as much fun as possible. That doesn't mean that I want to play surf punk. I prefer the gloomy stuff because melancholy and sadness show much more depth than happiness. Sometimes it's enjoyable to suffer, believe it or not.

GB

Reviews (in italian): e-mania; .enetics