While Eve 6′s fourth studio spent another year eluding us in 2011, it’s hard to argue that this was one of the most exciting years in the history of the band. Things started out slow, but really got rolling in March. Below is a month by month breakdown, which should be fun for reflecting (and in case you missed anything throughout the year)! This post may get a bit lengthy but be sure to read on to the end – since we haven’t posted for the past couple of months, there might be some nuggets of information you weren’t privy to (especially if you don’t follow @Eve6MediaHQ on Twitter). Read more after the jump:
January – Jon Siebels Run-In With The Law, Matt’s Bair’s Final Eve 6 Show
2011 started out fairly quiet, as the band had recently released a demo of “Bad News” at the end of 2010. In mid-January, a familiar name made some news, but not the good kind. On January 20, it was reported that Jonathan Siebels of Los Angeles (better known as Jon) had been arrested in New Jersey for marijuana possession. We won’t hop on our soapbox about how ridiculous this type of arrest is, but it brought Jon’s name back into the Eve 6 universe – a precursor to some WAY better news regarding Jon that would come in March. The month closed with Matt Bair playing his final show as a member of Eve 6 – a private gig in Raleigh, North Carolina as part of the NHL All-Star game “Pre-Game Celebration.” As the following video proves, they could have afforded to allow some non-private people into this show:
Based on the videos that popped up on YouTube, it seemed like a pretty lame ending for Matt Bair’s impressive, nearly four-year run as touring guitarist of the reformed Eve 6. Regardless, let’s take this moment to tip our caps to Matty, as he did a hell of a job and helped keep the band alive after many had left them for dead. Also of note – Eve 6′s “Bad News” demo hit the Alternative Addiction “Top 20 Singles” chart and by the end of January had peaked at number 2. This was all organic, as the Eve 6 Media HQ community didn’t even know about it until the middle of February. Just goes to show that within a niche, Eve 6 is still quite popular!
February – Slow News Month
Not much happened in the Eve 6 world in February, but it was just the calm before the storm, as March promised big things. Around this time, long-time Eve 6 Media HQ Message Board poster, TRcks808 used YouTube to unearth an Eve 6 performance on Jay Leno from the early days of the band. We’d love to repost it now, but unfortunately, the YouTube account associated with the video was terminated due to multiple third-party copyright infringement violations. Yeah, it was a quiet news month.
March – Major Eve 6 Announcement: Jon Siebels Returns To The Band!
By March, the dog days of Eve 6 fandom were setting in, and the Eve 6 community had taken to discovering random live Eve 6 albums that RCA was releasing without any input from the band. This 10-track Eve 6 “Extended Versions” was released in November of 2010, but nobody seemed to notice until March. Hardcore Eve 6′er Truck was so appalled by the low-quality engineering and mixing that he took to Amazon to leave a video review, urging Eve 6 fans to save their money for Eve 6′s forthcoming fourth studio album. Tony Fagenson, (Eve 6 drummer) stopped by the Eve 6 Media HQ message board and confirmed that the band had no part in the release of the material. He did, however, assure fans that money from the release would somehow make its way back to the band while convincing us not to pirate it.
But obviously, the big news of March was the surprise return of Jon Siebels as guitarist of Eve 6. Finally, after nearly seven years, the original members of Eve 6 were reunited and ready to unleash their reformed rock power on the world. Here’s how the news was announced (in a special video announcement on
“Eve 6 TV” – Eve 6′s YouTube channel):
The rest of March was calm in Eve6ville, aside from a couple of shows being announced for April (Jon’s first back with Eve 6 since 2004), and Tony clarifying once and for all that Eve 6 never harbored any ill-will toward American Idol (although most Eve 6 fans do).
April – Jon’s First Shows Back With The Band & Rumors Of More Big News
April was yet another eventful month for Eve 6. On April 1, Tony promised Eve6Log #8, set to be a sneak peak at Eve 6 playing a new song, but it turned out that he was just rick-rolling the fans and it was Rebecca Black’s “Friday.” It was a cruel joke, especially if the song got stuck in your head as a result. On April 14, Jon Siebels played his much-anticipated first show back with Eve 6. Long-time Eve 6′er Susan captured some video at the show, highlighted by one of the newer Eve 6 songs “Lost & Found”
Eve 6 also played a show in Charlotte, NC on April 29, which ended up being a bootleg that is now available on Eve 6 Media HQ, thanks to loyal Eve 6′er Jeff. Toward the end of the month, Tony promised some “huge” Eve 6 news, that was set to be released within days. Unfortunately, the big announcement kept on getting pushed back, keeping us all on pins and needles into the first week of May…
May – Eve 6 Signs To Fearless Records, Eve 6 Media HQ Relaunches
The waiting was the hardest part, but eventually Tony revealed the big Eve 6 news – they had been signed to a record deal with Fearless Records and a publishing deal with Sony Red. Then, things really started to heat up. Alternative Addiction wrote an article about the news, the band had an awesome photo shoot for Rock & Revolution/Dish Magazine, Red Bull released an exclusive interview with Max and we put out an exclusive live video mix of Lost & Found (once again via Eve6′er Jeff) on the newly relaunched Eve 6 Media HQ:
Eve 6 – Lost And Found (Live, 2011)
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
After all that, the highlight of the month was probably when Rainn Wilson (better known as Dwight Schrute from NBC’s “The Office” made a snarky tweet about “Inside Out” and the band was prepared with an awesome comeback. Good times were had by all:
June – Eve 6 Releases “Friend Of Mine” Acoustic Video With An iPad Twist, Gets Ready To Hit The Studio With Don Gilmore
June was filled with goodies for Eve 6 fans. Toward the beginning of the month, they surprised us with a special acoustic version of “Friend Of Mine” and a video to go along with it:
We here at Eve 6 Media HQ were especially impressed with Eve 6′s usage of the iPad to breathe new life into an old song. Later in the month, Eve 6 blessed us with another treat – an acoustic version of “On The Roof Again”. On June 24, Eve 6 played an outdoor show in Val Du Lakes, Michigan and Eve 6′er Michael Bacon was on hand to capture some great videos (which we eventually ripped and turned into another Eve 6 Media HQ bootleg). The set was filled with new songs likely headed for the new album such as “Lost & Found,” “Bad News,” “Everything” and “Underachiever.”
All of this activity worked well to hold over a fan base starving for a new album, but questions were starting to emerge – when would Eve 6 finally hit the studio to record their fourth album?! The date was supposed to be some time in June, but as the end of the month neared, it became clear that the date would be pushed back into July. The band confirmed it in a tweet on June 27th:
One more show, and then Eve 6 would return to the studio!
July – Eve 6 Hits The Studio, Lets Us In On The Process
After a show at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut on July 1st (which featured an Eve 6 Media HQ meetup of sorts), Eve 6 FINALLY hit the studio. Throughout the month, they let the fans in on the process with their infamous “Eve6Logs”:
Toward the end of the month, we started putting some pieces together and figured out three new Eve 6 songs that would likely make the cut for the new album. Trying to decipher the tracklist for Eve 6′s new album would be an ongoing theme throughout the year, and something we’re still trying to figure out going into 2012!
In news relevant to those who keep track of former members of Eve 6, Matt Bair was signed to a record deal. For those scoring at home, a reunited Eve 6 was now signed to a record label and recording their fourth studio album while their former touring guitarist who helped keep the band alive in the darkest of times was signed to a record deal of his own. All was good in the Eve 6 universe.
August – Eve 6 Drops An “eZine” Studio Update With Some Juicy Info
August was a mostly quiet, as Eve 6 was hard to work recording and mixing their new album. Halfway through the month, however, Eve 6 sent out what they called an “eZine,” which we chronicled at the time. The main details to emerge from this newsletter (and follow up tweets):
- The band had recorded 16 songs
- The band would tour throughout 2012
- Eve 6 rarity “All These Things” definitely would NOT be making the cut
- No timeframe for a release of the album was set
September – Eve 6 Gets Some Mainstream News Coverage on Fuse, Finishes Recording, Sets “Early 2012″ Release Date For New Album
September started out with a bang, as a short interview with the band made it onto Fuse TV. Fuse doesn’t have a huge viewership, but it does reach over 67,000 households in the U.S., so it was a pretty impressive bit of PR for the band:
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2011, much was still up in the air regarding Eve 6′s new album. During the month of September, many important details started to emerge whether from the aforementioned interview on Fuse, via Facebook updates on Facebook.com/Eve6Official or via official Eve 6 tweets. Here’s what we learned during September:
- According to Max, half of the new album is “best of” The Sugi Tap era, and the other half are new tunes that were created once Jon rejoined the band and rekindled the old Eve 6 spark
- Eve 6 finished recording the album toward the end of September 2011
- A single and the new album would be released in “early 2012″
- The new album is “fly” and will make us “flip our bizness“
October – Eve 6 Gets Some Love From Benji Madden Of Good Charlotte, Gets Bashed In Butch Walker’s Biography, Even More Album Details Emerge
Toward the beginning of October the band started rehearsing again, meaning live shows were imminent. Sure enough, some new dates were revealed, including Boulder, CO and Ybor, FL at the end of the month, and Vegas in December. These would prove to be Eve 6′s final dates of 2011. In the middle of the month, Benji Madden of Good Charlotte tweeted positive thoughts about Eve 6 when he heard they were in the studio with Don Gilmore (who produced multiple Good Charlotte albums). Unfortunately, everyone didn’t have positive things to say about Eve 6. Butch Walker (a favorite of many Eve 6 fans) released his biography and had negative things to say about the band multiple times throughout the book. Below is the most scathing of his commentary about the band:
(click to embiggen)
Friend of Eve 6, Dan Cleary (from the band Grace and Manners) was quick to jump in after we brought this to light:
As we said at the time, it was understandable where Butch was coming from, but it seemed unnecessarily mean-spirited. The fact remains that MANY of Butch Walker’s fans only ever heard of him when his band at the time (The Marvelous 3) opened up for Eve 6 on a major club tour in the late 90′s. To Butch’s credit, he saw our tweets on the subject and quickly apologized, which was accepted by Tony:
If MTV ever brings back Celebrity Deathmatch, we’re all about a late 90′s throwback cage match – The Marvelous 3 vs. Eve 6.
On a less dramatic front, Tony tweeted thanks to a rapper named “Sirah One” who dropped some vocals for the album. This was the second unexpected artist to enter the studio with Eve 6, following word back in July (via Eve6Log #12) that SKA band “The Skeletones” was playing some horns for “Best Friend’s Girlfriend.”
To close out this eventful month, AlternativeAddiction.com caught up with Tony, revealing even more nuggets of information about the upcoming album:
- The new album likely wouldn’t be out until the end of Q1 2012, or early Q2 (making Spring 2012 likely)
- By late October 2011, the band was in the “mixing stage” of the album process
- The sound of the album would be more like “Horrorscope” and less like “It’s All In Your Head.” In Tony’s words: “It’s All In Your Head” was sort of a rawer record.“We stripped away a lot of the additional production that we had put on “Horroscope” to show a different side of the band and to show more of what we sound like live. It was a great record and we loved it but that was a statement of that time for us. Coming back now, we’re going into a different direction again where we’re incorporating a little more of the production elements and keyboards and things. But it’s definitely an EVE6 record. I don’t think any longtime fan of the band will have any doubts about that. It’s got all of the things that people like about the band.”
November – Max Collins Plays An Acoustic Set, Eve 6 Log #13, Chords For “Victoria”
November started out with some interesting news, as Max announced via his sparsely used Twitter account that he’s be partaking in a live, acoustic set at The Viper Room in Los Angeles on November 13, along with Art from Everclear and Scott from Unwritten Law. The show turned out to be a real treat for Eve 6 fans worldwide, as OG Eve 6 fan Tristin (aka liber8edlobster) was in attendance and captured some awesome video. Below you’ll find the world premiere of a brand new song called “Curtain,” likely to be heard on Eve 6′s forthcoming album, and a rousing version of fan favorite “Victoria”
It was later revealed that Max would be playing additional shows like this with the same cast of characters early in 2012, at venues around the country. As of this writing, those dates still hadn’t been publicized.
Also of note in November, another Eve6Log (#13), featuring a peek at the mixing process and a clip of an awesome-sounding studio version of “Victoria.” Speaking of Victoria, Eve 6 Media HQ contributor was curious about the chords for the song and Tony provided some info:
December – Eve 6′s Final Show Of 2011, First Single Announced (Victoria), Getting Closer To a Release Date, Album Masters “Cut & Shipped”
And finally, we come to the end of the whirlwind year of 2011. On December 9, Eve 6 played a show in Las Vegas. We didn’t get much high quality audio or video from the show, but we did get an awesome nugget of information, once again via Eve 6′er Tristin. During a conversation with Max after the show, it was revealed that “Victoria” would be the first single off of Eve 6′s new album. She wasn’t able to get any other information about the album, but this was pretty big news in its own right. Soon after, Tony responded to a tweet by world famous Eve 6′er “Truck,” asking about the release date. For the first time, Tony narrowed it down to specific months, answering March/April of 2012. Progress. On December 14, Euphonic Masters “Cut & Shipped” the Eve 6 album masters, bringing us even closer to a new album. To close out the year, Max and Tony took part in a light-hearted, holiday-themed Q&A for Red Bull USA and we found out that one of Max’s solo acoustic shows would be on 2/23/12, once again at The Viper Room in Los Angeles.