Evermore (band)

Evermore

Evermore is the name of an New Zealand rock band presently Australian-based . The band consists of the Hume brothers – Jon (guitar, vocals), Peter (keyboards, bass, piano, vocals) and Dann (drums, vocals). The band have released two platinum-selling albums, Dreams (2004) and Real Life (2006), as well as seven hit singles.

History

Background

Jon Hume, the eldest, was born in Australia, but Peter and Dann Hume were born in New Zealand, and all brothers were raised and homeschooled in Feilding, New Zealand. The band cites their parents' music collection – consisting of staples such as The Who, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and The Kinks – as being among their music influences. The name Evermore comes from the Led Zeppelin song "The Battle of Evermore" and a B-side by The Chills simply called "Evermore".

Rise to fame (2000–2003)

In 2000, together with ex-band member and school-mate Richard Higham, the band scored top marks at Rockquest, a national high school band competition. The prize they received went toward establishing and funding their own studio, Red Sky Studio. Their debut single, "Slipping Away", earned them some attention when it was put on high rotation on the alternative Australian radio station Triple J. Their first EP, Oil and Water, was released in April 2003 and coincided with their Triple J-backed tour of Australia with The Panics. This was closely followed in September 2003 by their second EP, My Own Way, which they toured with American band Brad. In August 2003 Evermore were the winners of a promotion on the ZM Radio Station called Project NZM. Project NZM was promotion designed to give a small band more awareness through airplay on the ZM network and advertising as well as access to live play on the radio station. This promotion helped Evermore with the popularity of their single "It's Too Late".

Dreams (2003–2006)

Evermore's debut album, Dreams.

Evermore then went to work recording their debut album Dreams. On the album, they worked with producer Barrett Jones (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Whiskeytown), who was introduced to the band by Brad. After initial plans to record at their Red Sky Studio back home in Feilding was dashed by local flooding [1], they relocated to Seattle where the album was eventually recorded. The Dreams album, which differs from their earlier "retro-sounding, riff-based pop-rock" sound , is more heavily influenced by albums such as The Police's Synchronicity, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon and Muse's Absolution.

"When we came to the album we wanted a more kind of spacious sound, like an atmospheric type of vibe to it," Jon Hume explained. "I think what it is, is I really like ambitious, big sounding music, and so I do really like those Silverchair and Muse albums, and also stuff like Pink Floyd. During the recording of the album we were really interested in the whole idea of making a concept record; there's little elements of that in the album, but we sort of had to tone it back a bit, because we wanted to make a double album. By the end of sort of spending six months on what you hear now, we were pretty tired and we were pretty happy with it the way it was."

Their next release was the single "It's Too Late", which was released in August 2004, where it debuted at #36 on the Australian ARIAnet singles chart, eventually reaching #15 in November 2004. The single also was the 7th most played song in Australia in 2005. The album debuted on September 27 and later peaked at #15 on the ARIAnet albums chart, to later reach platinum sales in 2005. "It's Too Late", "For One Day" and "Come to Nothing" were all featured on the Australian promos of the television show, The O.C.. With "It's Too Late" actually making it on the show.

Evermore won the publicly-voted Supernova Breakthrough Act award at the inaugural MTV Australia Awards. They were also nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2005 Jack Awards, which is an Australian live music award. The band won the award for best popular song with "It's Too Late" at the 2005 New Zealand APRA Silver Scroll Awards [2].

In 2005, Evermore played their first Big Day Out music festival tour and also received positive reviews for their performance at the 2005 Homebake Festival in Sydney. The band also supported Split Enz on their 2006 reunion tour.

In 2006, a Dirty South remix of their song "It's Too Late" reached #1 on the Australian Club Charts. The track is also charting in the United States, where it entered the Billboard Hot Dance Airplay chart at #24.

Real Life (2006–present)

Evermore's second album, Real Life.

Their second album, Real Life, was released July 8 2006. "This album is more direct, more to the point and more upbeat," Jon explains. "We've focused more on the songwriting this time." Peter adds that "there's a lot more rock in there...I also think there's probably more diversity, there's a lot more kind of different things going on." The first single titled "Running" was released on June 3, prior to the album. The single reached #5 on the ARIA chart and #4 on the RIANZ chart.

The band promoted their album by appearing on Rove Live and, somewhat ironically, the Australian Habbo Hotel, a virtual chat site. The album's release was followed by a tour of Australia and New Zealand in September and October with support acts Bob Evans and The Hampdens. On November 17, 2006, Evermore played at the Make Poverty History Concert in Melbourne.

The second single from the album, "Light Surrounding You", was released on October 23, 2006. It reached #1 on the ARIA chart, the highest ever for the band. In early December "Light Surrounding You" was featured on popular Australian soap Home and Away in a tribute to character of Sally Fletcher (Kate Ritchie) and her time on the show.

Early in 2007, the band played in their second Big Day Out tour. The third single from the album, "Unbreakable", was released on March 3, 2007. On April 29, the band made an appearance at the 2007 MTV Australia Video Music Awards to perform the song "Light Surrounding You". The fourth single to be taken from Real Life was the harmonic ballad "Never Let You Go", it hit #11 on the Australian singles chart. In June, the band toured Australia again on their Light Up the Night tour with Aqualung and Kate Miller-Heidke. Currently TVNZ is featuring "Light Surrounding You" on an ad campaign promoting awareness of social deprivation in New Zealand.

Discography

Albums

• Dreams (September 27 2004) #15 (AUS)
• Real Life (July 8 2006) #5 (AUS) #2 (NZ)

EPs

• On the Way (2000)
• Slipping Away (2002)
• Oil & Water (2003) #23 (NZ)
• My Own Way (2003)
• The Lakeside Sessions Vol. 1 (2005)

Singles

from Dreams

• "It's Too Late" (2004) #16 (AUS)
• "For One Day" (2005) #25 (AUS)
• "Come to Nothing" (2005) #51 (AUS)
• "Dreams Call Out to Me" (2005)
• "It's Too Late (Ride On)" (2006)

from Real Life

• "Running" (2006) #5 (AUS) #4 (NZ)
• "Light Surrounding You" (2006) #1 (AUS) #15 (NZ)
• "Unbreakable" (2007) #63 (AUS) #28 (NZ)
• "Never Let You Go" (2007) #11 (AUS) #39 (NZ)

Videography

DVDs

• Into the Ocean (2005)

Music videos

• "Slipping Away" (2003)
• "Oil & Water" (2003)
• "My Own Way" (2003)
• "Hold On" (2003)
• "It's Too Late" (2004)
• "For One Day" (2005)
• "Come to Nothing" (2005)
• "Dreams Call Out to Me" (2005)
• "Running" (2006)
• "Light Surrounding You" (2006)
• "Unbreakable" (2007)
• "Never Let You Go" (2007)

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 2005 MTV Australia Awards, Supernova Breakthrough Act for Dreams
• 2005 New Zealand APRA Silver Scroll Awards, Best Popular Song for "It's Too Late"

Nominations

• 2005 ARIA Awards, Album Of The Year for Dreams
• 2005 ARIA Awards, Single Of The Year for "For One Day"
• 2005 ARIA Awards, Best Group for Dreams
• 2005 ARIA Awards, Best Rock Album for Dreams
• 2005 ARIA Awards, Breakthrough Artist - Album for Dreams
• 2005 Jack Awards, Best Live Newcomer

External links

• Official website
• Evermore's MySpace page