Fresh Talent: Evermore
Author: Emma Philpott
Fuelled by their parents' vinyl collection while home-schooled in rural Fielding, Evermore have proven that isolation doesn't need to stunt a musical career.Their debut EP and 'Oil and Water' was recorded by lead singer and songwriter Jon Hume over the last couple of years in a studio built in the Hume family home, and released in February by Warner Music NZ, who signed the band in December. Jon's two younger brothers (15 year old Dann on drums and Peter, 17, on bass), make up the blazing Evermore.
"I've probably been recording for about three years now," says Jon. "I started recording on a home PC with a cheap program and slowly it's upgraded into a proper studio... so I've been doing it for a long time. I recorded our demo EP there as well. But the latest one was done on Pro Tools Digi 001, so it's come a long way in sound quality."
The EP swum around the bottom of our Top 50 single charts for a few weeks after release, helped no doubt by their summer tour supporting Goodshirt around NZ. The Hume brothers had to drop their last support dates for a bigger opportunity – support for Seattle rockers BRAD across Australia. This meant an endless summer of sorts – 29 gigs with only one day off.
Finding it hard to find a point where brothers mucking around stopped and the official band started, Evermore had their first taste of success back in 2000 when they won the high school Rockquest competition, in a year where the competition included hip hop chart toppers Nesian Mystik.
Last November they were back in the spotlight under the management of Australian John Woodruff, who had picked the band up on the strength of their first demo and had also picked the overseas attendees at the World Series showcases in Auckland. Their assured and energetic performance meant that 'Evermore' would no longer be an 'unknown' band locally or even internationally.
From the tail end of a round of Auckland media obligations in early March the brothers flew over to Australia for a week of gigs and then on to the SXSW festival – the event which broke the D4 and the Datsuns onto the world touring circuits last year.
In what will have been their first trip to the northern hemisphere, Evermore were also scheduled to play shows in Canada and the UK before returning home. With the EP due for Canadian release through DKD in May, Slipping Away has been added to playlists in Canada and the USA.
They signed to Warners Australia in February for release of the EP in Oz and have had significant support from the Triple J network.
Apart from a full length album there are few definite plans, the brothers prefer to leave the details of their potential world domination in the safe hands of their Australian management.
