Interview by Kris Peters
Contrary to what their name initially suggests, Pop Evil are about as far removed from pop as The Wiggles should be the ARIAS.
Since debuting with Lipstick In The Mirror in 2008, Pop Evil have released a succession of albums more on the hard rock scale, with War Of Angels, Up and their self titled albums all spawning a litany of hit singles, in the process stamping their name amongst the greatest rock bands of the last two decades.
The band return with their latest album Skeletons on March 17, an album which vocalist Leigh Kakaty has said "is about us as a band stripping everything down to the bones. It’s more uptempo, it’s got bigger riffs, and we’re trying to capture the energy of our live show."
HEAVY sat down with Kakaty earlier this week to discuss the album.
"We're excited, man," he beamed. "It always feels like forever for you to get the album finally out there once it's done, so it's exciting times. It's our 7th album, so it's a very big deal. I can't wait to get it out and get out there playing it."
While always maintaining a strong rock presence in their music, it seems that, especially of late, the band has gotten progressively heavier with each release.
"It's the evolution of where this band is going," he replied. "And I think when you look at your growth - and this is our 7th album - I feel like it's our best Pop Evil album, and I'll tell you why. It's basically cliche, you talk to the singer and he will tell you it's the best album (laughs), but I really feel like the albums leading up to this have allowed this to be that. We were really driven about shaping our sound and making sure we have a consistency there that is different from the previous albums. Let's go back two albums, we had a producer Kato who is one of our close friends and mentor. He ended up passing away tragically in a motorcycle accident and it really shook us. I mean, when you lose your mentor you lose your rock. A producer's everything, man. He helps you with your sound. He basically takes the band and helps us tie the loose ends together and make everything go around. We spent an album trying to search for producers and find that right person, and we found him with Drew Fulk. Drew had written Waking Lions with us and he's done a couple of songs previously but it always felt like we needed more time with him. Finally we had an opportunity with this album and he obviously saw our vision and what we were doing and once he got on board this album all started to come together."
In the full interview, Leigh talks more about Skeletons musically, stripping down to the bones and capturing the energy of a live show in the studio, bringing out the best in the band and himself, working with Heart Support, their upcoming run of shows and more.