TRR:  Hi guys.  Welcome to Tru Rock Revival Magazine.  It;s great to have you here and we're excited to have our readers learn more about you guys.  Let's start off with the band members. Who are the players?

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Chad Riche - Guitar

EJ Petry - Lead Vocals

Cody Du - Bass

Ryan Lang - Drums

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TRR:  What is the origin of your band’s name?  It sounds like the name of a city or town. 

 

Chad:  Evandale is actually the name of a road I stumbled across on the outskirts of our hometown in Omaha, NE. Nothing was really significant about it, other than the location offered a scenic view that was really vast and peaceful. I can't say that I recall any of the other names we had considered. The process of coming up with a band name can be so difficult. I think we reached a point of over thinking it and in a state of exhaustion, we said, "Screw it, let's just roll with Evandale."

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TRR:  Easy to remember.  That's important in a band name.  How did all of you meet?  

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Chad:  Ryan, Cody, and myself had been on our local music scene since our teenage years. We had various projects that we had worked on together throughout the years, in some form or another. The majority of our time was spent in the Metal/ Hard Rock scene.  Ryan and I had just wrapped up a project together, a couple years ago, right before starting Evandale.  When the project ended, I found myself pretty burned out on the screamo / metal scene. I had taken a real interest in the recording and production side of things. I really had no desire to do the whole "band thing" anymore.  About a month went by, and I just happened to stumble across a video on FB of EJ singing in a cover band. I thought, "Wow! He's good!"  I shared the link with Ryan and said, " I don't really want to start a band, but if that guy wanted to do originals, I might be interested."  We both kind of laughed it off and didn't really think or talk about it anymore, until about a month or so later, when  EJ made a post on FB saying he was interested in writing some originals and considering exiting the cover band scene. I took a screen shot and sent it to Ryan. Ryan responded, "Message him!"  We met up, talked through some ideas, and a couple days later, we wrote our first single, Manipulator. Only thing missing at the time was a bass player.

 

TRR:  Good bass players are very difficult to find. 

 

Chad:  Yep.  Bass players are like unicorns and we knew Cody was our unicorn!! Cody joined and here we are!

 

TRR:  Do you guys consider yourselves Rock or Southern Rock?  

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Evandale:  We just consider ourselves pure Rock & Roll. I find the million little sub-genres and cliches that come with them unnecessary, and at times really restricting.

 

TRR:  There are definitely a ton of sub-genres these days.  Let's keep it simple out there!

 

Evandale:  We set out to write good songs, and whatever genre they fall under so be it.

 

TRR:  What do you think makes your band stand out from others?

 

Evandale:  I think it's our raw energy. We're not auto-tuned, and we're not overproduced.  I think we offer a common ground between modern and "vintage" rock & roll. We get up, rock out, have fun, and laugh a ton. I think the vibe we put out live is contagious, and you can see it in the eyes of the crowd.

 

TRR:  Over the past few decades, Rock music was taking a back seat to Hip Hop, Pop, Melodic Pop.   Where do you see Rock in the next several years?

 

Evandale:  Seeing up and coming bands like Dirty Honey gain some serious traction, and more established artists pack arenas, does give us a glimmer of hope. Whether mainstream chooses to acknowledge it, is still up in the air, but one thing's for sure, in the words of Ronnie James Dio, "Long live Rock 'N Roll!"

 

TRR:  Personally, I see a big upswing of rock music again.  You won't see it on the Grammy's. Who are some of your musical influences?

 

Evandale:  This band pulls influence from just about every genre. Most of us grew up as Metalheads, but I think Evandale finds a lot of common ground in  70's & 80's arena-type bands such as Kansas, Lynyrd Skynyrd, SkidRow, and Van Halen. We take those, and mix them with what we grew up on,like Sevendust, Pantera, and a bunch of other 90's and early 2000 Rock and Metal.

 

TRR:  That's a solid mix of influences. 

 

Evandale:  We think so. 

 

TRR:  Tell me about what goes into your songwriting.  How do you write?  

 

Evandale:  We don't have an exact approach to writing.  We have written songs that were sparked from just a riff, and we have songs that came from just a simple lyric or two. The only real consistency we have, is that we let the song guide itself into what it needs to be, and see every idea we have through to the end.

 

TRR:  You guys are starting to pick up a big head of steam.  If you could get together with any band or musician to record a song together, who would that be?

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Evandale:  That's so hard to pick, because there is just so much talent out there. I always thought doing a song with Daughtry would be really cool. Otherwise maybe, Chris Stapleton?

 

TRR:  Chris Stapleton?  That could be pretty cool.

 

Chad:  Not only do I really enjoy his music, but from a business standpoint, anything that dude touches is gold .

 

TRR:  That's for sure.  What other bands would you like to tour with?

             

Evandale:  I think Evandale would fit really well with Shinedown, Blackstone Cherry,  Breaking Benjamin, or even Dirty Honey.  We recently played with them and I think it meshed really well. Overall our music lends itself to a lot of different styles of Rock, and would complement a multitude of great bands.

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TRR:  I think you guys are going to be playing with a lot of those guys soon.  

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Evandale:  That would be cool. 

 

TRR:  What is your most memorable show, good or bad?

 

Chad: Playing at The Waiting in Omaha. This particular show, EJ took a major digger in the middle of a song.

 

TRR:  That's never fun for the victim, but if there's no injury, it's usually pretty funny for the band and fans. 

 

Chad:  For sure!  He stepped on the slide that I had just flicked off my finger, and slipped on it like a banana peel in a cartoon.  He was fine but I couldn't stop laughing. I'm pretty sure the proof is in YouTube.

 

E.J.:  For me, it was the first show we got to show off our own music. This is my first shot at writing my own music and it's definitely a different world. Overall, it's extremely satisfying to have fans singing our lyrics, wearing our shirts, sharing our music etc. and knowing it's because of what we created. It's one hell of an experience that you can't replicate.

 

TRR:  Are there any dream shows you guys can imagine?

         

Evandale:  We could probably rattle off a million different combinations of bands that, to share the stage with alone, is dream-worthy.  But I think being able to headline any packed arena or festival would be the ultimate home run!

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TRR:  It's coming.  I'm predicting it's going to happen soon. 

What’s on the schedule for the rest of 2020?  I know you guys will be playing Rockfest, which must be a thrill in itself.  

              

Evandale:  Oh yeah, absolutely.  We really see 2020 being a pivotal year for Evandale. We will have a new album out in May, followed by new music videos, and some really big shows that we're excited to be a part of, and yes, including Rockfest in Wisconsin.

 

TRR:  Is there anyone you’d like to give a shout out to or thank you to?

 

Evandale:  Absolutely!!! Thank you so much to our family, friends, and fans! Were nothing without you! We love you! Also thanks to our endorsements. Mixcraft, which we used to record our first EP, and Sinister guitar picks.

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TRR:  Guys, thanks for taking the time to speak with me.  Good luck on everything in 2020 and have a blast at Rockfest.

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Evandale:  Thank you.

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To learn more about Evandale, check out their website or follow them on Facebook. 

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