There are some who might tell you that the last of 90’s Emo died out when Weezer sold out and the Kinsella’s started doing other things, but Philadelphia, PA musicians Everyone Everywhere are four hanger on-s to the genre we all loved once (whether some of us admit it or not).
Taking elements like Braids slightly unpolished guitar and Piebald’s boomerang vocal patterns, Everyone Everywhere are a band of ‘something old, something new, and something borrowed, something blue’. But don’t let that last statement fool you into thinking this is a band that’s going to be a downer- Everyone Everywhere have a distinct bop that’s sure to keep you tapping your foot, and lyrics that aren’t quite so sad as naysayers of Emo like to stereotype.
Last year the quartet put out their 7” A Lot of Weird People Standing Around, with much praise. And while the record is currently completely sold out, it is being repressed by Evil Weevil to be for sale again sometime soon. For now impatient music fans can download mp3’s of the songs courtesy of If You Make It. A band with obvious spirit and know how, Everyone Everywhere is a group that gives their listener both the feeling of a throw back, and the satisfaction of hearing music that’s moving forward.
This May the band will be releasing their Self-Titled LP, with pre-order already available- there’s only a few hundred copies of these bad boys, so be sure to reserve yours today.
Brendan McHugh, one part of the four that make up Everyone Everywhere was nice enough to answer a few questions for us. Check out his responses to learn the history behind the band, just who they’d love to work with in the music biz, and how handcuffs factor into their “best band moment.”
Reviewsic: Can you give us a quick recap of what the band has been up to as of late (aside from the new music)?
Brendan McHugh: Matt’s still in school but he’s almost finished so he is doing that, Tommy just finished school in December and is working as a bicycle mechanic, Brendan Graham and I finished in May, he works as an economic analyst for a small research firm, and I am working in the production offices of films shooting in Philadelphia. We all go to CiCi’s pizza buffet in Cherry Hill quite frequently.
Reviewsic: If you could book a tour with any 3 bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Brendan McHugh: Michael Jackson to bring Michael Jackson back to life, The Beatles to bring John Lennon back to life, and Big Country to bring Stuart Adamson back to life. If we are being given the ability to bring dead people back to life, we would probably do that. We would get pretty rich on that tour and get to ride in a bus that would be cool.
Reviewsic: What are your top three musical influences?
Brendan McHugh: Architecture blogs, Arrested Development, and Facebook.
Reviewsic: Is there any instrument you don’t play, but wish you did?
Brendan McHugh: Drums, I don’t get drums.
Reviewsic: What are the last three albums or bands you listened to?
Brendan McHugh: I referred to my iTunes last played thing to find the last three full albums I listened to and they were the following:
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Hammock - Raising Your Voice… Trying to Stop an Echo
Carissa’s Wierd - I Before E
Totally just chilling out and getting depressed listening to those bands.
Reviewsic: If you could work with one person in the music industry (musician, label, producer etc), who would it be and why?
Brendan McHugh: Kevin Eubanks, we are big Tonight Show fans. Leno - king of late night. “Jaywalkin.”
Reviewsic: Who was the first band/musician you saw live?
Brendan McHugh: Hoobastank opening for Len Kravitz. It was also the best show I ever attended.
Reviewsic: Who are three of your favorite local bands?
Brendan McHugh: Spraynard, Algernon Cadwallader, and It’s A King Thing.
Reviewsic: What’s the backstory on how the band came to be what it is today?
Brendan McHugh: It’s such a long boring story I will warn you to skip over it unless you are really truly interested. Matt, Brendan, and I started playing music together in high school. Once college started that fizzled out. Brendan and I started Everyone Everywhere just as a fun thing to write some songs and record them and then never do anything with those songs and that would be that. We never planned to play shows originally. And Matt and Tommy weren’t in the band at the start, our friends Luke and Chris were. We recorded 7 songs and that was the end of it for a few months. Then Tommy sent us a message on Myspace one day and said, “Hey guys. I like your songs, you guys seem really cool, really smart, really destined for success. Is your band still a band? I play guitar we should do something together, I like this stuff.” So then Brendan and I were like ‘hmm that’s a good idea we should do this band again’ and we were like, Matt want to play bass? Matt was like, ‘hello, I was in the jazz band, I can play the bass.’ So we got Matt on bass and Tommy on guitar. Chris continued to play guitar for a bunch of shows when he was home for college and a summer while Matt was interning in Los Angeles. Chris moved on and now has a full-time job in central PA. So now it is just the four of us.
Reviewsic: Tell us about the self-titled album- is there a particular concept behind it? What the process of making the album like?
Brendan McHugh: There is no particular concept, really. My goals are to try to write songs about things that people don’t typically write songs about and also to not make them too serious. That’s all for a theme or concept.
We write all of the music together, it is pretty collaborative, and we work out all of the instrumentals as a band. Just jammin and chillin out, man. Then, I usually write all of the lyrics in the week(s) leading up to recording. The instruments, more than the vocals, have always been the focus for us. Because I am lazy and like writing guitar parts more than I like singing.
Reviewsic: How would you compare yourselves as musicians at the point of this new release as opposed to the release of your 7″ last year?
Brendan McHugh: I don’t know if we have really improved technically as musicians but I think (hope) we have gotten better as writers.
Reviewsic: What are some of your favorite cities to play?
Brendan McHugh: We haven’t really done tons of touring to have lots to choose from. Baltimore is fun usually. We liked hanging out in Chicago a lot.
Reviewsic: What are the best and worst band moments so far in your career?
Brendan McHugh: The best moment was when Tommy bought police handcuffs on tour. He thoughtthey cost $3 but they cost $30. He naturally bought them anyway. The worst moment was when we realized that Tommy had handcuffs. We had to steal one of the spare keys from him to be safe.
Reviewsic: What are your plans for your music in the next year?
Brendan McHugh: Play a lot of shows and sell every copy of our LP and record another 7″ and do a split or two with some friends. And maybe get some new t-shirts to sell.
