EEVAH, an alt-indie band that’s quickly rising in popularity, performed at The Fulford Arms on the 19th April to a captivated audience. Their performance was electric, with special highlights being ‘Take Me to Bed’ and ‘Heartbeat is Missing’. Ahead of their new EP ‘Simplify Life’s release on the 2nd May, I was able to interview Nicole Hope Smith, the lead singer of EEVAH, about the band’s experience writing and touring their music.
M:You described your music as a ‘dream pop world’ in your interview with Licks Magazine. What artists do you admire from that genre?
E: “There's so many bands! I have been listening to a lot of Charli XCX, love Dylan, love Nieve Ella. As a band we’ve gone through quite a few different genres, and it’s been difficult in the past to put us into a box. Some of our songs are dream pop, other one’s are a bit more indie, a bit more rock, or an absolute pop bop. We release a track because we like it, and that’s maybe not helped us – I know bands have to fit into a genre – but I think we’ve gone outside of that. We want to release music because we love it.”
M: How have your songs changed from performing them live? Are there lyrics that stick out to you more because of audience reaction, or sections you look forward to more than before?
E: “Definitely Faye, our drummer, who just joined in November, is the biggest change. She’s just slotted right into place – we couldn’t have asked for anyone better. [In terms of specific songs,] my favourite track is ‘Heartbeat is Missing’. I feel like for my entire life I’ve had some sort of anger, and just wanted to write something that really means something. That for me feels like therapy, singing that track at people and getting the vibes back from them; that’s hitting home.”
M: One of my favourites of yours is the acoustic version of Take Me to Bed. Was it originally intended to be more of an upbeat rock song, or was the quieter version your original vision for it?
E: “It was always meant to be a rock song – that was the first version of that track that we did. It’s about being too drunk and physically needing to be put to bed. You kinda just want to forget about stuff. We did the acoustic version of it originally because we thought it’d be good for Love Island – Love Island is quite a big thing for musicians! It’s picked up way more than I expected recently.”
M: ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ sounds like it could be on the soundtrack to a summer-y coming of age film. What films or shows would you want your music to feature in?
E: “For me, I Wanna Be Yours was envisaged as being at the end of a night out, shouting at your mate that you love them. You know when Mr Brightside comes on at the pub? That’s where my head was at with I Wanna be Yours. I want people to sing that song looking at their best mate. I’d love to watch TV – I haven’t been able to in so long with the tour! Maybe Sex Education?”
M: Do you draw from personal experience when writing your songs, or do you see songwriting as a more fictional storytelling experience? Which do you prefer?
E: “The recent stuff, the new EP, is really personal and means a lot. We went to see boygenius play – the most amazing gig I’ve seen in my entire life – and something about that really hit home. [It inspires you to keep] writing stuff that means something to you. The next day, we started writing ‘Notice You’, which is releasing on the 2nd May. Otherwise, it gets to a point where you think, “I don’t know why I’m singing this to people”. You wanna relate to the people you’re singing to.”
EEVAH’s new EP ‘Simplify Life’ released on the 2nd May. Merchandise and tour dates can be found on their website https://eevah.co.uk/.
