On a dreary Sunday evening, I meet with the recently-relocated Kingston band Everlea. As I arrive at the Leslieville apartment of guitarist Casey Shea and singer Justin Dubé, Shea opens the door and immediately offers me some jalapeño poppers. I notice tickets to the band’s upcoming Mod Club show lying on the living room floor. The band is visibly excited to see their name on a professionally printed ticket as a headliner for the first time.
“We’re trying to impress you,” says the soft-spoken Shea, humble and sarcastic at once.
The whole band has congregated to be interviewed, save for the newest member, bassist Pat Maclean, who hasn’t yet relocated to Toronto. (He’ll be moving in with drummer Brendan Soares next month.) I take a quick look around the modest, well-kept apartment, hoping to find evidence of rock star debauchery. I’m very disappointed—no beer pyramids or coked-out groupies, just polite girlfriends and appetizers.
We break into the interview without formalities, and the conversation flows seamlessly. Dubé, the consummate androgynous frontman, reveals a few tidbits about his hometown, raving about Kingston’s finest restaurants. When Shea offers me a beer, it triggers a Pavlovian
response—I finally remember to turn on my recorder.
“So which bands do you hate?” I investigate, attempting to stir things up.
The guys politely giggle at the incongruity of such a question—making fun of other bands just doesn’t make sense to them. I mention recent emo-scene punching bags Stereos. Every band hates Stereos, right?
“Some bands adjust their style to what’s cool at the moment—I don’t think that’s a bad thing—but it’s just not us,” Dubé answers, without a hint of resentment. That’s the closest thing to a disparaging remark I can coax out of them. Something’s not computing—a band that won’t take cheap shots at Stereos, and has jalapeño poppers ready for their guests? I’m suspicious. Are they holding a hostage captive? Have any of them killed a man?
Why is Everlea so nice?
Despite Everlea’s upcoming show, things haven’t always gone so smoothly for the four-piece. The band recently parted ways with their label, Glassnote Music (home to Parisian synth-rockers Phoenix, among others). The story behind their departure is all too familiar: A&R person responsible for signing band departs label, leaving band in limbo. But Everlea doesn’t seem to think they got a raw deal.
“Being on Glassnote afforded us many opportunities,” Dubé notes.
Their relationship with Glassnote led to them signing with powerhouse booking agent The Agency Group. It’s hard not to see the bright side when you are touring cross-country with Secondhand Serenade and opening up for Taking Back Sunday at the Kool Haus.
Dubé adds, “They still own that record, and we keep in contact. We just won’t be releasing any more records with them.” Sounds like the mythical mutual break up we’ve all heard about. In Everlea’s emotionally stable world, being “just friends” can work just fine. Don’t expect Everlea to look for a rebound, either—they’re content biding their time and growing independently.
“The best time to sign a deal is when you don’t need one,” Dubé believes. Instead of worrying about their label situation, Everlea has turned their attention to honing their craft. The band doesn’t shy away from writing songs with a mass audience in mind.
Dubé candidly describes his developing song-writing process. “Lately I’ve analyzed songs and tried to figure out the universal elements that make them great,” he explains. “I just want to find a connection—a universal meaning to my lyrics. Take my experience and take it from a personal to a universal level that everyone can understand. It took me a long time to stop being insecure and self-conscious. The goal is just to write good songs.”
But sometimes, writing good songs isn’t enough. In a saturated music market, simply being good at what you do isn’t going to help you find success. But Everlea believe their honesty and commitment is what separates them.
“I think bands more than ever have to be genuine,” Dubé argues before being interrupted. The generally subdued Shea interjects, “Some bands make great albums; they just don’t keep with it. It’s all about persistence.”
I ask Everlea a more difficult question: “Do you ever think about fucking life and quitting this music shit?”
In unison they agree, “Yes.”
When prodded about what they would do if they weren’t in Everlea, they draw a collective blank. It appears their thoughts of quitting aren’t as legitimate as their desire to continue.
“Casey would be a crane operator,” Dubé busts Shea’s balls as he shoves some homemade lentil loaf in my mouth.
“I don’t wanna be a crane operator, man. If I wanted to be anything else I wouldn’t be doing this,” Casey rebuts. Soares chimes in, “I love this kind of lifestyle.” He kept quiet during most of the interview but he knows when to pick his spots: “These last few years have been the best of my life.”
Why is Everlea so nice? The answer is not as sinister as I speculated. They love what they do.
Everlea plays the Mod Club with Crush Luther on Saturday, Nov. 21. For more information, visit everlea.com.
