1989, Krefeld, Germany. Ralf Janssen (guitar), Christian Moos (drums) and Schymy (bass) had been playing together for a couple of years and had experienced the usual hardship that any band in its initial stages has to face. Musical direction was one thing, finding the right singer was another. At that point, they got in contact with Oliver Philipps through an advert in the music press. Philipps and his band "Jester's Palace" already had two recordings under their belts but unfortunately split up. When meeting the Krefeld power trio, Philipps was struck by their ambitious do-or-die attitude. The band on the other hand was impressed by Philipps' talent as a songwriter, keyboard player, guitarist and singer. With him the sense of direction arrived and Everon as we know it was born. Using modern MIDI equipment to the max, the band started shaping a high-tech sound around the songs which were and still are a delicate mix of melody and power. "We all believed and still do", says Philipps, "that a simple melody will reach people's hearts much easier than all sorts of over-the-top solo stuff played for the sake of it."
A meeting got them in touch with EROC, former drummer of famous German cult band "Grobschnitt" and now a name producer in his own right, selling several hundreds of thousands of albums in Germany alone with Phillip Boa. EROC, very much taken by the band, offered them the use of his Woodhouse Studios where they started recording their debut album Paradoxes under EROC's productional guidance. Late 1992, with the album nearing completion, the band had received offers from just about every independent progressive rock label, and in the end signed with SI music.
Another coincidence occurred when a stunning piece of artwork in a book caught their eyes. After a long search they tracked down the whereabouts of the artist in question, Gregory Bridges, in Australia. Presented with the rough recordings of the album, Bridges got all fired up and offered to design the complete package.
Paradoxes was released in May 1993 and the impact was felt well outside the progressive rock hardcore. It soon became one of the two best selling albums in the SI music catalogue, the band supported Fish in front of an audience of many thousands during an outdoor festival in the Netherlands, the album got 9 out of 10 points in "Heavy Oder Was" (Germany), 8 out of 10 in the leading Japanese metal magazine "Burrn!", and was voted discovery of the year by most of the specialised press. After Paradoxes had spent several weeks in the Top 10 of the Japanese import charts, the album was picked up and released by Zero Corporation, distributed by Toshiba/EMI, beating four other Japanese companies in the process. In short, certainly on an independent level the album had become everything the band had hoped for and provided the foundation for the future.
During the summer of 1994, Everon returned to EROC and his all new and improved Woodhouse Studios. "The whole thing suddenly felt very much different from eighteen months ago", says Philipps. "With the first album, we were a bunch of unknown amateurs put in a big recording studio with a famous producer. It was like going back to school. And we were anxious to get everything absolutely right. This time we knew we could pull it off, EROC had become a close friend of the band and the atmosphere was much more relaxed. As a result Flood has become much more balanced as an album, at least to my ears - but I am obviously biased." Gregory Bridges came up with an even more stunning package for Flood now that he had much more time to prepare - and being Greg, he still didn't get it finished in time, but seeing the result everyone forgave him instantly.
Certainly the production hit even harder - EROC insisted that this was one of the loudest albums out at that time - and there seemed to be more of a flow to the music. And although, to all purposes, the songs come first, the standard of playing was overwhelming. Not that the band would agree, though. Philipps: "Everybody thinks we are such virtuoso musicians. But we're not; we just work very hard, and more importantly, in the same direction."
Unfortunately, SI music went bankrupt after a short while, sales found a sudden end, and all further plans had to be cancelled. So that was a big disappointment for the band, and for a while they were thinking about splitting up.
But after a few month Everon found that the only motivation they really needed to go on was the music itself. So they started writing new material, putting all the anger and frustration, but also the passion and enthusiasm they had into it. They worked harder on the new album than on anything else before, and asked Gregory Bridges to do another one of his stunning designs. The result of all this was their album Venus, which was released in 1997 by their new label Mascot Records.
Oliver Philipps and Christian Moos also established their own recording studio called SpaceLab. Although EROC couldn't produce the album this time, he was a big help again. Philipps: "We owe him a lot for the support he gave us through all the years."
After the release of Venus, Ralf Janssen left the band due to the lack of motivation and interest. He was replaced by musical newcomer Ulli Hoever. In 1998 SpaceLab became successful when the band started recording demos and albums for several European bands.
With their 4th album Fantasma, Everon had delivered yet another masterpiece. Introducing new guitar player Ulli Hoever more than just replacing Ralf Janssen, and also introducing live keyboardist Oliver Thiele, it showed the band performing in the strongest line-up they ever had. The album came along with an excellent production done by Philipps/Moos at SpaceLab Studios, and with another stunning artwork from the hands of Australia's most famous painter Gregory Bridges.
Although the band undeniably plays on high technical level, they do not at all play technical music. The only thing that really matters to Everon is the music itself, like it always used to. Everon are intent on delivering soul-food instead of brain-food, and with Fantasma they just took it another step further.
The album covered such a wide range from very energetic and powerful songs to almost minimalistic and intimate pieces that it is hard to find a category this band really fits into; but maybe that's exactly what Progressive Rock should be these days, although their music has not much in common with what you normally find under this label.
The same goes for the lyrics. You will search in vain for fantasy stories or symbolism orgies; instead you will find lyrics that are easily accessible and written in a sensitive manner, dealing with all sorts of human interaction, but in the case of Fantasma mainly focusing on all the different shades of "loss". Each band member had to experience losses in various ways over the past two years, also in its most brutal form, when their long-time friend and crew-member Detlef Dohmen, to whom this album is dedicated, died in a tragic accident. All that affected the lyrics and also the atmosphere of the album.
The band played a couple of festivals during the past years. Unfortunately, shortly before the release of their new albums, keyboardist Oliver Thiele left the band.
Everon's latest pieces Bridge and Flesh have just been released.
Source: http://www.everon.de/
