“I’m calling from Baton Rouge, LA,” stated Taki Sassaris, lead singer/ guitarist and songwriter for the band Eve to Adam. “It’s our first day off in a week from being out on tour with Creed. We started April 1st and we’ve been everywhere. These guys really know how to cover the region. We’re having a great time.”
Eve to Adam, which also includes band members Alex Sassaris (Taki’s brother) on drums & backing vocals, Guarav Bali on guitar and backing vocals and Eric Bergmann on bass, have been out on tour since last July supporting their new CD, Banquet for a Starving Dog. They will be bringing their anthemic, arena-style rock to Fantasy Springs this Saturday night when they open for Creed.
Taki Sassaris is passionate about playing live shows and insists that it is the way they are winning over their fans one show at a time. “We wanted to put out an album that would allow us to go on tour for two years to support it and we’re about 10 months into that. When you see a band live and they are good- that’s it- there’s no PR needed, no angle, no bullshit.”
Sassaris goes on to share that they are not some band that got signed and became an overnight sensation. “We have been doing this for over 10 years. We’ve worked our butts off and deserve to be here. We never gave up on ourselves and always had faith and now we can see a bright future. A guy who’s been following our music, came up to me at a show in Clearwater the other night and said ‘man you’re opening for Creed now. You’re really on track’.”
The truth is that Eve to Adam have been opening for quite a few platinum selling bands such as 3 Doors Down, Motley Crue, Daughtry, Saving Abel, Hinder and POD, just to name a few. They believe that building relationships with their fans at these shows is the way to go. “We like to hang out afterwards and sign autographs and talk to the fans.”
He also doesn’t apologize for their brand of pure, hard guitar-driven rock. “We’re straight up hard rock. We’re loud and bigger than life on stage. If it’s too loud then you’re too old. As far as I know you signed up for this when you bought a ticket to a rock & roll show. This ain’t a nursing home,” he firmly states.
“I was getting scared for awhile that people weren’t listening to hard rock anymore and that it wasn’t being served up right. People get real excited at our shows because we have such high energy and audiences seem hungry for that. I mean we’re not doing anything that hasn’t been done before we’re just doing what I always thought a rock show should be about. I mean it’s been too boring for too long. People say we’re a breath of fresh air.”
He is also passionate about rock & roll in general. “With all the new computer stuff and ProTools, it’s like anything, it needs to be used sparingly and with responsibility. And so many bands are doing stuff in the studio that they could never do before with all the layering and it’s hard for them to reproduce the same sound live as on the record. Rock & Roll is supposed to be a force that’s unpredictable not something where you know where it’s going to go with every turn. And there’s nothing exciting about it.
I remember going to see bands when I was a teenager and 2 or 3 bands were giving it all they had and it was a great show and you didn’t mind spending $30 on a t-shirt. But now the cost of the shows are going up and the quality of the shows are going down and that’s why a lot of fans are feeling dis-enfranchised. I don’t care how much pyro you throw at someone at the end of the day they want you up there singing your heart out, sweating and giving it your all. We’re not reinventing the wheel but what we are doing is paying reverence to an art form that is very powerful and that still resonates with a lot of people. This is real rock and it’s filled with commitment and emotion.”
Eve to Adam put out their first CD in 2001, which Sassaris says was one of the worst times to get started. He also says they have watched many things come and go in the business but rock is here to stay. “We’ve lived through the whole piracy thing and rap-metal and now dub-step. I should make up a t-shirt that says ‘We’ve survived all the trends and the fads and we’re still here’.”
Over the 10 years, Eve to Adam has released 3 full-length CDs and one EP and obviously spent much time on the road. The first couple of CDs were self- financed and now they are signed with Universal Records for the new release. “It hasn’t been easy. The music business has changed a lot. The record labels aren’t offering a lot of support and there’s no A&R anymore,” says Sassaris. “The labels want to make quick money, but rock bands require some time and effort to build. That’s how you got Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty and U2. It might not have happened on the first album but the second or third ended up to be gifts from God. And it never would’ve happened if someone at the label hadn’t nurtured them and hung in there with them.”
Sassaris goes on to say that they are quite happy with where they are now and they title of the album, Banquet for a Starving Dog, which is also a track on the disc, is a testament to that. “We’ve had a really hard time coming up the ladder so the title seems appropriate because now here we are with a really good label and management team. We’ve got some nice luxury and perks now because we have some good people behind us that really want to see this thing through.”
Eve to Adam’s new single, “Reach,” is currently available on iTunes and Amazon and is currently #36 at Active Rock. The video, “ Run Your Mouth,” which stares Dann Florek from Law & Order, Chuck Zito from Oz and Vincent “Big Pussy” Pastore from the Sopranos is also featured in the new video game “Supremacy MMA.” They also just did a really cool cover of Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out,” that’s going to be released just in time for summer. These guys are destined to be multi-platinum selling artists just like the bands they’ve been paying their dues opening for.
Sassaris closes the conversation by saying, “I live and breathe rock &roll and it really is my religion. I’m all in and I want to give back. I don’t want to just drink from the well. The truth is that a lot of people still don’t know who we are yet. And I’m going to single-handedly do everything I can to change that.”
Eve to Adam opens for Creed Saturday, May 12 at Fantasy Springs Casino. Call 760-342-5000 for tickets.
Go to www.evetoadam.com for more info.
