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| Taki Sassaris- lead vocals |
EVE TO ADAM RETURNS ROCK TO ITS ROOTS
Rock bands come and go, without question. Its a tough industry and thousands of bands are working their asses off as
I write this just to get even the smallest of breaks; for their music to be heard and to live out their dreams of
being a rock icon. With so many variations of the rock genre developing throughout the years its a wonder we ever hear
a band break onto the scene with an old school, pure rock sound. Just when I thought true rock was fading away it seems to
be making a comeback, luckily right before my very eyes.
One of the things I enjoy most about my job is what I like to call unexpected pleasures. One of the unexpected pleasures
of being a music journalist comes into play when I go to cover the headliner of a particular show and end up being blown away
by one of the openers. This is how I came across Eve to Adam; a New York based four piece band that literally blew the doors
off the venue when I saw them for the first time. Eve To Adam is made up of Taki Sassaris on lead vocals, his brother Alex
Sassaris on drums, Gaurav Bali on guitar and Riv on Bass. ETA (as they are lovingly called by their fans) brings something
to the stage that hasn't been seen in a very long time; they play nothing but pure, tried and true rock and roll. Having
grown up listening to bands like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Guns 'n' Roses, I have to say that I had lost hope of ever hearing
a true rock sound again. Thankfully, from the moment ETA walked out on stage they finally laid all my fears to rest.
I had the opportunity to spend a good, long time chatting with Taki and Alex Sassaris for what turned out to be one of
the most interesting interviews I've ever done. When an interview is that long what usually happens is a good majority of
it never ends up in print; there is only so much space for each article after all. Not wanting to see this great commentary
by the Sassaris brothers lost to such a tragedy, I decided the readers deserved to read the interview in its entirety. Without
further adieu ETA fans, here is part 1 in a series that I'd like to call Rock and Roll's Best Kept Secret.
ROCK ON REQUEST: The first thing I'd like to do is get a little band history from you guys.where you're from, how you
started and how it all came together. That would be great for the readers.
TAKI SASSARIS: He (Alex) and I have been playing together for years. We always wanted to be in a band. We started off
in Florida, thats where we grew up. Then we moved to New York, its been about ten years ago now. We were searching for a
guitar player; we were looking for the right kind of guitar sound and that's what brought us to New York. We wanted a metropolitan
market that would offer us a lot of choices to work with somebody. We wanted to build a band around a guitar sound, you know,
a really strong guitar player. That's what brought us to New York. We found Gaurav; he's from New Jersey, the New York/Jersey
area. We hit it off with him. That's when we basically set up shop. We also connected with the city and the energy. We
were taken aback by the whole thing. Eve to Adam really started when we met Gaurav in 1999. From there we started building,
songwriting and constructing a sound. We took the long road, we really did, but we created something that we feel has a solid
foundation and an identity that doesn't really exist anymore in music. I seem to believe we're part of the philosophy that
old school is the way it is because, for us, we see that the bands that we admire and respect from back in the day to now
and even now today, they all have an old school philosophy. People seem to believe easy come, easy go. That's not our story.
Our story is quite the opposite, as many other bands we admire seem to share the same kind of story. And New York is not
an easy club scene.
ROR: I can imagine.
TS: Not kind to anything really. The crowds are harsh, but it seasoned us; it gave us a kind of battle armor that a
lot of other bands don't have. When you go in and play CBGB's 34 times over 6-7 years you know what to expect. If you can
handle that, weather that, there's nothing else you can't go up against.
ROR: Did you ever consider L.A. over New York?
TS: We did, we did, but we were coming out of Miami because I was going to Miami University School of Music there, he
(Alex) had just been accepted to the University of Miami, and we just really wanted to get out of a Shangri-La, sunshine setting.
ROR: A lot of people just automatically think music = L.A., acting = New York. They don't really think of it in too much
depth. They don't think of it as a learning experience or that it might help them grow.
TS: That's how we thought about it. We knew that if we were really going to be able to succeed at this we were going
to have to have something different that other people didn't have. Something unique, and something unique that the band has
is a work ethic and solidarity, it's kind of a concrete build to the band. We're not easily broken at all. The music business
is more ruthless than it ever was, and you really have to know who you are, what you want to do and how to get it done. There's
no better place than New York City to gain that kind of work ethic.
ROR: I want to talk to you about a lot of this road that you've been traveling from 10 years ago to now.
TS: Sure.
ROR: You had the opportunity to work with Desmond Child for a little while. That was kind of your first introduction
in this madness.
TS: Yep.
ROR: Even though it didn't work out, do you think it was a good experience in one aspect for you?
TS: Absolutely.
ROR: Can you tell me about that?
TS: Sure. We started off at the top, and worked our way to the bottom.
ALEX SASSARIS: {Laughing hard with Taki.}
TS: We were very young. I was 20 years old, my brother was 18. Desmond saw a lot of promise and talent in us as young
kids basically, and he took us on and developed us. We learned a lot of things real fast about the business, about songwriting,
about artistry. He exposed us to a lot of great things and we're very thankful.
AS: A lot of knowledge.
ROR: You also probably learned what you didn't want.
TS: Well, that was the other side of the equation also. We quickly found out that if we're really going to do this,
be in this for the long haul, there's got to be some things about what we do in our identity and our sound that have to be
particular and unique to us. Otherwise, there's no reason to do it.
ROR: Right.
TS: So that's why we parted ways with Desmond really. We had a sonic identity difference, a difference of opinion of
how we wanted to go about forming a band, and what a band really is. These were core issues to us that were really non-negotiable.
AS: We had our mind set of what we wanted to do.
ROR: You have to admire that you guys stuck to that all this time. I was just telling Alex that I know another band
that I talked to recently who is yet unsigned. They went from Philly to L.A. to work with a well-known producer and ended
up saying no because they wanted to mold them into something they weren't.
TS: Right.
ROR: So they're still struggling. But so many bands just go with it because they want to be out there and want to perform,
and they think that's the only way.
TS: Well, yeah. For us we're real stubborn and old fashioned. We knew that if we attained any kind of success we wanted
it to be ours and we wanted it to be on our terms. That's really just the way it works for us. There's no in betweens, we're
at two extremes of the spectrum, it's either on or it's not.Our biggest fear was writing a song that would become a hit that
we never believed in, and we'd have to go out and perform that song and that would just be like going to prison.
ROR: And then your audience would never get past that song.
TS: Then you're known for that. Yeah, that's what they expect. Then the record company goes, "Well, you gotta
turn that song out again...you got one more of those? How many more of those do you have?" And you're like, "I
don't want to do that, I want to do this." And they're like, "I don't care what you want to do, that's not the
deal. The deal is this."
ROR: Who was it, Papa Roach I think, when they came out with scars?
TS: Yeah.
ROR: And everyone just thought that was the song, and everybody loved it. But then, if you really listen to all of their
music it's very different from that "radio friendly" song.
TS: Oh absolutely. They have wide range of stuff. And that's what we've always been trying to accomplish, and we feel
we've done it on this new record more so than ever, capturing a wide range or wide spectrum of rock and roll music; from harder
edges like '2 pills', 'Black Flag Days' and 'No regret' to stuff like 'Open Door' and 'Coming Home.' So, we're conscious
of the fact that the rock fan has evolved. They want different tastes, they want different shades and colors, and they want
different things. So, to set out to make an album today in 2007 and to try to capture some of the glory of the bands that
we grew up on like Guns 'n' Roses, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains.
ROR: One of my favorites, Stone Temple Pilots.
TS: Yeah, Stone Temple Pilots made great albums, great records, a moment in time. A palette;a choice palette.
ROR: Amazing imagery in everything they do.
TS: Absolutely, total colorful imagery. So we wanted to make sure that we came close in that neighborhood. We set our
standards at that level; not easy to attain, not sure that we have, but I know that's what we're shooting for. If you want
to make an album for people today that are more complex, you need to have diversity.
ROR: That kind of reminds me of something I read that you said. You were talking about the kind of money that people
put out, this was back in 2001 of course so now it's even worse, but what they put out for an album and how much of it do
they even really like;how much are they even listening to.
TS: Right.
ROR: That's how I judge what I listen to. If I can listen to an entire album and just be thoroughly happy...there may
be one or two songs that I don't enjoy.
TS: As much.
ROR: Right, as much as the rest. But I want to be able to listen to the whole album; I don't want to just buy it for
one or two songs. I'm in the car a lot, you know?
AS: You don't want to have to skip around.
TS: Yeah.
ROR: Well, when I listened to your album I loved it from start to finish. That's what I enjoy.
TS: That is the greatest compliment you could ever give us, and that's the most recurring feedback we've been getting
since the album surfaced on the internet at the beginning of the year and on the Daughtry tour. Everybody was saying, "I
put your album in and listen to it from start to finish, it never leaves my player.
ROR: It hasn't left my player in my car since I got it.
TS: That, to me, says mission accomplished for us and on a side note, I think that's the problem with the record industry
and why they're seeing declining sales. It's not so much downloading. Everybody is blaming downloading and piracy.
AS: If something cool comes out people will buy it.
TS: Yeah.
ROR: Of course, I do.
TS: It's about quality, in my opinion. It's not about piracy, it's about product quality. People are tired of buying
an album for $12.00 that only has two songs on it. It's very simple, that's exactly in my opinion the problem with the business
today. There's no artist development anymore, so there's no songwriting. There are no albums. If you want to sell singles
then sell singles. They don't want to sell singles because there's no money in that. They want to sell records. They're
selling two singles on a record, that's what they're doing. People are tired of it and people are not stupid. They know
what's going on. They're tired of being duped and they're just like, you know what I'm not playing. Until they hear there's
another game on, and if there's another game on and someone comes out with another record...it's evident. You know the
acts of multi genres that put out great records and they sell. Why do they sell and everyone else doesn't? Well, let's look
at what the product is. It's a hit record with multiple hit songs, it's a great album. You know, these are good things but
they're not easily attainable. There's no formula. You can't just add water, I mean look, we've been doing this for almost
ten years now. Everybody's working for instant gratification and it just doesn't happen. Look, for some there is a minority...
AS: They get lucky.
TS: They get really lucky or they're super talented. We're not super talented; we're super hard-working. That's what
we are. You know what I mean?
ROR: I might have to disagree with you on that. I think you're very talented. I was going to save this for later on
in the interview, but I'll tell you now. I've been trying to put my reaction to your CD into words and I've thought long
and hard about this. My reaction was, and I even said this to my son when I first listened to it, is that it reminds me of
everything I love about rock and roll.
TS: Really?!
AS: Wow.
ROR: That's the best way I can put it.
AS: I think that's the best thing that I think we've heard.
TS: That is the best.
ROR: Here's what it is; it's great musicianship out there on stage...
TS: Thank you.
ROR: The guitar is amazing. You guys found just such an amazing talent in Gaurav.
TS: He's a talent, for sure. And we've stuck with it.
ROR: Just hard-driving, heart-pumping music, great vocals, amazing drumming; you can't formulate that any better.
AS: Yeah.
TS: Yeah.
ROR: So, it's like everything that I grew up with. I'm a little bit older than you guys. I listened to all the same
stuff you guys listened to. It's everything I love and you guys seem like you have that just right there. I was telling
Alex before that the best part of my job is when I go to cover one act and I come away loving the opening acts I've seen.
There wasn't anything you did on stage that I didn't like.
TS: Right on.
ROR: That's what I think the audience sees out there.
TS: Thank you, thanks for recognizing that.
TO BE CONTINUED.........
I'm sure by now it's easy to see why something that started out as a simple interview turned into so much more. Taki
and Alex Sassaris of Eve to Adam speak very passionately about something they love to do, and they do it so well. I've found
myself thinking recently about how great it would have been to be a music journalist when bands like Led Zeppelin, Metallica
or Aerosmith were on the brink of taking the music scene by storm. I would think it would be a reporter's dream to be the
one to break the story of a band whose name will grace the lips of generations to come. My experience with Eve to Adam has
made me realize that I won't have to wait very long to know exactly how that feels.
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