On November 7th, 2023- Pop Evil performed at The Senate in Columbia SC with special guests; LYLVC and Fame on Fire on the "Flesh & Bone" tour. The performance was on a Tuesday night yet the amount of people in the crowd made it feel like a Friday night show. The dedication of fans on a weekday made me realize that, even during a busy week, people will come and offer support for their favorite musicians.
Opening up the night was the band LYLVC from Raleigh NC consisting of Alyse Zavala (Vocals) , Oscar Romero (Vocals/Rap) , Cameron Gillette (Keyboard, Synth, Rhythm Guitar) , Seth Morgan (Lead Guitar) , Kenneth Kaval (Bass/Scream Vocals) , and Ryan Powell (Drums/Percussion) . Wanna know something really cool about the singer in the band, Alyse? Her job during the day is hacking into computer security systems to test to see if threats can get through. That's AWESOME!
The stage performance of these musicians was out of this world, even when sharing such a small stage; these 6 musicians had no problem moving around and engaging the crowd. Between Oscar rapping and Alyse singing; the duo has a unique sound that you rarely hear. And of course, you have Kenneth doing the major hair swooshes throughout his performance which everyone with long hair needs to do at shows. When I'm photographing and someone has long hair, if I don't capture a good "hair swoosh" photo, am I even doing my job correctly?
The band released a new single on Friday, October 13th, "Crawl Space," which I appreciated the eerie release date of as I'm obsessed with the tales behind the date, so that makes the song 10000x better in conjunction with the lonesome, relatable topic of the lyrics.
Alyse shared the meaning behind this song, "Unfortunately some people in this world are treated as less than human, or treated as if their death doesn’t matter compared to other people. Some people are bullied or abused, kicked when they are down, and have just had an extremely rough experience with life and opportunities in general. It’s not uncommon for many of these people leaving those abusive situations to end up in other abusive situations that have different scenery, but still bad for them. I have had times in my life, especially during my childhood, when I was treated pretty inhumanely. As I went from a bad situation or ‘prison’ to another bad situation/prison, I struggled with wondering if my death would even matter to anyone. ‘How can I survive in a world that doesn’t care if I’m alive?’ I was able to overcome my personal traumas and somehow landed an extremely successful career, but I still struggle sometimes with feeling paralyzed if my life really matters to anyone or if I’m still the lost little girl stuck in a crawl space."
Lylvc wrote this song with Tyler Connolly of the band “Theory of a Deadman” (now known as “Theory”). "It was amazing working with him and Mike Plotnikoff and feeling like they were open-minded to us writing this story without judgment. We wanted this song to be extremely vivid and gut-wrenching, without feeling censored, and Mike and Tyler empowered us to use words with powerful imagery without making us edit the language down. It’s powerful, it’s catchy, and it’s real."
As I was migrating through the crowd, I noticed Cameron climbing up this stage prop and he started playing his synth on top of it. In my mind I was like "Hell yea! This is AWESOME!" and then I was also thinking "If Cameron falls, it's a far drop", but it is a show, and a show means you see, and do crazy things
Next up is a band that I've been listening to since 2015; Fame on Fire! Fame on Fire caught my attention many years ago when they did a cover of "Black Widow" ft Twiggy. That song made me realize that covered songs can sound even better than the original. The cover song "Without Me" rests at 55 million Spotify plays being their #1 song with "Shape Of You" coming in 2nd with 23 million plays!
The band consists of Bryan Kuznitz (Vocals) , Blake Saul (Guitar) , Paul Spirou (Bass) , and Alex Roman (Drums). Fame on Fire was formed in 2013 in Florida and, at the moment, all the original members are still currently in the band! During their set, there was never a dull moment between the smoke machine and hyperactive band members. The mist machine would go off strategically at the most high-energy times of the set, creating such a cinematic moment between the excitement of the crowd and the band, allowing me to capture the most breathtaking photos of these musicians.
The amount of love and respect the crowd had for Fame on Fire was something I hadn't seen at a show yet. I was moving through the crowd and I witnessed this moment with someone making a heart sign with their hands!
Finally, the headlining band for this amazing tour took to the stage; Pop Evil. This was the first time I had ever seen this band perform live and the stage presence absolutely blew my mind. Pop Evil recently released their newest album "Skeletons" on March 17, 2023 with "Eye Of The Storm" being the most popular song off the album with over 9 million plays!
The band currently consists of Leigh Kakaty (Vocals) , Dave Grahs (Guitar) , Nick Fuelling (Guitar) , Joey Walser (Bass) , and Hayley Cramer (Drums)
In a recent interview; Kakaty stated, "Skeletons,’ it’s very simple, we all got ’em. Whether it’s in our closet or we’re hiding them deep, deep down as secrets, or whether it’s just the bones in our body, we all got ’em, and that’s what makes us all similar, even though we’re all so different. It’s up to us to find those similarities to make us love rather than hate. Hopefully it comes back to help somebody, and they can relate to understand that, you know, you’re not alone, man. That person, you may not get along with them, but they got that same kind of skeleton right in their body, as well. They still bleed red"
On May 25th, Kakaty joined Loudwire Nights radio show with Chuck Armstrong discussing the new album "Skeletons" and explaining the meaning behind the album plus what other musicians made an appearance on tracks to add a "new" sound that'll keep listeners attracted to their stylistic evolution. The last 3 tracks included; Devour the Day, Fit For A King, and Zillion. The vocalist also expressed the importance of staying true to your roots, thus as experimental as "Skeletons" is, long-term fans can expect to find elements from tracks that got them hooked on Pop Evil in the first place. Additionally, Kakty's appreciation for his roots is deeply cemented now he has become a consistent touring musician, the lyrics of "Skeleton" speak of his gratitude for his hometown and how those experiences attributed to who he is today.
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