All About Eve 6

05/05/1998 3:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Janiss Garza

Eve 6 singer/ bassist Max Collins and guitarist Jon Siebels were 15 years old when they started hanging out. "We had P.E. class together in ninth grade," Siebels recalls, "so we sat around while we were supposed to be participating in P.E. and fantasized about the band we were going to start. We totally had this goal--we were gonna play music for the rest of our lives. Shortly afterwards, that became sort of a reality."

The guys are now edging on 19 and, along with 19-year-old drummer Tony Fagenson, they have a self-titled debut album out on RCA. But don't start whining, "Oh no! Not another bunch of obnoxious teen prodigies!" The members of Eve 6 are mature beyond their years, both personally and musically. If no one knew their ages, their youth wouldn't even be an issue. In fact, when they play bars, the question of their being underage rarely comes up. "They don't ask and we don't tell," Siebels confides.

The key to Eve 6's hard-hitting yet catchy, brand of rock 'n' roll is the depth of the group's influences, which range from Lookout Records punk outfits like Screeching Weasel and the Queers all the way back to artists like singer-songwriter Elvis Costello and punk godfathers the Ramones. Collins admits, however, that most people his age don't listen to artists who were popular before they were born. "I don't think we stand for our generation on that. We're rarities."

Collins's lyrics, too, show quite a bit of sophistication. His words reach beyond the usual teen angst that even bands well into their twenties are guilty of writing. In tunes such as the punchy, melodic "Inside Out" and solidly rocking "Tongue Tied," he shines insight into alienation, and the brightly fast-paced "Superhero Girl" describes a chase after the ideal woman that men in their thirties and forties are still pursuing. Instead of skating along on superficialities, Eve 6 dig firmly into musical and emotional essences.

The group was signed while its members were still in school, but the label let the guys gestate for a couple of years before putting them in the studio--"While we were in high school, there was no way of us really touring and promoting a record to the fullest possibilities," Siebels reasons logically. The wait worked in their favor, because during that period of time, Eve 6's sound developed from brash, high-adrenaline punk to a full, multi-dimensional approach. The band has, literally, an all-ages appeal. While recording in Seattle, the guys played a few shows in front of audiences that ranged from teens to people in their forties. "People who could have been my mom's age were loving it," Siebels recalls. "It was so cool!"

New as they may be, Eve 6 have already learned some universal truths that have enhanced them musically. "Humans are humans," Fagenson relates. "Age, circumstances may change, but what's at our core is still the same."