CMJ INTERVIEW: We Were Evergreen

This week has been a busy one for Secret Sound Shop, but we somehow managed to squeeze in a video  shoot with Parisian trio, We Were Evergreen, who scheduled a total of six CMJ showcases. Their music is just as charming as they are, so check out our interview below and keep checking back for the video- coming soon.

SSS: How long have you been performing together?

It has been four and a half years, and we met at school. I was doing a drama classes with Michael, but we had all been in school together. So that’s how we met. We played a lot in Paris, and we decided to move to London last year. Yeah, we’ve been playing ever since.

SSS: How did you come up with We Were Evergreen as a band name?

We liked the contradiction of the evergreen’s, the trees, which never lose their leaves and the past in the sentence. I don’t know we liked the small nostalgia of this sentence. It was perfect. The three words put together, the three of us. It fit well together.

SSS: When you write songs do you collaborate or does one person write?

Michael writes the lyrics and structure of the song, or rather the main melody. After that we all add stuff together. We decide if it needs more bass and background, or foundation. I’ll add more stuff for melody…small stuff, but we all work together on this.

SSS: Where do you grab inspiration from when you’re writing?

Many different things—we are curious about many different things, especially outside of Europe and America. What music is like in South America, Africa, Asia, etc. A blend of many different things, unconsciously I think in the way we play. We also incorporate a lot of tales…like story telling, but not a childish part of a tale. We write about life by using images….not saying it literally.

SSS: Are you excited to play CMJ?

Yes! We’re playing at Rockwood Music Hall tonight..that’s our headlining show. We played there in March. So yeah, we are familiar with it. We had like many different acoustic sessions at CMJ.

SSS: What are your favorite spots in NY that you like to go to?

Typical tourist thing. Stand on top of a building and look out, like at night.

SSS: If you could watch any band play in any location….who would you watch and where would you want to watch them?

I’d like to see Jeff Buckley; I woke up to his album this morning. I’d like to see him come back to Earth. In Freeland in Holland…it’s a beautiful island. Or Lou Reed in a train station in North London.