Ottawa-based rock band CEVILAIN has built a reputation built on their immersive concept releases and compelling, high-energy performances. They’ve just released their latest single, “o’dear,” a song that delivers a powerful message of growth. We caught up with the band to chat about the new music, their favourite (and least favourite) parts of being in the industry, and the coolest show they’ve ever played.
From The Strait: Tell us about the new single, “o’dear”.
CEVILAIN: “o’dear” is about self-awareness. It’s about learning that the structures you’ve been surrounded by your whole life (family, faith, social constructs, etc) can become shackles… that you can choose to be defined by them or you can choose to define yourself.
From The Strait: How would you like a music fan to feel after listening to your music?
CEVILAIN: We try not to explicitly tell anyone how to feel, and we try to leave a lot open to interpretation, but our hope is that there’s a moment of self reflection. We hope that anyone who comes across our music can find something of themselves in it, an answer to a question, or a new way to frame something they’ve been dealing with.
From The Strait: All artists (save for the exceptionally lucky ones) experience writer’s block from time to time. How do you battle through a block when songwriting?
CEVILAIN: We’re fortunate in that all four of our members contribute to every aspect of our song-writing process so a lot of the time it’s just bouncing the ideas off of each other or letting someone else run with an idea you may be stumped by. We’ve also learned that it’s okay to set something down and come back to it – to not force something into being and let it come organically.
From The Strait: What are your favourite – and least favourite – parts of being a musician?
CEVILAIN: Favourite parts: creating with people you’re truly connected to and care about, being able to present what we create to our listeners, and ultimately being about to perform what we create. Seeing people with our lyrics or our logo tattooed on them is one of those “pinch me” moments that never gets old… and seeing how people react to our music – hearing what it means to them – is the greatest reward.
Least favourite: dealing with people who are being difficult for the sake of being difficult… hard-headed house technicians, flaky promoters, competitive support bands, etc. We try to ensure everything that we do is as easy as possible on those around us so it can be frustrating at times when you don’t receive the same courtesy.
From The Strait: Who were your musical influences growing up, and how do they differ from your current ones?
CEVILAIN: We all have vastly different musical tastes with some common overlap… Ed’s taste goes from jazz to the strangest, heaviest music you can find. Joel is a metal-head. Parms loves pop-punk. Cliff loves anything with a great vocalist and strong melody. We all grew up on similar things in the Canadian music scene (Three Days Grace, Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, Finger Eleven, etc) and they definitely still have some influence on how we create. We’ve been really enjoying the evolution of heavy music since the early 2000’s and love to see artists push the envelope now: President, Sleep Token, Beartooth, Bad Omens come to mind…
From The Strait: What was the coolest (and/or weirdest) live show you’ve ever played?
CEVILAIN: One of the absolute coolest venues we’ve ever played is THE MILESTONE CLUB in Charlotte, North Carolina. The vibes in that place are off the charts – from the run-down, “DIY” feel, to the stickered walls, to the low stage and intimate setting. The staff there were incredible and took great care of us. We played on a very hot day at the end of May and probably lost 10lbs each sweating it out with a packed house.
—
Check out “o’dear,” the new single from CEVILAIN!
Spotify / YouTube / Apple Music
–
Follow Cevilian on Facebook / Instagram
