On September 2nd "No God : Dissecting Faith" will be available for free download through Evestus bandcamp page as well as our Last.Fm profile and any other platform we can find to share our music on. Some tracks will be available on Spotify and Rdio as well.
The release was initially planned as a single to accompany the "No God" music video,
but as the video production was postponed, the single kept growing beyond the definition of a "single" and then beyond an "EP" until finally it reached a point where I just decided to call it a "rare/Remix" album. The remixes are by people who've played a smaller or bigger part in my life during that time period (2012-2014).
While you're hopefully enjoying the release, let me tell you a little about what's on it..
Gnawer
Gnawer is an alias of a carpenter-guy I met when I was working on "Man Of LaMancha" at Estonian National Opera, and we've worked with him on "The Fall" and "No God" video props and sets. Plus this guy makes his own guitars and cigar boxes and plays them like he owes the devil! And he's not released one album, EP or a single! I felt I might be able to give him a kick in the ass by having him cover my song and put it out there! There are so many people with such talent (talent = insane dedication in doing something you love! Not being BORN with the ability to build a fucking submarine..) who never really show it to the world. Ofcourse, who am I to decide what they do with their skills, but after I heard him play, I knew I wanted this cover and I wanted it on this release! And, you know, listening to this song performed this way.. it does give it a whole new meaning, doesn't it. And it all makes sense now, doesn't it.
Video Version
The main reason for this was that I didn't want to have the same exact song appear on this release that I was on the original "No God". Also because we cropped the song by about 10 seconds on behalf of the music video. Sometimes less is more ;) (HAH, bet you thought you never hear ME say that!). Besides, I mixed the previous version of this song and I felt like I wanted to bring out some details of the mix that were left in the background the first time. I hope you like it! I LOVE to hear different mixes of songs by my own favorite bands so perhaps so do you :)
The whole God Damn..
This song was written especially for this EP.. album.. whateverthefuck.. compilation. It describes my current state of mind. Like a testament to the fact that I am over this shit and ready to take on the world! I left it really raw, the vocals are basically first take - a bit off beat here and there.. I played the guitars in myself.. everything is a bit broken, but determined! And I figured in this kind of state the song actually sounds exactly the way I feel! Sometimes overproducing can kill a lot of the emotion of a song. Since this release is dedicated to my friends, fans and followers, I wanted to keep it as real and honest as possible.
Freakangel Remix.
We went on tour with Freakangel and I "buried the hatchet" with their frontman Dimitry Darling. We were the only two up and coming industrial artist in Estonia and for years we didn't have a single show together. it probably came off like we had some beef between us. Neither of us know exactly where it started, but it was probably about who's more "true" or some shit back when he was still active with Suicidal Romance. Now we've got a suicidal bromance. Hey - Estonia is extremely tiny. And the scene is so small that there is really no room for dick measuring - freaks like us either stick together or we end up with a lot of pissed off fans one day having to choose which band to watch when we're playing in two different venues same night. Anyway, we got our shit straight, had indecent amounts of whiskey and to seal the deal, remixed each-others songs so I think it worked out great for our fans as well! Freakangel is currently represented by Alfa Matrix.
Chaos Royale Remix
I went to Tokyo for a few weeks in 2012 and actually met up with Luke Chaos, the man behind Chaos Royale and, as it turned out, Tokyos first steampunk event "Steam Garden". We had some great times together in Shibuya and Harajuku - that's where I actually played him "Voices" and asked him to do a remix for that song, which ended up on the "Voices" digital single and just felt right to be put on this one aswell, because it is just plain awesome! So asking him to do one for "No God" was a no brainer for me! And I am extremely happy with the result! In mastering, they had to actually LOWER his mixes levels because it was so fucking loud! I agreed only because I believe somebody still likes to burn music on a cd.. don't know if I'm right or wrong.. but out of respect for Luke and some extremely sensitive noiseheads, I left an unmastered version of his mix on the release as well. Just listen to this song on a pair of decent BIG headphones and you'll go to another fucking universe man! Guaranteed!
Recycled Remix by i!
Now these guys are fairly recent contacts. In fact I've never even met them. In fact I've never even met the guys through whom I got to them! That's the 21st century for you. Anyway, one day looking for new industrial rock acts - I do that once every few months - I stumbled upon a UK band "Jensen" who'd just released their debut EP "Zero-One". Their name first got my attention because my mothers maiden name is "Jensen". But after downloading their free EP, I really liked their sound! It was very nicely formed after the great 90-s industrial rock sound of Zeromancer, Godhead etc. I loved it! And as I played through their EP again and again I sarted to really like the remix on their release.. "Ghosts" done by i! . Took me a while to find these guys (two brothers actually) but finally through Armalyte Industries webpage, where they are signed to with Jensen, I found their contacts and just messaged them on FB, like " Hey! I love your remix for Jensen - you wanna do me next!?":D sorta like that. Anyway, they were cool and they sent me the recycled mix! And it's epic! I will definitely want to have these guys mix my songs in the future as well! And With Jensen I want to go on tour! I've missed two of their gigs so far, one due to their drummer getting into an accident and the other due to Alt-Fest being cancelled.. but as you can probably expect, I ain't giving up! We'll make a UK tour happen sooner or later - mark my words!
Faith Dissected
Well, this song pretty much speaks for itself, doesn't it. I used samples from a great BBC series "The Atheism Tapes" that you can watch online here. It's just to give you some food for thought. The background music is by me. It's also something for the fans of "Wastelands" and "Destiny in Life". Something to make these guys all warm and fuzzy! And a way to raise a bit of awareness on the dangers and the essence of religion..
Another Lie
This is one of the most personal songs I wrote during the darkest moments in the last few years. I was really struggling to put it out there.. it was a very hard decision, because.. it's just one of these songs that come from a dark place where you don't really want to go back to. Very hard to work on songs like that. Much easier to talk about hate or anger that it is about.. that kind of things.
DND & Supapyx Live remix
This guy DND I don't really know.. We were putting together a team for the "No God" videoshoot and one of my oldest and closest friends Skiso (known also as DJ Skiso) was supposed to help out with the sound and light set-up, but he couldn't come and offered this guy DND as his replacement. He was a quiet dude who got everything done the way it was supposed to. Later on turned out he's also making a bit of music himself and he was wondering if there's any room on the release for an extra remix and well.. there it is. It was completely outside of the mood I was aiming for for the compilation, but it had some kind of eerie atmosphere to it.. it's like a perfect track for a walk in the city on a rainy autumn night..
Supapyx is this strange fellow. You've got to love that guy! Not only because he builds these monstrous sound systems that sound amazing, (He's speakers are up on the "No God" video band set.) but because he's one of those guys who talks little, but DOES big! He's the 1% who makes his ideas HAPPEN! And you've got to respect that! And his mix is done and recorded live. People like that are who you have to surround yourself with. People not only crazy enough to dream, but crazy enough to follow these dreams!
Now.. about the "No God" ERA..
This release, as I've mentioned during this year, marks an end to the "No God" era of the band. Of me. That started somewhere in 2012 and lasted up until about now. It has been a hard period. Perhaps the time that comes in every bands life when you will have to make a decision, either to "stop this nonsense and get a real job" or push through the shit and hope you land on your feet. Or perhaps it was just a really fucking unlucky period.
Because, with the exception of a fistful of great fans and friends, the moments you realize you've written a great fucking song and some really awesome live shows here and there.. being an artist between these moments.. is shit. And it has been especially shit during the last few years.
In a way, "No God" has, during that period, taken a whole new meaning for me personally.
For me "God" in this concept, means a path. Direction. Cause. Reason. And I'd lost that. I didn't know what I was doing.. or why I was doing it.
I used to have this idea where I make music, I get under a label, I get on the road - spread my music across the goddamn planet and give hope and reason to people like me! Because when I grew up - my best friends in the whole world were Marilyn Manson and Trent fucking Reznor! These guys KNEW how I felt! What I was going through! They knew exactly how fucked up my life and the world around me was. And they showed me that I was not ALONE in this shit! That there was somebody who understands me! Somebody who's there for me.
I wanted to become that somebody. That's why I started making music.
And I did. For a period of time around "This Is Dramacore" I felt like I was really making a difference in peoples lives! I was becoming...
And then.. something changed. And I don't know what it was exactly, but might as well have been a combination of things.. The great recession, the music industry flipped, Myspace collapsed.. Marilyn Manson, NIN, Slipknot, Korn, Limp Bizkit.. all released some of their worst albums ever... as if they were affected by some kind of plague that ran over alternative music... and then it went quiet.
In 2012 Evestus had ONE live show. imagine that. One. That's quite a kick to self-esteem.
I felt like I had to start from scratch.. somehow.. nothing felt right... whatever came out good did so as an accident.. Evestus went from 40K friends on myspace to 40 likes on facebook.
I had a lot of ideas and plans, but everything was too much for me to handle. I had gotten myself in massive debts with the huge shows Evestus put on in 2010-2011 and I realized I have to tone it all down if I am to continue giving live shows. I cut the live line-up down to four members and kept that line up in mind writing the new material for "No God". "The Fall" being obviously the exception to prove the rule. I wanted this EP to be like an introductory compilation for people new to Evestus - to show that we can come off as a rock band with a little something extra. There were two very distinct layers to that release, the music and the lyrics. i knew very well that people who book bands care more about how the band sounds like than what they're singing about. By now I know that they only care about how many people the band can draw into their venue.
Initially, the lyrics were very straightforward. I meant exactly what I wrote. It was about a year after the release of the EP when I started finding completely different meanings of these songs between the lines. As If my subconsciousness was leaving messages for me in my own songs.
At periods, things got so bad, I started thinking that there IS god, and he's all on his cloud like "Oh no he DI'N'T!" and just turning everything on my path into shit to prove a point. I seriously thought I was cursed. Nothing went right. We had a summer full of festivals and at each one something went wrong... sound failure, financial ripoff, no audience.. and the last big collapse in the line of failures was Alt-Fest! I was like, "This is way too big! This can't be happening! This can't be me!!!" - I designed the stage logos, area maps that kind of stuff for them and I was really-REALLY looking forward to going there, to meet the bands, their managers, promoters - I was sure I could get Evestus a very decent contact base to kickstart our new album with next year! And that all fell apart. Work with Alt-Fest was the reason why I didn't have the time to release the "No God" Video in June as initially planned. And I.. well.. fuck it. It's gone. Yesterday. And yesterday don't mean shit.
It wasn't all bad though, during the No God era we managed to release FOUR music videos! The definite highlights of this period were the shooting of "The Fall" with TNS - that was one of the best days of my life! And getting my father to play the red devil was just beyond epic!
Then there was The Pirate Bay video promo for "The Fall" that gave this video 100K views on youtube! It was like winning the lottery! That is just something that doesn't happen!
And the reformation of my live band - with John joining us on guitar and Jan taking over as Bass player, the band and the shows have never been stronger!
I am also very proud to admit that through these last videos, Grete (Our official Creative Director) and I have formed a small but effective and trustworthy production team with Andres Hakmann (Blues and Props), Anita Porila (Make-up and props), Kati and Martin Laus (Catering and production assistance), Sven "Skiso" Lillemets (Sound and Light) and Margo "I get shit done!" Kärsna (who gets, well, shit done!) who helped us realize our ideas for "The Fall" and "No God" videos and with whom we will definitely continue working on the future Evestus videos and projects!
With "Dissecting Faith", i'm coming clean. This post here is part of it. I want it all out. All clear, no loose ends, no looking back. After the FINDUSTRY festival in Helsinki on the 5th I'm moving my studio to a vault in a remote location outside of society for at least a month to focus on the future of Evestus. The future I want to turn into the present as soon as possible!
I want to thank all my fans, friends, The New Scum for their patience and faith in me! I want to thank Grete "Stitch" Laus for the support she's given me over the years, tolerating my madness and staying by my side during the darkest days of my life! I want to thank the bands and artists who work towards becoming the leaders of trends, not followers! I want to thank insane people around me who are following their dreams despite the whole world fighting agains them every step of the way! I want to thank everyone who goes to gigs to see local and foreign bands they've never heard of who're playing for 20% of travel costs and a six pack of beer! I especially thank those of you who buy these bands merch or just buy them a drink after show and tell them that they rocked! I want to thank everyone who's ever written us a review. I want to thank The Pirate Bay for featuring our music video. I want thank the organisers of Alt-Fest who might have failed to put up the festival, but succeeded at raising the alternative scene from its coma! Thanks to them I see hope for industrial and gothic music yet! I want to thank my band, Tanya, John and Jan. You guys are freaks, but you're MY freaks! And I want to thank the world for still fucking me over and beating me down every day - that is only making me stronger!
With the support of you all (and with no help from God..) I've come this far! 10 years of Evestus! And I believe this was just the intro. I believe from here, the real ride begins! And I hope I can take that ride with all of you on my side!
Yours Truly,
The Monster I've Become.