story + photos / Logan Brendt
video / Charlene Bagcal
Is the band called Eva or Eva Los Angeles?
It’s both. I wanted 2 names just in case we were to encounter a territory where there was already a performer using Eva. Having 2 names would have worked for Suede if they went by Suede UK or Suede London rather than The London Suede in America as it drastically altered their name alphabetically. The problem was, you would never know where to file their CDs in the record bins. I had noticed this when I spent a few years working at Tower Records and Borders music and had a lot of time to think about band names. They are important!
Did working at those record stores spark your interest in writing music?
Somewhat. It exposed me to every type of music imaginable but I somehow kept coming back to the same ten goth records.
Would you consider Eva a goth band?
Probably, but with elements of electroclash and funk. Even Bauhaus was kind of funky. Goth’s timelessness is due to the fact that it was never in style…so it never went out. It’s just an ever-present subculture. Every few years there is a new twist on it. I like when pop artists dabble with goth. Billie Eilish seems to be doing that a bit right now. Witch House was a little kooky though. At the end of the day it’s all just rock n roll. We tend to forget that…Motorhead did not.
How did the track Venacava come about and what are the release formats for it?
I had posted a batch of demos on Soundcloud and then decided to convert one of the them into a professional mix for an official release.
I felt Venacava was a direct and accurate representation of the Eva sound and it was under three minutes, so I sought out one of my favorite producers (Steve Osborne) to mix it. He is responsible for a bunch of great records but I was always drawn to New Order’s (Get Ready) and Suede’s (Head Music).
I was really lucky to have him mix the song and the process went smoothly. He was really insightful, efficient and referred me to a great mastering engineer by the name of Pete Maher which I also employed for the track. The song is now available as a free download on Soundcloud and there will also be a limited edition cassette release on May 17th.
With regards to the video, It was directed by Charlene Bagcal.
I was fortunate to become acquainted with her when she was the photographer for a LADYGUNN feature on Gary Numan a few years back and she stayed on my radar since.
There were some videos she did for Chelsea Wolfe and Allie X that I dug but one video in particular called ‘Parisan Night’ was a starting point for the Venacava video.
When she was developing the treatment I suggested she cull some of the vibe from that as it reminded me of Visage’s ‘Fade to Grey’.
From there, I also mentioned the videos for Human League’s (Keep Feeling) Fascination and Roxy Music’s (Virginia Plain) as points of reference. She sent back a treatment that encompassed some of those elements and we got to work.
I am really stoked with the end result that Charlene and her DP Eduardo created and so thankful to premiere it on LADYGUNN. Full circle!
