It is a long climb to the top in the infamously vicious music industry, and local rock band Evangelina has learned this firsthand.
“There’s a lot of things in the music industry that want to make you quit,” said lead singer Joshua McLin.
Set to release its first full-length album this fall, the band will play material from “What It Means To Survive” this Saturday at Clicks Billiards when it will kick off its national tour.
The tour will take the band throughout the Midwest, where it signed to Indiana-based label RedwallMUSIC in February.
Getting signed to a label opened up more opportunities for the band, including recording a new album. New T-shirts, new shows and more online marketing have helped propel Evangelina into the public eye. The band even has an AOL Instant Message screen name EvangelinaBand.
With success, the band could end up sharing the stage with bands like Saosin, Anberlin, Glassjaw and The Used, which are all listed as their musical influences on MySpace.com.
“They don’t sound like any other bands out there that I can think of,” said Chad Risher, longtime fan and friend.
He described the band as, “five down-to-earth guys exposing their secrets through lyrical progression.”
Those five guys include lead singer McLin, Kolby Kember on guitar/keyboard, Chris Jones on bass, Nick Rodriguez on drums and Luis Mariani on guitar.
McLin said the band has a unique sound and fuses elements from all genres. “We’re a rock band, first and foremost,” he said. “We don’t try to sound like anyone else.”
Nick Nelson, information systems and decision sciences and computer engineering freshman, said the band doesn’t exactly fit his taste in rock music.
“But I still enjoy it because I enjoy anything that rocks and is as original as you can be today,” he said.
Originality and their rock ability will definitely help lure customers browsing the shelves of Best Buy or FYE when the new CD is released to national chains in January.
“What It Means To Survive” refers to the band’s somewhat divisive past, as the album will be the first one to feature the currentmembers.
McLin is the only remaining member of the original lineup when the band was called Seven Day Sacrifice, which started in 2002.
“Last October, we realized I was the only remaining member and decided to change the name,” he said.
At the time, McLin worked on Evangeline Street. He said he thought the word Evangeline was too cliché and changed the last syllable to make a quick and memorable name.
Most former members left the band because they did not have enough time for school and work, according to McLin. Trent Barnett, political science, history and business administration senior, was a member of Seven Day Sacrifice for four years but quit to focus on school. He said he still fully supports his friends and former bandmates by going to their shows.
“I’ve helped the guys set up and tear down numerous late nights after shows,” he said.
McLin said the current members are dedicated and have essentially made a career out of playing in Evangelina.
“It’s survival of the fittest,” he said.
Jones echoed this sentiment.
“I would rather do what I love to do than go to school for something that I wouldn’t enjoy doing at all,” he said.
Being a full-time band member does not leave much time for more lucrative jobs. Between tours, Kember is a tattoo artist, Rodriguez works in construction and McLin and Mariani are currently unemployed. “We’re survived through it all and held it together,” he said.
Barnett said he is glad the band never lowered itself to being just another cover band.
“Baton Rouge has plenty of those and not enough originality,” he said.
The tour includes three more Baton Rouge dates: Oct. 29 at North Gate Tavern, Nov. 13 at The Caterie, and home again Dec. 21 at Clicks Billiards just in time for Christmas.
The album can be preordered on the band’s MySpace page, www.myspace.com/evangelinarock.
—Contact Lauren Walck at [email protected]