Bringing together the definitively unbeatable combination of an incendiary hard/rock and metal musical foundation, complemented brilliantly by intriguingly esoteric, powerfully pop-tinged vocals and imbued with a dark sweetness melodically and tonally, the debut EP of North Carolina’s Infinite Eve is bold statement that hard rock music is alive and well in the gold ol’ US of A – and beyond.
With the release of The Story, the dynamic creative duo of Eve Naylor and Paul Warren have thunderously announced themselves as fresh interpreters of hard rock/metal genre, with five songs that are as dynamic and daring as they are melodically memorable.
While being together since 2017, work on The Story took well over a year, but it was well worth the time, effort and resources to complete.
“We put a lot of effort into it and we discarded some songs along the way too, of course. We wanted to put things on the EP that were thematically in line with one another. It probably took the better part of a year and a half to do that, because we were also performing the songs live. We did that to figure out what we liked and what we didn’t like and then went back and edited them and ensured what we were feeling and hearing onstage, translated to the recording. We road tested them, which was helpful because it was very apparent to us at shows which songs were connecting with the crowd,” said Warren, who is also the director of the Raleigh Music Academy and a virtuoso axe slinger in his own right.
“What I find interesting is that, given it’s hard to label us, is that we can perform on the same show with an emo band, we can perform with a metal band, and we have actually done some shows with a blues guy and someone within the virtuoso guitar genre. We don’t necessarily fit into one genre or style, but the crowds like it.”
“I think the most overwhelming feedback we got from our shows and from people who have heard some of the record is that it doesn’t necessarily sound like anything else. There is not one other band that people have been able to compare us to, which has its positives and negatives, I would say. But overall, the feedback is that it sounds very cool,” added Naylor, who has significant classical training, and has developed a technique for her vocals that is spritely, highly articulate and rhythmically interesting, as well as showcasing her broad and emotive range.
“From my perspective, I think it’s that the melodies themselves are more in what I would call the alternative pop realm, but with the heavier instrumentation from Paul’s background. That combination seems to have resonated with people who are liking the more catchy melodies, but with a heavier tone to the music itself. What I normally tell people is that we are kind of alternative rock with some metal undertones.”
Infinite Eve began when Naylor and Warren found themselves in a slap dash cover band a number of years ago. The more they played together, the more they realized that there was a musical connection – that connection eventually leading to the crafting of original material together, and thus Infinite Eve was launched into the world.
“I went to high school with a guy who, out of the blue one day, said, ‘hey a band dropped out of a lineup for a show, so you want to jump in and sing some covers for the show,’ which was coming up in about a month. I said sure because I had nothing else to do at the time. Paul was already involved so we put together this cover band and it was a lot of fun. Years later, after playing covers all the time, Paul approached me and asked if I wanted to do an original side project. And I was like, absolutely, let’s do it,” said Naylor.
“The timing was just right. For that cover band thing, it was kind of an important slot that opened up on that show, so they approached me, and I said I will get a band together. I knew some really good musicians, but I didn’t know of a vocalist. Thankfully, my friend knew Eve and it ended up being a great show and a lot of fun. I think we only did one or two rehearsals and we did quite a lot of covers – 15 or so that night. From my side of it, and I hope a lot of people are this way, I am particular about singers. Sometimes when you hear singers you wonder if people are actually being that choosy about it. But what I really enjoy is somebody like Eve who can jump into a live situation and deal with monitor issues and too much stage volume or whatever it is that can happen, and still hit those pitches,” said Warren.
“When we did that first show, that’s absolutely what I noticed. It wasn’t necessarily stage presence or anything else, which she did have for sure, but for me it was, ‘okay, this girl can sing on pitch.’ And that was very impressive. So, thankfully when you come to our shows, you know that you’re going to hear stuff done right. She’s got a real talent for that.”
For her part, Naylor was equally complimentary of her now collaborator and bandmate.
“I had been itching to do a project like this for a long time. I have been singing my entire life, but nothing ever materialized where I would have the opportunity to write and have an entire song come to completion. And Paul is just an incredible guitarist for one thing, and also has the ability to bring dimensions to melodies and lyrics that I have that, by themselves, would probably be just kind of ordinary. He makes them sound interesting with chord progressions that I would never have dreamt of, that sound good and intriguing and don’t get in the way of the vocal line, which is huge and hard to find in a guitarist,” she said.
“Paul gets to some really fun solos and some guitar dancing, as I call it. But it never overpowers the integrity of the songs. So, I think that’s where the fit happens between us.”
“We definitely want the songs to be about letting the vocals shine. And I am more than happy to do whatever I need to get the outcome we want,” added Warren.
One of the standout tracks on the EP, and one that exemplifies how well Infinite Eve is able to meld elements of light and dark, not just lyrically but also musically and sonically, is the compelling Remiss.
“It’s a little haunting and a little sinister. The lyrics are kind of an ode to the people who are closest to you and how it seems to be a little harder for them to champion your initiatives and support them. I don’t know why that is; it’s weird how all these strangers will gravitate to your work and be a champion for your stuff, but the people that you actually know, not usually so much. They will kind of hide out until you become something bigger and do something great,” Naylor explained.
“So, the song goes to the people who are kind of close to me who maybe have been a little discouraging and disparaging about my desire to sing and do music. Those lyrics are kind of ‘sticking it to the man’ a little bit.”
The title track, The Story, is a great example of the songwriting connection between Naylor and Warren and a song that also perfectly illustrates Naylor’s exceptional and stylistically unique vocal work.
“That was one where I didn’t have complete instrumental tracks, but I did have a lot of the arrangement ready, like the choruses and some of the verses. So that’s what Eve was listening to when she started adding to it. That was a song that I wrote in part for this guy named Andy Wood, another excellent guitarist. We were going to do a show together and I was going to give him something just to jam on. So, when we were writing for the EP, I pulled that out and thought there was some good stuff in there and I wondered if Eve could do anything with it,” Warren explained.
“So, once she came up with that vocal line, it was killer, because it created a really nice tension to the rhythm track with the way she enunciates and speaks so quickly over the verses. And then we finished off the arrangement for the rest of the song together.”
Both I Wanted to Stay, and Little Birds are about the varied complexities, pitfalls, risks and rewards of relationships, based, at least in part, on some personal experience by Naylor.
“Of course, I think most songwriters draw from real experience. I actually wrote I Wanted to Stay in 2011 or 2012, so I have been sitting on it for years and for those years I didn’t trust anyone to help develop it until I started working with Paul. Obviously, the words are about a break-up situation, where I am saying, ‘well, if you would have asked me to stay, I would have. But you didn’t ask me, so here we are,’” Naylor explained.
“And Little Birds is an interesting one. I had a weird job this past summer where I sold security door to door to make some quick cash. I was procrastinating at that job, as one would, and I had pulled over into a parking lot and this song just came into my head. I was dating somebody at the time, but we were keeping it really quiet. And, of course, as the woman you want everyone to know when you’re dating someone, but that didn’t end up being the case for that particular relationship. So, Little Birds is like me saying, ‘I am not going to tell anybody that we have been together, but they are going to find out. I won’t say anything, but don’t listen to any little birds who might be telling you any information.’ Although, I don’t know if that translates when someone listens to the song, but that’s what it’s about.”
The creative relationship between the core members of Infinite Eve is still fresh enough that, as you can deduce from how the songs came together for this EP, they haven’t settled into any sort of pattern as far as songwriting goes.
“We don’t usually have any cohesive jam sessions where the songs materialize at the same time. For The Story, Paul had a really incredible instrumental where he asked if I could do something with it. So, I listened to it for weeks, maybe even months, before I heard any kind of vocal lines that would work with it. And then, finally, once that happened, like Paul said, the rest of it just came together. Once we got rolling, there really weren’t any edits to speak of,” Naylor said.
“For other songs, it can happen the opposite way, where I will be out walking maybe, or procrastinating doing some work – by the way it’s amazing what you can write procrastinating doing something else – and I would get the lyrics and the melody coming to me at the same time. Or, I will be listening to a song on the radio and get inspiration and hear a different song in my head. I will sing it into my phone and record it so I don’t forget, and then send it to Paul and just do it on a click track to see what he can hear as far as instrumentation is concerned. And that’s kind of how the songs come together, at least at this point in our careers.”
Infinite Eve is currently working to broaden their touring horizons beyond their core territory in and around the Raleigh-Durham region into all parts of their home state, as well as border states such as South Carolina and Virginia. They are also trying to get some shows in important music markets such as Chicago and Austin, Texas, with European dates a possibility farther down the road.
For more information, visit the band’s socials or http://infiniteeve.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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