One glance at the name and you may think Eva Bartok is a solo artist. But she’s not. She’s a Band (of the Day)…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We’re from Cardiff.
How did you meet?
I’ve (Chris) known Rob for a few years prior to Eva from previous projects. Mikey and me met through a mutual friend. I was looking for a drummer and everything worked out from there.
How long have you been playing as a band?
About 2 years now.
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
The name comes from Mikey (drummer) basically being a fan of the actress. And in-particular her movie Blood and Black Lace. We toyed with the idea of Blood and Black Lace as a name and Eva Bartok being the EP. But we ended up preferring Eva Bartok.
What are your influences?
Anything noisy really. Bands like Refused, METZ, At the Drive0In, Converge.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
We take influence from noise rock, hardcore punk and a bit of emo. Our music is urgent and to the point. Imagine an explosion in musical form.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
It’s all pretty personal. We talk about topics like depression, anxiety… I guess mental health in general. There is a lot of opinion on political happenings in there. In a lot of ways the band is pretty cathartic and all about getting out frustrations.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
Energetic and a bit chaotic, we have been playing pretty consistently since we started.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Normally things get a bit out of hand. Whether it’s screaming in people’s faces mid-song, throwing things around or even someone vomiting that one time. It all becomes part of the show. I did get my guitar stuck in the roof at a show once. Luckily it was the end of the set.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
Guitar-wise I mainly play a Fender Jaguar modern player that’s pretty modded at this point. It sounds like it’s screaming all the time, I love it but it definitely gets abused. I also use a Gibson SG and an Orange amp.
Bass-wise we use a Fender 5-string and Mesa Boogie amps.
And drums are whatever Mikey won’t break, haha!
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We are promoting our first EP. It’s coming sometime in August. We will also be playing a bunch of shows around that.
What are your plans for 2019/2020?
This year: release the EP and play as many shows as possible. We really want to get out there. Next year we want to get back to recording and pushing the band further and further.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
I love so many bands on the Cardiff scene. It would feel weird to pick. Some of our favourite bands from Cardiff right now are: This Is Wreckage, StayVoiceless, Body hacker , They Live|We Sleep, Subtraction.
If we could support anyone that’s up and coming right now I’d love to support the St Pierre Snake Invasion. Their new songs are next level. I could honestly talk about new bands all day, In fact can we just put on an all-dayer with these bands please?
Eva Bartok: facebook | soundcloud | youtube
