EVERLIT – A FUN CONVERSATION WITH RYAN, JORDAN AND FIDELITY
By Ralph Beauchamp
Everlit is a rock juggernaut based out of the City Of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. Everlit just released their their first single entitled “Game Over” via their new label, Chirp Entertainment. “Game Over” also features a collab with JT Tollas from Famous Last Words. The band has become synonymous with pure energy, destructive guitar riffs and raw power. Brothers Ryan (Vocals) and Jordan (Guitar) Panfil are joined by Fidelity (Drums) and Kyle Wegman (Bass). The foursome have worked with the esteemed producer Taylor Larson since the band rebranded their sound.
“Game Over” is a melodic rock masterpiece. It combines monstrous vocals with dramatic guitar licks. Ryan’s voice is cinematic in scope with edgy intonations. Jordan’s guitars flair with sonic explosions. Fidelity’s drums deliver torrents of aggressive detonations while Kyle’s bass is merciless. “Game Over” pushes past entrenched boundaries establishing Everlit as a formidable force in today’s current music scene. Everlit will destroy the accepted norm. They will truly conquer.
Ryan, Jordan and Fidelity were kind enough to sit with AMP for this fun conversation discussing all things Everlit.
AMP: Can you give us a brief history of the band?
RYAN: Me and Jordan have been playing music together since we were little guys. From 5th to 7th grade, we were in a bunch of bands. At that time we lived in Delaware. When we moved to Philly, we started a new band with Fidelity., our drummer. We formed a group called Willpowerless which toured a lot with some really big acts. There was a line-up change and we started work with a new producer, Taylor Larson. At that point, Jordan went from bass to guitar. Kyle joined us on bass. We decided to rebrand with a fresh name, image and sound. That was when Everlit was born.
AMP: Your new single, “Game Over” has manic energy. How about a little insight into the track?
RYAN: “Game Over” is the perfect track for people to hear our new sound. It really has a hard instrumental intensity. Not too intense but definitely has an edge. The vocals are melodic with definitive screams. The lyrics are about the games we play as humans in search of power. It can relate to both relationship issues or, on a larger scale, the game of governmental politics.
AMP: What kinds of themes do you incorporate in your songs?
RYAN: We usually go with what’s most important in our lives at that moment in time. I write a lot of the lyrics as well as Jordan. When I am working on a song, I tend to write about the struggles in my life. Either mentally, physically or things that hit me from the outside world. If I care about a subject, a song comes out. A lot of the newer tunes are about my mental struggles and how I can deal with them. I try to use them as a way to change the scenario. Hopefully, our songs are a help to our fans when coping with their issues.
AMP: What is your creative process like?
JORDAN: We’ve got it down to a pretty good science. It’s pretty seamless. Even though we tend to do a lot of writing separately, we still have a pretty good work relationship. For example, I’ll start with a song outline. I write all the guitars and then shoot it over to Fidelity. He will lay down all the drums and then send it back to me. I’ll clean up the guitar mix to better match his beats.
It will go back and forth until we are happy with the sound. It then goes to Ryan to lay down some vocal patterns. Then Kyle puts in his input. From there, we take it down to the studio where our producer, Taylor Lawson, works his magic. We have been writing a lot since we’ve been signed. There are two tracks done with three more coming soon. There is a lot of Everlit coming out this year.
AMP: Do you feel that your music has given you back as much fulfillment as all the work you’ve put into it?
JORDAN: I would say now it has. We always had a good time playing our music. We love writing songs, recording our tunes, totally enjoy playing live and getting feedback from our fans. A lot of people have come up to us saying how the band has helped them get through their day and defeating their demons. It was very satisfying just doing it for fun but even more so now as we’ve matured and have a team that is backing us. It’s still enjoyable that we get to do the thing we love but it’s no longer a hobby. It’s easier to be creative when you have support.
RYAN: Another thing is we were kind of slowing down before we got signed. There seemed to be no pressure on us. Now, we have to write 30 songs. The juices are flowing again. We are writing more now than we have in a long time.
AMP: You recently signed with Chirp Entertainment. How did that happen and why is it a good fit?
FIDELITY: Well, we have been working with Taylor Larson as our producer for awhile. He has always been a huge part of our sound. We got that Chirp connection through him. He hooked us up with Jeff and Jeff really liked the band.
I feel it’s a perfect fit because they have a great feel for music. There is also this openness that Chirp has given us. They don’t apply pressure or want to put us in a box. Even though our sound has a nu-metal element, they’re fine letting us get as heavy as we want. Vice versa, we can get as catchy as we want in a melodic way without being restricted. They give the band the freedom to be whatever we want it to be. It doesn’t matter if we veer to a metal vibe or a pop groove. Our meetings have always been positive and they are everything we could ever want in a record label.
RYAN: Another cool factor is the fact that we can continue to work with Taylor. We’ve been working with him ever since we became Everlit. Chirp is fine with us continuing our relationship.
AMP: With the rise of social media, do you feel a band is required to constantly submit new content just to remain relevant?
JORDAN: I definitely think that’s a big part of the package. We don’t participate that much but we do post here and there. I get artists in my feed that aren’t really that good but get tons of hits because they are constantly posting on all the social media platforms. We are at that age group where we were there from the very beginning of the social media boom and we are kind of over it but we still participate. What we like is the fact that our fans can DM us and we can totally connect. We do it all for the fans but we don’t drop links daily. It’s not our style.
AMP: On your new single, you collaborated with JT Tollas from Famous Last Words. Is there a current artist you would love to work with?
RYAN: I would really like to work with Matty Mullins from Memphis May Fire. That would be a dream for me because their music has been a major inspiration. Maybe we could use some of his screams in one of our bridges.
FIDELITY: Everybody knows my dream collab would be Chino Moreno. If we are talking about something more reachable, we’ve been talking with our buddies over at Fight The Fade about working on a track with them.
JORDAN: That really should be our next collaboration. We should reach out before we start laying down vocals on the next song. We can work on a fresh tune. That would be great.
AMP: What’s the Philly music scene like?
FIDELITY: It’s not the biggest rock city. You have a lot of genres floating around like hip hop, jam and EDM but we still get a decent amount of shows coming our way.
RYAN: It all depends on how big you are. If you are in the underground scene, trying to do metal or rock, there really isn’t much a draw. If you are a big rock act, you will do well.
FIDELITY: If you’re the Deftones, people will show up anywhere but smaller acts would rather play in Trenton than Philly because in Trenton the fans actually show up. With our previous project, we used to really grind hard in Philly.
RYAN: We were crushing Philly with our previous project but that is a little bit of an outlier cause we were young and we knew so many people. We had a bunch of fans and friends that just wanted to party with us. The shows were selling out just because everyone wanted to have a good time.
AMP: What’s next for Everlit?
JORDAN: Studio time. We are heading back to Maryland to cut those three tracks we previously told you about. Just keep churning out dope music. More music with Chirp and then, hopefully, jumping on some tours.
To learn more about Everlit, check out their Website
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