Michigan rockers POP EVIL have released a brand new single and music video for a track called “Waking Lions”. The song is taken from the band’s fifth studio album, “Pop Evil”, which will be released on February 16, 2018 via Entertainment One. The band collaborated on the record with veteran producer Kato Khandwala and has been hard at work since early June. The sessions took place over the summer in Nashville, Tennessee at Studio A in Sound Emporium Studios and earlier this month at Sphere Studios in Los Angeles, California.
“This is a dawn of a new day for POP EVIL,” says vocalist Leigh Kakaty. “The new lineup feels like a whole new chapter for us. We could not be more proud to lead off this new album cycle with ‘Waking Lions’, sending a positive message to our fans.”
POP EVIL teamed up with Columbia Tatone on the video and is thrilled with the outcome. “Columbia brought a unique and distinctive approach with her visuals for our new music video,” Leigh says. “We really feel she delivered the energy that the song carries.”
POP EVIL bassist Matt DiRito told the WRIF radio station that the band spent the “longest time in the studio ever” recording the follow-up to 2015’s “Up” album. “Usually our turnaround is about three months in the studio. And this time we’ve been working on it since, like, May,” he said.
“We’re just taking our time,” he continued. “We’re working with a different producer. His approach is… he’s very thorough with all the sounds and the songs. Instead of having some crazy digital samples, like if we have some weird effect we wanna do, he’ll make us sit down and do it organically with, like, tambourines and shakers and triangles. All those little things, I think, kind of improve the quality, overall, of the album sonically, and I think it’s time well spent, but it’s just overall taking longer.”
“Pop Evil” marks the recording debut with the band of British drummer Hayley Cramer, who joined POP EVIL in 2016 following the departure of Josh “Chachi” Marunde.
Kakaty previously said that the band recorded “close to twenty songs” for its next LP. He has called the sessions for the effort “the smoothest recording process to date.”