Jacques Viviers and Kyle Abernethy began a journey into the music industry in the last year as the musical duo Evergreen. With the release of their single “Siren” and live performances across Pretoria, the band hopes to make their mark in the local music scene. PDBY caught up with Evergreen to gain an insight into their newly-established place in the music world.
Tell us about your initial interest in music.
It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment we both came to love music because it’s always been a part of who we are, so it was more of a natural inkling of a passion we have for it.
How would you describe Evergreen’s sound and style? Are you influenced by anyone in particular?
Evergreen is really a mixture of both of our tastes in music and the styles we have loved during our lives. We have heavy pop punk elements which grew from our mutual love of bands such as Neck Deep. We also both love Justin Bieber and admire his vocal and lyrical prowess which inspires our writing.
Your first song “Siren” was released in August. Could you elaborate on the song and what it is about?
“Siren” is an unconventional love song. We took inspiration from the mythical creature which would seduce sailors into jumping overboard, ultimately drowning themselves. So, to harken on that, “Siren” portrays a love that has led someone into metaphorically drowning in its toxicity and dysfunction. However, the ‘Siren’s’ beautiful seduction makes it all seem worthwhile.
Could you walk us through your creative process as artists?
We tend not to write with a specific process. Instead, we ride the wave of each other’s moments of inspiration wherein one idea will spark another and another until we have a complete song.
As new artists, tell us more about putting your foot in the door into the industry.
As new artists, we just hope that the music we love to make will find its niche in the public and hopefully speak to whoever needs it. We are not aiming to create the most popular or trendy music, rather do it out of love and as a tool to express ourselves and if people catch on to it and love it as much as we do and want to hear more then we would have achieved our goal.
You have performed live in the last year. Tell us about how gigging and performing live has changed in 2020, especially in these unusual circumstances amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020 was the year we intended to really get Evergreen off its feet but obviously, the world was halted by this horrible virus. However, we still managed to achieve all we set out to at the beginning of the year by landing our first gigs and recording our first song. Although we would have liked to perform and record more, last year still added the fuel we needed to keep our passion for this band burning.
Speaking of COVID-19, how has the lockdown affected your creativity?
Even though we were forced to be apart during the lockdown, we still managed to keep our creative juices flowing by individually writing ideas down and then discussing and building on them over zoom.
Are there any short or long-term goals that you, as a band, hope to achieve in the future?
As a new band, our long-term goals are really just to record more, perform more and gather a following that will allow us to evolve and expand. With regard to short-term goals, we hope to record an EP by the middle of this year so that we can offer people a few songs that encompass our vision and style.
Can we anticipate any new projects?
Definitely. We are in the process of self-recording one of our songs which we hope to finish soon and then on to the EP!
What would your advice be to fellow students who strive to release original music?
Our advice would be to not to write music you think people will like but write music you love because there are bound to be people who hear you and connect and then you’re off!
Where can we follow your activities?
Follow us on Instagram at
@band.evergreen for news about new releases or gigs. Otherwise, you can find us on all music platforms including Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube.
Image: Provided
