EVERGREY Frontman Slams Former Label SPV: 'They Didn't Care About People And Now People Don't Care About Them'

EVERGREY frontman Tom Englund has slammed the band's former record company, Germany's SPV, calling them a "shit" label, while falsely claiming they are no longer around, when in fact, the label still maintains headquarters in Hanover and recently celebrated its 35th anniversary.

EVERGREY released two studio albums on SPV, 2008's "Torn" and 2011's "Glorious Collision". Prior to those two albums, EVERGREY was with InsideOut Music, which was previously owned by SPV. The band has been signed to AFM Records since 2014's "Hymns For The Broken".

In an interview with Zoran Theodorovic of Capital Chaos prior to the band's August 25 show at Holy Diver in Sacramento, California, Englund and bassist Johan Niemann were asked about the lyric writing process for their latest studio album, "The Atlantic":.

"I think soul-searching is sort of, for me, at least who writes the lyrics and try to…I wouldn't say it's 'therapeutic' in that way in that sense, but it's more of a getting rid of the baggage," Tom said. "I just write about myself and not having anybody else in mind or anything like that. I just write because writing is the tool for me to deal with me, I guess. Then, I'm just lucky people can adapt it to their own lives and situations or whatever."

Conversation then shifted to EVERGREY's experiences with record companies, where the band was asked whether there was much of a difference from label to label:

"Yeah, there [is]," said Tom. "To be fair, if I would be joking about it, I would say they're all shit, but AFM is doing, I guess, this is our best label ever. I don't need to say that because we're in the position where we're going to switch labels — we're not for the next album, so we can say whatever we want. They've been very supportive and also treating us the way we should be treated."

On why AFM has treated EVERGREY well and other labels have not, Johan said, "I don't know. Good question. That's a very good question.

"Some people see the importance of treating people like people, and some don't," Tom added. "Like for a shit label, like SPV, for instance, are not around anymore. And that's just proving the point that they didn't care about people, and now people don't care about them. Good riddance, you fuckers."

In 2009, SPV submitted an application to commence insolvency proceedings — roughly equivalent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The label underwent restructuring and emerged with a new staff by the end of that year. Today, SPV is best known for releasing heritage and veteran acts such as AXEL RUDI PELL, THE DEAD DAISIES, FREEDOM CALL, LITA FORD, MAGNUM and SUZI QUATRO, among others. SPV also has a sub-label, Long Branch Records, which includes A PALE HORSE NAMED DEATH, LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE and SILVERTOMB.

"The Atlantic" was released in January via AFM Records. The band again teamed up with Jacob Hansen, who — just like with the band's previous releases "The Storm Within" and 2014's "Hymns For The Broken" — took care of mixing and mastering.