POP EVIL Returns With New Single 'What Remains'

Modern rock powerhouse POP EVIL returns with a new single, "What Remains".

It's the dawn of a new era for POP EVIL, which the band promises will be its most sonically heavy.

You've been warned, because the track, with its thunderous riffs and rhythmic thrust, fulfills that promise.

Watch the lyric video for the song, which was produced by WAGE WAR's Cody Quistad, below.

"Over the years, I've been faced with torment; departures, failures, and uphill climbs," says POP EVIL singer Leigh Kakaty. "It takes a reckoning to strip us to our core and confront our true selves. What endures beyond these trials is who you are, your essence. That is what remains. On our upcoming album, we have dared ourselves to make the most lyrically raw and sonically heavy album of our career. 'What Remains' sets the tone of what is to come."

Kakaty continues: "We are also proud to officially announce the newest member of the POP EVIL lineup — Blake Allison." Allison is replacing departed member Hayley Cramer on drums, joining Kakaty and fellow bandmates, guitarists Dave Grahs and Nick Fuelling, and bassist Joey "Chicago" Walser.

POP EVIL first rose to international prominence with debut album "Lipstick On The Mirror", featuring RIAA-certified-gold single "100 In A 55". After Kakaty famously tore up the band's major label contract onstage, POP EVIL signed with eOne Music (now MNRK Heavy). 2011's "War Of Angels" debuted in the Top 10 of the Rock Albums chart and produced three Top 10 singles.

The band's 2013 album, "Onyx", put them in the Top 40 of the Billboard 200 for the first time and boasted three consecutive No. 1 rock songs, two RIAA gold singles, and one platinum single "Torn To Pieces". POP EVIL's next release, "Up", was the No. 1 Independent Album in America and made it to No. 25 on the Billboard 200. It featured several Top 5 rock songs and a chart-topper with "Footsteps", which also went gold.

POP EVIL's 2018 self-titled set included the No. 1 hit and newly certified gold single "Waking Lions" and two other Top 10 hits. 2020's "Versatile", meanwhile, scored two No. 1 rock songs: "Breathe Again" and "Survivor". In 2023, the band released its seventh studio album "Skeletons", which spawned their eighth and ninth No. 1 singles: "Eye Of The Storm" and "Skeletons".

In a recent interview with Meltdown of Detroit's WRIF radio station, Kakaty was asked if he and his POP EVIL bandmates have "a lot" of new music written and demoed for the follow-up to 2023's "Skeletons" album. He responded: "Yeah, there's a lot, a lot of it, a lot of new stuff. We're at that cool stage where we have enough for an album easily, but we're really trying to be picky, man.

"Making albums now, personally, it's such a blessing and it's something that may not be around much longer," he continued. "So if we're gonna do it, [we want it] to hit big, whatever that means to us. And big doesn't have to mean necessarily a number one. It has to mean something that we can really elevate our live show with. And I think, obviously, there's an old-school part of the catalog that's still there, and we respect it. We wanna play it as much as possible, but at the same time, we're really looking forward to the future and how we can shape that and juggle all that. I mean, this is album number eight now we're working on, and all the success we've had, how to juggle all these songs that we wanna play, still continue to play, adding new ones and, of course, the songs that we're just tired of that we wanna rest for a little bit and maybe come back to in the future. So it's a bit of a challenge. It'll be interesting. It's a new dynamic for me personally and for POP EVIL, but it's one we look forward to. And Joey [Walser, bass] and Blake [Allison, drums] have been at the center of trying to make this live show the best as possible, and can't wait to really dive into the next album when we can really hopefully make some movement on putting the best POP EVIL show live forward. So we're looking forward to that."

Regarding the lyrical inspiration for the new POP EVIL music, Leigh said: "The albums that we've done in the past, other than 'Onyx', I've really shied away from just my own personal takes on things. I tried to make them a little more vague, but this album, I'm really soul searching, man. It really felt like when you strip everything back, what's left? And it's me. I started this band by myself in a garage years and years ago, and to be still here is awesome and it's great, but there's still lots to say, and I really thought that the fans owe an opportunity for me to get a lot of stuff that's just been burning on my chest, not just since the last record but just since the beginning of my experience in this business and where my head's at and try to take a chance and an opportunity to personally heal, to move forward. So it feels like 'Onyx', to me, all over in a way. There's a lot of darkness that's been built up. I mean, even probably from the pandemic as well. And then just some things I wanted to get out. And I think you're gonna get a little more personal… You're gonna hear it in the lyrics, man. There's a lot of struggle, there's a lot of grind, and you're gonna get that. And the band's been very supportive to just kind of let me go, from a lead singer perspective, and just kind of let me go on this journey. They've been very supportive. And it's been really… I've never really been in the position before with the band that would let me do that. So, with the guys now, we're all closer than ever. It's, like, hey, they get it, man. They get it. And they understand the game and the business, and they want me to just push my boundaries a bit. And so we pushed. And I can't wait for the fans to hear this. And hopefully it's going to be a good part of healing for me. And most importantly, it's going to add to a lot of extra healing for our fanbase and new fans coming on board as well."

When Meltdown noted that a lot of successful bands find it difficult to write about their struggles when they are no longer poor and have sold a lot of records, Leigh said: "The success for bands, at least in our era, is not quite like that. So, there's still a lot of struggle. There's still a lot of scraping, counting every penny. And not just for me, but for other bandmembers, for crew. So we've had success. So, I mean, there's frustration in that. There's frustration in people that have been around us throughout the years and how their goals have changed and ours have stayed the same. There's frustration. You're not mad at it personally, but there's a consequence in that, and there's a consequence not only for us, but for our family.

"I can only speak from my perspective, and I'm, obviously, the owner and the frontman and the singer and whatever it is," he continued. "I think that it's important, for my own personal healing, to be a better frontman for our fans, and moving forward, you have to kind of address that and let that go. And hopefully not worry about tomorrow. I'm not worried about the ninth album. I'm not worried about the tenth album. I'm worried about this album. And I really wanna make this the best effort. And to be honest, the true goal of any success, for me, has always been bettering yourself. We already did seven albums. I don't wanna go back and do those. We already did that. I've already toured on those for the past two years. And, of course, the first album we've toured on for almost 20 years now. So it's, like, you don't wanna go back to those places 'cause some of those places can be dark and they're not always good memories. So you don't wanna go back and do some of these songs. Maybe there'll be a time — hopefully there'll be a time where you can go back and you can add certain songs to playlists or maybe remake, remaster certain songs. We definitely talked about it. But you've gotta be ready for that. I've gotta be ready as a person to just really take on that feat and be able to sing those every night, and just even let my mind go there. Obviously, time will tell. Anything's possible, but right now it just feels like the best version of POP EVIL is still on the horizon. And this is certainly by far, again, the best POP EVIL record. I feel like a broken record; I say it every record. And if you're a true POP EVIL fan, you're gonna really see the growth. The way that we're able to incorporate metal certainly is way different than the first album. Being a radio band or a band that has really been embraced by radio, metal and heavy, heavy, heavy metal, especially, wasn't getting played. We weren't in a position when we started to be able to take more of the 'evil' side of POP EVIL, right? It was more the pop side or the mainstream or the melodic side of POP EVIL. But now it's a little different. Things are changing. With these festivals that are here in America, the metal infusion with rock, it's exciting to kind of go down some of these paths that we've wanted to go down our whole career. But we weren't doing it, whether it was us, whether it was the producers, whether it was just the timing. But this album, there's a lot of darkness again, very similar to 'Onyx', the third album. And we're looking forward to it, man."

Asked if the upcoming POP EVIL album will be "heavier" than the stuff he and his bandmates have done in the past, Leigh said:  "[It will] absolutely [be] the heaviest POP EVIL record, without a doubt. Hands down. So it'll be interesting for what fans say on that. But the players, they're just different. When you put some of the same guys, you put in Joey and Blake, it's just a heavier band. I mean, it's just different. Joey and Blake come from metal and heavier rock and roll backgrounds. That's what the guys can play, so that's what we play. So that's kind of where it's at. And I think there's a darkness just where we're at in our career. It's, like, okay, sure, we've had success, but we feel like we've got a lot to prove, man. We really look at this, like every album since probably COVID, like, 'Hey, we're starting over.' Sure, I mean, we're grateful that we have [a huge catalog of songs to play], and we play certainly a lot of them, but it would be awesome to get to a place where we can pick and choose the old songs that we wanna play, cause people are more familiar with the newer stuff. Who knows? Time will tell, but certainly that's every band's dream, to always play the new stuff. You don't wanna play the old stuff all the time. But, again, we feel like there's a lot of music still left to write and we've got a lot still left to say. So, with that said, here we are. We're rolling. And one album, one song at a time, but we certainly are excited about this next chapter of POP EVIL and certainly what these songs are starting to sound like and the way they're coming together. It's exciting, man. We're stoked."

Last month, Kakaty was asked by "The Dark" rock music program on 94 Rocks KFML if he and his POP EVIL bandmates still like putting out full-length albums or if they are starting to think about maybe focusing on singles going forward. Leigh said: "Well, we're still a little old school with putting out an album. It's selfish, right? I grew up with albums, so putting out an album, especially as an artist perspective, it's still the dream. When you get it done and you open the booklet, you smell it, and seeing your visions come to fruition, there's still something very appealing about that. And certainly it's whatever your record label wants you to do. And for POP EVIL, it's make an album. So as long as we get to make albums, I wanna go all in. But if it was me, yeah, I'd make singles. It's more fun for me personally, 'cause I don't have to… Trying to put together a collection of work, it can be very daunting. It's very hard. It's very challenging. And then all these great songs, especially if you're only pushing one to three to four of them, somewhere in that vein, depending on how many singles get pushed, what do you do with these other great songs? So streaming has at least given bands an opportunity to have songs that don't even — some hit harder than singles… Every band's different with their journey, and whatever works best for you to be able to pay your bills so you can continue to do that, I'm all about it. But for us, for POP EVIL — obviously, I can't speak for other bands; I can speak for me — we're in a blessed position to make albums. So until we are not able to do that, we're gonna try to make the best albums that we can for our fans. But, yeah, if it was up to me, I have no problems making singles. I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. As long as I'm able to make the art that I'm trying to make in the way, at the highest level I can, it's a win for me. It still doesn't make it any less stressful. One song or 10, you still want it to be the best of the best, and you're still gonna stress in that way."

He continued: "But, yeah, man, it's interesting how it's changing. We're in this time or this kind of moment in music history that, we're shaping it now. It's so weird. It's not like it was even when we started, so it'll be interesting. Hopefully we're doing our part to pave the way for that next set of bands to come up, which is our kids' generation to come up, and hopefully it's a little bit more figured out and a little more ironed out where they can take what we did and hopefully it's a little more enjoyable, their road, with the hard work that we've put out here now. So we'll see."

This past May, Kakaty was asked by Rocking With Jam Man if he was "shocked" by the recent departure of the band's drummer Hayley Cramer. The U.K.-based musician, who joined the Michigan rockers in 2016, announced her exit from POP EVIL in a social media post last December. Leigh said: "[It was] shocking, for sure. We all go through things that we're going through personally. And she's got her family, she's got her friends and she's from another country, so there's a lot of variables for her and reasons for her, why she probably didn't wanna be here anymore. But definitely to lose a band member is always shocking for me. But you've gotta go on. Our personal families, everyone's counting on the band to provide. And the fans wanna see you keep going, so we just knuckle up and face adversity. You've gotta just meet it head on and keep going."

Asked how new POP EVIL drummer Blake Allison is adjusting to the band, Leigh said: "Blake's been incredible. I mean, he's learned the whole catalog in about two months. So to have Blake here, he's been so helpful to POP EVIL on and off the stage for the past three or four years now, so now to have him in the band hopefully as long as we can keep him is an honor. And he's just such an incredible talent on and off the stage. And we're looking forward to seeing how long we can run with this lineup now."

When Hayley announced her exit from POP EVIL, she wrote in a statement that "reached a point" where she wanted "to branch out and find new paths and adventures - into the unknown!"

Cramer joined POP EVIL in May 2016 as the replacement for Josh "Chachi" Marunde, who exited the group in April that year.

Photo credit: Nick Fancher