You may remember them from their popular graduation anthem "Here's to the Night", or even recall seeing their video for "Inside Out" on MTV back in the day (remember, they used to play videos). It's been eight years since the 2004 breakup of EVE 6 but the band has finally returned to us with a fresh, matured sound that both old and new fans can appreciate and love. Lead vocalist Max Collins chats with us about the initial split, the reconciliation and what dedicated fans will do for their favorite band.


Inked Magazine: Let’s talk about your recently released "Speak In Code" album. After 8 years apart, how does it feel to be back with your original band members?

Max Collins: It feels incredible, on a couple levels. Just the chemistry with the band is like a real thing for us. We had another guitar player for a bit who was awesome and it worked but without Jon it’s not really Eve 6. Having the friendship aspect, brotherly aspect, the relationship part of it running well—it feels really good.


Inked: I said it’s like being with family I imagine.

Collins: It really is. We grew up together.


Inked: Oh right. You started the band with somebody you went to high school with?

Collins: Jon and I started the band together. We call him Sweet Pea. We met our sophomore year of high school in P.E class because we were the two kids who had elected to not participate. So we were sitting up against the wall and just started talking about music. He played guitar and I had just started to play bass. We were lads. We just started talking about what we think of music together and it wasn’t long after that that we were calling ourselves a band.


Inked: Can I ask why you call him Sweet Pea?

Collins: We were playing a backyard party somewhere. We were still in high school. I was riding with our old drummer Dick in a car that was following the car that Sweet Pea was in. And the car that Sweet Pea was in was a pickup truck, so you could see two figures sitting in the cab of the truck. And he has these glowing blond cherubic locks going on, so Dick says ‘Doesn’t Jon just look like s Sweet Pea?’ There are people who don’t even know his name is Jon. It’s one of those indelible nicknames that for better for worse, he’ll probably always own.


Inked: I bet he wishes he was called Spike or something more masculine than Sweet Pea.

Collins: (haha) I think he’s accepted it, gone into a place of resignation, and maybe even enjoys it. I think he’s down with it.


Inked: So was there was a reason for the initial split?

Collins: I think our band got signed when we were really young. We did our first record a month or two after we graduated high school. That record did really well and we stayed out on the road for a year and a half to come home and do the same thing again—record another record, go out and do two more tour cycles. We like to say our brains weren’t fully developed yet. I think we just needed some time to just identify with the band and kind of figure some shit out personally and get to a place where we could think about doing the band again and then do it properly.


Inked: Did you all stay friends in the meantime, or did you kind of go your own ways?

Collins: We kind of went our own ways. It wasn’t like we weren’t adversarial at all but I think we just needed some time to individualize. We talked, we’d see each other occasionally but it wasn’t like we were going out for burgers every night.


Inked: So you guys are on tour right now?

Collins: We are.


Inked: How’s it going?

Collins: It’s been really great. The reception has been awesome. The crowds have been really good. It’s exceeded expectations in every way. We just feel lucky and grateful to be able to still have the base that we have and have kind of a second chance that few bands get, probably few people in general get. We’re a cheerful lot and we rocked the road for two summers