Everon’s Oliver Philipps about the highly anticipated comeback “Shells” and the eternal question: What is Prog?

The one thing that I care for in music is that it moves me, in one way or another, that it touches me.

The unexpected return of Germany’s Progressive Rock legends Everon sent ripples throughout the scene. We had the chance to sit down with vocalist/composer/mastermind Oliver Philipps for an insightful interview ahead of the release.

Oliver:  I mean, I never stopped making music. So my day job is being a music producer. So I’ve been making more music than ever actually. So I actually didn’t miss anything. It is not like I hadn’t made enough music. There was no particular reason to not make one. There was no particular reason to make one now. It could have happened also 10 years ago. Five years ago or something. I’ve been asked this question a lot, like why did we stop? And frankly, I don’t know. I got confronted with a couple of things I’m supposed to have said in interviews back then after “North”, which I didn’t even recall. So frankly, I don’t know. I don’t know.

No no no no. Nothing. Not a single note. I didn’t write a single note for an Everon song before I had agreed with Mascot that we’ll make another record. Actually, I talked with Ed (Van Zijl, Mascot CEO) about it in, I think, November the year before (2022) and I was kind of going back and forth with should I, should I not for a month or two. And then I said, Jesus, why not? Because you find as many reasons to do it as you find reasons not to do it. And then I started writing afterwards. So there was nothing I didn’t do, I’ve written thousands of songs at the time, probably hundreds. What do I know? But nothing with Everon in mind. So, I didn’t have anything. That was the weird thing.

Like normally when I agreed to make a record, I had like a stock of songs or of ideas that I knew, okay, I have enough to make a new record. Here, I had absolutely nothing. So it actually felt like selling a dead fish like, okay, oh yeah, we are going to make a record. Had nothing, no songs, no lyrics, no idea, absolutely nada. So that was like one and a half years ago. It was November ‘22, I think that I was talking with Ed about it. And then, I think it was shortly before Christmas, I went over to Rotterdam and met him there. And then that’s when I said okay, we just do it. And then I had blocked February to May of ‘23 for the songwriting, yeah, that I wouldn’t have to take in other work. So I spent these three months writing.

No, it’s always, no.. in my whole life, I didn’t write one piece of lyrics with the thought in mind, okay, I want to write about this or that. So, it is always the music first. And, of course, while I write, actually the writing, normally it doesn’t take so long. That is like, you have the idea, then the idea is there, but of course the process of arranging it or producing it, that takes time. So, you spend a lot of time with it. I spend a lot of time with it when I write and then I arrange and produce the whole stuff and learn how to play it in the first place. And I normally have the vocal melodies in mind. Then sometimes already in the process of that, there are certain lines that come up like phrases that just kind of form themselves and get stuck and they just don’t go away. So normally I write them down sometimes, or even that, because they get stuck anyway.

And then, when the music is finished, at some point I take time to actually write the lyrics. And then much of it is connecting the dots. Like you already know what, at least you have an idea what it is about. Sometimes, frankly, I don’t even know what it is about. But I like the ideas that are there already. And I feel that it resonates with the music, that it belongs there. And I don’t always know exactly what it will be about. And this kind of, yeah, it’s like connecting the dots and then the rest just comes. But the lyrics for this album, I wrote entirely actually by long forest walks with my dog. Helena (Irene Michaelsen) was in Norway. I was alone with the dog. I had like the month of June to write the lyrics. So just every day I just took her in the forest and took like one song a day and just see what comes up and then then write it down on the phone or something and then in the evening kind of properly write it out and then work it over that it is, like the language is good.

No, no, no. Of course, I have the melody in mind, so all the words that come are already fitting with the melodies, that’s what I’m looking for. I’m not trying to force something upon what I have, I make the words fitting to the melody, not the other way around. Sometimes you may make a tiny adjustment or something if you have a syllable too much or too little. But the melody comes first. So the words have to match the melody. Very intuitive way of letting just inspiration flow. My whole writing works that way. 100%. Music and lyrics. And I put very little thought into it, which doesn’t mean I’m a dumb, but I do this for a very long time, like also outside of Everon.

So I learned with the years that, the more I rationalize over it, the more I get in the way of the creative process. Of course, in the whole production side, the arrangement side, there’s a lot of rational work that goes into that, but I try to set this more craftsmanship like, I try to separate that completely from the creative process with many songs. I don’t even play them on an instrument, anything before I have them completely finished in my head. And then, because when you just write in your head, you’re not faced with the limitations that come automatically the moment that you physically execute it, that you kind of, you don’t play it right, or it doesn’t come out the way it sounds in your head. You don’t have the problem. So if it sounds perfectly fine in my head, then I know what I’m looking for. I went a bit.

When I start thinking about it, I get in the way and it ruins the flow. So, I believe that songwriting is a state of mind. It is not a craft or not even an occupation, nothing you do. It is something that you have to allow, you have to learn to allow it to happen. So then afterwards, it’s just chasing after that vision of the song I have in my head and trying to execute it properly. And that works out, sometimes that works out in a way that you feel, okay, you really nailed it. That is really what it was supposed to be and sometimes also ends with disappointment that you feel, okay, somehow it didn’t really capture the original idea you had because of course you’re not necessarily the singer you are in your head and you’re not necessarily the player you are in your head and it just is the physical world comes with limitations that the mental world does not have.

Everon 24.11.2024 Photosession Krefeld – Klärwerk Uerdingen, Germany

Relatively late, frankly. So the truth is, I have to play everything. The pre-productions I’m making are, I would say, 85% the album. Of course the drums are programmed, right? These, I don’t play myself. But my drum programming is very neat because I did like tons of film music things, stuff like with programmed drums. So I’m quite good at that. So there are also proper drums, but of course I… Exactly with Moschus, I always gave them the freedom to play whatever they see fit as long as it kind of incorporates the… I would say there are things in my program that are mandatory. That is like the gym or with fields or whatever. But first of all, I played everything actually. Yeah.

It was in May actually, I was busy writing the last song for the album when it happened. So, he couldn’t finish his work on the album, sadly.

Yeah, Jason, I know for a long time already. I think originally he wrote, kind of a fan letter, when he was a very young dude, I think it was around the time of “Fantasma” (2000). And then, he later took on a career as a professional drummer, and we’ve always kind of stayed loosely in contact and always looking for a project where we could kind of collaborate. That came in 2015. In 2015, I had a project under the name of Phantasma, the album was called “The Deviant Hearts”. I don’t know if you heard of it. That was together with Charlotte Wessels from (then) Delain and Georg Neuhauser from Serenity. And on that one, actually, I then hired him as the drummer. And that worked out perfectly well. And so it was the first one I would ask. Moschus had recorded eight songs out of the 11 himself. And so, for the missing songs, like he was number one on my list to ask. He’s a pro drummer and he played with Neal Morse and right now he plays with Kansas, so he does a lot of touring work. This is a very, very, very good drummer and a nice guy. And I know he always loved the band. So it was like an obvious choice to ask before I asked whatever studio drummers that I know.

Leah is actually a client of mine. I work with her as producer and also with her, I really work from the, from the demos onwards on the songs. We did like three, four albums together already. She has a Celtic music background, but in combination with some funny metal. And it’s one of my favorite assignments to work with her. I really love the music and we did a couple of really good albums together that I enjoyed very much. And after I’ve been like, all over the place on her latest album, it was clear from the beginning that I would have to let her do something. She even asked for it. And this particular song that she’s singing has a bit of this Celtic vibe in it. Actually, this type of sounds I’m using in the beginning of the song, I only use because of her. These are things I came across in my collaboration with her. I didn’t even know about these libraries. I didn’t even know half of these instruments, like all the pipes and whistles and whatever it is… So that was the natural thing, to ask her for that.

And for this, Helena is my wife, she’s the singer of Imperia. We live together, so she’s in the house. She actually recorded me. So it was just obvious to also have her singing there. Unlike me, she has a very versatile voice. She’s classically trained and she does everything from opera to grunts and stuff. So it was wonderful to have the possibility to throw these colors in when a song asked for it, because I cannot produce them myself. My voice is really just like a one trick pony. So I can do exactly one thing and that’s it. So that just gave a lot of more options.

Probably, but we had grunts before, on “Juliet” from Bridge, where we had Gunther Theys from Ancient Rites doing grunts. But of course, the music got a bit heavier. I would say it got in every direction—more extreme, if you will. The heavy things are heavier, and the softer parts are even more delicate. In general, I really dig contrast in songs. This is actually what I really like—to have small moments next to really big moments. For me, this is what keeps it interesting. And for me, this is maybe my definition of Progressive. For the rest, I don’t relate to the term at all. I see it more as an umbrella term that allows me to do whatever I see fit and get away with it because, well, it’s Progressive Rock. So, fine.

I have no idea, actually. I just heard yesterday that we ended up number three in the Rock Hard sound check, however that is possible. Rock Hard and Metal Hammer have always been quite friendly to us. With Rock Hard, I think all albums have been rated “10 x Dynamit,” but normally, in the sound check, you’d expect to sink because, of course, everybody has their opinion. You have the death metal guys, and naturally, they’re not happy with what we’re doing, so they award you a generous two points… So how did we end up in that ranking? I don’t know. But in general, we have been treated more kindly by rock and metal magazines than by the specialized prog magazines. God knows why.

I think for the real prog scene, we were often seen as too mainstream. One called us “Schlager,” I remember—Babyblaue Seiten or something like that. But I’ve also heard before that some metal fans appreciate Everon. There was a metal guy who once wrote that Everon was the only music he was allowed to play when his girlfriend was around. I don’t know what it is.

Now, after 15 years away, I’ve noticed that specialized prog media suddenly act as if they’ve always been huge fans. Maybe in progressive rock, you have to be old enough to be considered legitimate. I don’t know, but I really noticed a change in how we are treated and talked about. For the real prog diehards, maybe you have to be over 50 and have been around a long time before you’re fully accepted. But I don’t relate to all that. I wouldn’t even know how to explain what prog is. My definition? Whatever I see fit. But what is it that you are supposed to do in prog, or what makes you “not prog enough”? I have no idea.

The same goes for death metal and other genres. There are always purists who know exactly how it should be, and if it’s different, then it’s “bad,” or a “sell-out,” or whatever. Jesus, man—it’s just music, isn’t it?

Of course, but any music can do that. The one thing I care about in music is that it moves me. But nothing touches me because it is progressive rock. I don’t care about that. There are things in every genre that resonate with me, and things that don’t. It’s all about personal connection.

The whole debate about good versus bad music is pointless. Outside of obvious technical flaws—like bad execution or production—it all comes down to taste. One person says a song is awesome, another says it’s terrible. They’re both right and wrong because it’s just a matter of resonance. If a song moves someone, it works for them. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t mean it’s bad—it just doesn’t connect with them.

Once an artist is put into a certain “box,” they’re expected to cater to the expectations of that label. But I think very few artists ever started out wanting to fit into a box. They just made music—whatever came naturally to them. And that’s how it should be.

That’s not possible. The songs are too different—even within one album. There’s no single song that covers everything.

No, not at all. It’s an exceptional song, but not typical of what we do. Just because it’s long and has more notes doesn’t mean it represents everything.

First of all, it’s a bonus track. I didn’t even consider the idea until all the new songs were written. I didn’t want to do the Whitesnake thing—releasing a new album after 15 years and then including older songs with just a few new ones.

That song always bugged me. I rarely listen to old albums, but “Flesh” was my first real attempt at orchestrating for a rock/metal setting, and I didn’t know what I was doing. Over the years, I’ve worked on orchestration for symphonic rock and metal bands like Delain, Imperia, and Serenity. It’s something I’ve become known for. But the original “Flesh” arrangement was flawed. The guitars and orchestra were stepping all over each other. I knew how to fix it now, so I had to. It bugged me too much.

But do you hear the improvement, or was it just me fixing a problem only I noticed?

That’s fair. I put almost a month into fixing it. As a producer, I often find myself fixing problems nobody else even notices. But I needed to make peace with it.

We’ve never been a particularly active touring band. I’m not saying we won’t, but it would be a logistical challenge. Moschus isn’t with us anymore, so we’d need a drummer. Jason could come over from the U.S., but that’s complicated. We first need to see how the album does.

Honestly, I expected nobody to care. That’s why I didn’t consider making an Everon album for the past decade. I thought our time was over. But Ed from Mascot Records believed in it. I was skeptical. I thought he might regret it. But so far, the response has been surprisingly positive. If the interest is strong enough that we could realistically put a band together and play to more than 50 people a night, we’d consider it. But we’ll see.

Long answer for saying very little—I don’t know. Maybe!

Everon – Shells