Songoftheday 10/27/22 - So denied so I lied, are you the now or never kind...

 

 

"Here's To The Night" - Eve 6

from the album Horrorscope (2000)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #30 (three weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 9

 

Today's song comes from the alternative rock band Eve 6, who had scored a top-40 pop crossover hit with their debut single "Inside Out" (otherwise known as the "heart in the blender" song) at the close of 1998. A year and a half later, lead singer/bassist Max Collins, guitarist Jon Siebels, and drummer Tony Fagenson returned with their sophomore effort on RCA Records Horrorscope, a title that belies the power-pop nature of the record. The first single from the project, the chunky noise of "Promise", was well received by rock radio, spending a week at #3 on Billboard magazine's Alternative Rock radio chart, and placing at #28 on the Mainstream Rock counterpart, but didn't catch on with the more fickle pop radio crowd, missing the Hot 100 altogether (it did hit #33 on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format, oddly). That was followed by "On The Roof Again", another guitar-heavy track, which stopped at #19 on the Alternative Rock list. 

For the third and final single from the record, Eve 6 aimed straight for the mainstream radio and school dance crowd with the ballad "Here's To The Night". Written by the band and produced by Don Gilmore (who also helmed their debut set), the lyrics vaguely point to a relationship that's about to end, and his willingness to go out with a romantic bang as it were. Collins sings as though he's fatalistic about it but knows his partner isn't. It's meant to be "deep" for what inexperienced young'uns would think is deep, and that is also displayed in the music video, which has the trio watching back a camcorder video from a house party that had tension. But the record itself is produced well, and the swelling orchestral backup works nicely with the song...

"Here's To The Night" became Eve 6's second (and so far last) top-40 pop hit in July of 2001. The song was their biggest on the older-skewing Adult top-40 format, where it peaked at #7, while getting to #14 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart and #33 on the Alternative Rock radio list. Internationally, the single made the top-40 in New Zealand at #34. The Horrorscope album, released a year earlier in July of 2000, came in at #34 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, going on to sell over a half million copies. 

The band came back in 2003 with their third disc, It's All In Your Head, which was their highest-charting set on the Billboard 200 at #27, though it sold considerably less than its two predecessors. Lead single "Think Twice", a swerve to darker tone that seemed like post-grunge-lite, did put them on Alternative Rock radio at #9, but that was about it, and after subsequent singles stiffed, they were dropped from the label. 

After a break where Siebels and Fagenson pursued other projects while Collins fought alcoholism, he and Fagenson reunited in 2007, and Siebels joined back in time for their fourth album and first on indie label Fearless, Speak In Code, which scored their fourth top-40 rank on the Billboard 200 at #40 (though only spending a single week on the entire chart). The first single, "Victoria", returned the trio to Alternative Rock radio at #25. 

Fagenson left the group in 2018, to be replaced by Ben Hilzinger. The new lineup put out an EP Grim Value in 2021, which hit #78 on Billboard's Current Albums sales chart. Their most recent full-length album, Hyper Relevisation, came out this September. The record includes the drag-friendly rocker "Androgyne Friend". It's pretty damn good, check it out.

(5/10)

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Here's the trio performing live on MTV's TRL Summer in 2001...

And lastly, on a rooftop concert in 2013...

Up tomorrow: Poptart fodder craves naughtiness.