everynightdrive

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Everynightdrive may be the only screamo/pop-punk band to play The Hilton Garden Inn -- and the group is totally fine with that.
"We toned it down a bit, because the audience was mixed," says singer Christopher Monopoli, 22, of New Springville, who sings for the quartet. "But the older people were actually really cool. I think some of them even liked it."
Marjorie Rosa, whose mother booked the band for her Sweet 16 party in late summer, agrees."I didn't know about it -- it was a surprise," says Rosa, a sophomore at Tottenville High School. "It was awesome. But the older people at the party really did like it. Some of them came up to me and said, 'They're actually really good.' I said, 'I know!'"
For a group playing a genre of music that seems permanently concerned with coolness, members of Everynightdrive have a surprisingly sunny and open outlook on their gigs and their music. It's easy to see why: The band -- formed in 2007 at a show during an open jam that included about eight musicians -- is heating up.
Everynightdrive's new song, "Pull Down Your V-Necks, It's Time to Get Physical," scored over 1,000 plays in a matter of hours after being posted on MySpace last week -- not bad for a local band. They've rocked all-ages gigs in Brooklyn and Manhattan and played awareness-raising benefits on Staten Island like Purge the Purge, a musical fight against eating disorders. They've even had a talking to from a stern but nice Mr. Minenna at Curtis High School after inciting fellow teens to dance at a band battle.
"We try to always keep the stage performance up," says guitarist Nick Pisani, 18, of South Beach, "because it's half the show."
Maybe that's why Everynightdrive scores props from heavier local bands despite its poppy sound. Often sharing the bill with groups like On Twelve Systems, Betrayal and others, the guys in Everynightdrive say they're always odd band out at the front or end of the bill. But they also leave it all on stage, and that gains them a bit of respect from their peers.
"It's cool when the death metal kids come up after a show and say, 'I don't listen to your s---, but you're a good band," says drummer Manny Mavrakis, smiling. Last weekend, Everynightdrive played as part of The Break Contest, an annual battle for groups to play at The Bamboozle, one of the area's biggest hard rock festivals. The group even rented a van for fans to make the trek to New Jersey club The Stone Pony, where some early rounds of "The Break Contest" are being held.
"Last year we didn't bring anyone -- we brought like three ex-girlfriends," laughs Mavrakis, 21, of Midland Beach. "This year we're trying to do it differently. I had T-shirts made, so we'll have some merch, and we're bringing a bunch of people. We want to look like a real band."
The group can already knock one "real band" activity off the bucket list: The ridiculous all-night road trip.
To get "Pull Down Your V-Necks, It's Time to Get Physical" recorded and produced, Mavrakis left scores of voice mails for an independent A&R company Green Light Firm, which eventually invited Everynightdrive out to the company-associated facility Pendlwood Studios in Dublin, Ohio, on Nov. 15. The band members say being paired with a few of Green Light's producer apprentices was a learning experience. They were asked to cut the song's length to make it more radio-friendly, record to a metronome to keep the beat consistent, and make other minor changes. The recording was made in one day.
"They were really constructive about certain things," says bassist Jay Campbell, 19, of Dongan Hills. "It was the first time we'd done anything like that and we had to learn as you go."
Listening to the recently finished mix, it's hard not to be impressed with the song's quality. Certainly, Everynightdrive is playing music that even some Sweet 16 goers might put on earmuffs for: Abrasive drop D tuned guitar chords, heavily affected vocals from Monopoli and the sporadic strangled scream from Mavrakis aren't serenading anybody.
But for the current trend of screamo music, which combines lyrical melodrama with pop-punk and the raw power of hardcore, it sounds fit for the airwaves, and the band has been getting a great response.
"It's crazy, some of the MySpace messages we get from people who aren't even from around here," says Pisani. "I can't believe that a song I wrote in my bedroom at 2 a.m. can affect somebody that much."
What does the band expect? There's a lot of "me and you" songs in its repertoire, ready-made for angsty teens to relate. If it can be done by groups the band counts as influential -- Saosin, As Cities Burn, AFI, Under Oath, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster -- why not a band from Staten Island?
It's a question Everynightdrive is trying to answer.
-Ben Johnson, Staten Island Advance
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