Give me a who’s-who of the band.
Nikita – lead vox, keyboards
Yan – drums, vox
Larry – bass, vox, violin
Ruslan – keyboards, guitar, vox
Fill us in on the back-story of the band.
Well, all four of us happen to have the same parents… we’re brothers. 🙂 Our parents made each of us take piano lessons as soon as we turned 6 years old. They wanted us to play for our church. About 6 years ago we became youth leaders at a small congregation we were attending and they did not have a worship band so we felt God calling us to start leading worship. However, all of us always had desire to share our hearts with people through songs that we wrote ourselves. We began writing more and showing the songs to a few people and there were a few songs that made people cry and we started getting letters from kids about how these songs made them turn to God and stop cutting themselves. After getting those kind of responses we felt like this band was started by God and that we have a responsibility to continue being instruments in His hands.
What’s the story behind the band’s name?
When we started playing out more often we needed something to call ourselves. We tried a few different names but none really fit the band so we were in constant search. One day while talking about band names and just naming off some ideas, Ruslan mentioned Everfound and we really liked the idea and thought it fit who we are so we decided to stick with that.
Christian band, Christians in a band, or other? Can you elaborate?
We write music about our lives of which God is a huge part of. We intentionally stay away from being labeled as a Christian band because unfortunately that puts you in a certain “market” and limits you to that market. Besides that, the more we find out about the Christian music industry the less we want to be part of it as majority of it is based on business rather then ministry. We strive to write music that relates to everyone.
How would you describe the band’s style of music?
To this day we can’t wrap up the band’s style into a concrete genre. When required, we say indie-pop-rock.
What are some of the band’s influences?
Every day life as well as Death Cab for Cutie, Sigur Ross, Radiohead, Coldplay, Jeff Buckly, The Killers, Imogean Heap, Igor Talkov, Mashina Vremeni (Russian rock band) and many, many others.
What are some of the band’s inspirations?
The unfairness of God’s grace, stories form the Bible, relationships, friends, family, enemies, day dreams, Jesus, good food, deep conversations, feelings of desperation, listening to a lot of great music, our fans and the letters we receive form them, the adventure of living by faith on a daily basis.
Let us in on a single stand-out moment where you just thought, “Thank you, God.”
We were playing a festival in the mountains and were scheduled a mid-day slot on the “B” stage. The crowd’s response was so strong that the festival directors approached us and asked us to close out the festival main stage after a major national act. At the time, it was unreal.
Fill us in on the direction that you believe God is taking you as a band.
We’ll play wherever we get a stage; if that be in a club, bar, or church. Currently, God has been opening more and more doors and we just got through tracking our debut full length album which we are really excited about.
Share your heart for a moment. Why do you do what you do?
I think our greatest desire is to fulfill our intended purpose here on earth. To hear the words “well done good and faithful servant”. Everyone has a purpose and reason for being; we feel that we are part of the body of Christ with what we do. Our greatest inspiration and our ability to keep pressing on comes from the letters we receive from kids. We know that the Holy Spirit writes these songs through us and that He works in peoples hearts through these songs.
What do you hope a listener comes away with after listening to your cd?
We hope that our music would make people stop and think on a deeper level.
What were the best and worst venues you’ve played? And why?
The best “venue” we’ve played by far was a youth correction facility in eastern Colorado. It was very humbling and just life changing to see the response from teens our age that have felt life’s reality. Worse… lets not talk about it. 🙂
What was the most encouraging and/or humbling thing(s) to happen at a live show?
Being able to share our hearts every night is very humbling. What really gets us is when you see people crying to one of your songs because you know God just used you to touch someone’s destiny. That is the greatest reward.
In what ways do you feel that the band has grown and matured since it’s formation?
In a million!! Our sound, spiritually, lyrically, in all ways we’ve grown a lot and continue to grow and challenge ourselves every day.
If you could say one thing to a young person struggling with purpose and direction in life, what would it be?
There is not a single one of us that is purposeless. We are all created diverse and yet so needy of one another. When we take one step toward God, He takes one hundred towards us. Seek and you will find, there is no way around it. Dedicate your life to Christ and get to know Him through prayer and reading of the scripture and ask Him your questions. He is faithful.
Any last comments you would like to leave the readers with?
Worship is not just a style of music or a church activity, it’s something we can do everyday. Worship is a life style. It could be with the words we choose to say or the way we choose to treat others. Jesus was not just alive 2000 years ago. He is alive in full glory today and God has not lost a single bit of His power or love. Dedicate your life to Christ and He will change your life into an adventure you will never experience without Him.
Don’t forget to check Everfound out on Indie Vision Music’s free digital downloadable compilation, “Fighting From The Ground Up Vol. 2” and keep an eye out for their full-length release coming soon.
Peace.