hard rock

Pop Evil

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Michigan hard rock outfit fronted by Leigh Kakaty, two decades deep in riff-first radio anthems and relentless touring.

Pop Evil's roots trace to TenFive, a late-1990s Michigan band led by Leigh Kakaty and guitarist Jason Reed that self-released an album, Severn, and an EP, Dam Electro. When TenFive broke up, Kakaty founded Pop Evil with drummer Dylan Allison in North Muskegon in 2001, rebuilding the group from pieces of other local bands.

The early years were lean: constant club dates and cover shows just to fund demo recordings, alongside the personal weight of Kakaty losing his girlfriend in 2004. The band self-released the album War of the Roses that year and the EP Ready or Not in 2006, which included the enduring live favorite "Somebody Like You."

A 2007 referral connected the band to manager Erik Quintero, and a G&G Entertainment management deal followed in 2008. That year brought the debut album Lipstick on the Mirror, produced with Al Sutton and Chuck Alkazian, carrying the singles "Hero," "100 in a 55," "Stepping Stone" and "Somebody Like You."

A 2009 signing to Universal Records led to a remixed, remastered reissue of the album through Universal Republic, with "100 in a 55" reaching number eight on the Active Rock chart and holding on for 30 weeks. Later singles "Trenches" and "Waking Lions" would go on to top Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart entirely.

Since then Pop Evil has been a fixture of American rock radio, its sound built on down-tuned riffs, big sung choruses and production aimed squarely at arenas, with a steady run of albums and chart singles sustained mainly by relentless touring rather than mainstream crossover.

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hard rock