An intriguing conversation with Taki Sassaris, lead singer of Eve to Adam, who – on the verge of a big tour and new album – reminds us that the best is yet to come.

Eve to Adam (Taki Sassaris is front and center)

Sometimes in life, you might need to take a different path, backed with all of the experience you already have, to start in a new and positive direction. And, at that point, you might just soar ahead. I was very lucky to catch up with Lead Singer Taki Sassaris as his band Eve to Adam is on the verge of doing just that. Eve to Adam, comprised of Taki, his brother Alex, and an all-new lineup, have just released a new single called Lucky, and are on the verge of commencing a mid-August tour that will last through the fall as well as finalizing a new album.

My interview with the well-spoken Taki was very intuitive and on point. Taki seemed to make statements that I find myself frequently saying, or he would begin to answer questions before I even asked them. As a result, our conversation was very motivating in that:

• He reminded me of the importance of being honest and speaking from the heart. Taki is very passionate about his work and the band. It’s important to remember that when we exude passion, we draw people in.
• Change can be good, even when forced.
• Spending more time in New York City is a must. It’s a freaking cool place. And, go to Pinks for food and drink when there!
• And, of course, the best is yet to come….

The Interview
Take note: Some of the information contained below might be helpful for young songwriters and bands. I truly believe that Taki could have a side career in motivational speaking to and organizing focus groups for new musicians.

Nici: My very first question is about your name. I’ve never heard of Taki before.
Taki: My brother and I are first generation Greek American. Taki is a pretty common name [in Greece].

Taki: Where are you calling from today?
Nici: I am calling from Cuyahoga Falls, a town outside of Akron, Ohio, and about 40 minutes from Cleveland.

Taki: Cool. Well, congratulations on the Cavaliers win! I know that’s a big deal in Ohio.
Nici: Thank you. This is the most exciting thing! I’ve been a Cleveland sports fan – all of the teams – and this has been just an amazing experience for all of us.

Nici: So, where are you?
Taki: I’m in Orlando, Florida, but the band is from New York. I got married last year, and moved to Orlando to be with my wife and step-daughter. So, I basically have two homes.

The band is still based in New York. My brother resides there, and we also have a bar that we’re co-owners of in the East Village of New York City. We’re tied to New York pretty much for forever. 🙂

Nici: How did the band get formed?
Taki: My brother and I grew up in Florida, and we moved to New York in ’98. We moved there to challenge ourselves as musicians and artists. We thought that New York was a fresh breath of air for us, a fresh canvas. It was very inspiring, so that’s where we laid our roots. Officially, the band’s timeline is 2001 when we released our first LP. It was actually July of ’01, so we are on the cusp of our 15^th year anniversary on July 24.

Nici: Fantastic! What will you do to celebrate?
Taki: Pretend it’s not happening. [Laughter] Sometimes you just say, “Wow! I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for so long.” It doesn’t feel like it. I’ve been blessed with some really great experiences and amazing opportunities. I wouldn’t change a thing, but it’s funny when you’re dealing with time. As you get older, things just move faster. With what we’ve been able to accomplish as an independent group in hard rock over the past 15 years, we’re really proud of it.

Check out Eve to Adam’s new single Lucky

We have fans from the early days to brand new ones from this latest single Lucky, and from the last album in 2014. With this album coming up, it just seems like a brand new chapter is about to begin. That being said, I feel very blessed to have been able to make another album and have an awesome, killer new lineup with us that has really renewed Alex and me in so many ways. It’s so strange to think that the best is yet in front of us, and yet we’ve already covered so much ground.

Nici: How did you and Alex get started as a musicians?
Taki: My parents, much to their detriment, I’m sure – I mean they’re really happy for us now – had gotten us some instruments for Christmas. I was 12, and my brother was 10. He wanted a drum kit, and I got my first electric guitar. We just started playing, and then started playing in bands. We grew up in the late ’80s to early ’90s, when MTV was the culture, and hard rock was a driving force. We grew up on Metallica and Guns N’ Roses, and then the grunge movement… Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam. So, this is where the dream was born.

Nici: Do you and Alex write most of the music?
Taki: Yeah, Alex and I have always been the soundboard. I’m one of the principal writers. I usually collaborate with my guitar player or the producer. I write the lyrics, and usually come up with about 90% of the content for the songs. I’m more of a songwriter-guitar player, so I choose to collaborate with people who are stronger on the instrument. For this last record, for example, Elvis Baskette produced the album, and he’s a phenomenal guitar player. So, between him and my band members, we had a lot of great starts for songs, and that’s usually what it takes for me – just to get an idea. I can describe the story from there, the landscape of the song.

I’m the kind of writer who really feeds off of inspiration. I’m reactive in that sense. I need something that can start a little bit of a fire, and then I build from there.

Nici: Funny, because my very next question was, what is the inspiration behind your music, generally speaking?
Taki: For the most part, life experience and overcoming things that I’ve experienced or lived through. A lot of our fans or people who know the band, associate Eve to Adam with an inspirational, anthemic kind of music that helps people overcome times in their lives when they feel hopeless. That can especially be said with one of our biggest hits Immortal off the last album Locked and Loaded. I can’t tell you the countless messages and notes that have been left for us about how much that song means to people. Those are the songs I get most excited about.

Sometimes that’s a curse as well, because it’s not easy to step back into songs that might represent a place in your life that wasn’t an easy time. But, I genuinely think that that challenge is what creates those special moments on stage, where it’s not just another song; there’s something special about that time. And bringing that to life… audiences really pick up on it. We have quite a few tunes that are like that. This is another contributing factor that makes an Eve to Adam concert a unique event.

Nici: You are leading right into my questions! We’re on the same page here. So, speaking of concerts, how often do you tour, and when will you tour again?
Taki: The last full tour was in the spring of 2015. Since then, we recorded the new album and are positioning ourselves to get back out. We will be hitting the road again in mid-August to mid-October in support of the next single, setting up for the release of the new album.

Nici: Sounds like 2016 is going to be an exciting year for the band.
Taki: Yes, and we’re rounding out in the middle of the year here, so we’re really setting ourselves up for a great 2017. This year has been good for us in the sense that the test track, Lucky, did really well. We were really overwhelmed by the amazingly positive reactions to the track. We just did a huge show in NYC at the end of May, and the new lineup has been super well-received. People are excited about the amount of energy and chemistry that’s on stage.

We started this conversation saying how Alex and I are approaching our 15-year anniversary in this band, and then in May, it almost felt like it was our first show. It’s a completely new chapter. That’s why I feel so blessed by this new lineup and these new guys. We’ve really become family in the past year and a half. It feels like a brand new era of this group. It’s an interesting dichotomy: having the experience of being around as a veteran, yet also feeling like you’re just beginning, in a way. It’s an interesting place to be.

Nici: What do you like to do for adventure or relaxation outside of music?
Taki: I’m a gym rat. I spend a lot of downtime with my wife. She and I like to see movies, as I’m a pretty big film buff. That’s something I’d like to get involved in, in the next stage of my career. Maybe the possibility of a producer.

Nici: Back to New York for a second. You co-own a bar?
Taki: Yes, my brother and I are co-owners of an East Village rock and roll bar called Pinks. It’s a cool, smaller place, but we have a really great little kitchen, a lot of great cocktails, and live music about four nights a week. We do live comedy, too. It’s just a really intimate party place. The concept of the name Pinks comes from the concept of ’50s speed- and drag-racing culture. So, a lot of the memorabilia is automotive in theme. You mix blues, rock and roll, and cars, and you’ve got yourself an all-American, NYC, rock and roll joint.

Nici: That is on my list for my next visit to NYC for sure! So, what type of music are you listening to now?
Taki: I definitely listen to Sirius XM Octane as research for me to know what’s going on in our genre. I also listen to a lot of the stuff I grew up on: old school classic rock, vintage ’90s, and quite a bit of alternative, too. There’s some really great songwriting, like twenty one pilots and Imagine Dragons. With new music, there are songs that definitely captivate me, but I’m kind of an old school guy. When it comes to hard rock and metal, I’m listening to stuff like Pantera, early Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains. If I was on a deserted island and I just had the first two Alice in Chains records, I’d be OK.

Nici: Is there anything else that you would like to share?
Taki: We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for our fans. At the end of 2014, Alex and I went from being on the biggest high of our career to everything kind of falling apart within a few months. We had a lot of pressure from our label and management, and we were really close to being burned out. So, I have to say that after all the pieces fell, my brother and I were wondering what the future held for the group. If it wasn’t for the unbelievable and sincere outpouring of messages from people who had been affected by the band’s music over the past couple of years, we wouldn’t have kept going. That really gave us a certain amount of assurance that we had made an impact that was real and true, and it was worth maintaining.

The interesting thing as an artist and songwriter, when you release this music into the world, although the origin came from you, it’s not owned by you anymore. You share this with so many people; it becomes part of other peoples’ lives. It becomes a very communal experience. In some sense, you have a responsibility as an artist to continue that and uphold it, so that the things that your fans believe in just don’t fall by the wayside. [The fans] gave us the inspiration and the strength to continue during some very dark times. I just really want to say thank you to them, to our hardcore fan base. They made sure that we didn’t throw in the towel. Without them, we wouldn’t be here right now. And, I wouldn’t be talking to you.

It’s funny how it all goes around. You give, they give back. As long as you keep that relationship healthy and vibrant, I really think you can endure. It really is all about being great to your fans, and they’ll be great back to you.

I’m looking forward to a follow-up interview with Taki and the band, and the soon-to-be-released tour schedule! See you on the road!