By Holly Bedard
Editor

(Courtesy Photo)

Young musicians try to start their music careers in Manchester every day. They form bands with their friends, play a few local venues and dream of making it big and landing a nationwide tour.

One band that got its start in the Queen City has just made that dream come true. The Everyday Visuals will return to Manchester to kick off its new tour on Friday, Aug. 4, at Milly’s Tavern, 500 Commercial St. Also performing will be tourmate Bleu, Boston-based Violet Nine and Call Her Alaska, a local band who beat out other groups across the city to open the show.

The Tour

Vocalist Christopher Pappas, who also plays guitar and keyboards, said while performing locally occasionally meant playing to an empty room, it was an important first step to the band’s success.

“It really made us. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to grow as a band,” Pappas said. “Deep down, the clubs in Manchester made us focus in on what we really wanted: to play music for the rest of our lives. You can’t skip steps. It’s all important. Playing to an empty room is as important as playing a sold-out show.

“It’s true. The more shows you play, the more someone is bound to see you.”

Pappas agreed with the old cliché: It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. And it can all pay off with one phone call.

The call that came for The Everyday Visuals was from Columbia recording artist Bleu. The band had met the singer awhile back and had played some shows with him, eventually becoming friends.

“Bleu is moving to L.A. and came up with the idea, ‘Why don’t we tour to L.A.?’” Pappas said. “We are grateful to him. He set up the whole tour.”

The Shows

The Everyday Visuals have yet to head out on tour, and they’re already seeing quite a bit of success around these parts and Boston, where the group relocated to not so long ago.

The band, whose current lineup also includes Eli Scheer, guitar, vocals, keyboards; Joseph Seiders, drums, vocals, keyboards; Chris Zembower, bass, vocals; and Kyle Fredrickson, guitar, keyboards, played its first headlining show in Boston at the Middle East in April. It sold out.

They played Boston’s Paradise in June. Another sold-out show.

In July, the band came a little closer to its roots, opening up for The Gin Blossoms at The Stockbridge Theatre at Pinkerton Academy in Derry.

“It’s rewarding to see our progress. We started out in Manchester, slugged it away, moved to Boston and got great reviews there. I feel that we still have that upward momentum. We can see the actual progression,” Pappas said. “After our first sold-out show, we turned to each other and said, ‘OK, now we’ve got something going here.’ It’s almost like a confirmation.”

The Music

For those who haven’t heard The Everyday Visuals’ music, Pappas’ description ­ while the question left him a little stumped ­ seems very apt: “A bit of electronica, a bit of new wave, with a style that has a folksy, Americana feel and an emphasis on songwriting.”

Pappas, the group’s primary music and songwriter, is curious about how music is judged. He talked about one of his favorite albums, Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” and how when the label first heard that record, it dropped the band. However, the release went on to win a Grammy, so how do you judge an album’s success?

“Great music is when the artist trusts himself and really follows his gut. As a songwriter, I always struggle to find the closest distance between the audience and myself,” he said. “The real goal is to make music honestly, make it for ourselves and hopefully people will like it.”

People do like it. A lot. The Everyday Visuals’ late 2004 release, “Media Crush,” won heaps of critical acclaim. The music mixes together many styles and sounds, and has gained comparisons to Wilco and REM, both of which Pappas said are big influences. The sound has also been said to have similarities to Sonic Youth in its willingness to be experimental. Pappas also adds, “We’re not afraid to be a little noisy.”

Then again, The Everyday Visuals aren’t afraid to take it down a notch either. They are currently working on a new album that will be a double EP ­ one set electric, the other acoustic.

“We love the live, electric experience,” Pappas said. “We also love to get songs as quiet and intimate as we can get.”

While he didn’t want to reveal too much about it, the release of the new album scheduled for spring will hold many surprises for fans. Pappas hailed it as a “big, collaborative, cross-genre project.”

The Future

In five years, Pappas said he would at least like to not have a day job, though the goals he sets for himself and the band vary from day to day.

“Sometimes I’m like, ‘I want to be The Beatles.’ Sometimes I just want to make music,” he said. “I think we’ve got a shot at falling somewhere in between those goals.”

The band has had its first release and landed its first tour, but measuring success is still an interesting thing.

“Sometimes I feel like we’ve got such a long way to go before we’re an established band, and sometimes I feel like it’s right around the corner,” he said. “Really, I just want to put out great records.”

Related links:
The Everyday Visuals: www.theeverydayvisuals.com
Bleu: www.bleutopia.com
Violet Nine: www.violentnine.com
Call Her Alaska: www.myspace.com/callheralaska