Pop Evil On New Album ‘What Remains’

What Remains is the culmination and story of this journey with Pop Evil, laid bare like never before. Continuing in the recent vein of 2023’s acclaimed Skeletons, the new opus is both sonically and thematically Pop Evil’s heaviest ever offering; a thundering collection of arena-ready modern rock and metal hits in which Leigh Kakaty opens heart, mind, and soul. Sonically, the album is a riotous explosion of life-affirming noise; a vortex of scything riffs and gut-punch drum beats that regularly give way to Pop Evil’s hallmark anthemic choruses. Front man Leigh Kakaty talks to Hi Fi Way about the album.

Congratulations, congratulations on the album. Absolutely incredible.
Thank you so much. You gotta be really stoked with how that one sort of turned out. You never know how they’re going to come out, how people are going to perceive them. But we were excited. It was a therapeutic record for me. There was a lot of personal healing and a lot of personal extra love that I gave on this album. I knew at least at the worst, I felt a lot lighter after this album, so I know it was helping me. You’re hopeful that it’s going to help and make a difference for someone else, too. Now, it’s just incredible, the response and the way people are responding to it. It’s just a little overwhelming, for sure.

When you say therapeutic, were you surprised with how much of your own personal self came out in some of these songs?
Yeah, definitely. You know, it didn’t start out like that. I just shut my eyes and got ready to write an album, and it can be very daunting, because, you know, you’re like, “I got to write ten to fifteen songs.” Like, can I do this again? Every album you’re like, “Man, can I do it? Have I got any juice left in the tank?” It takes a couple of songs and you always start out with maybe two or three that are just duds just to get your feet rolling, and then I wrote What Remains. Once that song was written, it just all started to come out. I remember my manager, hit me up. He’s like, “Look, do you know what you’re writing about?” and I said, “No, I’m not thinking about it. I’m just writing.”

Then he goes, “I want you to read a couple of these songs back to yourself. Turn the music off, just read the lyrics.” And so I did, calling him back. He’s like, “I had no idea you were going through all this.” I’m like, “Dude, I didn’t know I was going through it either,” you know? I mean, but now that I’m doing it, I realised I had a lot of stuff I’ve been harboring for years. I think when you’re a lead singer of a band, or the leader of a family doing your thing, there’s no time for anxiety. There’s no time for depression. You have to just go to the next tour and go to the next song, pay that next bill, like, gotta go. They don’t have time. It was just nice to be in a position, especially with the band, being as supportive as they are now, to just let me do my thing and let me heal, and just talk about it at my own pace.

Every song started to get a little bit more comfortable. It was still a grueling process, no doubt about it, but at least I started to get more comfortable with the concept that if I’m feeling this, someone else has to be feeling this and maybe, just maybe, through the darkness, someone else can find a positive in that, and that always makes me a little bit more rewarded to do what I do because that’s really what you’re leaving here behind, right? Like, a pretty plaque on the wall or selling millions, who’s going to remember that twenty, thirty years down the road? But helping somebody making a difference, when the least I can do… The only thing that was consistent for me in my life when parents couldn’t be there, my teachers, my lawyers, professors, whatever it was, music was always consistently there to relate to me, or they understood or knew me.

I feel like in a small way, it’s important for me to try to pay that back lyrically, sometimes people don’t know what they’re going through. But when you hear that song, you’re like, “Oh, man, it’s exactly how I feel” and you find yourself closer to a band like you never knew because of that. Whenever I found myself doubting or not cool with maybe going down those dark paths, I would think about that and be like, “Look, it’s important to just go through it, man. Just put it out there and not overthink it.” So that was my big saying to myself: “I’m not overthinking this record. Just do it.”

I know you said you felt a bit lighter, but was it also equally as mentally exhausting? Putting your heart and soul into these songs, did you feel like you almost needed a break after recording the album as part of the next stage of the healing process?
Yeah, it was grueling. It sucked. I mean, I’m not gonna lie, it was not a fun experience until it was done. But then, like you said, once it was finished, it was important for me to step away. Once the final mixes were done, and after briefly talking about the album arrangement, I was done. I told myself, “I’m going to do myself a favor and not think about it again until March 21 when it’s released, so I can find these songs all over again.”

I wanted to make sure I wasn’t sick of the songs before I even started touring on them. They were draining because they held a lot of healing, a lot of dark memories. I just needed to step away and see how I felt on the 21st. Interestingly enough, it was great to listen to them again and rediscover some happiness.

The comments and feedback have been phenomenal, it’s been overwhelming in the best way. But it’s only been a week, so there’s plenty of time to keep grounded and just be grateful. Right now, I’m focused on making sure the live show and tour bring these songs to life in the best way possible. We’re growing this set list and identity for the future, this next era of our band.

Absolutely. What stands out with this album is how the band continues to evolve and grow in confidence. The sound has become something else entirely. Would you say a lot of that confidence comes from working together in the studio, where you all back each other in now? Especially compared to those first couple of albums.
Yeah, I don’t think it happened from the start, it’s been an evolution. Looking at the past three albums, especially Versatile, things started to fall into place. Communication within the band improved, but lineup changes always bring some uncertainty. When Joey and Blake joined, they were the missing pieces we needed to finally be in a place to heal.

We all come from the same era, our first tour was with Joey and Blake’s first band, Egypt Central. They brought us on the road for the first time, so we’ve known them our whole career. We’ve all experienced similar struggles, and once they joined, it felt like a moment where we could say, “Oh, I didn’t like this part of the industry, or this experience,” and they’d say, “Yeah, me neither.” That kind of honesty really strengthened us. It’s made us walk closer together rather than apart. In the past, bands go through moments where members drift, whether it’s avoiding confrontation or just stepping back. But that can’t happen anymore. Now, we step toward each other, listen to what makes us different, and stay unified.

Rather than just focusing on the fact that we love music and want to be in a band, we need to step closer and ask, “What are you going through in your everyday life?” What’s frustrating you? Struggles with bills, finances, personal challenges, it’s all part of the bigger picture. You’re not going to get rich off this, so it’s important we understand that. We can’t point fingers or worry about other people’s money, we have to keep our finances organised and make sure our dreams remain realistic. If someone says, “I want a sold-out Australian tour,” we need to take a step back and say, “Let’s just get back to Australia first. Let’s be careful and smart about what we’re trying to do.”

Getting to Australia isn’t just about playing there; it’s about making sure we bring our show in the best way possible. Every little nuance of communication, every goal we set, we need to put those things on the table and discuss them openly. And when that happens, the band’s support system grows. You show up for them, they show up for you. It really is a relationship, though it sounds obvious. But when you mix ego, fame, drinking, addiction, being in a rock band isn’t always easy. Once we started talking honestly, we began to truly respect each other. It’s incredible what you can accomplish when everyone is on the same page. Suddenly, we were able to focus on growing Pop Evil and doing the things the band needed for years. There were many variables to navigate, but as far as songwriting goes, early in my career, the third album was a breakthrough moment. I had lost my father, and I was frustrated, angry, I was living in that dark space, and I wrote from that pain. But eventually, I couldn’t do it anymore. Staying in that mindset would have destroyed me, so I had to write differently.

That’s where songs like Footsteps and Be Legendary came from, I needed music that lifted me up, that kept me motivated. Sometimes people forget that songwriting is my healing process. Yes, we’re in a band making music for others, but I never thought of it that way. I just wrote based on where I felt the band was headed. I shut my eyes and let the music guide me. Then, before the Self-Titled album, I knew we had to return to our heavier roots, our metal, our edge. It was time, and that’s when songs like Waking Lions happened. Then Covid hit, and frustration, anger, they all came rushing back. No one wanted to write mid-tempo songs. We wanted to make music that captured the energy of what we were feeling. There’s so much division in the world today, so many forces pitting people against each other. That’s the opposite of why I got into music. I never wanted to compare myself to anyone; I wanted to celebrate music with everyone. I wanted every single person who came to a show to feel like they belonged, to sing along together. Music has always been my church, my sanctuary. When a crowd sings back at you, that’s the healing process, that’s the moment where everything comes together.

That’s a positive thing to have that light and shade with your music?
After Covid, the band knew it was time to embrace our heavier side. With streaming changing the industry, there was finally space for it. In the early days, as a rock radio band in the U.S., playing heavier music wasn’t an option, it wouldn’t even make the set list, let alone get airplay. But now, streaming gives artists an entirely new path. Some streaming songs go bigger than radio hits. So, for us, it was the right time to evolve. We wanted to dive deeper into our guitar tones, mix new elements, and explore sounds we hadn’t touched before. We respect our back catalog, we love it, and we’re grateful for it, but we’ve already done that. Now, it’s time to move forward.

Fans at meet-and-greets constantly tell us they want Pop Evil to embrace the heavier, darker sound. It’s what they’ve always wanted, and as we’ve progressed through Versatile, Skeletons, and now What Remains, it feels like we’re finally coming into our own. Believe it or not, we actually held back a little on this last record. We didn’t want to go all in just yet. We wanted to test the waters, see how fans reacted. I pushed as hard as I could to make sure the record gave me what I needed for my own therapy, but we knew there was still more room to push.

Do you get excited thinking about the possibilities for the next album?
That’s why I’m excited for the next album. We’re ready to take it even further and truly explore where the music takes us, that’s the fun of it. I think the great thing about this evolution is that it hasn’t been a sudden leap, it’s been gradual. The band has grown together, becoming better musicians and songwriters, and that’s shaped everything.

That’s part of it too, you become more confident. You learn from past albums, recognise what works and what doesn’t, and avoid past mistakes. Early on, you don’t always know. You just put out what feels good. Now, we have a much clearer vision. We didn’t want a long album. If it’s long, it’s long, but if we could help it, we wanted to hit people over the head with thirty plus minutes of pure energy. We wanted to remind everyone we’re still here, and honestly, we feel like we’ve only scratched the surface of what Pop Evil is capable of. If people respond well, it challenges us to push ourselves even further to achieve the best version of Pop Evil. Hopefully, we’ll find that sooner rather than later. From a live perspective, this new contrast, between the heavier side and the lighter moments, it really makes for an incredible show.

Are there plans to tour Australia at some point?
We’re really hoping to make it happen. Australia has always been a dream destination for us, and when we finally made it over a couple of years ago, the response was incredible. We went in thinking we’d be starting from scratch, unsure if anyone would show up, but the turnout and the passion from fans were beyond anything we expected. It was humbling and left us with an even bigger appetite to return.

Getting to Australia as an American band is a huge financial commitment, and we want to do it the right way. It’s not just about coming back, it’s about ensuring we can deliver the full Pop Evil experience, just like we do in the U.S. That means we’re focusing on strengthening things at home, building momentum, and saving up so that when we do get the opportunity to return, it’s done in a way that ensures we can keep coming back instead of stretching ourselves too thin.

Australia is always top of the list whenever we discuss where we want to play next. Every single one of us wants to get back there as soon as possible. The love from our Australian fans means the world to us, and we’re actively working on making it happen. It’s all about locking in the right routing and timing—but hopefully, this album cycle will be the one that brings us back.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Pop Evil’s album What Remains is out now, get yours HERE…