Mike Rimmer quizzed Amber, Sarah and Julia Ross, otherwise known as EVERLIFE

Everlife

I have to confess to always having a bit of a soft spot for Amber, Sarah and Julia Ross - the three sisters who make up the American girl trio Everlife. Since the first time our paths crossed in 2004 when I interviewed them in America to this recent post-Disney conversation, their brand of power pop and lively personality have always been infectious. Cross Rhythms radio thought so too with their debut album producing the turntable hits "Heaven Open Your Eyes", "Getting Closer" and "Angels Cry" while the 2007 album gave CR listeners "Faded", "Static", "What I Like About You" and currently "I Could Get Used To This".

Their self-titled debut album was released on the Crowne label in Nashville in 2004. It got some Christian radio play but it took the mighty mouse corporation to give them the big launch at the mass teenage audience. Very oddly, Disney/Buena Vista Records decided to call their mainstream launch album 'Everlife' as well (blithely ignoring their 2004 release). The group themselves started really young and weren't even teenagers when they played their first concert and have now been going for 12 years. Having started so young, is it difficult because so much of their identities are wrapped up in making music? Julia laughs and exclaims, "That's an incredible question!" but it's Amber who jumps in to answer it. "Yeah," she says, we've been trying to figure out the balance of that literally for the last 12 years! It's something that goes back and forth so much. When we first started our parents were managing us because we didn't know how this industry works. Might as well have our mom and dad here to help us! Then four or five years into it we were like, 'You guys need a break! We need a break!' We wanted to have mom and dad again and not in the business because you can't take it home with you, you know? But I think we finally, as we've been growing, have found a little bit more balance than we used to have when we were younger. But it's definitely a constant struggle."

For the time Everlife were signed to Disney they played all over the USA. But this March sees the group touring Europe. Is it the first time they've played over here? Sarah explains, "We were able to take a trip with the USO to visit US bases in Germany and sing for their youth programmes last year. We had extended our trip a few days and played a few shows in Holland and had a blast! So we decided to come back. We are so excited for this tour, because we want to have a musical presence in Europe, but also to meet our audiences there and learn their stories. We're really excited to be tourists as well, I mean, it's a whole continent of adventures waiting for us!"

At this stage in their career, the girls of Everlife are moving forward and preparing a third album. They're taking their time to decide what they should do next. Talking to them at this stage, it's difficult to escape from the shadow of Disney as we chat. One of the issues was that the band hadn't come to Disney with much of an audience whereas a lot of their label mates had already made a name for themselves on TV. Sarah admits, "We didn't have a TV show to be like, 'Oh, I know that face! I'm gonna go and buy the record!' So it was a first-time thing for Disney."

Sarah explains why Disney were interested in the band. "They were really interested because it was different. They wanted to do something that was different. Like we've always been involved in that whole kind of guinea pig process and so we tried it. Going into it we were thinking, it could work or it might not work. We had some success with it. The record sold pretty well. We had some arena tours with the Cheetah Girls. We had a lot of Radio Disney stuff. So that was amazing. Our fanbase was really built up but it got to that place where the label wasn't sure what to do with us."

Amber chips in to share more of their experiences: "In terms of success for us, it was really interesting because we just spent two years working with one of the biggest [media] machines in the world as far as distribution. They helped us build a brand, and that's something we hadn't had before. It expanded our fanbase so much and so when we would come off the tour and get on our MySpace and be answering messages, there's people from all over the place! We wouldn't have had that opportunity otherwise so that's something we've been really grateful for."

So, do they think of their time with Disney as a failure because they didn't become household names and have their career take off like The Jonas Brothers? "No way!" Amber exclaims. "We don't consider anything we've been able to do in these last 12 years a failure at all, because we're still singing and performing, still writing, still growing. Life is unexpected, always. It was never a 'goal' of ours to become a huge pop group, we've just had this burning desire to write and perform in any way possible. Our Dad told us the first year we started the band that 'every single opportunity you have is a stepping stone to the next, so don't worry, enjoy where you are and do what you do with excellence.' We've tried to live by that this whole time!"

Everlife are releasing a new EP 'At The Love Library' and preparing their next musical direction. Has leaving Disney changed the focus of the group? Sarah, responds, "Well, working with Disney happened quickly for us, we were still very naive to the music business world and were really just happy to be given the opportunity to expand our audience. The exposure we received was amazing and we've made so many wonderful fans in the process. October of '07 both the label and ourselves decided to part ways and I think the best thing that's happened is that our focus has sharpened - narrowed to finding who we really are, what we really want to say instead of learning those truths through others."

After two albums and so much exposure, to release an EP at this stage seems like a backward step. Surely the best thing to do would have been to capitalise on their exposure with Disney and get another album out as fast as possible? Julia explains, "We've been working on nailing down a sound that is completely, uniquely 'Everlife' for the past several months, and have been writing songs like crazy in preparation for our next record. We are completely independent at the moment as well, so we're funding ourselves. We received too many emails and messages to count begging for new material! We also wanted to have something of 'us' to leave in Europe after our tour, so we jumped into a studio here in Nashville and recorded four of our songs acoustic to give our fans something to chew on while we continue to write the record!" I've a feeling THAT record will be quite something. I just hope they don't title it 'Everlife'.