INTERVIEW: Stevans: The Storm

Throughout 4 albums, the band STEVANS, founded by the French-Swiss Yvan Franel, has really left its mark on the music scene: a catalog of strong songs ('Take me back', 'The Backyard', 'When the Light is Gone', etc.), concerts on the world's biggest stages (Paleo Festival, Montreux Jazz, Reeperbahn Festival, London, New York, Paris, China, Peru, Vietnam, to name a few), prestigious sideshow concerts ( Deep Purple, Kaiser Chiefs, Coldplay)...STEVANS has forged his own unique path on the way to releasing new song "THE STORM", (written by Yvan Franel and Andrew Phillips)

“THE STORM” is a song about that progressive feeling that your life is in free fall, but you can't help but fight back, even if you're just punching through the air.

It's a powerful track with a strong vocal performance rising above hard-hitting guitars and pianos. "THE STORM" draws inspiration from pop, rock and indie and offers a commercial theme with a twist.

We have had the pleasure of interviewing him and this has been the result.

Can you tell us a little about your experience? Where are you from / how did you get into music?

I am from Switzerland, Geneva. I started the project STEVANS when MySpace was really booming. I got into music abroad actually, living in various country such as Yugoslavia, Congo, Morocco and Greece, playing piano at the conservatory. Then guitar bands such as Nirvana, Metallica and Oasis were popular and made me want to explore something else than classical music!

How is your sound evolving? What artists and genres do you enjoy mixing right now?

STEVANS was initially a brit rock band, that became electro pop, and with this new single, I would define it as soul pop. I love combining electro sounds with organic instruments.

On this particular single “the Storm”, I really enjoyed having this type of rock voice singing on top of a soul pop sound. I’ve listened to Durand Jones & The indications, Black Puma these past months, as well as Coldplay and The Weeknd, so you see….various styles;)

How do you feel that your music influences or impacts your listeners?

I guess they follow the mood I am in, and that’s amazing to feel. The last single was a very happy disco-ish type of song, with a choreography. This one is obviously showing a very different side of my personality. Let’s see how the listeners receive it..;)

What projects are you working on right now? What can you tell us about your last job?

I am finishing the mix of the forthcoming single, working on a featuring with a French artist, recording my voice for swiss advertisement, managing 2 restaurants (did the Hotel School in Lausanne) and taking lessons online to learn Spanish;)

Where are you and what have you been doing now?

I am in Geneva, having a coffee with a banana, enjoying my interview with you !

Has that sound changed a lot in recent years? What is your musical criteria?

My only criteria are that I am happy and proud of what I produce and write. If I have doubts, I don’t release the song. Even if the sound of STEVANS is basically electro pop these days, it was brit rock in the beginning, so yes, that sound changed a lot! I love the example of U2 who always evolved, during all these years, or even Radiohead!

Do you feel safe now to play a more experimental sound?

I would even want to explore it more…

We all know that the digital revolution has affected sales, but has it affected creativity?

Sale yes indeed, creativity absolutely not! I would even say it’s the contrary. I have access to so many bands and artists with Spotify for example, that I would never have before. Now of course, the algorithm only show us what we like….BIG BORTHER’s watchiiiiiiiing ;))

Can you tell us what your present and future projects are?

Going back to tour in South America, in Colombia where we toured recently, and Brazil. Also releasing the other new single “Melo Prune” in end of March, and hopefully manage to go back to tour in China. The Chinese disco queen called Rose Zhang Qiang is touring in sold out venues singing 5 songs of us, we are supposed to join her on stage!

SOCIAL MEDIA: https://linktr.ee/stevansofficial PRE ORDER LINKS:

https://stevansofficial.lnk.to/TheStorm