By Adam Crowson
For the Post-Bulletin
8STOPS7 'In Moderation'
Reprise Records
After reading the press release, it sounds as if it were luck that 8STOPS7 ever formed as a band. Founding member Evan Sula-Goff (guitar, lead singer) has been so devoted to music in his past, but prior to the founding of 8STOPS7, he'd been rededicating himself to the art of music.
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Sula-Goff was in four bands prior to his founding 8STOPS7. All four of the bands had been ripped apart by the drug usage of some of their members. Evan had pretty much given up on music after one of his friend's committed suicide.
After facing grief, Evan sat down and wrote it all out in the form of a song. He saw that the creativity was still there. He began to play solo gigs at local coffeehouses around his hometown of Ventura, Calif. In a short while, Evan began to jam with guitarist Seth Watson. They both wrote three songs together and realized that there could be more.
Soon after their songwriting jam sessions, Watson and Sula-Goff called up drummer Adam Powell and bassist Alex Viveros. Powell and Viveros had met during high school, and already were established as a fine rhythm section.
Their first gig as a band went well, and word of mouth began traveling around Ventura. (Remember Evan already was an established musician in the Ventura area.) In time, the buzz surrounding 8STOPS7 brought them record deals from Los Angeles.
After signing with Reprise Records, 8STOPS7 released "In Moderation" and began touring the winter of 1999. For the tour, the band added a second guitarist to help out. 8STOPS7 played dates in support of Days of the New, Sevendust and Staind on their 1999 Tour.
Just from listening to this CD I can say that these five young men have a good chance of seeing success. Right now they are still waiting for their BIG break. The songs that are on "In Moderation" are distributed evenly. There are slow songs and fast songs; happy songs and sad songs; melancholy numbers and the intense mosh-pit songs. If 8STOPS7 can just find their crowd, they may go far. The whole album sounds like the alternative rock that swept the country and the music business in the early '90s. Is grunge coming back? I doubt it. But rock music is still big, and the fact that they write and play from the heart, will only make this group stronger.
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