by Matt Kelchner
It’s a seemingly neverending yet enjoyable cycle of work for Evan Weiss.
There’s never a dull moment in the life of Evan Weiss. Whether working on his main project, Into It. Over It., any one of his other bands, or his new label, something is always keeping him busy. “I always have to keep moving or else I’ll go crazy,” he tells me as we chat about all the different things on his plate right now.
Currently he is in Into It Over It. mode as he makes his way around the country, touring behind last year’s well-received release, Intersections. Joining him on this journey are A Great Big Pile Of Leaves and The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die. Shortened to acronyms, it looks like a few spoonfuls of alphabet soup but on stage they are a trio of bands that have garnered quite a bit of buzz in the recent months.
Even at this point in his career where he has a booking agent, Weiss still worked his way into the planning process behind the tour. “I was somehow about to curate the entire thing,” he explains. “Sometime a while ago we were talking about doing a headlining tour and those were two bands that I really wanted to bring.”
And it didn’t stop at the support acts. He continues, “For the local bands, I went through and hand picked a lot of bands.” For many of the dates, talented local acts on their own cusp of breaking out have been added on as openers. Weiss adds, “The whole tour was seemingly based off of this DIY network we have and all came up in together. Being able to curate that as a whole and take that tour across the country is pretty special.”
Somehow, on top of all of this, Weiss continues to take on new endeavours. Over the course of the last year or so, he has started to branch out and begin working with other bands in which he is not playing. Last year he started his own record label, Storm Chasers Records and already has put out several albums on it.
Earlier this year Orlando, FL band You Blew It! released their already highly acclaimed Keep Doing What You’re Doing, an album which saw Weiss play the role of producer. “Being a producer for another band is just fun,” Weiss tells me. “It’s way more easier and way more enjoyable.”
Being a producer for another band also frees Weiss from the limitations of his own ability. At the same time, it gives a wider range of ideas. “You Blew It is a great band and they’re perfect for that. They’re excited to try new stuff.”
With all of this and more going on, Weiss managed to rehearse a great deal of songs to work into this tour. “We haven’t played the same setlist twice so far. We’ve been trying to mix it up,” Weiss comments. He goes on to add, “I generally play a little bit off of everything. It’s a good portion of Intersections and Proper.” Mix in a few songs from 52 Weeks and 12 Towns and you have yourself an Into It. Over It. setlist.
With all this said and done, it’s incredible that Weiss has not driven himself crazy yet. The amount of work he continues to take on would be impressive for a small group, let alone one person. There are only so many hours in a day for a person to work. I guess you could say sleep: he’s just not into it. Perhaps, he’s even over it. Bah Dum Tss!
