Evol haven’t played a gig in 20 years but it seems all someone had to do was ask them.
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The Wollongong fourpiece are back for a show at Dicey Riley’s on Saturday – their first since the band broke up way, way, way back in 1997.
Back when there was an all-ages venue called Sunami upstairs near Dicey’s and no-one had even thought about knocking down the Oxford Tavern.
The band have never performed a real gig since the break-up.
And perhaps they never would had local music maven Warren Wheeler from Steel City Sound not asked them to reform for a show.
A show that also features a rare performance from Shifter.
“We got asked by Warren Wheeler to do this gig - that’s it really,” says singer Flavia.
“We thought ‘okay, let’s give it a try’. It doesn’t mean that we’ve reformed it just means that we’re going to do this gig.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen from there.”
Perhaps the band’s biggest moment was winning the Wollongong instalment of the Triple J Unearthed contest in 1997.
That was back when the competition was a big deal and there wasn’t a new Unearthed winner announced every week.
Flavia said they entered the contest without much thought to winning it.
But when they did, there was a bit of a tongue-in-cheek sense of “cool, we’ve made it”.
“There was an element of that, in a joking way,” Flavia says.
"But I think when we realised the enormity of it was when we were asked to play with Silverchair at Wollongong uni.
“That when it really hit us that this was pretty big.
“We didn’t really think that we’d made it. It was just nice to be recognised. We were even given the keys to the city by the mayor at that time.”
For Saturday’s show, Flavia says they’re playing “all the old favourites” and have been getting together and play whenever they can.
“I think we’ve had two practices,” she says.
“So that equates to three hours of practice after 17 years but it’s coming back.”
Evol and Shifter perform at Dicey Rileys on Saturday night from 8.30pm. Also on the bill are Garry David and Space Boys.