Eau Claire metal band Evernoir aims to give strength to people who are suffering from abuse through songs that explore trauma.

Finding the right words was never a challenge for Evernoir’s lead vocalist, Venerate Miercy. Songwriting was a therapeutic exercise during periods of her life when she suffered emotional, and sometimes physical, abuse. When the band formed in 2014 she knew she could help people persevere through similar experiences by bringing her lyrics to the stage. Finding the right sound, on the other hand, has been a matter of trial and error over the years and as they build their second album, Heart’s Deception.

Evernoir began by producing songs in many genres, until they stumbled upon something good with “Handy Andy Paint my Shoe,” a heavy rock track they included in their first album, The Monkey and the Badger. Once they found the right place to start, the music came easier.

Now the band – which includes Paul Ormsby (drums), Vic Wiley (guitar), Nathan Baughman (rhythm guitar), and founder Ed Deboer (bass) – is upping the tempo for its latest work and doubling-down on the loud and heavy. The transition from “alt-rock” to “alt-metal” has served the band well at shows, they said.

“It is a very vulnerable position to be singing those lyrics, and it is pouring my heart out in the truest way I know possible.”
– Venerate Miercy, lyricist and lead vocalist for Evernoir

“We kind of re-geared, and started writing for more live music,” Wiley said. “We got more experience and started learning what’s going to translate, and what’s going to work.”

“We get a lot more engagement, because it’s more upbeat,” Miercy said.

Heart’s Deception will take a narrative approach, telling the story of a mentally abusive relationship over the course of 16 tracks.

“A piece of you dies before you come back from that and start realizing that there’s something to fight for and fighting back,” Miercy said. “It’s the slow progression of falling into the abusive relationship, dying, realizing that you are in an abusive relationship, and then fighting back.”

We’re always trying to capture her emotion,” Wiley said. “We’re trying to give her a platform to go from in the best way we know how.”

“I always felt the most at home on the stage,” Miercy said. “It is a very vulnerable position to be singing those lyrics, and it is pouring my heart out in the truest way I know possible.” That openness resonates with Evernoir’s listeners, she said. People often approach the band at shows to tell them how their music resonates with their own experiences.

The band plans to release a cover single this autumn, and they are in the process of recording a music video, which will come out alongside the completed album. Their favorite spot to jam is Everybody’s Bar in Chippewa Falls, although they sometimes perform in Eau Claire and recently headlined at The Plus.

Learn more at facebook.com/Evernoir.