Pop Evil

Hard rock band Pop Evil were formed from the ashes of various other bands in their hometown of North Muskegon, Michigan in 2001 by singer Leigh Kakaty. Their first foray into recording was in 2004 with an independently released album titled War of the Roses. It was to be a further four years before the band released their next studio album, Pop Evil (2008), which was picked up by Republic / Universal and repacked as Lipstick On the Mirror later that year. The album spawned four singles, three of which made it into the Mainstream US Rock Charts. Pop Evil's singles were perfect for US rock radio and the band enjoyed significant airplay across the US, particularly with the tracks “Hero” and “100 in a 55,” which eventually peaked at number 8 in the US mainstream rock listings. The follow up album, War of Angels (2011), generated another four hit singles, three of which made the Top 10 in the US Rock Charts with “Last Man Standing” achieving the most commercial success when it reached number 7 in the charts. In 2013, the band had their first national number 1 when the single “Trenches” - from the album Onyx - topped the US charts. The band continued to build on their success with charting albums such as 2015’s Up (number 1 on the Indie Rock Albums chart) and 2018’s Pop Evil (number 2). The band’s Versatile (2021) album contained two Mainstream Rock chart toppers: “Breathe Again” and “Survivor.” In 2023, Pop Evil released the album Skeletons, which featured the hit singles “Eye of the Storm,” “Paranoid (Crash & Burn),” and “Skeletons”, a collaboration with Fit for a King's singer Ryan Kirby. After the departures of Matt DiRito in 2021 and Hayley Cramer in 2023, newcomers Joey Walser (bass) and Blake Allison (drums) formed the new rhythm section of the band which recorded What Remains (2025).