Shut Up & Rock with Pop Evil & I-Rock 93.5 at the Rust Belt -- April 25.
Saturday, April 25, 8 p.m.
The Rust Belt, 533 12th Avenue, East Moline IL
With the band's 2025 album What Remains hailed by The Rock Pit as a "faultless collection" that's "Just what you'd hope for," the alternative-metal and post-grunge talents of Pop Evil return to East Moline venue The Rust Belt on April 25, headlining this spring's I-Rock 83.5-sponsored Shut Up & Rock event with additional sets by Sierra Pilot, Kamenar, and The Forty Twos.
Formed in North Muskegon, Michigan, in 2001 by lead vocalist Leigh Kakaty and guitarist Jason Reed, Pop Evil first rose to international prominence with Lipstick on the Mirror, initially released on a small indie in 2008 and reissued by Universal Republic the following year. After Kakaty famously tore up the band’s major label contract onstage, Pop Evil signed with MNRK Heavy (formerly eOne Music). 2011’s War of Angels consequently debuted in the top 10 of Billboard's Rock Albums chart and produced the top 10 singles “Last Man Standing,” “Monster You Made," and “Boss’s Daughter.”
The band’s momentum continued with the addition of new member and lead guitarist Nick Fuelling for 2013’s Onyx, an album that put Pop Evil in the top 40 of the Billboard 200 for the first time and boasted three chart-toppers in "Trenches," "Deal with the Devil," and "Torn to Pieces." Their next release, Up, reached the top spot on the Independent Albums in America list and made it to number 25 on the Billboard 200. It featured several top-five rock songs (among them “Ways to Get High,” “Take It All,” and “If Only for Now”), as well as a chart-topper in “Footsteps.”
Their 2018 self-titled set, featuring the addition of UK-born drummer Hayler Cramer, included the hits “Waking Lions” (number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart), “Be Legendary” (number two), and “A Crime to Remember” (number seven). From there, 2020’s Versatile scored two chart-topping rock songs in “Breathe Again” and “Survivor," and to date, Pop Evil has amassed four gold-selling singles and are approaching one billion career streams.
“I was hustling and learning every day to make my dreams come true,” Kakaty recalls of his time playing local bars and slinging early EPs out of the back of his truck. “Studying never interested me. Neither did getting a regular job. A knee injury wrecked my shot at playing sports. Music was all I wanted to do from that moment, and I didn’t give myself a backup plan. Pop Evil gave me a purpose, and a reason to get up every day. It became a crusade.
“No matter how difficult the hard times you face are, what remains when you make it to the other side is who you are, and it’s your story,” Kakaty says. “It’s not always going to be written the way you want it to be, and it won’t always be pretty, but you hold the power to define the next chapter.”
The Shut Up & Rock with Pop Evil & I-Rock 93.5 event takes place on April 25 with sets by special guests Sierra Pilot, Kamenar, and The Forty Twos. admission to the 7 p.m. concert is $13.27, and more information and tickets are available by visiting TheRustBeltQC.com.
