Ally Evenson takes the wheel on sophomore album ‘Speed Kills’ 

“I was way more involved in this one than I was in my first one. My first album, I had no idea what I was doing. I was just like, I need to make an album and these are the songs that I’m writing, so these will probably be on the album,” Evenson said. 

However, prior to becoming a solo artist, Evenson was touring with singer-songwriter, Chloe Moriondo. Although Evenson’s first release was in 2020, she had decided to take a break and met Moriondo and her management team in 2021 when they were looking for a female guitarist to take on tour.

During this time, Evenson became extremely close to Moriondo, even stepping in on certain nights for openers which ultimately led to a smooth transition as a solo artist. 

“I had already understood touring and I kind of just watched how Chloe managed to deal with everything in that whole realm. It was a really good learning experience, touring with her and playing with her,” Evenson said of her time working with Moriondo. 

Evenson has always been intertwined with music and grew up creating tracks with her dad in a makeshift studio set up in their basement. 

“We would record CDs and give them to our family for Christmas. He and I started writing songs together,” Evenson said. 

While reminiscing on some of her earliest memories, she mentioned the first time she was completely entranced by music: listening to the Beatles.

“My mom always had CDs in her car, and she had the White Album by the Beatles. And I just remember being like, wow, this is weird,” Evenson said. This “weirdness” definitely found its way into many of her production choices in her new album, specifically in the song “Crash My Car For You.” The track immerses you into Evenson’s world through various sounds that her producer took the time to record and incorporate such as him opening doors, driving his car around, and pulling the handbrake. 

“One of my favorite things is [how] he used a recording from his recorder from 10 years ago. He's from Detroit as well, and I never knew him when he lived there, because he's lived in LA for eight years but he used a recording of him getting on the highway in Detroit in that song,” Evenson said. 

The goal for the song was to simulate a car crash, and through the use of real-life sounds and recordings, she was able to fully encapsulate that feeling and sound. 

The track had a large emotional impact on Evenson in which she said, “He sat me right in front of the two speakers…And he played it for me. And I just started crying so hard.” 

Evenson felt more confident as a whole during the process of making this album, especially in terms of her involvement. 

“I, maybe to a fault, am too involved…I need to be so hands-on. I play most of the instruments, other than drums, on the songs… it would feel wrong if I wasn’t,” Evenson said. 

The same sentiment rings true when it comes to the short film attached to this album, in which Evenson was both the star and writer. 

As someone who did theater growing up, Evenson said that getting to act was one of the most enjoyable aspects of filming the short. 

“It’s truly one of my biggest passions and I really want to be doing it more. I want to be acting so bad,” Evenson said. 

The demanding project required a strong performance from Evenson, who was seen driving and wrecking a sports car, tied up and force-fed peaches, and screaming at the top of her lungs covered in blood.

“My favorite sequence is the end of ‘Blame It On You,’ the part where I’m just scream-crying and it’s dead silent,” Evenson said,  “I watched that and was like ‘That’s me doing that. That’s crazy.’ That is exactly how I wanted it to look.’” The bloodied scream is the most visceral part of the short. 

“There’s something so unsettling about watching someone scream and having there be no audio. It’s almost giving you what you want but it isn’t,” Evenson explains, “It was definitely a choice because it’s silent for so long. And I like to make people uncomfortable.”

As a big fan of horror movies, Evenson explained how the films “Funny Games” and “Bones and All" were huge influences on the look and feel of the project. Considering her obsession with slasher films, it was no surprise that she was excited to share how desperately she’d want to star in one. “God, I hope so. I want it more than you know,” Evenson said.