EVERYONE ASKED ABOUT YOU Releases 'A Better Way To A Broken Heart' Next Single Off Upcoming 'Paper Airplanes, Paper Hearts'

Seminal Little Rock, Arkansas queer tweemo band Everyone Asked About You has unveiled "A Better Way To A Broken Heart" the next single off the upcoming Numero Group release of 'Paper Airplanes, Paper Hearts', which compiles the band's complete recorded works.

"A continuation of the same story, “A Better Way To a Broken Heart” and “I Will Wait” were recorded during the same session with the s/t ep. The six songs from that recording session were the first six the band ever wrote and made up our set list for the first several months of shows, back when a tight 20 minute set would suffice," says founding member Chris Sheppard.

"If one wanted to create a narrative timeline of those songs, this song would fit between “it’s days like this” and “everyone asked about you”. ABWTABH is a brief vignette of a late summer night escape before the onslaught of fall responsibilities descends. The drum machine and moog coda sound the shortened days of early September."

The Deluxe 2xLP vinyl release of 'Paper Airplanes, Paper Hearts', includes the band's 'Let’s Be Enemies' LP and their two and a half 7"s released between 1997-2000. The release is now available to pre-order/pre-save (including digital and cassette).

By 1997, emo was in the early throes of its first evolution since erupting out of the D.C. hardcore scene a dozen years earlier. This new wave was less concerned with its post-hardcore forebearers' political peccadilloes and blood curdling shrieks, favoring instead a light-weight, mix-tape friendly, and hyper-sensitive version of pop punk.

Bands like Promise Ring, Get Up Kids, Braid, Mineral, Christie Front Drive, and Rainer Maria were at the forefront of this evolving sound. Little Rock, AR had Everyone Asked About You.

The band formed in 1996 and consisted of Chris Sheppard, Lee Buford, Collins Kilgore, and Hannah Vogan, who bonded over a shared love for bands like Unwound. John Beachboard and Matt Bradley joined in 1998 contributing to the 1999 release of 'Let's Be Enemies.' Eventually, they incorporated synthesizers into their sound, influenced by bands like The Rentals and Rainer Maria.

They released their self-titled debut EP in 1997, which featured songs like "Paper Airplanes, Paper Hearts," "Me Vs. You," and "It's Days Like This That Make Me Wish Summer Lasted Forever." The EP received mixed reviews, but the band's dedicated fans supported them.

Lyrically their songs explored the trials and tribulations of adolescence, as well as Sheppard's own journey in discovering his sexuality ("Boston") and coming out as a gay man.

Sheppard, says, “If there's a theme through all of our songs, it's emotional and physical distance, challenging goodbyes and misunderstandings and terrible communication.”

Everyone Asked About You broke up in 2000, but their music continues to be influential to emo fans around the world. With fewer than 2000 records across their entire recorded output floating around, fans flocked to YouTube and MP3 blogs to download needle-drop rips and sing the praises of Hannah and Chris’s adolescent poetry. And now younger generations have begun discovering the band through social media-- a lost chapter in emo’s pre-mainstream history.

Everyone Asked About You reunited for their first show in 23 years in the winter of 2022, and plan to tour more in the months ahead.

Photo: @ danielbergeronphoto; Daniel Bergeron 2023

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