The Hit Band Named After An X-Files Episode
Back when The X-Files was at the height of its popularity, it would have been fair to declare agents Mulder and Scully as rock stars. Certainly, the 1996 Rolling Stone cover with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson in bed has inspired just as many sexual awakenings as any actual rock star’s poster or album cover. But this spooky show has more in common with rock music than most fans ever realized: you see, the popular band Eve 6 is named after a character from a fan-favorite X-Files episode.
Superhero Girl
Before you can properly jam out to the connection between Eve 6 and The X-Files, you need to know more about the episode that inspired the band’s name. “Eve” is about Mulder and Scully encountering a group of genetically modified clones whose origin dates back to the Cold War and America’s shady governmental research. The title of the episode refers to those clones, characters who have to use numbers to keep track of which person they are talking about.
Small Town Trap
Eve 6 is one of the most prominent clones in this X-Files episode. She plays a particularly intelligent (IQ of approximately 265) clone who is super-strong and has a very violent temperament. We get evidence of that temperament when Mulder asks why she is chained up and she responds that she bit into a guard’s eyeball (allegedly “as a sign of affection”) and laughed cruelly at the memory through some nasty chewing sounds.
Scenes like this were supposed to establish Eve 6 as a dangerous character, someone who X-Files fans should rightfully be very scared of. However, there was one person she very much didn’t frighten: Tony Fagenson, the drummer who thought this little girl was impressive in her fierceness. Fagenson went on to help found the band Eve 6, which he named after the character that had left such an impression.
Think Twice
Of course, hardcore fans of the band are probably about to throw some old cassettes at me as a reminder that Eve 6 was formed out of another band that was around before Fagenson got inspired by The X-Files. The original incarnation of this band consisted of Max Collins on bass and lead vocals, Jon Siebels on guitar and backing vocals, and Nick Meyers on drums. In this first iteration, the band went by the name of Yakoo and later changed the name to Eleventeen.
Inside Out
The band even recorded an EP named Eleventeen that never saw the light of day. Afterward, Meyers left, and Fagenson replaced him on drums. Upon the new guy’s suggestion, the band changed its name to Eve 6, and this X-Files-powered rebranding was insanely effective: in 1998, the self-titled debut album Eve 6 hit and ended up going platinum.
Here’s To The Night
Aside from the name, there is one other thing that Eve 6 and The X-Files have in common: longevity. The adventures of Mulder and Scully continued into movies and a brief TV revival. Eve 6 has broken up, gotten back together, and is currently cranking out new tunes and giving Patreon subscribers a sneak peek at their latest content.
I’m hoping that by subscribing, I can get an answer to this important question: is putting a tender heart in a blender more painful or less painful than putting an eyeball in a girl’s maw?
