When our good friends Emery recently announced they were ending their run with Switchfoot and Athlete on the TWLOHA-sponsored Up In Arms Tour a few weeks early, internet naysayers had the rumor mill working overtime. But the band put all rumors as to their demise to rest today with the announcement that they will be joining up with longtime musical cohort Aaron Gillespie on his last tour with The Almost before devoting his attention to Underoath full time for awhile. Here’s the announcement:

We are extremely excited to announce that we will be joining The Almost for their US tour in May and June. We’ve known Aaron for some time, and since our 2007 Australian tour with Underoath was such a good time, we know we had to go out with him again. We will be joined on this tour by Envy on the Coast and Army of Me. We could not be more excited about this tour. Please check back as more shows are announced. We’ll see you soon. Love - EMERY

Also joining them on this tour will be long lost Synthesis blogger Trevor Digby Sellers. Write to him on his Myspace and tell him to start putting his iPhone to use by writing some damn blogs. Tour dates after the jump:

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Being born and raised in California, I always had kind of a skewed view of the rural South. I thought everyone in the South not living in Atlanta, Orlando, Nashville or one of the other metropolitan cities out there still flew Confederate flags, talked about Yankees and plucked banjos with thumbpicks made out of their old teeth. But once I started to get into music, I started to notice that most of the raddest, most original bands were coming out of spots like Kentucky, the Florida Panhandle, and South Carolina, the last of which is home to possibly my personal favorite out of this crop of new Southern Rockers: Emery. Besides being one of the best live bands on the planet, Emery are possibly the NICEST band ever. So nice that they took my shitty band on tour this summer and showed me how awesome the South is firsthand, making me feel like a complete douche for ever harboring my Deliverance-esque fears of the old Confederacy. Having interviewed the band a few times myself over the years, I was glad to hand over the reigns to the always agreeable Video Matt in the hopes that him and the Emery boys could have a Nice-Off while chatting about the band’s new record, I’m Only a Man which is in stores now, and their current headlining tour across the US. Watch the video interview above and see if you can see who defeated who for the crown of King of Nice (my vote goes to Devin) then check out the live footage from that same show over at our YouTube channel. Then go buy all their records, become their biggest fan and send me a thank you letter.

At the Orangevale date of their current headlining tour, Emery were kind enough to let the gayest men we know, Peter Digby Sellers and Benjamin Tietz, consecrate their sacred vows onstage. Check out the video and make sure to tell Peter congratulations if you see him on tour with The Maine.

If the name, not to mention voice of, Devin Shelton seems a bit familiar, it might be because of his day job as co-frontman / bassist of one of rock music’s hardest working bands, Emery. And though he can definitely rock with the best of them, Devin’s true musical roots are a bit more eclectic than one might imagine: after all, how many dudes in rock bands can claim, with unabashed honesty that they’re favorite band of all time is Boyz II Men, as Shelton does on the DVD included with Emery’s most recent CD, I’m Only a Man? To that end, Shelton’s newly minted side project, A Devin Flow, is about as far away from the balls-out hollering of Emery as you can get, drawing on influences from Al Green to Stevie Wonder and showcasing Shelton’s buttery croon in its native habitat. Though nothing hi-fi (the instrumentation on the demos is courtesy of the world’s most affordable session cats, G. A. Rage Band ) Devin’s vocal chops shine through. Just wait until dude gets Rodney Jerkins on the cut! Check out A Devin Flow’s myspace page here, and let him know that you’re picking up what he’s puttin’ down.

This has been one of the busiest weeks of my life, and being in the snow day in and day out doesn’t help all that much. I have made some real life realizations, such as; Cleveland is a dump, the Super Bowl is a lot more entertaining when it’s spent with friends, is catered and a keg of Coors light is brought into the situation, kids from Canada have funny accents, I never want to live in a snowy city, kids in Omaha are insane and they love to throw boxer briefs on stage, Lawrence, Kansas is one my most favorite places ever, days off are a very nice thing to have every once in a while. I’ll elaborate on a few of the days.

Cleveland, Ohio is not a nice town; I was constantly in fear of being robbed, beat up, raped or mocked for being white the entire time I was not inside the bus or the venue. But the show was crazy, and it marked the first sell out crowd of the tour. Our buddy, and Marilyn Manson drum tech, cabbed over to our show after the MM show was over, that’s a crazy job to have.

Madison, Wisconsin is a beautiful city, especially in the winter. I guess I take back my earlier comment about not wanting to live in a snowy city, because I would live in Madison in a second, but nowhere else with snow. This show marked the smallest crowd I’ve ever seen a band, any size, play to in years, but the kids that were there were great, they made the night very enjoyable.

St. Paul, Minnesota is town full of offices, and then if you’re lucky enough to work in one of these offices you can conveniently live a block away in your own condo, seems great to me, why wouldn’t you want to spend all your time in a three block radius of St. Paul? I got yelled at by the bartender for smoking inside, I don’t know all the laws they pass there, and who really cares? Around three in the morning we get a knock on the bus door, someone opens it up and lets this girl in, who, by the way, had the biggest fake boobs I’ve ever seen in person. She was crying some story to us about how her friends left her behind and she needed to use a phone to call a cab, all while she’s kicking off her shoes and jacket and making herself comfortable. We called her a cab which she decided wasn’t good enough for her once it arrived. She eventually left after getting ridiculed by half of the bus occupants for a good 45 minutes.

Omaha, Nebraska should have more than two venues considering it has so many bands. Tonight’s show was another sell out and was painfully hot inside. Matt purchased an air horn the night before which was used this night to startle kids outside our bus. I’ve never seen so many pissed off emo kids. One thing I don’t get is why the hell would you drive out of town to see a band and not purchase tickets beforehand? The venue had to turn away a ton of kids, but instead of leaving they decided to bug me all night and offer to “help” me with any task I wanted as long as they could get in. It may not sound that bad, but it is.

Lawrence, Kansas is a wonderful town, full of normal people. I’ve never been to the venue we played at and at first it looked a little sketchy beings that they show movies upstairs on certain days, but it was great. I got to see some friends I haven’t seen in a while and take in some great conversations at the local bars. I thought to myself I could live in Lawrence, and then I realized Chico is just the same, so I think that plan is nixed.

Salt Lake City, Utah is always a fun time. The show was sold out, the crowd was amazing, I was proposed to by a 17 year old during line check; I had to turn her down because her boyfriend didn’t like the idea. After our record breaking load out we threw a party for all the bands after the show, the promoter’s gave us a bunch of free liquor and beer and everyone got to know each other beyond the daily “hi, how’s it going” kind of thing. We have a day off tomorrow and then we’re headed to the west coast for what will most likely be the longest ten days ever.

Cleveland, OH

Deathtrap

Madison

As Cities Burn, the best band ever

Air Hornness

St. Paul, MN

Pierce the Veil

I’m going to be perfectly honest here, I haven’t showered in five days, and I stink. I’m usually pretty clean, but there have been a lack of showers so far on this tour. Even if there were a shower somewhere I probably wouldn’t have time to use it. Usually it’s hurry up and wait, but lately it’s been hurry up and hurry some more. I’ve been damn busy now that my workload has doubled, but I’m not complaining, I’m just adjusting. This tour is a different kind of situation. We have an entirely different crew than the last time around, so my time is spent teaching the new guys the routine of everything and trying to remember some things myself. We also have a bus full of people, 13 to be exact, and that is a slightly difficult thing to get used to all in itself. Tonight is the third night of tour, and as of yet, the coldest. It’s around 20 degrees and snowing like crazy here at the infamous Metro in Chicago. I really didn’t get to see much of Nashville or Columbus due to me being busy and tired, and the same will most likely happen again tonight. On top of the previously mentioned excuses, we’re in a slightly ghetto area, about a block away from Wrigley Field, and the only exciting places I’ve seen all day are a Starbucks and a hot dog stand, maybe I’ll get lucky and Steve Albini will come by and want to get a drink and hang out.

Newport Music Hall wall of fame

soundcheck

Meet and greet behind the scenes