Video Matt was on the grind this weekend, meeting up with Hawthorne Heights and one of our favorite bands ever, Emery, in San Francisco for some sit-down interview footage as well as some live shit. Check out Emery playing “Walls” above and Hawthorne Heights chopping it up with Video Matt below, then go to our YouTube channel and watch all 427 of our other videos*

*If you actually do this, you are either (one of) Video Matt’s stalker or the most bored person in the universe

Something that sounds an awful lot like the as-yet-unreleased new Emery EP, While Broken Hearts Prevail, is currently streaming on Myspace under the name “Carl Winslow”. Whoever it is, it sounds fucking badass.

Someone over at Current TV saw my post about the Great Mexican Emo Wars of 2008 and forwarded over a link to a short film by Ioan Grillo looking at the Emo Culture in Mexico City and other parts of Mexico. Check that shit out. And any Mexican emos actually reading this, check out the homies Emery on tour in your country next week! Hopefully they won’t get beat up or stabbed on the metro or anything:

Emery Tour Dates:
07.29.08 - Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico - Hard Rock Cafe
07.30.08 - Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico - Cafe Iguanas
07.31.08 - Puebla, Puebla, Mexico - Centro de espectaculos
08.01.08 - Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico - Hard Rock Live

Had the chance to get a sneak preview of the new EP the boys in Emery have been working on in between their last couple of tours and, as can be expected, its pretty fucking badass. From what I got a chance to hear in between games of count the dice and slices of Little Caesar’s pizza, the EP seems to be a combination of the eclectic, raw melodicism of their latest full-length, I’m Only a Man, and the more polished sound of their first two records. Dave Powell’s drums sound huge, but not in a Pro-Tooled snapped-to-grid kind of way, with Matt Carter’s guitars leaving plenty of space for the band’s fondness for catchy synth-lines and even catchier vocal melodies. And of course there’s plenty of hootin’ and hollerin’ going on to make sure dudes in the pit can still get their donkey kick on. The band worked one of the new jams into their set last night and if the crowd’s response was any indication, Emery are just getting warmed up. Of course, the geniuses who run the club where the show was held last night, Orangevale’s Club Retro, forgot to turn the A/C on so maybe we were all just suffering from heat stroke.

NOTICE TO TOURING BANDS: If you play Orangevale and don’t play the Boardwalk, you’re seriously blowing it. Nothing against Club Retro but seriously, California in the summer with no A/C is like Minnesota in the winter with no heater. Get a clue. Plus, the Boardwalk has an adult play area where old dudes like me can hide out and sip on booze and not feel like a lecherous pedo. Just sayin…

UPDATE: The EP is going to be titled Broken Hearts Prevail and is set for release September 30th on Tooth and Nail Records. Fuck with it!

Though my job has its low points, such as having to listen to 4 different people’s iTunes playing through their shitty computer speakers simultaneously, one of the definite upsides is being able to fuck off and watch badass bands when they come through the area, and having it be considered “work.” Such is the case today, when in about five minutes I’m gonna hop in the rig and head down to Sacramento to check out one of the raddest live bands around, not to mention some of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, Emery, as part of their current tour with The Almost and Envy of the Coast. I’m gonna go ahead and wager that the show is gonna be badass, even if IMO The Almost’s record kind of sucks 35 dicks (and that’s even despite being produced by Aaron Sprinkle and getting Jeremy Enigk on the cut!). But as long as Aaron Gillespie keeps the bus stocked with cold Bud Light beer it should be all good. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, check the rest of the dates on Emery’s current tour (copy pasta courtest of Envy on the Coast’s Myspace page) after the jump; if its coming near you, attendance is mandatory. Make sure to ask the band if they’ll play “Walls” because they really like when people ask that. I mean, REALLY, really like it. (more…)

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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