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.