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.

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.

So for some reason to day a bunch of awesome emo bands decide to lace people up with tracks off of their forthcoming records. ZOMG THNX!

Thrice has posted two tracks off their forthcoming Fire and Water EPs over at AOL’s Spinner. You can check out “Firebreather” (which, as you might have guessed is off of Fire) and “Digital Sea” (off of Water) here. These EPs, especially Fire, are seriously OWNING my stereo right now. If you like Thrice, or shit that’s angrily melodic, you will not be bummed out when these CDs street on October 16th. For more about these EPs, and the two more that are set to follow in spring, check out AlchemyIndex.com.

Our friends ( or I guess I should friend hehehe) Number One Gun have also posted a brand new track off their forthcoming CD, The North Pole Project due out in January 2008. The song is called “Millions” and you can check it out on the band’s Purevolume page, if you so desire. Being fortunate enough to once again have heard this entire record, I can tell you that this CD is definitely not the “safe” move for a band coming off of two well-received, super straightforward melodic rock releases. There is a lot of crazy shit happening in the mad genius mind of head NOGger Jeff Schneeweis and he spend some long days and nights in the studio crafting some ultra epic hooks and some pretty wild loopiness for this CD. There’s some songs on there that are straight aggro, and some songs on there that might make you want to grab your friends sister and make out with her a little bit. Its on some other shit, and I mean that in the good way.

And last but not least, today marks the debut of the third track to be previewed off of Emery’s forthcoming I’m Only a Man. Like the previous two tracks, “After the Devil Beats His Wife” has got people talking. Check it out on the band’s Purevolume page and figure it out for yourself, bro.