Emarosa Interview Will Sowers (bass) and Jordan Stewart (keyboardist)

Photo by Amanda Elsberry

Five days into their tour with Chiodos, Go Radio and Decoder, I had a chance to sit down with a couple of members of Emarosa. Join us as we discuss how the band operates, some of their favorties places to play shows and the future goals as a band...

Cliche one to start off, how has the tour been so far?
Jordan: It's been really good so far. We like Chiodos, and they like us.
Will: There keyboard player is kind of weird though (laughs). It has been a blast. We have had a really good time, and the shows have been a lot of fun.
Jordan: There's really not a lot of pressure, everyone is having a good time, and everyone has toured before.
In December of last year, you guys toured the U.K.. How was that experience? I have heard that the crowds are completely different there.
Jordan: They are like your best U.S. crowd every night.
Will: I don't know, people just seem to have a lot more respect for musicians over there.
Jordan: I don't think that they get as much of it all the the time. They are also much more aware too, they seem to be picky. If the sound (of the live performace) is at all weird, they know and will tell you. Over here, kids just wanted to punch each other and that's kind of there thing.
Will: There's not a lot of the "lame scene" stuff that's over her, that's over in the U.K..
What has been your favorite country to play in?
Will: Either England, or Austrailia.
Jordan: Canada.
Will: All three.
Jordan: Just not mainland Europe.
Will: Yeah, just the U.K. part.
Why not mainland Europe?
Jordan: It's just rough.
Will: Music doesn't go through there very often.
Jordan: You can literally play a show one day for a ton of kids, then the next day you are in another country where no one knows your band.
Will: You can play a show in Germany, where it is more than sold-out and then go to Poland the next day and there are like a hundred kids...
How does your writing process noramlly pan out as a band? Do you guys just jam together?
Jordan: The five of us just play together, and then Jonny comes in later with the lyrics.
Will: We are going to start doing some new stuff, for our next record after this tour, where we are all going to be writing in every step of the process. In the past, it has always been all of the musicians sitting around and then Jonny comes in after we record the song and then kind of does his thing over it and we re-arrange the song to fit his lyrics better.
Have you started to discuss what direction you want to take on this record?
Will: Yeah, we have talked about it a lot this past week and we are going to start writing once we get home from this tour. We are going to spend a lot of time on it, and we are really excited about it.
Is there anyone that you are currently listening (bands/musicians) to, that you are seeing through your music?
Will: We are all over the place. Jordan listens to a lot of hippity-hop, like Kid Cudi, Kanye and Chiddy Bang. I listen to a lot of Temper Trap, Phoenix, Joy Division and a lot of David Bowie. Everyone listens to a lot of Radiohead. We are all over the place, so there is no telling what it will sound like for sure.
With Jonny Craig being involved in so many projects, how do you guys make it work and continue to grow as a band, continually becoming a larger presence in the scene?
Will: Even though it seems like he is doing a lot, his number one focus is always Emarosa. He does a lot of side-projects, but whenever he does those they are really done in a matter of days. We are alwwyas on the road, but if we ever have time off he always tries to work in something while we have time off. Since the first day he has been in our band, Emarosa has beenhis main focus. Whenever our tour schedule is made, then he can choose to do something else...
Where do you guys see yourselves five years down the road?
Jordan: Just trying to grow...
Will: Probably headlining Madison Square Garden with Motley Crue.
Jordan: Playing the Super Bowl...
Will: With the Black-Eyed Peas...
Jordan: We aren't setting a limit, there are goals in place.
What are some of the goals?
Will: Expand out to other generes of music, and tour with different bands that people really wouldn't expect us to. Like more Rock n' Roll bands, becuase we've done great tours but it has been almost the "cliche scene." So just trying to get out of that world, and doing more stuff that goes along with our music better.
Perfect day, windows down, driving in your car what are you listening to?
Jordan: The Format.
Will: Outkast, "Aquemini"
Jordan: That's pretty Atlanta right?
What do you have after this tour?
Will: We are going to be writing right after. We are also making a lot of switches with who we work with, so we are doing a lot of over seas stuff and international stuff. We are doing another headlining U.S. tour in the fall probably. We just have a lot of stuff that is up in the air right now.
Tanner(Drummer in Chiodos): Celebrity question, if you could be any animal, or combination of hybrid animal, what would you be?
Jordan: Shark-Horse. Imagine a shark that fast.
Will: I would be a eel-mu. An eel combined with an emu. Think about an emu, with the neck of an electric-eel.