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Evergreen Terrace
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 16-Nov-05 @ 05:42 PM
HQ: Jacksonville, FL
NOW PLAYING: Sincerity Is An Easy Disguise In This Business (EULOGY; eulogyrecordings.com) WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM:After six years, a dozen killer covers, two original albums and a DVD, you already should. If not, underground word of mouth is about to take the Terrace streetside. YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE: Atreyu / Avenged Sevenfold / Eighteen Visions Besides being the street on which the Simpsons live, Evergreen Terrace is a study in harmonious dichotomy. Coming together in 1999 and hailing from the "armpit of Florida," as they like to put it, some of the band's members are Christian, some are atheist, and some are agnostic. Some began playing together after meeting at Yellowcard shows back in the day; new drummer Kyle Mims (ex-Love Is Red) played his first gig with the band in April at the New England Metal & Hardcore Festival. "And I don't even drink," says guitarist Josh James, swinging his legs atop the band's merch table before a show at a stickered sweatbox in St. Louis. "And I really, really do!" enthuses guitarist/vocalist Craig Chaney from a chair next to him. Then there's the matter of the band's third official full-length (not counting their 2004 covers album, Writers Block), Sincerity Is An Easy Disguise In This Business. Recorded in February at Jacksonville's Vision Sound Recording studio, and produced by Daryl Phenneger and "some of the totally sweet dudes in Evergreen Terrace" (as the liner notes put it), Sincerity is simultaneously more melodic, yet strangely even harder, than their previous output. "We just took everything up a notch," says James. "We usually hate half of what's on our records, but we love every single second of this one." The album's title, taken from a line in the Ed Norton-goes-Barney flick Death To Smoochy, reflects the band's feelings about the current status of hardcore. "It's hard to tell who's in it for the long haul," says James. "A lot of young kids are coming up because it's just about coolness," adds Chaney, "so there's a lot of head-butting going on. But it's also kind of refreshing, because hardcore is going mainstream right now. There's a lot of crossover action, so it's awesome for bands who have been doing it for a long time and can see it begin to pay off." After the band-including singer Andrew Carey and bassist Jason Southwell-blow a few speakers and incite a mosh pit that in turn sparks a fight between two audience members that spills out the door and through the windshield of a parked car, Chaney is unwinding by manhandling an arcade joystick. Though he's explaining the secret to getting top scores at Ms. Pac-Man, his words are also good advice on how to survive in the game of music. "You mostly just want to keep moving, but wait it out when the ghosts are around," he says. "Then make sure when that big banana goes thumping by, you go after it." -Julie Seabaugh UNDER THE INFLUENCE What album's had the greatest impact on you? That's easy, says Andrew Carey: "Boy Sets Fire's The Day The Sun Went Out and Snapcase's Progression Through Unlearning. They're the ones that made me want to scream." |
