Evergreen Terrace

With their impending invasion onto our fine soil, Evergreen Terrace guitarist Josh James caught up with us to talk about Asking Alexandra, homeless travellers and The Karate Kid.

Could you please introduce us with your name and role in Evergreen Terrace?

Josh James and I usually role play as a travelling salesman but with ET I play guitar.

Since the new record has hit stores you have been on the road fairly consistently. How have the shows been and what interesting tales can you share with the readers of KYS?

Evergreen Terrace shows are always awesome. Last month, after a 13 hour over night drive, we found a homeless man in the back of our trailer. He was wearing Craig’s show clothes and had drank two cases of beer. When we opened the trailer door to unload equipment he yelled “Pasta buffet” and jumped out, tried to run, but tripped and smashed his face on the ground. Then he started crying and begged us not to hurt him. We asked him to return Craig’s clothes and then gave him an ET shirt to wear on his way into the sunset. We guess that he jumped in the trailer the night before when we were loading our gear out of the club. The really strange thing is that we never found any piss, which is odd because he drank close to 50 beers and was locked inside the trailer for 13 hours.

What’s the deal with the Sending Signals film clip? Will the new Karate Kid flick with Jackie Chan be decent or rubbish?

All I can say about that is jacket on, jacket off. Really? Jacket off?

You toured with For the Fallen Dreams and Asking Alexandra on the Almost Homeless tour. What were the fans like for Asking Alexandra and are those dudes as fruity as their music?

Hahaha. Well, they are Englishman! Ha, they are good guys, we gave them a lot of shit and they took it everyday. The tour was a lot of fun. They’re going to be huge so I’m sure that won’t be the last time you hear of them. One night we made the singer think that there was a crew that was coming to beat him up because he tried to hook up with the leaders girlfriend. It was great. We walked him out into the dessert to meet “the crew” it was pitch black and he couldn’t see a thing. I started yelling at him and he started apolozing. I was just screaming ridiculous shit at him an he took it like a man. As soon as I went to hit him we turned on the light and he saw everyone on the tour, ha. It was pretty classic.

Almost Home was easily one of my favourite releases from last year. Tell me your secret to writing music that appeals to hardcore dudes while also getting metal dudes onboard?

Thanks! The secret is in the sauce. We have a lot of influences and we don’t let them get in the way of coming out in our music, I guess it’s just magic. Black magic.

Next month marks your 4th time touring the country (by my count) with the previous time being a festival run through soundwave. What’s it like taking part of a festival as opposed to you own headline shows?

Australia is always amazing. Soundwave was probably my favorite tour I’ve ever done. The line up was sick, the hospitality, etc. It was just mind blowing. But really that is the case every time we go to AUS. I guess the difference is we have to play last on the headlining show, haha.

The upcoming tour will be with straight edge super dudes Casey Jones, Josh’ other band. What’s it like touring with the Casey Jones guys and how do you find the gusto to put on two shows in one night?

CJ and ET have all been friends for a long time. When the two bands tour together it feels more like a field trip than a tour, ha. Just a larger group of idiots than normal. I should probably start running now that I think of it so I will be able to last through both sets. Maybe I can lose a couple of pounds by the end of the tour.

For the uninitiated what can we expect from an Evergreen Terrace live show?

A little bit of confusion a lot of rambling and probably a decent amount of spit.

Can the Australian fans expect to taste the sugar shoulder?

We’re thinking vegemite shoulder.

If you were able to construct a multi genre tour, consisting of any band defunct or active that would you have on the line-up?

Queen, Minor Threat, Operation Ivy.

Worst thing ever experienced on the road?

Missing funerals, food poisoning, theft, van problems.

Favourite heavy release of the last decade?

Stretch Arm Strong – Rituals of Life. I think it came out in 1999, so we will have to let that pass.

Any pre show rituals?

Writing an offensive phrase in marker somewhere on my body.

Thanks for your time, any final words or thanks you would like to share?

Thanks to all our fans and friends in Australia that have supported us over the years, we hope to see you all at the show!