Evergreen Terrace : Josh James interview

Jacksonville Florida band Evergreen Terrace has survived what some would call a grueling few years. The melodic hardcore band suffered set backs, impounded vans, lost relationships and other collateral damage suffered by a musical outfit that tours for any length of time. 

Pulling themselves up the band recorded and has just released “Almost Home” their fifth studio album a record that finds the band breathing new life into their music and reaffirming who they are and where they are going. The arguments for and against melodic hardcore aside, Evergreen Terrace do what they do very well and better still make no apologies for it. 

I got to share some ideas with guitarist Josh James who, both straight forward and sardonically, answered my questions on the past, present and future of Evergreen Terrace. Here’s what transpired, some it really surprised me and I’m usually too old to be surprised.  

CRAVE ONLINE: Talk a little bit about the history of the band? 

JOSH JAMES: In the beginning there was a dog that spoke Greek to me. Later on we all got together and wrote some songs. This happened in 1999, now Stretch Arm Strong and Bane are playing our ten-year anniversary show in the beginning of next year, 2010. The world will end two years later.

CRAVE ONLINE:  I’ve read that the title of the new record “Almost Home” is quite personal for the band. Can you expand on why that is?

JOSH JAMES: It's not personal at all; it's a tattoo on my forearm by Jeff Jibran and we we're stumped for a record title.

[Some articles claimed it was about the amount of touring the band had been doing—Iann]

CRAVE ONLINE: You say the future didn’t look bright when you were writing the new album. Why is that? What happened?

JOSH JAMES: It was during hurricane season and the sun just wasn't shining. Our bass player quit the band. We lost a bunch of money. The DMV impounded our van. Three of us got arrested. Two of us were framed for a crime we didn't commit.

We almost died in a van wreck. A plane we took from Australia had engine failure and we had to make an emergency landing. Relationships were destroyed. Friendships were destroyed and one of us became homeless.

CRAVE ONLINE: How did you find your perspective and force yourself to write songs?

JOSH JAMES: We don't force ourselves to write songs. We just write them. This record is a reflection of all the shit we dealt with. Writing the record was our therapy. 

CRAVE ONLINE: With so much baggage attached to the genre do you get bothered by being called melodic hardcore? Do you think it’s a fair assessment?

JOSH JAMES: I really don't care. We get called so many things; metal core, hardcore, melodic hardcore, metal punk, etc, etc. None of it makes sense because when anyone describes a band it never fits the description anyway.

CRAVE ONLINE: How was it working with a producer of sorts on this album instead of remaining self-produced? Was it a good experience? Bad? Elaborate.

JOSH JAMES: Yeah it was cool. Nothing too different really, he had a couple good ideas for us and really focused on getting good tones out of us vocally. 

CRAVE ONLINE: Top 5 desert Island records.

JOSH JAMES:

• Weezer - Blue
• Good Riddance - Comprehensive Guide to Modern Rebellion
• Queen - Greatest Hits
• Rancid - Out Come the Wolves
• Hatebreed - Satisfaction is the Death of Desire

CRAVE ONLINE: What different sounds and emotions were you trying to convey through the new album? How did the band go about it?

JOSH JAMES: It was really just Craig, Kyle and myself jamming. The three of us wrote the entire record with a feeling of being friends and having fun, not writing a record that had to sell a million records or had to meet everyone’s expectations other our own.