Photography by Natalie Nesser
EMILY’S ARMY
Interview with Cole Becker and Joey Armstrong
By Groovey
Photography by Natalie Nesser
Emily’s Army have a very cool retro garage rock sound to their tunes with some pop punk and surf vibes thrown into the mix as well. They are a very young band (15–17), but already have a few West Coast tours under their wheels. Named after the Becker boys’ cousin Emily, who has Cystic Fibrosis, the band and her foundation are working together to help find a cure for the horrible disease. I spoke with Cole Becker and Joey Armstrong about all things Emily’s Army including what it was like working with Joey’s father, Billie Joe Armstrong, who produced their new album Don’t Be a Dick.
How did you guys get started with music?
Becker: Well, Joey started playing drums when he was really young and he has been our friend almost our entire lives, so I took up guitar so we could play together. That just became a really big hobby of ours that has turned into something a little more. (Laughs)
Armstrong: When I was really little I got a little drum kit from my parents and then I moved schools. The school that I moved to had a drum kit and at first I was really shy because I didn’t have any friends, but then I started playing in their rock band and I immediately loved playing.
So did you make your parents get you a real drum kit after that?
Armstrong: Yeah, after we started actively playing a lot and we could show our parents that we were good and serious about it, for my 13th birthday I got my first real drum kit and it was awesome. I got a Ludwig four piece drum kit.
How do your songs all come together?
Becker: Something comes up and if I feel strongly about it, either for or against it, I will write down my thoughts and then it just comes to me. I really like to just fiddle around on guitar and if it sounds nice I will keep playing it. Did you hear about the guy who got shot on the Bay Area Rapid Transit? It was a really big deal in the Bay, it really conflicted me, and so I just wrote a song about my feelings about it. After the shooting I remember sitting down with Cole about the song and that was a song that really impacted all of us. He saw like, “Woah, this is an actual song. It’s not about girls or crushes or anything, this is a song that is really important that we want to show people.”
How do you guys describe your sound?
Cole Becker: I call us garage rock/alternative, but I wouldn’t classify us as the regular alternative, there really isn’t a name created for it yet, to me it’s just music. We have a lot of really cool influences like Social Distortion, The Beatles, a lot of Clash and Johnny Cash definitely. You take all that and throw it in a garage and you get our new album.
You guys are all pretty young, how did all those influences come about?
Becker: There are a number of people in our lives that influence our tastes. Teachers, I try really hard to connect with my teachers, I learn a lot of things from my teachers and my guitar teacher introduced me to folk and a lot of old, old country.
Armstrong: I’ve had a lot of drum teachers that have shown me songs and I incorporate that stuff, but also all of our families travel a lot so we experience different types of music from different places that we want to bring back with us. That really adds to our style.
Tell me about the new album Don’t Be a Dick that’s about to be released?
Becker: I’ve been writing these songs since I have been writing songs. Don’t be a dick is kind of a term that we all say to each other like when we’re arguing in the garage or even just talking to people and it kind of relates to a lot of songs on the album.
Armstrong: Like the guy who shot the guy was a dick. The radio can sometimes be a dick. So don’t be a dick and enjoy what you have going for you. It took a lot of time for us to decide what our songs and what our sound was going to be like. We’ve gone from songs being kind of reggae/ska to like punk or just rock and roll I guess. Some people have called it pop-punk who have heard it. We just think of it as just rock ‘n’ roll with our flair on it.
So Joey, what was it like working with your dad as a producer on the album?
Armstrong: We are extremely, extremely, extremely lucky. I mean not only did we get to record in a nice studio, but we are also very fortunate to have my dad involved. I always try to impress him when I play and I think it was really good for us to record our first time with him because he pushed me to the next level as a drummer. When we were going home we’d talk about stuff that we could add but not a lot about it. It’s like father and son at home and producer and musician in the studio. Which was nice.
Now, how does the band and the charity all work together?
Becker: My cousin, Emily, was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis when she was two so the foundation has existed almost all our lives because we’re the same age. The charity came first and I have always been doing things with my mom for the charity when we found out our last band name was taken we decided to call ourselves EMILY’S ARMY to spread awareness about the cause.
http://www.facebook.com/EmilysArmy
http://www.emilysarmy.com/
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