Written By Laura Curry
Head over to Wonder Bar in Asbury Park tonight to hear Everymen’s quick-paced, folk-punk music and experience their wild energy. This Lake Worth, Florida based band draws from difficult experiences in their own lives to create relatable songs that will help listeners push through tough times, all while moshing. The Pop Break had the chance to talk to Everymen about their unique sound, their new album, May Your Ashes Have Stories to Tell and their East Coast tour.
Who are Everymen? (Names of the band members & the instruments you play): We are Sergio on banjo/guitar, Jesse on guitar/violin, Tym on Bass, Jersey on drums, and Reid on mandolin.
You guys are primarily based out of Lake Worth Florida, right? What kind of a music scene does Lake Worth have and how do you guys fit into it: We are! We all met and formed in Lake Worth, but we now either live there or in the surrounding area. The music scene there is pretty rad. It’s always been a smaller more radical town, so the scene there has always been really punk. We’ve been playing there for a long time now so it’s home for us and we’re a little different from most of the bands there but we think that’s fun. It’s definitely a family.
How would you describe your music in one sentence: We are South Florida’s premier folk punk pool party of 2K17.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSZLNu7jJND/?taken-by=everymen
According to your Biography on Facebook, you are all from different backgrounds with your own individual stories to tell. How do all of your separate backgrounds influence your music and what you write about: We’re really fortunate to all come from different backgrounds and bring something unique to the table. Jesse brings a little ska and surf, Sergio throws in some Latin influence, and Jersey ups the punk. Plus, we always pick up new influences from our friends and bands we see on tour. So we have our phases there too. We try to write about things we know about from first-hand experience. This last year we all had to deal with some pretty heavy stuff and writing the songs helped us through that. I’d really hope that someone listening can identify with that and maybe it could help them out too.
How has your East Coast tour been going? What are some of the highlights of it so far: We’re pretty early in the tour right now but it’s been great so far! On the first day our van got rear ended pretty bad and we had to sledgehammer the bumper off so we could open the back doors but that was kind of an adventure in itself.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTmiLVSDpyQ/?taken-by=everymen
Your new album May Your Ashes Have Stories to Tell came out on April 22. The title itself sounds pretty heavy. What is this album about? What kinds of stories are told with the songs: The album has a lot to do with loss and moving through it. Struggling with yourself and trying to find positive ways to look at your past when it seems bleak, rather than letting what you’ve been through pull you down. Recording was definitely cathartic.
How does May Your Ashes Have Stories to Tell reflect your evolution as a band from you earlier albums until now: Ashes is definitely our favorite album. It takes all the experimentation we did in our prior albums and hones it into something we’re much more proud of as a whole.
What are your favorite songs on the album? Why are they your favorite? How does this contrast with your favorite songs to play live: We all really love the last song on the album. It’s called “Don’t Stay” and we put it together in the studio with our friends Wax Wings and we just can’t play it without them. It’s not the same. As far as live goes, we love the more punk stuff. The faster the better! There’s this song called “Annihilation” that’s a blast to play.
How would you describe the crowd’s response to your music at shows? Do they tend to catch on quickly to your energy: Our favorite crowds are the ones that get buck with us. We try to come out of the gates as wild as possible too. We feel people are ready to party if we’re doing it with them. I think people usually catch on pretty quickly, especially once the confetti starts falling. Last night we had a pretty solid limbo like under Tym’s bass and a truly harrowing pool noodle sword fight. We just want everyone to have a good ol’ time.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOxQdZ0gbMi/?taken-by=everymen
What is the craziest thing that’s happened at one of your shows: One time in Asbury Park, New Jersey, we had a crowd get so enthused that they were surfing each other up to the rafters, so to keep up, one of us ran to the green room and pulled the doors off the hinges and rode it on top of the crowd like a boogie board. A few more people climbed up with us. It was bananas (wink, wink).
From all of your experiences as a band, what is the best part about creating and performing music: Playing music keeps us all sane and touring and meeting cool folks all over is really cool. I think the best, though, is when you really connect with a crowd and you can see that they’re having as much fun as you are. It means a lot when the music connects with someone. Knowing that it had some positive impact on someone, either through lyrics or just a fun show, is really fulfilling.
What accomplishments are you most proud of: We’re really proud of ourselves for buckling down and making this album. It’s very close to us emotionally and musically and we couldn’t be happier with how it came out!
