Before you say anything, yes, we realize we had Emery on our cover merely months ago. Does this seem tacky and ill prepared? Perhaps, but that is why we now have a comment section. Does Emery absolutely deserve to be at the forefront of the month of April and beyond for this new record? A million times yes. We spoke with Emery just months ago in regards to preparing to unleash their fifth full length record, this time on Tooth N’ Nail’s heavier counterpart Solid State Records. At the time, we had no idea the powerhouse of an album that the shifty veterans were preparing to unveil to the world. The shift to Solid State couldn’t be more appropriate as this is by far the heaviest we have seen Emery since The Weak’s End and even then, Emery was pretty tame in comparison. More heart, more honesty, more brutal, We Do What We Want will definitely make your month as it has mine. Seven years later, Emery is still taking our breath away, like a fine wine only getting better with age.

This record is a lot heavier than most previous ones from you guys. That seems to be the main comment I see about it from those who have heard it so far. Would you agree?

Toby Morrell: Yeah I would. I think most of the songs are probably the heaviest we’ve ever done, just the feel and the amount of breakdowns and stuff like that. The last two songs are acoustic which is something we did differently. We’ve never ended a record with anything like that before. Also, the actual theme of the whole record seems like it’s kind of like weighty lyrically.

That being said, what was stirring in you guys that made you have a lot more to be yelled and screamed about?

TM: I think we always kind of write some serious lyrics but I think this time we just wanted to branch out more. Devin, our other singer, who wrote lyrics for the songs that he sang, he decided to quit in the middle of the recording when he quit we were like “Well, what are we going to do?” It was just me writing all the lyrics at the point and I just kind of wanted to just talk about some issues that I’d never talked about before like suicide and putting yourself before God and what that means. Also, even dealing with some things that have happened in my life and stories I’ve heard so I think the music was just heavier so it just kind of fit to go with maybe a little bit darker lyrics.

I’m sure you’ve been getting this question a lot. The cover is a book that appears to be the Bible with the album title on it. Walk us through the decision to have this image represent the album. How does it tie into We Do What We Want?

TM: We worked with Ryan at Tooth N’ Nail and he designs tons of artwork for records and we had some ideas but when I was talking to him I said I wanted to do something that made people stop and take a look for a second no matter what. There’s so many CDs, and so much artwork on the Internet and in stores-we wanted something that actually made it stand out. We just wanted artwork that would at least make you think so he brought that to the table and we just thought it was awesome; it’s really simple and speaks volumes. We thought it fit so well with the title because we’re at a point in our career where musically we’re just going to do whatever we want and it doesn’t matter what anybody says, we’re just there. We’re at a point in our career where musically we’re just going to do whatever we want and it doesn’t matter what anybody says, we’re just there.We thought, as well that it ties into the whole idea that maybe using what we’ve done-maybe use Christianity in a certain way and still continue to do what we want with it like instead of maybe submitting to it or submitting to the Bible, we actually use it how we would want to and I guess what that means in America today.

As you mentioned, Emery just lost a longtime member in Devin Shelton, he was a big part of Emery both creatively and in stage presence. What have the conversations been like since his departure as far as what the next move is?

TM: We’ve always been a band based more on hanging out and friendship. Fans and people only see us for maybe an hour on stage and then the other 23 hours of the day, you’re with people. That’s probably been the hardest thing, not being able to hang out with Devin. He’s one of our best friends and brings a lot to the table in even just friendship. Musically, I think it’s been a two way street, like now there’s a lot more weight on our shoulders. Matt and I wrote this whole record without Devin but it was also freeing because we were like “Well, there’s only two people, there’s one less person to work with or figure out things with.” Its kind of freeing in a sense of “Wow, there’s all this responsibility and weight on my shoulders but I can do whatever I want and I don’t have to maybe figure out some things”. It’s just less preferences and stuff. Overall, of course we miss Devin and probably prefer to have him in the band no matter what but I think its probably a good thing for him as well because he wanted to start a family and maybe do some other things career wise. It worked out pretty good.

The end of the album displays a very powerful ballad called “Fix Me”. It’s just so uncompromising and honest. That line “Jesus, fix me” is so simple and powerful.  It feels like just such a breakdown of a person crying out.  We’d love to know the inspiration behind this track.

TM: Actually, Devin wrote that song. We were recording an acoustic album before and in the middle of recording it Devin decided that this wasn’t for him anymore and we decided that maybe we should move on and write something different. We thought that “Fix Me” and “Never Got to See the West Coast” just fit the whole theme of the record. They just fit so well especially from going super heavy. We just like to mix things up. Its really fun to go from the first song “The Cheval Glass” which is maybe the heaviest song Emery has ever written to the last song which is maybe one of the softest songs we’ve ever written so we thought that was a really cool dynamic. Devin brought that song and I don’t want to totally speak for him but we all talked about it and it’s kind of exactly what you said, just a person in a spot of their lives who is saying “What am I? Am I broken? What do you want me to do?” Its like something doesn’t feel right and you’re trying to realize that if you don’t have Christ then you really are going to be broken and you need Him to fix you.

How has your faith kept you guys moving forward throughout the years? How has your faith as it relates to your music changed or evolved over the years? Or has it changed at all?

TM: Yeah, I think it has totally. Honestly, I grew up in a super small charismatic church and it was really conservative and probably closed off to a lot of ideas. When you’re out on the road you see every possible type of person and place and everything so I’ve definitely been expanded a lot. It’s really funny, the more I see of the world the more I realize how simple the answer is, with faith its probably just that Jesus gives it to us. There’s really nothing I can do because I’m always going to prefer myself and the things I want to do and the things I want to be. I realize that no matter what, the answer always ends up coming back to Jesus. That has to be the center or its just not going to be good anyways.

I think this is one of the most solid releases of your career. Where do you go from here?

TM: It’s really funny because we were talking about this the other day. We have five full lengths now and its just crazy when you think about that and how many songs that is and how many songs we’ve never played live (laughs), it’s unbelievable. We have some songs that we literally recorded and never went back to ever again. I think this has some of the best songs we’ve ever written for sure. I don’t know if it will end up being our best album, I think probably time will tell. Honestly, I really do like the record. It just feels like a really solid record when I listen through it. I’m really proud that we can still write music that we are really into after this many years.

Emery’s We Do What We Want hits stores March 29th on Solid State Records. A big thanks to Toby Morrell and the rest of the guys for continuing to rock and inspire.