If I had to
describe Emblem3 in one sentence, I would say: Emblem3 is a group of
three socially responsible guys who are stealing the hearts of girls
around the world, and oh yeah… they can sing too!
This statement perfectly describes the musical trio, known as E3 to
millions of adoring fans. The group consists of brothers Keaton and
Wesley Stromberg and their friend Drew Chadwick. Until stepping on
to the stage of X Factor in late 2012, they were just three California boys
who loved making music together. Since that day, life has been a
whirlwind.
Immediately following the show, E3 signed on the dotted line with music
mogul Simon Cowell's Syco Records and Columbia Music. Several months
later, the guys released their first hit single "Chloe (You're the
One I Want)," which quickly
became an anthem to millions of "regular" girls everywhere. Their
follow-up single "3000 Miles" was reminiscent to the great rock
ballads of the past, and was also a hit with their fans. Their
album Nothing to Lose was released in July 2013. Using a mixture
of sounds – including pop, rock and even a little rap and reggae – the boys
of Emblem3 have a great sound and will continue to mature as musicians
and writers for years to come.
Having just returned home from opening for the US leg of Selena Gomez's
Dance Star Tour, there will be little time to relax for these three extremely
busy guys. E3 are embarking on their first headlining tour in
just a few weeks. Emblem3's #BandLife Tour 2014 will be stopping in 24
U.S. cities, as well as two stops in Canada, the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas
(jealous!) and in Lisbon, Spain. (See full tour list below.)
We have connected with the boys in Emblem3 several times before as they
were passing through Philly. Just yesterday I checked in with Drew and
Wes by phone (though Drew did most of the talking while Wes drove) as
they were enjoying a day in the brilliant California
sunshine
before
heading out on the road again for #BandLife. Beyond the fact that they
really are talented, these guys also have lots of other important things
to say.
Hey
guys! This is Debbie from PopEntertainment.com. How are you?
Drew Chadwick:
What's going on, Debbie? We're pretty good. Me and Wes here just
kicking it in his car. We are driving down Highway 99 on our way to the
Sequoia National Park. We're going to do some soul searching out in the
great Mother Nature.
Oh nice! I can't
even tell you how jealous I am, as I'm sitting her in Philly with 10
inches of snow outside.
Drew Chadwick:
Oh girl! You need to get your butt over here to the west coast! It’s
really nice. Honestly, it's like heaven on earth!
Things have been
crazy for you guys since we last sat down, before your CD signing at the
Best Buy in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania. Things certainly don’t
seem to be slowing down, either.
Drew Chadwick:
Oh wow! That was the last time we saw you, Debbie? Nice! Well I'm glad
that we are connecting again.
How excited are you
guys to be heading out on your first headlining tour in a few weeks?
Drew Chadwick:
If you were here right now, you could see on both of our faces that
we're freaking happy. We are so excited. We're going to go
hang out with and see our amazing fans. I need to find a way to describe
how much we appreciate and love them and how excited we are to hang out
with them. They're just honestly really f-ing cool. I don't
want to say the f-word because you're a girl and it's not cool, and I don't like
to say curse words around girls. So I'll just say they are really f-ing
cool.
We also get to bring our best buddies that we grew up with out on
the road on our tour bus. We're going to film everything and
remember the first tour for the rest of our lives. Then when we're old
and gray, we'll have footage of our glory days.
Your
song "3000 Miles" perfectly depicts the feeling of being on the road so
much. Since you guys will be touring for several months to come,
what will you do to keep grounded and to try to avoid feeling homesick?
Drew Chadwick:
Since we're bringing our best friends, we're basically going to party
the whole time. We also have our gym trainer coming out on the road too.
He's also a life coach, so he's going to get us up early. We'll have
to do cardio every morning. He's going to weigh us every day and have us
on a really good, healthy, organic diet. We'll just be hanging out
with our best friends, going from city to city and meeting up with our
fans. Probably partying after shows with fans. I have to be honest.
We want to hang out with them. We're like best friends with our fans
and we love them. We just want to hang out with them.
Wesley Stromberg:
The whole thing is going to be great. It'll be like a big camping trip!
(laughs)
Are there any towns
that you are really looking forward to visiting along the tour?
Drew Chadwick:
It's hard to pick favorites, but I'm for sure looking forward to
Montreal, Toronto, the California cities. Obviously Philly!
(laughs) I'm pretty sure we're playing Philly right?
Yes you are!
Drew Chadwick:
I'm glad because Philadelphia fans are WILD! It's always good to
reconnect with them. They have the wildest signs that they bring to our
shows with the dirtiest, sexual things written on them… It's kind of
cool. (laughs) I won't repeat anything specific that we've
seen. It's just wild though!
But really, we're looking forward to all of the cities because our fans
are there.
I
see you guys have been in the studio lately. Will you continue writing
and working on new songs while on the road?
Drew Chadwick:
Oh yeah! Me and the guys just finished recording a song that we've been
working with the label on. We're so stoked to share it. I'm
awesomely enthusiastic about being able to share it with our fans.
Me and the guys want to engineer and produce while we're out. We have
the equipment and we've chosen like nine new songs that are really sick
that we can't wait to produce and share with people. We just want to
get in to the studio and do it with a professional.
What other artists
inspire you?
Drew Chadwick:
Other artists? There are so many… Macklemore, Lorde, basically all the
indie artists. Well not just indie artists, but a lot of artists
that have a #1 hit just because they are so unique and so cool. I love
seeing indie artists kill it. It's super cool. It's like beating the
machine, I guess you could say. We definitely like music with
heart. Well thought out.
You guys have a
serious connection with your fans online as well as, through things like
#TeamInspire. What was your inspiration behind #TeamInspire?
Drew Chadwick:
Our fans are not just fans. They represent an entire generation.
There's this new generation called the Generation of Awareness with kids
from my age down to 12 or 13. Kids who grew up with access to the
internet, with unlimited information [and] this extra knowledge that
generations before us didn't have. We are aware of things
that are happening on this planet outside of America. We are aware of
third world countries. The environment… I could go on about this for
hours. (laughs)
Basically it's a generation of people coming together to say, "You
know what? We give a fuck." We want to go sustainable. We want to live
in harmony with each other. We want to care for people. We want a
brighter future, not taking advantage of the planet. Being one. It's just the beginning of it because down the line
–
especially in the future when we keep going and get bigger and bigger
and eventually up there on top – then we can have a lot of input over
millions of people. We can come together and start something, because
obviously we need to make some changes. Our current system of
production is just not working.
I
handle a lot of the social media for PopEntertainment.com and follow you
on Instagram and Twitter. I really enjoy reading how serious you are
about things that matter like nature, animals, equality and inspiring
others.
Drew Chadwick:
Oh man. I am so happy that you even recognize and appreciate that.
That really means a lot to me.
I had to laugh last
week when you posted about people missing your selfie because they
unfollowed you due to your political beliefs. Does that really happen?
Drew Chadwick:
Yeah, yeah. I just had recently posted a bunch of things, like one
after the other about political stuff and all the stuff that's been
happening. Like in Iceland, they overthrew their government and it was
never put on the news. I guess some people are like, "Hey, I didn't
follow you for this political stuff." Most people are scared of it and
want to hide from it. But every time I lose followers, I gain them
right back with other people that follow me because they respect the
things that I'm saying rather than being scared of them. You can't run
from the truth.
I know you've talked
about it recently and we've all been concerned about what’s happening in
Japan to the innocent dolphins. If you could speak directly to the
Japanese government, what would you say to them about the horrific
atrocities they are allowing against these beautiful and peaceful marine
animals?
Drew Chadwick:
I would let them know that they are basically killing angels. I don't
know where to begin. I sat back yesterday morning, frustrated and
almost in tears. I was about to buy a plane ticket and go to Japan. I
want to do something, but since I'm so far away, I feel like I can only
promote the awareness about the killing.
My idea is that since they are going to be having the Olympics in Japan
in 2020, we need to start connecting to people who organize the
Olympic events. We need to set up a plan – a video boycotting the
Olympics happening there – and we should distribute that all over the
internet. Let it go viral. Everyone needs to know about this. It
could work.
They claim that it's a tradition and it has been tradition for
thousands of years. Whatever. But no, they're turning into a
machine. It's not a tradition anymore. That's like the Native
Americans saying that they can net the rivers because it's tradition.
Net all the fish and then sell them to the government.
Another
huge issue for kids in our society today is bullying. Sadly it is in
the headlines a lot lately after disastrous outcomes. My eight-year-old
daughter is dealing with being bullied at school. What would you say to
your fans who are the victim of a bully or even sometimes might be a
bully themselves?
Drew Chadwick:
I think that bullies seek to fill their own insecurities by making
others feel insecure. I actually wrote an essay on this. It's online
somewhere. It's called Bullies #bulliesareinsecure. You can read all
about it. Basically they feed off fear. If you're shrinking,
hiding or afraid and scared, that makes them feel good. [If you
use] Your body
language – holding your body, your spine erect with your expression
outward and showing your confidence – then bullies will be afraid.
They're not going to fuck with you if you show that you're confident. So,
it really lies with you loving yourself. If you love yourself.
If you're
feeling healthy. If you feel good and you're radiating this powerful
energy then they're not going to screw with you. But if you're scared,
you can attract the bullies to you, if you have low confidence and all.
We asked our
followers online if they could ask you guys a question, what would it
be? We got lots of funny answers, but selected this one by
WESISMYHOTMESS on Instagram.
Wesley Stromberg:
Ha-ha. That's awesome.
So, WESISMYHOTMESS would like to know - Are you guys ticklish? And
she says she does not mean that in a dirty way.
Drew Chadwick:
(laughs) Yeah, we all are. I mean, I don't like getting tickled,
but I do at the same time. When people find my tickle points, man, like
I turn in to a totally different person. (laughs again) I'll
just turn in to a little kid again.
Emblem3's #Bandlife
Tour
02/08 Emo's Austin,
TX
02/09 House of
Blues Houston, TX
02/10 House of
Blues Dallas, TX
02/12 Skyway
Theatre Minneapolis, MN
02/14 Eagles
Ballroom Milwaukee, WI
02/15 Rosemont
Theatre Rosemont, IL
02/16 Egyptian Room
Indianapolis, IN
02/18 Métropolis
Montréal, QC
02/19 Sound Academy
Toronto, ON
02/21 Tower Theater
Philadelphia, PA
02/22 MGM Grand at
Foxwoods Casino Mashantucket, CT
02/23 House of
Blues Boston, MA
02/25 The Wellmont
Theatre Montclair, NJ
02/26 The Paramount
Huntington, NY
02/27 The Fillmore
Silver Spring, MD
03/01 The
Tabernacle Atlanta, GA
03/02 The Fillmore
Charlotte Charlotte, NC
03/04 Revolution
Fort Lauderdale, FL
03/05 Ruth Eckerd
Hall Clearwater, FL
03/07 Ryman
Auditorium Nashville, TN
03/08 Uptown
Theater Kansas City, MO
03/09 Brady Theater
Tulsa, OK
03/12 San Jose Civic
Auditorium San Jose, CA
03/13 Grove of
Anaheim Anaheim, CA
03/14 The Marquee
Tempe, AZ
03/15 Club Nokia
Los Angeles, CA
03/22 Atlantis Grand
Ballroom Paradise Island, Bahamas
04/06 MEO Arena
Lisbon, Spain
