At 924 Gilman Street, ask about their youngest performers and you will hear about Max, Cole, Travis and Joey, the four members that make up the Bay Area punk band, Emily’s Army. Originally named The Raining Souls, the band changed the name in 2008, after gaining Travis Neuman as their bass player. Emily’s Army’s name comes from Max and Cole’s cousin, Emily, who was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at the age of two. The band works with a charity working to find a cure, and the name followed suit. Emily’s Army.
Last year, Emily’s Army received mtvU’s Fall Freshman 5 honor and appear to be growing in popularity. It does help that drummer, Joey Armstrong’s father, happens to be Billie Joe Armstrong, frontman for Green Day and also their producer for their album “Don’t Be A Dick”.
Joey describes the relationship with his father as a producer in an interview with AMP magazine:
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.
Joey Armstrong-AMP magazine by Tony Shrum
Click here to listen to “Broadcast This” from the album Don’t Be A Dick available on iTunes!
