After 10 years as a band, Southern California pop-rock trio Emblem3 is reminding fans they still can evoke that Rush. 

With their unique rock-pop blend, Emblem3’s new work is a reintroduction of sorts. In the past 10 years, the trio have crafted a succinct discography and garnered a feverish fanbase. Now, with their new singles, the band is giving fans an insight into what this next chapter holds for them.

1883 Magazine catches up with the men of Emblem3 to chat about their new songs, their inspirations, and more.

As you look back on 10 years of your hit “Sunset Blvd,” how would you describe the way you’ve grown as a band and as individuals?

There’s definitely been a massive creative expansion into different territories and different vibes, back then we were on this beach rock, West Coast, Long Beach style sound for the most part, but now I guess as you grow in life you become multi dimensional, and I feel like that reflects in our current catalog. I understand that limitations can be something that defines you, but there’s definitely something equally as powerful about being formless and undefinable.

How has the city of Los Angeles inspired or influenced your sound?

LA has been a blessing and a curse creatively, because on one end of the spectrum it forces you to expand from your own little identity and learn to understand all of the different types of people and cultures, but at the same time it can be easy to spread yourself too thin and lose your identity that originally is what made you special. So you have to be very careful to protect that quality of yourself that’s a unique fingerprint and not let it get to askew from trying to meet the relatability demands of everyone else. Basically don’t become a sheep.

What’s the inspiration and creative process behind “Rush”?

We were coming out of the dark period of a previous batch of songs that we did in late 2019, and after we got Keaton back on board things got better. We decided to make something that’s just fun and highlights the magic of being young and experiencing all the new wonders of life with your friends and girlfriends.

Was there anything that you did differently while recording “Rush” that you hadn’t done prior?

It’s definitely probably the furthest we’ve gone into a just direct pop rock direction, not really any urban vibes going on in there, which had kind of always somehow found a way into every song. This one is more of just indie pop rock vibe, which is cool because we love The 1975 and it’s kind of up that alley.

Production-wise, it sounds like one of your biggest to date. Who did you work on this song with?

Production wise, we did everything on this ourselves. It was definitely a traditional approach: Drew laid down some guitars, Keaton did all the production and synths and possibly the bass, (unless Wes did the bass because sometimes he does that), and then from there, we wrote the song in probably an hour and laid down all our parts. Then we actually put it on the back burner for about a year and a half, and then pulled it back open again made some arrangement changes, tracked some live drums, upgraded the vocals a little bit, and then sent it off to the mixer.

After making music for 10 years, how do you make sure things sound ‘new’ and ‘fresh’ from what you’ve recorded and released in the past?

I think a core philosophy for us from a lyrical standpoint—and this isn’t always the case because sometimes you want something that’s just easy simple and relatable—but for the most part there has been a huge influence around the idea of making the lyrics that you say something that you’ve never really heard before. Something that connects to the person emotionally in a fresh new way. Always trying to bring in unique and higher dimensional concepts into the listener so that the listener, without even knowing, is being consciously expanded. That’s probably one of the most beautiful aspects of being an artist.

Are you content with where you are and who you are as artists right now?

That’s a hard question to answer because while obviously most people’s goals align with living a cherished and content life, when it comes to being an artist, you have to keep yourself open to the entire spectrum of human experiences including pain as well as the joy, so in that balance there’s obviously going to be a degree of discontentment but that’s what makes the art whole and true. And that’s why good music reminds us of the magic of everything.

What 3 songs would you choose to soundtrack your perfect day?

Perfect Day by Hoku

Fiya Wata by Edward sharp and the magnetic zeros

Every Other Freckle by Alt J

What next can fans expect from you?

They can expect a tsunami of energy and music and we can’t wait to be playing shows with you every night!

Lastly, if you could manifest something for yourself this year, what would it be?

I think it’s fair to say that the collective manifestation would be to get back out on the road doing big shows and festivals and sharing everything that we’ve devoted so much time energy and passion into making as amazing as possible with the world.