After a busy year of releasing their first EP, a 7” split with Heaven Through Violence (via Larry Records, Zegema Beach Records, Severed Records, and Gallowdance Records), a cross-country tour, and a handful of festival appearances, Rosemary nods upon the grave are establishing themselves as one of emotional hardcore / screamo’s modern cornerstones, and absolutely refusing to slow down. Coming out of the other side of such a powerful year, they have put together their four most emotionally potent,, and strongest songs yet on their new release, EP 2.
Available Friday, March 6th, EP 2 is a new exploration into much more melodic territories for the Savannah, GA outfit. EP 2 finds the band crafting a moodier, more morose, and cohesive sound than any of their past material. Self-recorded in their practice space, then mixed by Matt Taylor (Bungalow Studios in Portland, OR), and Mastered by Will Killingsworth (Dead Air Studios in Western Massachusetts), EP 2 sees the band scope broadening further into shoegaze and post-rock tendencies, but never losing the cathartic energy of their screamo roots. At its core, EP 2 maintains a masterful juxtaposition of emptiness and chaos. It balances a tenderness, oscillating from emotional overwhelm to absolute restraint and wholeheartedly showcases what makes Rosemary nods upon the grave one of the most remarkable bands to watch out of the emo scene as a whole right now, and is a clear indication of a band that grows sharper and more explosive with each release.
Give us some background on the band, how did everyone come together?
Truthfully, Rosemary started through Guitar Center and the power of friendship.
Our bassist, Nat, and our guitarist, Jasper, both worked at GC and had been in other bands over the course of working together. After talking about favorite screamo bands and the desire for a screamo scene in Savannah, it started developing from there.
Our drummer, David, is roommates with our original vocalist and wanted a project to put him on drums.
This project really started with all of us playing not our primary instruments. Jasper has mainly been a drummer, Nat has mainly been a vocalist and noise artist, and David has mainly been a guitarist and vocalist. We wanted to try something new and push ourselves to write in a different way by playing something different.
Around the time of writing the songs on EP 1, Jasper and our other guitarist, Sam, did a split together with their other bands. We had some lineup changes and recorded both EP 1 and the split as a three piece because of it and were wanting the songs to sound fuller live and needed a second guitarist. When we couldn’t lock one down after a couple tries, we reached out to see if Sam was interested and he was despite a few hours of distance between us.
When we started playing together, it was a genuinely perfect chemistry, and it has been a joy since. We’ve landed on a group with a common vision and true enjoyment of each other’s company.
Who and what are some of your influences?
Collectively, our main influences are Daïtro, envy, Suis La Lune, Mogwai, City of Caterpillar, Pianos Become The Teeth, Loma Prieta, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Slowdive.
Plus, Jasper listens to so much Greet Death it’s gotta get in there somewhere, even if their influence is not as noticeable.
We also listen to a lot of softer stuff like Spirit Was, Red House Painters, Broken Social Scene and KC Accidental, Death Cab For Cutie, Sparklehorse, Midwife, Stereolab, Shallowater, and the list goes on and on. That almost certainly has a marked influence on our approach to melody.
What’s different for the band with EP 2 vs EP 1? What about your split with Heaven Through Violence?
The difference between EP 1, the split, and EP 2 is that the voice of the band has shifted a pretty noticeable amount. On top of adding a writing and recording second guitarist who physically changes the voice of the band with a new style of playing, we have also made quite the effort to hone in on our more post-rock tendencies from some of those earlier songs. We’ve expanded our palette with more variety in our tonal offerings.
The addition of Sam has been huge for our writing process and the general timbre of the band. With this expansion we’ve made some tracks that are completely different from our earlier work and what other bands are putting out there, but still possesses the same heart and emotional weight.
What would you like to convey with this new album, what message do you want the listener to take away?
Feelings of guilt, isolation, and fear the future are universal. You are never alone when you get stuck in the feedback loop of those patterns of thought. We’re all scared, terrified actually of what the future holds for us – whether it be our eventual death, a physical or mental deterioration, losing purpose or community, or of facing not being there for someone you should have been.
The world can get better, but we have to love each other and ourselves to get there. We have to be willing to make the change internally as well as externally.
You’ve done more in less than two years than someone like me has done with three bands in almost a decade. What advice do you have for new bands to achieve their dreams?
Tour as much as you can, play all the shows you can.
Make art that means something to you and share it candidly.
Be genuine and earnest in your art and your life.
Make friends and participate in the beautiful community that has grown around screamo, diy, and weird niche subgenre music as a whole.
If you do all that, the rest follows easier than you think.
How did you come to work with Gallowdance Records?
Gallowdance is run by Jasper and our good friend, Kelwin of the band FOUND, who was also our original vocalist. Essentially, it was started just to put out friends’ stuff and streamline self releases. It’s primarily been tape releases for bands so far, and we just do what we can for who we can.
We’re all involved with so many bands, and have made so many friends through it, that it just made sense to have one name to self release and do small batch runs under.
What’s next for you after this huge tour?
Hopefully 1 million more tours, another split this year, and working on more releases.
We’re working on playing some more great festivals like we were able to last year with California Kicks Fest, OurFest, and FEST. We hope to get to meet and share our music with as many people as we can.
And, as always, read more books, watch more movies, and make more art.
How can we get you to play glorious Akron, Ohio?
We would love to play Akron. Nat was trying to figure out who to get in contact with there and was having a bit of trouble. Get us with someone and we’ll make it happen either later this year or sometime next.
Last word is yours
As far as last words go, do as much as you can to make a difference. There are a countless amount of causes that need support and action, don’t get lost in the sheer volume and instead just take the steps you can one at a time. Any small action creates a change.
Fully settling into this new chapter, Rosemary nods upon the grave have also announced a three week tour along the East Coast and Midwest to begin later this month. It includes strings of shows with Fragile Like Life After, Heaven Through Violence, and Morning Dew as well. See below for a full list of dates:
Mar 21: Charleston, SC @ Sugey’s
Mar 22: Asheville, NC @ The Odd
Mar 23: Richmond, VA @ Rag And Bones
Mar 24: Baltimore, MD @ Wax Atlas
Mar 25: New Brunswick, NJ @ Cinco de Mayo
Mar 26: New York City, NY @ Trans-Pecos &
Mar 27: Providence, RI @ Machines with Magnets &#
Mar 28: Boston, MA @ Arlington VFW Hall &#
Mar 29: Portland, ME @ Blue &#
Mar 30: Dover, NH @ The Strand &#
Mar 31: Burlington, VT @ The Publishing House &#
Apr 1: Pittsfield, MA @ Wander Berkshires &#
Apr 2: Utica, NY @ Herkimer Polish Club &#
Apr 3: Wilkes-Barre, PA @ Guild Hall &#
Apr 4: Lancaster, PA @ El Capitan &#%
Apr 5: Pittsburgh, PA @ The Station Oakland %
Apr 6: Detroit, MI @ Reware Vintage %
Apr 7: Grand Rapids, MI @ Morning Ritual %
Apr 8: Chicago, IL @ Lowdown %
Apr 9: Cincinnati, OH @ The Comet %
Apr 10: Nashville, TN @ Drkmttr %
Apr 11: Savannah, GA @ TBA (Record Release Show) %
Apr 12: Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern
& with Fragile Like Life After
# with Heaven Through Violence
% with Morning Dew
Rosemary nods upon the grave can be found on Instagram and Bandcamp. And once again, you can hear EP 2 on March 6th.
