Interview with Emmure; Vocalist Frankie Palmeri Talks About People who Hate him, Metal Injection, Breakfast, and Touring

Emmure’s Frankie Palmeri is definitely the kind of dude you want on your side in a fight, I don’t really know why, but I want him on my side. He’s intelligent and doesn’t let the petty hatred get to him. For someone that a lot of people hate, he’s surprisingly chill as he sits in the back of the tour bus and talks about all things from eggs, to ex-members. In the back of the tour bus that reeks of the ghosts of many joints smoked, Palmeri gets deep about fans, touring, and shit-talks Metal Injection. All in good fun, of course.

If there’s anything anyone can agree on when it comes to Emmure, it’s that you either love them, or hate them. There’s no middle ground, and if you hate them, you make it known, you’re vocal as all hell about your hatred (how else will you get your scene points?!) By hating Emmure and Frankie Palmeri, you’re only making them stronger. “It’s pretty flattering…if you’re not a polarizing artist or person, your art doesn’t mean anything,” Palmeri says, embracing the love and the hate. “I don’t really give a shit,” he explains, he doesn’t see the point in getting his panties in a twist over the people who aren’t fans, because it makes the love from the fans that much more meaningful.

Back on that “I don’t give a shit” grind, Palmeri thinks most of you are talking out of your ass, anyway. For Palmeri, most of the people that hate, are performing a little thing called “monkey see, monkey do” and don’t actually have an opinion of their own. “I don’t see a reason to pretend to have an opinion about something when you don’t,” he says, acknowledging that most of the people who are talking shit about one show, band, or whatever, as just following one person’s petty reason. Don’t deny it, you’ve done it before, we all have.

Speaking of people who have an enormous hate on for Emmure, Metal Injection has to be talked about. “They all suck, they know they all suck,” is Palmeri’s thoughts on the matter. As for the track “Free Publicity” off of “Eternal Enemies,” which uses a sample of a podcast of theirs in which Palmeri is the subject of their shit talking, “I saw something worth writing a song about and wrote a song about it, and now it exists,” Palmeri says, taking the high road.

Palmeri even takes the high road when it comes to ex-members of Emmure. Now on their fourth drummer, Adam Pierce, Palmeri has no hard feelings for members who have left the band, in fact they’ve done him and Emmure a solid by giving them the necessary room to grow as a band, “we need changes for us to move forward.” For Palmeri, Pierce is an awesome change as a drummer and a person, you can feel the love.

Oh the high road, oft talked about, rarely taken. Emmure is on the road finishing out their “Eternal Enemies” tour for 2014 with The Acacia Strain. The tour has had a bit of trouble off the bat with Stray From The Path dropping the tour early on, and The Acacia Strain dropping the Canadian dates due to a van accident, “it just goes to show you that shit happens, but it’s not the stuff we’re focused on,” he says of the bad luck so far on the tour, emphasizing that the focus is on the kids who come out to the shows and making sure they have a good time. So far, Palmeri says its been a success. There’s no sign of Emmure slowing down anytime soon, Palmeri’s distaste for not touring, and the band’s passion for playing, it’s no wonder they’ve been around for over a decade and it wouldn’t be surprising if they were still around in another.

Love them or hate them, Emmure puts on one hell of show. And you have to respect Palmeri’s windbreaker/gym shorts and longjohns game, it is on fucking point, and he rocks it year round…it must get warm in there. Oh, and ladies, he likes his eggs’ egg whites, scrambled, with salt and pepper. A complicated man with a simple breakfast order, can’t go wrong with that. My favourite part about Palmeri, is how he deals with all the negative, “just keep on rolling.” Roll away my friends, roll away!

Check out the song “E”