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April 7th 2011, Los Angeles CA: Read on as Emmure frontman Frankie Palmeri takes a brief moment from the band's busy schedule on their ongoing tour to talk to me about the tour, the new album 'Speaker Of The Dead', references in the song titles, last year's Warped Tour, plans for the rest of the year, and their new music video.

Andrew: How's the current tour with Asking Alexandria going for you guys?
Frankie: The tour has been a total fest, man. The bands we're touring with are all amazing, great people. All the shows have been incredible. So it's been a great one.

Andrew: Your new album "Speaker Of The Dead" has been very successful. It's been your highest selling album till now, in terms of first week sales at least. So you must be happy with how everything is going.
Frankie: Yeah, the album has been received really well by the fans and hopefully it'll continue to do well, but we're just really glad that we're taking a step forward in our sound.

Andrew: Your music has been kind of straightforward and very 'to the point'. I'm asking this for the benefit of people who haven't heard the album, would you that you've stuck to the same formula with this album?
Frankie: Yeah, I think we've always stuck with our thing, one way or another when it comes to our music. Whatever it is that people enjoy in our sound, we try to stick with that.

Andrew: Is there a meaning behind the title "Speaker Of The Dead"?
Frankie: It actually derives from a few different places. It's a culmination of a lot of different ideas which we had while coming up with a name for the record, and this is how it ended up. If I have to translate the title for you, it'll basically be, if the world were to end, or if I were to pass away, what would my last words be.

Andrew: Some of the song titles are very interesting as they refer to movies, comics and all of that stuff. How did you decide to come up with that connection?
Frankie: I tend to find a double meaning in things. I have this real interest in taking words and adding my own spin on things. So I like to do that, putting titles together and making the most of it, because I feel like it gives the listener more of an opportunity to get into the depth of the record. When you see a song title, and the words are like "I Love You" or "I Hate Mondays", it kind of gives it away. When you leave it on a tip where it could mean anything, it leads to more curiosity and overall, makes the record more enjoyable, to have that kind of spin to it.

Andrew: Last year you guys did the Warped Tour. How was that experience?
Frankie: Oh, it was the best summer of my life. It was amazing. We couldn't have been on a better tour last summer and it was a complete success.

Andrew: What's it like touring in the summer? Does it get hard, because you have to play outdoors, in the heat of the day time?
Frankie: No, honestly it was never really like a strenuous thing. We were comfortable everyday and all the shows were great. The fans that came out on Warped Tour were supportive, and we had an unreal time. We don't have even one negative thing to say about that entire tour. It was a blast.

Andrew: What plans do you have this year, after this tour?
Frankie: We go to Europe pretty soon, then we go to Australia. And we're going to do a headliner in the States. So yeah, we've got a pretty filled up timeline as far as the rest of the year goes, in support of the new album and hopefully, we'll be getting to reach some of the places we haven't gone yet.

Andrew: You did a music video for this album, for the song "Solar Flare Homicide". With YouTube these days, do you think it's an easy way of self-promotion for bands?
Frankie: Yeah, I think YouTube is awesome, specially if you're an artist and you're trying to have a visual presence. I think it's easier nowadays to get a video together and put it up on the internet, specially if you're able to get someone to do the editing and cameras. Some people are even shooting music videos on their phones now. I love the new video a lot and it's been received greatly by people, so I'm really stoked on that.

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