Over a year since the release of their album '131', Emarosa are still touring on the triumph of the release. The album that saw the band truly come into their own and solidify their identity is still proving to be a success. The foursome sat down with GoldenPlec ahead of their show at the Brooklyn Bazaar with A Lot Like Birds and Jule Vera to talk about letting the past go, the creative process and their new EP.

Speaking of '131', vocalist Bradley Walden explains that Emarosa aren’t done touring it yet. "I feel like the record has a lot more life in it personally!" Guitarist, Matthew Marcellus adds: "we’ll be playing these songs for years to come."

The 'Reimagined EP' features re-works of songs off the full-length, this process is both for the band's creativity but also as something to tide the fans over, as Walden explains, "people’s attention spans are not there so we have to keep moving… But we absolutely did [the reimagined EP] for ourselves. This EP was definitely more imaginative and you have some people that are like, ‘we don’t get it’ and it’s just like, ‘that’s not why we did it, and if you don’t get it then sorry!’" The EP strips back the songs and shows a different side to them and to Emarosa as artists. "I think it’s such a cool way to look at these songs in a new light," Walden explains. "We typically do it with Aaron Marsh from Copeland, we always like to have his influence. But this time we kind of stepped out of, I think, even his comfort zone… so we just kind of take it down to its core of what it’s chords are and just rebuild it."

Marcellus adds that this is something they enjoy doing. "I think it’s fun to play around with songs individually between records, there’s not as much pressure. It’s something where we know we’re not trying to get things perfect we’re just trying to try." With Walden agreeing, "[There's] way less pressure, it's just for us. [With] this band, I think pressure is always 10-fold just because of its history which in a way is unfair but I think with '131' we finally just got rid of that. Got rid of the nostalgia, got rid of the dirt on our shoes, and now it’s like…. clean shoes."

The "history" he refers to includes line-up changes, but with Emarosa as it is now there is the sense that there is no need to dwell on that – the band has more than made their mark. As Walden points out, "we’ve definitely conquered that, definitely in the states. '131' is the most successful Emarosa album to date so it speaks for itself."

Even during their show, a concert-goer shouts a request for a very old song, pre-dating both Walden and Marcellus – a request that seems unreasonable and surely irritating. But rather than berate the audience member, Walden engages him in conversation, asks him if he is in a band and gives a shout-out to his band. It's a striking moment of both restraint and a lot of class. With moments of humour, athleticism, sincerity and some seriously impressive dance moves – Emarosa's live show truly stunning.

The crowd is also hanging on their every word and movement, and the band note how they've watched their audience grow this time around, "I don’t think there’s a huge shift in demographic per-se," Walden says. "But it’s nice to see a third of the room being all new people… If you just have a room full of people that have seen you before then you’re not growing, you’re stagnant."

With the 'ReImagined EP' the band released some stunning videos. These were made by Amanda Paredes, who is currently on tour with Emarosa. Marcellus explains that this is one way they like to use their position to help others. "I definitely see Emarosa as a platform, we try and give other creators the opportunity to do their thing. I think we give a lot of free reign, we have a vision but we like to let really good people do really good things."

Emarosa have recently moved to Hopeless Records. As Marcellus explains, they "wanted a fresh start, a fresh team. So it just made sense to transition to someone who would be excited about us rather than just falling into the routine."

Walden agrees. "Changing the label was more for us, like we needed to be different, to be fresh, so we wanted the people we were working with to be fresh."

Hopeless has a committed fanbase in itself, but Walden explains that Emarosa felt welcomed, "I don’t even recall seeing anything like ‘you shouldn’t be on this label’ because, full disclosure – fans don’t know shit about what really goes on in the industry – everyone just wants to say ‘I know how this goes, I know how this goes’ and honestly if you love a band it doesn’t matter what label they’re on it just matters that you’re supporting that band. You don’t need to like every band that’s on that label – they shouldn’t all be the same, if they are all the same then all the other bands are looking for that one spot to get the attention."

Keyboardist Jordan Stewart adds that the four of them stay pretty laid-back, which helps in the community. "For the most part, we are very relaxed, pretty easy going band, we get on with everyone we tour with, I don’t ever really feel like there’s a tonne of competition or anything like that."

When it comes to what's next, there's no real plan for the moment. "We’re very chilled out," says Walden. “Our focus is on the next show, the next show – this conversation, the next conversation..."

Stewart adds that "we'll organically work up to it. It’s a mindset thing. I think tours like this help because we’re surrounded by fans who know the songs, who know the band. So now we get to figure out what’s next." Although there might not be a 'plan' as such, there is no doubt that Emarosa's next steps are sure to be triumphant.