E201 Shiprocked: The Artist Experience with Eva Marie of Eva Under Fire

>> KC: This is actually kind of a milestone for us that we're happy to have you a part of. This week is our 20-year anniversary of being The Itch.

>> Eva Marie: Whoa! Very fun.

>> Dan: It's crazy.

>> Eva Marie: It's crazy!

>> KC: Yeah.

>> Eva Marie: Goes by fast, kids.

>> Aaron: Oh, yeah, it does.

>> Dan: It's really funny, too, because something that Fury in Few on one of our last interviews said resonated well with us because we asked them why they didn't have a bassist and they're like, "Well, after so many practices, it was just the two of us showing up and it worked out that way." And it's like, that's kind of how it became the three of us. There was five or six, eight total at some point, just rotating guys. And the three of us just continued showing up. And here we are 20 years later.

>> Eva Marie: That's amazing. I think it does happen like that. And it's funny. You mentioned about the band, there's always, like one that, it just doesn't fit or doesn't work or... There's very few people that are, very few bands, I think, that have the entire original lineup as they move throughout their albums and stuff. But, yeah, there's always one. But happy 20 years of being the Itch and you guys have weathered storms. We have weathered the storm of being Eva Under Fire. And now we've just gotten off the boat. We've weathered storms together.

>> Aaron: Literal ones.

>> Eva Marie: We've been through a lot.

>> KC: Exactly.

>> Aaron: Now we've weathered literal storms together.

>> Eva Marie: Literal storms. We hit a pier. It was weird. I don't know.

>> Aaron: That was so cool.

>> Eva Marie: Uh, it struck me after...

>> Aaron: The boat or the pier?

>> Eva Marie: Right! Where was I when all this was happening? I would have felt it.

>> Dan: You were at the pool.

>> Eva Marie: I was. I was in the pool with my feet. Literally in the pool, sitting there with my little margarita. And then all of a sudden, the pool turned into a wave pool. And I wasn't sure what happened. And I think it was because at that moment, we were like, "We just did something bad."

>> Aaron: I'm pretty sure I was still sleeping. I don't recall a thing except for Dan was insistent that he heard it all later on. I was like, "I don't know what you're talking about, bro. I was KO'd."

>> Dan: It happened around 11:00 because I was out on the balcony when we were slamming into the pier because I just sat there and heard it and I'm like, "This is terrible. I got to get inside." To this day, I really wish I'd have recorded it.

>> Aaron: Fender bender!

>> Dan: Oh it wasn't a fender bender. It was more of like SKRRRRTTT! SCRAAAAATTTTCH!

>> Aaron: Now, if it was at 11, then I was up. But I still don't have any recollection of hearing the boat getting keyed by the pier.

>> Dan: Yeah, I think you guys were in your room at the time.

>> KC: We were in the room. I remember feeling it. Yeah, I remember feeling it because we were trying to get, um, out on the gang plank.

>> Aaron: Yeah, we were preparing to go down to it. And so, yeah, we narrowly missed.

>> KC: That's one thing that I wanted to ask you to kind of fill in the gaps. You actually got off the boat briefly.

>> Eva Marie: Oh, yeah. I'll tell you. Okay... 

>> Aaron: Wait, do we need to formally start this thing or what are we doing? What are we doing?

>> Eva Marie: Go ahead, formally start. Because I have stories for days!

>> KC: Yeah. All right.

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>> KC: You're listening to The Itch. My name is KC.

>> Dan: My name is Dan.

>> Aaron: And I'm Aaron.

>> Eva Marie: What's up? I'm Eva! Here's a crash The Itch Podcast again.

>> Aaron: Yep, that's right. This week we're scratching the Itch to join a conversation in the middle of it. We already started talking about the things that we intend to cover in this episode.

>> Eva Marie: We were recording the whole time. I saw the recording up there!

>> Dan: Just edit it.

>> Aaron: Honestly, we might not even splice it. We might just start exactly where we started and let the intro happen three minutes in. It's whatever.

>> Eva Marie: That's awesome.

>> Dan: It is what it is.

>> Eva Marie: I think we always do that whenever we get together.

>> Aaron: Whenever you're a repeat guest, we start throwing more and more of the typical rules out the window and just do whatever makes it the most fun.

>> Eva Marie: Next time I'm on here, I'm going to remind you, I'm going to be like, "No, we can't talk yet. You have to start it!"

>> Aaron: Next time you're on here, YOU'RE going to do the intro and it'll be YOUR show and WE'LL be the guests.

>> Eva Marie: I love it. Okay, so picking up where we had left off, we were on a ship together and we hit the pier and so everybody was just stating where they were at at that moment. And I'm going to tell you how we got to that moment, because my morning, I think we hit the pier at around, I think you you said eleven, KC?

>> KC: Somewhere around there.

>> Dan: Yeah.

>> Eva Marie: My morning started at like 8 or 8:30 local time. So the plan was Rob and myself were going to be part of the Stowaways. And so we had rehearsal that day at like 2, and then we had, um, sound check at like 5 and then the performance at 7:15. So we were thinking, "Okay, well, I don't want to just not get off boat. We've been out to sea for a day or two at this point and, it'd be nice to just kind of put our toes in the sand, right?" So I said, "Well, maybe we'll have a little coffee break on the beach and then we'll come back to the ship after that. So we left. They scanned us as we left and we went and we walked on the pier. And, uh, when we got to go onto the island, it was pandering city. And I've been to Ocho Rios before, and it was not like that last time. So, it was like people would follow you, walk with you towards Margaritaville and badger you to get in these taxis. So I was not down. And Rob and myself were both kind of like, "This is strange. This feels different than the last time we were here. I said, but Margaritaville's right here. Let's just go in and we'll see." That's where I wanted to go for the beach or whatever. So we walk in and you had to buy something from the gift shop or whatever, be a patron. And then you could have full access to the beach and, okay, so we buy our little sun tan lotion, which we forgot. So it was a good thing we stopped. And then we get out into the Margaritaville with the little beach area. Now the Margaritavilles have a swim-up bar. And that's what I was looking forward to. Right there in the sun and blah, blah, blah. And theirs was down. They did not have one up and running. Theirs was like under construction or something or had to be repainted or worked on. And then there was this stretch of beach. And the beach was like a little bitty, teeny beach. It was like a little stretch of beach. I was like, cool. So we didn't really want food and the beach wasn't super amazing and we had to be back early anyway. So we were like, "Okay, look. We came, we saw, we chose different. Let's get back on the ship. We got free food there. I can go to the pool. And then we are where we were supposed to be for the rehearsal later. So we decided, I mean, we were only probably off boat for maybe 20 minutes. So we turned back around to get back on the boat. And the gang plank at that point was still active. Like, you could still cross and get on and off boat. But the gang plank was moving. It was like a moving walkway was just shifting across. It was like scraping across the sidewalk. So you had to, like, one, two-time it.

>> KC: Frogger!

>> Aaron: No. Nope.

>> Eva Marie: It was crazy. I was like, "Was that normal?" And then 15 minutes later, literally, I've got my little feet in the pool, right? Because I already had my swimming suit on. I was planning on going to the beach, so I just walked back up there. We didn't even bother going back to the room. So we just go sit in the pool. And I had my cool little sunglasses, my little spikies on them...

>> Aaron: Your Skindred sunglasses.

>> Eva Marie: My Margarita in hand. I was sitting there, and, BOOM, it was like wave pool. So we heard when we got back on the boat, all of the code stuff that they were talking about. They were making announcements and stuff like that. And then all of a sudden, they had canceled services for the people that were on the boat with the bar service and whatever have you. And then we look like five minutes later, and all of the different people who are working on the ship have their life vest on. And we hadn't been told anything. We were like, "Um, guys?" And then they were saying we were leaving... but there's still people on the shore! We're like, "What do you mean we're leaving?" We're leaving hours earlier than we needed to or than we were scheduled to.

>> KC: More than half the boat.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah. I couldn't even imagine. So, like, where we were, at least I was on the ship. And you would think that knowing that the ship hit the pier, that would be the more precarious situation to be in, would be on the boat. But I felt better because we were in the pier, right? It's not like I'm out to sea and I've just hit an iceberg or something. But I felt bad for all the people on the shore. Who knows whether or not they got wifi notifications that the ship was leaving. Not like they could get back on anyway. The gang plank had been closed.

>> Dan: I watched them send a whole bunch of people away because I was on my balcony when they closed it, and the people were waiting to get back on the boat, and they're like, sorry, it's too dangerous. You got to get off the pier. And there probably was maybe 100, 200 people that got pushed back off the pier as waves are crashing over the top of it. It was crazy. I don't know why I didn't record it. It was stupid. I don't think about recording things like that. For some stupid reason, I'm just, like, in the moment, like, "Oh, this is insane!" Like, "Oh, I should record it."

>> Eva Marie: I just feel like those of us who have not had screens in our hands our entire lives don't think like that.

>> Dan: Exactly. I agree. That's a good way to put it.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah. You're watching it, and you're just, like, awestruck that it's happening to you. You know what I mean? Like, uh, yeah, we were just on a cruise ship that literally hit the pier. Also, honorable mention to the pier. There was no buoys or anything to stop. Like, you're supposed to have some sort of barrier. And apparently we were the only ones there because there was other boats that were in slips. And they all were fine. There were three other ships that were there, and their piers didn't look like ours. Ours was just raw dogging life. Apparently, it took a big bite out of the hull. And we were like, "Oh, man, we got to go!"

>> KC: A couple of busted tires.

>> Eva Marie: Wild!

>> Dan: I will say that I was super glad that I was at the pool during that time because we were just having a good time. All this chaos is going on. We're just, "Eh, let's drink! What are we going to do?"

>> Aaron: Dan was preparing to die. He was like, "If I'm going down, I'm going down happy." We're just like, "Dude, it'll be fine, but I appreciate your enthusiasm here."

>> KC: Where's my life jacket beer?

>> Dan: I was just trying to increase my buoyancy, that's all.

>> Eva Marie: It's a well-thought out plan.

>> Aaron: We strategized to make sure we would have great floating abilities if something happened on this boat.

>> Eva Marie: Strategery!

>> Aaron: There's major strategery going on.

>> Eva Marie: Oh, man, that was crazy.

>> Aaron: I want to continue this. I'm going to pause and give a little context here for people listening, since we literally did just jump into the middle of a conversation. The Itch is continuing our sort of "post-Shiprocked, slash 20 years, 200 now plus episode" celebration by inviting our most frequent guest co-host, who now is increasing her tally even more to make sure no one ever catches up. That is Eva Marie of Eva Under Fire. I think this is appearance seven. I already have you tentatively penciled in for a couple more sometime later in the year pending some other things going down. But we decided somehow we were able to get you for a bonus early year one to help recap Shiprocked and the artist experience and a couple other things that have been recently going on and announced in your band's world. 

>> Eva Marie: Yes! Woo!

>> Aaron: So that's what we're going to cover today. And with the start of the infamous peer story, which for further context, we covered this in episode 200. It's a great thing you guys did come back to the boat after about 20 minutes, otherwise your first set of the cruise would not have happened at all.

>> Eva Marie: Right? Of course, the only problem child that was stuck on the island was the onesie guy, right? Chris is always the problem child. We love him. But also, seriously, dude, how is it always your problem? Like, he is the problem child. Like, he's the one that skipped the most shows. And by skipped, I mean he got sick, and then he had to fly home for some family emergency thing, and then he got... We're just like, ah, we'll hold your spot, bro. But also, I think it's important to mention that we kind of came up as a band and our first professional experiences were during COVID. So you really had to be prepared to just sort of figure it out even more, I think, than in other areas where touring is always sort of an unexpected world anyway, right? You're on the road, there's a lot of other people and a lot of other shows. Each new day is a new state, a new venue, right? So there's a lot of fluctuating circumstances anyway, just by virtue of what we do. But then, if you also add in the fact that it's during COVID world, good luck. Now, post COVID world, we are very comfortable with weird circumstances. And that was made known to me by that whole event. So our first show was that evening, and we were to go at 5:00 for sound check for a 7:15 performance. And all of us were able to go down there. We had communication with Chris that he was relatively safe but could not get back on the boat. So we just told him. We were like, "We'll just have him set up, your side fill monitor on the stage in case you can come. And if you interrupt the performance or whatever, we'll just wave and pause and plug right in."

>> Aaron: That actually would have been awesome. If he joined halfway through the set. That would have been so cool. But anyway, sorry, go on.

>> KC: Putting on his onesie.

>> Eva Marie: Right! It was hilarious because you know him, he would have scurried in there, running crazy from the back of the venue in his onesie, get up with his sparkly, stupid guitar and just plugged in and go, man. It ended up being totally fine. But we did tell the security. We were like, "Hey, if you see a guy approaching the stage kind of quickly and he's got, like, Eva Under Fire pajamas on, he's supposed to be on stage, so if you could just let him in...

>> Aaron: He's us.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, he's us. Thankfully he got there five minutes before, so we were supposed to go on at 7:15. He showed up at 7:10. He got on stage real quick, plugged in, made sure he'd like, hit an open chord. And, it was all on. So that's good. And that was it. That was all sound check he got. That was my favorite, like one song or whatever. And then we started the show like five minutes late or something like that.

>> Dan: As someone who's kind of naive to sound check and I guess the whole meaning behind it, can you explain the difficulties of what that is like, basically him just plugging in and going? Because I understand that definitely can be difficult and he pulled it off really well. And so I just want to know from your perspective...

>> Eva Marie: Yeah. So first things first, we make our lives a little easier by having, Jeremy. J-Bear is our lifesaver. He's our sound guy. He and I graduated high school together. We've been OG friends from the beginning. He is the sixth member and the sculptor of sound. So if there's anything amiss, he knows his own board and his channels and stuff. And so whenever something happens with one of us on stage, usually Jeremy is able to accommodate, in that regard. So like, Jeremy knew the setup for all five of us and made sure that we had what we needed so that it was just a matter of Chris coming in there whenever he could arrive and plugging in. But the reason why I think, and I don't know if other people with other bands, with crew, if they always have the same person come out with them or I imagine that... I'll tell you this. On the Bad Wolves and Bush tour, when we had a couple of our individual dates with Bad Wolves, it was a different sound guy. Jeremy was already on a different job and had to join us at the tour, the first date for the Bush tour, because he wasn't anticipating the shows on the way out. And it was a nightmare. It was absolute chaos. Different board, different guy, didn't know our stuff. And that's also to be said that our bass player, Ed, is our tech guru. Like, he is the guy that sets up all the tracks and the different other things for the levels and stuff in our inner ear monitors. We have know-how even just amongst the five of us. And it was STILL a nightmare to get the microphone that's wireless to work correctly, right? Those are all signals. So it's really intimidating for bands if you don't have the know-how and the team that you rely on, or if you don't have enough time, right? Because there's been other moments where I think it's helpful to us that we are used to being an opening band. So our level of preparation comes as like an afterthought to the headliner and whoever is direct support. So... we might get a sound check. Hopefully. It's like a two song deal, right? Because that usually gives us enough time. If we can get through 30 seconds of the song, though, we're good. Worst case scenario, if it's just a tap on my mic to make sure there's signal, because we got no sound check, we know how to run through each of those scenarios. So it was helpful. But I felt even more proud of our team when later on that night, I was talking with the TM and the other guitar player in Point North, and they were after us on that stage that same evening. And their team was also stuck on Ocho Rios. And so, I think they had, like, there are three of them and only one person was still on the boat. Like, most of them had to come back on the ship, but they had like an hour and a half to prepare and stuff like that. And he straight up looked at me and was like, "Did I mishear something? Or did you guys literally not have one of your guys for sound check? Did he just walk in and play? How did you do that?" He was like, "We had like an hour and a half and we were freaking out." Just to make sure the levels for the backing tracks and this and the that are turned on and your in ear monitors work. Because if not, you can't really, especially if you're playing in a new way with all of this new technology, because you don't have an actual amplifier sometimes on stage. So if you don't have signal in your in-ears, there's no monitor for you to even hear your guitar. It's plugged in direct. You get nothing unless it's coming out through the front of house, the PA speakers. But that's for the audience. You can't really hear that when you're standing back here on stage very well. It's not really discernible sometimes. So I could see how that would have freaked them out, but I felt a lot of pride for my guys. I was like, yeah, you're right. We got that shit together in like five seconds!

>> KC: Right. No, and you guys handled it great. And I kind of felt bad because you were one of the first artists that I saw when I got on the boat and tried to get a bite to eat. And you're doing your schedule at the start of the ship, and then every other day... nope. Nope. 

>> Aaron: Schedule rendered useless immediately.

>> Eva Marie: We're moving this and we're moving that. There was no rehearsal that day either. We were prepared for a 2:00 pm rehearsal for the Stowaways, and they canceled it because everything kind of went crazy. So it was really interesting, and I could see why a lot of other people, bands, and patrons alike... If you're not down for an adventure, the high seas are not for you, friend!

>> KC: Right! We found out who a few of those people were.

>> Dan: Surprisingly, the younger generation, especially if they got left in Jamaica, they were a little terrified, and a little emotional about it.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, I think most people were kind of like us that I had seen. They were like, "Yeah, it was very inconvenient." And there was a lot of people who went through... They had a day. There was not a ton of food, and bathrooms were scarce, and it was not stressful, for sure, but we figured it out. There were other boats that we were just waiting on the one ship to leave so we could pull around to their dock instead. And it worked out. I mean, we were supposed to have left port at 4:00 pm and I think people got back on the ship at like, 8:30. In between 8 and 8:30. And we didn't sink, and they fixed the boat.

>> Dan: Yeah, we got home, made it to Bimini the next day.

>> Aaron: That's right. You guys had, I think, one of the more unique experiences then. Because what you had, obviously, you were the first set post people starting to get back on the boat. Which, since so many people were not physically on the boat, you didn't have that much of a turnout, because there wasn't that much of turnout to be had.

>> Eva Marie: Oh, yeah. I think there was, like, 100 people in that place.

>> Aaron: So it was definitely this vibe of, like, "We are making the best of this situation," and then come that... I would like to get your opinion or your kind of take on all this, but then contrast that to the second set later in the week where you guys had a packed house, and it really felt like everybody was comfortable, firing on all cylinders. Like, "This is what we wanted to do the first time, but couldn't quite due to circumstance." And I thought that was really fascinating because you also were in a unique position of having two theater sets at that point.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah.

>> Aaron: So it was the same place, same kind of general thing, but a completely different vibe and crowd experience.

>> Eva Marie: Whole different atmosphere. And, unfortunately, I think it's really interesting because for me, I was having a personal problem with my voice, right? So the seawater, for some reason, does not like me, and it would dry me out. I had nine bottles of water prior to each performance. I had slept, I had rested, I had not drank the previous day. I had all the things. I had tea with honey and lemon and all the things, blah, blah, blah. Didn't matter. High seas hate me. So next time I'm going to try to bring a little personal humidifier thing. But. So the first performance, I was feeling good, and it kind of stunk because not everybody was able to be there, right? And as a matter of fact, I thought most people were back on the ship. I didn't know what was happening, so I didn't realize that most people were not back. Most people were still stuck at the time that we played. And I noticed that from the stage when I was like, "Everybody okay?" I was, like, checking in on people and they were like, "No, no, we're fine. Because we stayed here."

>> KC: Right.

>> Eva Marie: That's why there's not a lot of people here. Got it. And then, fast forward to the next performance that we had, because everybody gets, most people get two on the ship. It was a packed house, but I was also kind of stressing because I knew my voice was kind of feeling it. So it was a bit of a juxtaposition, I think, for me. But we did have fun and we got through the whole set, and everything turned out okay. And thank you for everybody that was... shout out to Brian Sarason for getting all the lives, because I use that as my TiVo, to like, listen back to. "Did it really sound as bad in my brain?" And it didn't sound that bad.

>> KC: I was going to say. So I have both sets recorded, and I was going to slowly release those. I didn't know if you wanted me to release the second set in the fan group.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah. I'm also a really big proponent of putting the things out there that are actually happening on the Internet. Yeah, I think it's good that people, especially for a woman in rock music, I don't feel obligated to put my best foot forward all the time, right? Because it's not feasible to do that 24/7 so... Thank you for asking, though, but that's cool.

>> KC: Well, I mean, I have them all, and I can post them, but I don't want to post them if you don't want me to. But no, but you handled the second set great. I mean, you could tell that you were struggling to get through it, but  you always perform great, no matter what.

>> Eva Marie: Thanks, friends. Sorry, Aaron. I feel like I cut you off.

>> Aaron: Oh, no, I was just going to kind of second something that was going on in that part of the conversation, which is we've seen you guys a number of times now. These guys probably more than me, because I actually didn't even see y'all for the first time until last year. But I think that set was actually my favorite performance that I've seen of the band. Like I said it was, like, such a 180 of the vibe from the first one where it was like, "We're trying to kind of make it through." You may have been with your voice, but everything else surrounding it, like, the energy was there, the crowd was feeling it. I very much enjoyed that. So I think you guys pulled it off fantastically, and I hope that felt, like, validating, after all the, everything, the chaos you had to go through for the first one.

>> Eva Marie: I love that. Yeah, we do. We love the live show. I know I've said it over and over, but it's true. I feel like every time we're in there and people are singing along and there is a high energy in the audience, it's always so helpful. I do think, too, that we were a little bit mentally prepared because of the Bush tour when we were playing theaters. And so theaters aren't new to us anymore. So the seated venues where you can't really move around too much, I realized even Killswitch and a couple of the other bands that were playing, Beartooth on the deck stage, were like, "Oh, we can't pit?" No. Safety code regulation. Sorry. But I think a lot of people were super loud, and I heard a lot of people sing along with me, so it was really fun.

>> KC: Was there any bands in particular that you saw for the first time that kind of blew you away?

>> Eva Marie: I mean, I've seen Beartooth before, but their opening deck performance was just... chef's kiss. I've only seen Killswitch with their original singer the one time, and I think he did an incredible job. And I think, honestly, his voice is carrying better than when I originally had seen them, because it was when he first came back. So I loved their performances. And your boys in Fury in Few did a pretty good job. I was able to catch a little bit of the set just running around that evening, so that was cool.

>> Dan: I saw you and Rob, like, down front for Killswitch. Like, right front center for that.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah. Point North was also, like, a super fun band. Like, live. They have a very punk feel live.

>> Dan: My wife loved them.

>> Aaron: I remember seeing, I think Rob and Chris, were down up close for I Prevail, I want to say. And Chris was having the time of his life. He had a smile the entire, like, half the time I was watching him instead of the set, because I was like, "When's he going to stop just smiling like a little kid? Nope, he's not gonna. Okay."

>> Eva Marie: No, he's not. He is on or off. And when it was, there, he was on that day. Yeah, we got to meet them and say, "Hey, hometown homies." And we're definitely fans. The sing along was pretty awesome.

>> Dan: I forgot they're from the same place as you guys.

>> KC: And apparently Black Stone Cherry made a good impression?

>> Eva Marie: Oh, amazing. I mean, I think, who was it? I think it was Caleb, actually. Beartooth had said, from their performance, that they were one of the best live sets. Absolutely. And they're coming to District 142 with Saint Asonia, so we're going to go hang. That's gonna be really awesome. So we love connecting with them. And Tavis, who is also playing in Adelitas Way, is touring with Saint Asonia, so we've got friends on both crews.

>> KC: Nice.

>> Eva Marie: It's going to be great. Yeah. So we can't wait to party with those guys. And then we're going to be partying soon... Well, partying, screaming and crying and laughing, but also crying together for the premiere of the My Rockstar is happening. So that'll be dope. Yeah.

>> Dan: Chris has got one of those voices that I feel sounds better live than on the recording. From Black Stone Cherry.

>> Aaron: Can I change topics entirely for just a second to something that I meant to ask you on the boat, but for whatever reason, forgot? So, for people who are unfamiliar, Eva changes up her hairstyle a couple of times a year-ish. And currently what we have going on is stark black and kind of, like a choppy bang situation going on. And it hit me on the boat. I was like, "Is this your Joan Jett phase?" Is that what we're doing right now?

>> Eva Marie: I don't know. I think that might be a good interpretation of what's happening. It's a little bit, like, punky, a little bit more emo, because hers was a shag cut that was a little bit more shorter. Right? Mine is kind of like super long moment. But, yeah, honestly, I got tired of my bangs in my face, so I cut them really short. And then I had Terry do something a little edgy on the sides. And then she was like, "Oh, it's going to be like a shag haircut." I was like, "Okay, cool." But yeah, also just to go with the color, that wasn't going to drain and bleed and do all that. So I just felt like I'd give it a break for a minute. You know me, though. I mean, give it a few months.

>> Aaron: Right. Let it breathe while you're working in the studio and whatnot, before you're on a full, big old tour again, and then you get colorful again.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, exactly.

>> Dan: That kind of actually did lead to my other question that I had was, normally you do have, like, the rainbow, bright colored hair, which, for Shiprocked, it would kind of stick out a little bit. There's still a lot of people that have all kinds of colored hair on that boat. But did you find yourself getting recognized, or how is that experience from an artist's perspective of being around people that know who you are everywhere you go?

>> Eva Marie: It is cool. Because we've done Shiprocked before, I think that I was recognized more on ship this time than I was before. And we have the release that we did. But it was fun for me. I embraced that. I like the energy. Honestly, I'm a sucker for the attention, so that works. But I also dress purposefully pretty like, a little bit flashy as far as, like, I got big, huge shades with my frickin' spikes on, and people are like, "Who's that?" And I'm like, "Yeah!"

>> Aaron: You're like, "I'm going to invite this attention. Come on, do it."

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, right? "Oh, she must be somebody." I'm like, "I don't know. I wonder what band I'm from!"

>> Dan: From a fan's perspective. I absolutely love it. And it's so funny, too, because when you and Rob are walking around, Rob just expects it because you'll get caught up. I think I saw one time where it was somewhat side stage, and somebody's kid wanted to take a picture with you, and Rob just kind of stood by, and you're doing the interacting that you normally do. And it's just really fun to see that interaction that you do have with your fans.

>> Eva Marie: Oh I love that! Thank you so much. Yeah, it's been a fun ride. We just like hanging out with people. It's fun for us to do the rock star thing. I think meeting people and hanging out with people and the excitement about being together at the rock show is kind of part of it for all of us. Which is probably why we love the rock show so much. And it's cool because you get a little bit of that. There's a reason why people scream the songs with you, you know what I mean? It's because a lot of you are very like-minded or in some way are fans of the same music, and it adds to the connection.

>> Aaron: Brief commercial break to endorse a fellow podcaster friend of ours. Eva was recently on The Hook with our friend Jay, and you talked a lot about what you were just on, kind of the... I don't know what you call it, the psychology of the rock community and the show. There was some great stuff in that conversation. I want to endorse people to go check it out. You dived into some topics I've been kind of interested in hearing you talk about for quite some time, but we've never really gotten to.

>> Eva Marie: Cool. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, he was a fun guy to chat with, and, yeah, we did. We kind of leaned into a little bit more of the, I guess, like you said, the psychology behind it.

>> Aaron: Yeah. You touched on kind of the intersection of faith and community and psychology and a number of different things, and it was very cool.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah. There's a really unique thing, I think, that happens at rock shows, and when people all come together like that, we talked Hook and I a lot about the "screaming together instead of screaming at one another" kind of component. Right. So it was a really cool conversation, yeah. Because I think it highlights some of the more alluring things about this community.

>> KC: Yeah. Jay does a great job. It's a completely different dynamic from our show because it's a one-man show. But he does a great job.

>> Eva Marie: Very cool.

>> Dan: And I personally think if we could move away from the mosh pit, we would just be loving each other all over the place. Mosh pit, man, so much stupid crap happens in a mosh pit because people just take things the wrong way. No matter what happens, it's always going to go wrong. It's like I tell my boys, if you're play fighting, one of you is going to get upset, and you're going to turn into real fighting. That's just how it works. Yeah, that's how mosh pit works, too.

>> Eva Marie: Totally. Yes.

>> Aaron: A play fight is always a short-term thing.

>> Eva Marie: Yes.

>> Dan: Little boys just don't grow up.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, well, when you add alcohol to loud music, you can't even actually talk it out, right? So I feel like that's part of it.

>> KC: No greater example than the Eva set at Machine Shop in October.

>> Dan: Yeah, that was some fun stuff.

>> KC: Yeah, the moshing clown.

>> Dan: Just get away from that and we'll be all good. That's coming from an older person, too. I'm done mosh pitting. And I've been done mosh pitting for, like, 10, 15 years.

>> Eva Marie: I don't know. I still like crowd surfing over the mosh pit. People just, like, toss me over.

>> Dan: Sounds dangerous. I don't trust people that much. Besides that, I weigh a hell of a lot more than you, so they drop my ass pretty quickly.

>> KC: Yeah. I've never attempted. "Hey, guys, lift me up!"

>> Dan: "Ahh, I killed somebody!"

>> Eva Marie: I feel like I attempted it more when I was in high school.

>> KC: Yeah, fair.

>> Dan: I never had the desire to do that because people get quite handsy, too.

>> Eva Marie: Oh, no kidding! Speaking of the psychology behind things, too, I don't think, as a woman, I've gotten over the fact of, like, I exist in a lot of spaces where... skirts and dress. It just doesn't seem like... I'm not comfortable being in that kind of a crowd and being in that kind of, like... even on the stage when you're up above somebody. Some women don't care. Some women rock it. That's good for them. But I've always been like, "Let me get my cargo pants so that I have somewhere to put my wallet that's not in, like, a purse or a bag." You know what I mean? Or now I've got my fanny pack, which is basically a utility belt. I go to concerts like a carpenter, man!

>> Aaron: Yeah, I was kind of fascinated by that. The one person on Shiprocked, going back to that, that I did see crowd surf, one front person, was Scene Queen in the Aft Lounge, and I was super intrigued by that, because if you're familiar with Scene Queen, her whole shtick is a female empowerment vibe. And so her going out there and she's doing the pink skirts and all that kind of stuff, it's her character. She goes out there and crowd surfs. I'm like, I ALMOST dare someone to get froggy with Scene Queen because I'm pretty sure she will claw your eyes out if you mess with her in this show right now. 

>> Dan: I was more worried about her getting electrocuted in the lights because she was so close to the lights!

>> Aaron: Yeah, you will get electrocuted...

>> KC: Or scraped by the broken one!

>> Aaron: She will unscrew one of those light bulbs and stab you with it. Like something's going down if you mess with Scene Queen in the middle of the set.

>> Eva Marie: I would have looked the other way. I'd been like, "Yeah, I haven't seen nothing. What'd she do?"

>> Aaron: Man. I don't think anybody did. The people were on good behavior, as they should be.

>> Eva Marie: And that's what I love, too, about Shiprockers. I feel like there's a lot of people that are like, they paid great money to be a part of that boat. And I think many people have a respect for the artists that they're all vacationing with. You know what I mean? There's kind of, like, an understanding in that capacity. And I have a lot of respect for people that are on the boat, because I've never gotten any kind of super weird vibes or really,  nobody's stalking you around the boat or any of that. People are doing basic things, normal things, like, "Hey, let's take a picture! When's your set? I want to make sure I'm there." And, "Do you guys got merch or whatever?" It's really a nice time.

>> KC: Well, and that's what was so special, seeing you all throughout the week on the boat is we didn't feel like we had to bogart your time or anything. And if a fan was coming up and wanted to ask you something, we would back off and then join the conversation later.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah. Because we were all out and just happy to be on vacation together. So, like, yeah, I'll see you around the ship. Or, like, oh, pause this conversation. Let's meet up later, and we'll chat or whatever. And people are eating together, and a lot of the artists were also just dining in their regular dining area. I thought it was really cool, actually.

>> Aaron: That's kind of a funny, quick story, because Dan always told us from last year that the rule number one is you leave artists alone while they're eating. And we actually had a situation where we saw you in the cafeteria, and you went and sat near us, but not with us. And I kept thinking, should I invite Eva to come hang with us? Like, she's the homie. She's not just a random person. But at the same time, I was like, I still feel right now that I'm going to abide by rule number one and just let the girl have her moment.

>> Eva Marie: I was probably unceremoniously stuffing my face in between whatever else we were doing!

>> Aaron: I don't know. I was like, "Consistency is important when it comes to this stuff. If I'ma say I'm gonna abide by it, I'm gonna abide by it.

>> KC: And Aaron and I were already done eating, and you were just sitting by yourself. And I'm like, "I'm going to go sit."

>> Aaron: KC did not abide by it. He was like, "Screw that. I'm going to go talk."

>> Eva Marie: "Hi, guys!"

>> Aaron: "What's going on!" Yeah, but nonetheless. Yeah, but to your point, that was hilarious. We kept track. We saw, Brandon from Crobot, mostly in the dining area, CONSTANTLY. I was like, I almost kept a running count of how many times I saw him.

>> Dan: You could hang out by that soft serve machine and just basically get autograph after autograph after autograph to be honest.

>> Aaron: That was the unofficial autograph line.

>> Eva Marie: Turns out you can bait a musician with either alcohol or a free ice cream machine. Yes.

>> Dan: I saw Caleb there and half of Beartooth. Like, I'm telling you, man, everybody was going through that line.

>> Aaron: Caleb out here going off his diet to tear up that ice cream. There's no holds barred on this boat.

>> Dan: Yeah, apparently that and the 3:00 a.m. pizza line were the most popular lines on the boat.

>> Eva Marie: Amen. Yup. Been there.

>> Aaron: So that probably goes without saying, but I'm going to assume that if the invitation is extended for you guys to show up in Shiprocked 2025, there will be probably a pretty quick yes.

>> Eva Marie: Oh, whenever. Yeah. He's just got to hit us up, and we'll be like, "When? Sure." Making sure we're penciled in. Yeah, and they know that, too, because we've honestly been shamelessly bothering them about it since we got off the first boat.

>> KC: Nice.

>> Aaron: That's how stuff happens.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah.

>> Dan: How does that work if your band doesn't get asked but you still want to go? Do you guys have a chance to get on the waitlist, or do you have priority?

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, I think it's mostly like a Stowaway situation. Like, if they notice that you're one of those people that just really enjoys the boat and people enjoy having you on the boat, so then it becomes like a Stowaway situation. But we could also just go with patrons, you know what I mean? We could do something like that, probably. But I think most of those cabins are, honestly, they sell out so fast because people, they book way ahead of time. And I love that there's that problem. So I don't know how they organize it. If they keep X amount reserved for artists and stuff. Because they don't have those lineups. Sometimes they don't even have the lineup finalized once it sells out.

>> KC: Right. Well, speaking of Stowaways. There was a couple of awesome moments for Eva Under Fire and for The Itch, to be honest, because we had Rob go up there and perform with Elias, so that was awesome. Doing some "Wait and Bleed."

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, Nonpoint are now the homies.

>> KC: Yes.

>> Aaron: That's Itch intersectionality right there.

>> KC: Yes.

>> Eva Marie: Those are also Michigan guys. Elias lives in Michigan now.

>> Dan: Yes, we heard the story about that, actually. I don't even know. I think it was from talking to Rob.

>> Aaron: It was Ed. We ran into Ed at the airport on our way out. The bassist of Eva Under Fire for those who aren't aware.

>> Dan: So, yeah, Elias was basically just going over how he was not excited about moving to Battle Creek, Michigan. But he is there nonetheless.

>> Eva Marie: Right. Yeah. I was just going to say, I don't know what possessed him to move there, but people would have probably also say the same thing about Taylor Tucky, so it is what it is.

>> KC: There you go. Yeah. So you went up there and performed Monster Mash. How was that for you?

>> Eva Marie: Yeah! It was super strange, but also very fun. I didn't know what to expect. It was my first time being a Stowaway, but it was really fun. And they had two separate rehearsals, one for each set. And that's all you get. You learn the song.

>> Aaron: So I got to ask a follow up to that. Whose idea was Monster Mash?

>> Eva Marie: Theirs. This was a Stowaway thing. They just had a list and then assigned us from the list.

>> Aaron: Okay. So the reason I asked that question is because you've said here and elsewhere plenty of times, you're a PG, PG-13 person. And that Stowaway set was all the "devil has the good music" songs. It was "Mark of the Beast" and "Highway to Hell" and those things. And the Monster Mash comes up, and I'm like, "This is the most wholesome selection in this whole thing. And, of course, Eva is the person who is part of it." It was just the most perfect. It was the perfect fit. It's like, it's the Monster Mash. It's this goofy novelty song in the middle of all of these... Iron Maiden and what not, you know?

>> Eva Marie: Exactly. It was pretty perfect, yeah. I think it was divine intervention.

>> KC: It was, yeah. And that's what made it so good that you actually had a second performance with Keith Wallen with "Don't Fear the Reaper."

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, that was fun, too. So I noticed in soundcheck that, during rehearsal, that it sits very low in my register, and I couldn't really hear myself that well, so I just tried some things and sang it. Like, it acted up or... we didn't know what we were doing, but I think we figured it out. And I had fun jamming with Keith anyhow, so it was fun.

>> Aaron: I think everybody understands that the Stowaways, even with the rehearsals, it's largely rockstar karaoke. Like, you guys are just going up there goofing around, for people who didn't see. I think we posted a video. If we didn't, we will by the time this is out. "Don't Fear the Reaper" evolved into like 15 people with cow bells on the stage, is what was going on. It was nuts. It was hilarious, though, too, including Keith. Keith was going to town on that thing. He was angry at that cowbell.

>> Eva Marie: He did a great job. And it was so funny because on the list, it says, like, Keith and then Eva, and then under all of the other musicians...

>> KC: Question mark, question mark, question mark.

>> Eva Marie: It just says "all drummers with cowbell."

>> Aaron: Yes! That's what it was. They just slowly paraded onto the stage. It was just like, oh, there's a clown car. More people just kept coming up on there with cowbells, and it got louder and louder. It was amazing.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, it was amazing.

>> KC: Awesome stuff.

>> Aaron: I have another completely unrelated question that I've been wanting to bring into one of our conversations for a while, but since we touched a little bit on some of the other band members... We've kind of got a running bit that eventually other members of Eva Under Fire will join the. Yeah, yeah, eventually. Who knows when or if or how exactly, but it's kind of a gag at this point. You've been here seven times now. Nobody else has been here any times. So what I want to do, I want to ask you to help our listeners out a little bit, since they are, thus far, mostly unfamiliar with the rest of the band. Could you give me a one-sentence description of each other person in the band?

>> Eva Marie: Interesting...

>> Aaron: Yeah, sum them up for me a little.

>> Eva Marie: Yes. All right, we'll start with the bass player that you mentioned. His name is Ed. His van name is "Admiral Facts." Okay. So he is our tech guy, and he loves to be right. And he is coming with the facts hard every time. And at this point, he knows it and he loves it. And it's a fun joke amongst all of us where he'll be like, "Actually." And we'll be like, "No, it's fine." "But it's my job!" he says. You know what I mean? So he's fun loving about it. And then there's Chris. Onesie guy. Y'know, he's... ours. And most of the time, that's a good thing. He's either on or off. And when he's off, you will know, because pouty pants is a real thing. And we have one princess in this band, and it's not me. Okay? And he knows that, too. He'll call me queen, and I call him princess. But he's very particular about things. He likes things the way he likes it. Rob also... now, Chris is rhythm guitar. Ed is bass. Rob is the other guitar. Rob is lead guitar. Okay. Rob is "the driver." And when I say "the driver," he has anxiety, so no one else can ever drive. He also takes full control of the radio, and everyone hates all of his playlists.

>> Aaron: All of them. There's no compromising.

>> Eva Marie: I don't hate it. So he and I are like, we are the ones that sit in the captain's chairs. So it's like mom and dad in the captain's chairs, and everybody else is in their bench. And then we just have a time. But he is the best driver, like, ever. And he is the only one that can maneuver, finagle the trailer. He has gotten us out of, like... So the one time Rob was a little too shmaesty-faced to drive. But we were parked in a precarious situation and could not get the trailer and the van out of where we parked. So we were like, "Okay, you have to at least get us out of here. Just maneuver it so where we're in the parking lot and someone else can take over that's not been drinking too much." And, like a champ, like he had not had a drop of whiskey at all... he just swerved all around, no problem. We were like, "It's like a superpower!" So those are the guitar players, okay? And then we've got Dave, and Dave is the drummer. Drummer guy Dave. We love Dave. Dave is really, and when I say really, I mean REALLY... into NASCAR. And we all tease him about it. He wore a jacket that was, like, a race car branded jacket on tour.

>> Aaron: Yes!

>> Eva Marie: Okay. And listen. No. He got cat called by the headliner's TM from, like, across the venue. He's loud in the best of ways. Like, the rest of us are loud, so we all have sparkle guitars. He goes up there in, like, a mesh top and just smashes the drums, man. Dave, his last name is Miller. He is a part of the Millers. So we have the Lybergs and we have the Millers. The other miller is J-Bear. Our sound guy. They're also the two recently hired, right? And they smoke a little together, they drink a little together. They're the roommates. They both like the TV on late at night, so it's just... They're cute. But every time they josh each other around or get, like, they're at each other's throats, we're like, "Oh, look, it's the Millers!" Yeah, so there's Jeremy. There's. Dave. That's the guys, and then there's me, and I'm my own brand of weird. So welcome to the crew.

>> Aaron: We've got many hours of conversation if people want to understand who you are.

>> Eva Marie: Oh, Jeremy. Now, Jeremy has a counterpart van name. So Ed is "Admiral Facts." Jeremy is "Captain Coupon."

>> KC: Yes.

>> Aaron: Oh, yes.

>> Eva Marie: He is the one where we're, like, at every truck stop, he asks me if I have the McDonald's app.

>> KC: Yes.

>> Eva Marie: Yes, I do.

>> Aaron: Fantastic. Thank you for that. That's something that was as fun as I wanted it to be. Like, "We need to ask her something like that's off the wall. Put this woman on the spot."

>> Eva Marie: They all play their instruments super amazingly, but I gave you guys what I thought you wanted to know.

>> KC: No, you did. And I made it a point to seek out Dave and Ed because they were the two that I had spoken to the least out of the group. And actually, we kind of glossed over this... There was a chance that you guys weren't even going to be able to play due to an accident.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, yeah. So Dave, drummer Dave, oh, man... He was helping a friend in, like, in a not-so-great area. Like, he did a paint job or something for this friend of his, and he was coming back from that job. I don't know. It wasn't crazy late at night, I don't think. But someone blew a stoplight and T-boned, like he rolled his truck. Yeah, he was absolutely... I mean, a rollover accident, literally two days before Shiprocked, right? So we were like, "Look, dude, we're here for you. Whatever you need, let us know." His first response was, "Nothing's broken. I think I'm okay." And his next one was, "We're not missing Shiprocked."

>> KC: Amazing that he was unscathed. I made a point. After your first set, Jeremy and Dave were having dinner in the mess hall, and I made a point to go up to him, and we sat down next to the table next to him. And after they were done, we chatted with Dave and just thanked him for coming on the ship still. And thankful that he's still here. And we had a nice little heart-to-heart conversation.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah. Divine intervention yet again, man. It was really a wild time. But, I just think, like you guys had said, you guys have been together for so long now, through it all, and I think once you've been in it for so long, you just find ways. This is your crew. This is your team. You guys overcome. We're like our own little dysfunctional family, and we kind of love it, like that, so...

>> Aaron: Using that to segue into, really, the one final main thing I wanted to make sure that we touched on a little bit. Dave is also the newest member of the band.

>> Eva Marie: Yes.

>> Aaron: And I know you guys have been out in California doing some writing, recording, getting some stuff prepped up for what's to come. So I'm guessing this is the first time he's been part of that process.

>> Eva Marie: Yes.

>> Aaron: And based on the conversations that we got to have with him on the boat, I'm excited for him to be part of this process for you guys. I'll leave it at that, but I'm excited for it.

>> Eva Marie: Man, me too. So there's so much that's strange about the recording and the writing process, but one of the things that we really have a great advantage about is because all of us still are in the same area, so we get to jam and write when we're here in our own rehearsal space. And I think many bands probably don't get a chance to get together quite like that. So I think that'll really show in the writing this time. Everybody is excited about it. So now we just got to find, now that we're in between Shiprocked and writing, now we got to figure out, okay, when can we throw a couple jams together so that we can start working on some things? So that's in the works, but, yeah, no, he's really excited. He's a very creative guy, and he's also a multi-instrumentalist guy, and he hears some cool stuff with melody, so we're excited to have him be part of that process.

>> KC: Yeah. When we were having that conversation with him, he was going on and on about how excited he was to be a part of the process and not just play somebody else's part that he has to learn.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah. Right. It's been a fun experience, because I think most of the time, from what I gather in talking with him, that a lot of it has been... his projects before was, like, when we were young people, when we were all jamming with friends in high school and stuff like that. That was the last time he was a part of a creative project that was like, "Let's write together." So a lot of the other stuff professionally has been as a hired gun or has been, for session work and stuff like that. Which typically that stuff's all written and prepared in advance for whoever's performing it. And so, while he loves playing the drums, I think he is excited to be a part of the creation of the next era.

>> KC: Yeah, yeah. We look forward to that.

>> Eva Marie: Yay. Also, glad that you guys got time to talk with the Millers. That's cute.

>> KC: Actually, I've got a quick funny story for you. Jeremy thought that we were from Michigan, because that's when we've seen him the most. 

>> Aaron: We keep being in Michigan! 

>> KC: He's like, "You guys are from Michigan, right?" We're like, "No, St. Louis." And actually, so I'm watching Tigercub's set in the Aft Lounge, and I kid you not, this guy. I turn around and this guy's like, "Hey, are you from Michigan?" I'm like, "No." He's like, "I know I've seen you at The Intersection or this venue, or this venue." Like, "No. I was at Upheaval, though." He's like, "Upheaval! I saw you at Upheaval!" So I can't escape being recognized.

>> Eva Marie: You're sort of from Michigan now.

>> KC: Yes, sort of.

>> Eva Marie: Welcome to Detroit Rock City.

>> KC: Yes. Right. "Hello, random guy I saw at a festival seven months ago."

>> Aaron: We're honorary Michiganders, hopefully.

>> Eva Marie: Yes. Beautiful. Love it.

>> Aaron: I know Dan's got something, and I feel like it's his time. He's been holding on patiently.

>> Dan: Well, you were talking about new music. I know you're in the process of recording new music with Eva Under Fire, but I also understand you guys just posted to your instagram that you guys have a new song coming out with Hyro the Hero and Lyell on March 29, the song called "Lighthouse." So, kind of curious if you can talk about that a little bit.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah! So, it was really funny the way that it all worked out. I found Lyell on TikTok and she kills it. I love her voice. She was such a fun presence to watch her lives because she does, like, a live performance where she plays keys and sings, like, karaoke version stuff. And I was so impressed with her voice. I remember walking into the living room telling Rob, like,"Check this girl out. She can sing." So I commented in the live, and she hit me back right away. And she was like, "No way! Eva Under Fire is in the chat!" And I'm like, "You know my songs? You know our songs?" So. And then we got to talking and she was like, "You know, I would love to have you on one of my tracks." She was like, "Actually, the music I release in my original stuff's more rock related." I was like, "No way!" She was like, "Yeah, I've got Hyro the Hero on one of the tracks." And she was like, "I think that you'd be a great add also." I was like, "Yes!" Also, Hyro is the homie because he's on the same label. And so we had never gotten a chance to work together, work together, but I know his name from several different spaces. And, if we ever got to play a show together, I would just run up and give him big old hug. So we both hopped on this track, but I wasn't sure how it was going to work out because we were writing. So I said, "Well, I'm going to be in LA from this time to this time and I'll see whether or not I can find a producer that can put me a vocal track right to put on." And she was like, "No way, my producer is in LA!" I was like, "The producer that you worked with on the track?" She was like, "Yeah!" I was like, "Oh! Well, maybe he can just... maybe I can swing by after one of our sessions while we're out there. If he's local and has time." Come to find out. He did have the time. We got to chatting and he was literally located eight minutes from our Airbnb.

>> Dan: Nice.

>> KC: Whoa.

>> Eva Marie: Such a small world! It worked out beautifully. And I loved it so much. And the track is banging. It's got a punky, gritty, type sound, and I enjoyed working with her on it.

>> KC: Sweet.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah. Available for presave. Available for presave. Run up the numbers. Let's get it. And it was really fun for me to be able to surprise people, too, right? Because they know that Eva Under Fire isn't doing anything right now with writing and stuff like that. But...

>> Aaron: That was my exact reaction. It's like, hey, this is a cool little "tide you over," kind of from your perspective.

>> Eva Marie: Yes, absolutely.

>> Aaron: And then naturally, it's a great triple header of a collaboration, so that's exciting for its own.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, no kidding. I actually, It was really fun. Lyell hit me up and she gave me the first iteration of the artwork for it, and she was like, "But I was thinking about doing something a little bit more edited. What do you think?" And I was like, "I love it." But she said, "I think we should use pictures." And I was like, "Of us?" And she said, "Yeah, but I don't want to take a picture right now." I think she said, because she was sick or something at that time. I was like, "What if we took pictures and it was heavily edited on purpose? We show up as ourselves, but this is what the Internet is doing, and we're kind of raging against this whole highly edited culture," right? I was like, "That's it." And she was like, "I LOVE IT." So, I feel like I contributed the new artwork, which is the red, white, and black version of her and Hyro and I screaming to the skies.

>> KC: Yeah. Awesome. 

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, it was really fun.

>> Aaron: We're ready for it.

>> KC: Well, the last bit of stuff we should talk about before we wrap up is the "My Rockstar" premiere is right around the corner.

>> Eva Marie: It is, yeah. Thank you so much for bringing that up. Yes, it is. So on March 1, we will be hanging out at The Crofoot in Pontiac. I was so excited that Stephanie found that venue to host us. We go way back at The Crofoot, and they were really excited to have an event like this. And they're also very invested in the community with all of the recovery efforts and substance abuse awareness sorts of events, many of which I think they posted there before. So, it will be a nice little mashup of, like, we're going to do a couple of acoustic songs, Rob and I. And we're going to talk about the making of the film, and obviously premiere the film. I think the premiere will happen first, and then we'll kind of segue into some of the other stuff later in the evening. I believe you and I have a dinner together, friend. So you hit me up when you will be in town, and we will coordinate the time. But, yeah, it's going to be really cool. I believe it will be lots of laughter, lots of tears. My whole family is coming, so I know that I will have a big support group for this. But it's an important cause to talk about important things, mainly mental health and music and substance abuse recovery.

>> KC: Yes, I'm looking forward to being a part of it and honored to do so. And we've still got to schedule you and Stephanie later on down the road to talk about that as well.

>> Aaron: We've got a week put aside specifically to dive deeper into the film and the topics surrounding it, whenever it's a little more widely available.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, beautiful.

>> Aaron: We'll be ready.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah. Thank you so much. She has, I think, submitted to a few film fests as well. So we're excited.

>> KC: So we'll talk more about that down the road and, look forward to all of that. And, man, we just keep leveling up together, and it's a beautiful thing.

>> Eva Marie: Totally, guys. Yeah. No, thanks for having me again, and always fun to talk with you guys and just catch up. I feel like some of it's just goofing around, but also now we have so many shared experiences, like, a conversation amongst friends. So I love it so much. So thank you so much. 

>> Dan: Absolutely.

>> Aaron: Yeah, I love that it was, like, at some point in the past, like, six months... because we went to Michigan, like, three times last year and I think I've seen you in person, like, four times in, like, six or seven months. And then also a few of these conversations, I'm like, "Okay, we went from artist and interviewer media or whatever to pals. Now we're vacation buddies. This is really just a whole trajectory going on."

>> Eva Marie: Yeah. Now it's besties, and I feel adopted on The Itch. So we're just keeping it up.

>> Aaron: If the music thing doesn't work out and you want to give your time to something that pays even less, hit us up. You're in.

>> Eva Marie: I love it. You're honorary Michiganders, and I'm an honorary Itch podcaster.

>> Aaron: Itchigander.

>> Eva Marie: Itchigander!

>> Dan: Itchigander, there you go.

>> Aaron: The only one that gets that title. Because it's a weird word.

>> Eva Marie: Beautiful.

>> KC: No, we always call you the fourth member, and it's appropriate.

>> Eva Marie: Beautiful. Well, thank you guys again, and much love again. And I'm sure we'll be in contact very soon.

>> KC: Yeah, absolutely.

>> Aaron: That's right.

>> Dan: Well, thank you very much for listening to The Itch podcast. My name is Dan.

>> KC: I'm KC.

>> Aaron: I am Aaron.

>> Eva Marie: And I'm Eva. See you guys real soon.

>> Dan: Yeah, until next time... Until we meet again.

>> Eva Marie: Probably next week.

---

>> Aaron: If you enjoyed what you heard in this episode, please subscribe and tell a friend about The Itch.

>> KC: Check out the show notes for links about the episode, as well as our new music playlist and where you can hear us every Sunday night.

>> Dan: And you can interact with us at itchrocks.com. Or on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Gmail, all at itchrocks, I-T-C-H-R-O-C-K-S.

---

>> Aaron: Until next time... Until next time.

>> Eva Marie: Probably next week.

>> KC: Until two months from now.

>> Eva Marie: Maybe we should just say see you later.

>> Dan: Hasta la vista.

>> KC: Hopefully no more hitting piers.

>> Aaron: Until next time. Watch out for that pier. No idea what we're going to use for that. But we've got stuff now.

>> Eva Marie: I love that. What did you say? See you later. Watch out for that pier!

>> KC: Yes.

>> Aaron: I told my family that mother nature threw our boat at Jamaica. That's how I put it to my mom.

>> KC: I actually sent your mom a Facebook message letting her know that you were safe.

>> Eva Marie: Yeah, no, thank you for that, because she was freaking out. Thankfully, she talked to Julie also and was fine. Everybody's good.

>> Dan: Yeah, it was really funny because Aaron was like, "Well, I'm not going to tell my mom." Like, "Dude, it's national news. You need to tell your mom. She's gonna know, she's gonna be freakin' out."

>> Aaron: My mom doesn't follow national news, it's fine. She wouldn't have known. I did tell her, and she was surprisingly okay.

>> Eva Marie: On those little Shiprocked magnets. You should have been like, "We hit the pier. Don't tell my mom."

>> Aaron: Don't tell mom!

>> KC: Perfect.

>> Eva Marie: Good times.