Evergreen Terrace

Hotter! Wetter! Stickier! Funner! DVD (2005)

Jordan Rogowski

I lived in Florida for 6 of my 18 years of life, and during that time, I realized that Florida is good for about 3 things: theme parks, in-ground swimming pools, and pawn shops. Straying outside any of those three things is a potentially bad decision, and music is no exception. Florida has had some notable exports, including Kite Flying Society and Cowboys Became Folk Heroes, but pop-punk essentially has a blanket over the entire state. Evergreen Terrace, however, will have none of that. These Jacksonville metalcore giants have put out a very entertaining DVD in the form of Hotter! Wetter! Stickier! Funner!

This DVD serves as an excellent representation of what kind of band and people Evergreen Terrace are. From their hell-raising liveshow to fraternizations with toothless Cuban immigrants, everything is documented here for all to see. At about an hour, the DVD is just the right mix of live show footage, backstage and on the road shenanigans. Since all of this is put together by the fine folks at High Roller Studios, the guys who make the Hellfest DVDs, you can be assured all footage, live or otherwise, is going to be quality and put together well. It's essentially broken into two parts: live footage, and otherwise. I'll start with the latter.

The DVD starts off with a little history of the band's origins, which includes some of the members meeting at of all places…a Yellowcard show. There's also a good amount of footage of the band on the road, and the type of nonsense you'd think would occur with 5 guys stuck in a van all day. The best part of the non-show footage, however, is the "Evergreen Terrace & Friends" section where you get to meet a drunk who shares a likeness to a certain member of "Family Guy," and a Cuban immigrant with an affection for smoking the reefer, loving the USA, and teaching the guys how to use a bulldozer. There's also some good times had for all when the guys from Evergreen meet a Cleveland look-a-like in Atlanta, then proceed to buy him beer for his birthday and watch him skateboard down a hill. Good times ensued. Alas, what would a music DVD be without live performances? Evergreen Terrace delivers there as well.

Scattered throughout the duration of this DVD you'll find live performances of "Heavy Number One," "Please Hammer Don't Hurt ‘Em," "Buried Alive By Time," "Sweet Nothings Gone Forever," and crowd favorite "No Donnie, These Men Are Nihlist." All those along with an entire live set from Jacksonville circa 2003. These live shots give an excellent look into the chaotic nature of an Evergreen Terrace show. I was never really a fan of the band myself until seeing them live, and it sold me. These guys deliver on every single song, and really know how to tear the floor up with their intensity. There are good back and forth between shots of the band and shots of kids on the floor going absolutely crazy. Anyone who's never been to a Hellfest can see first hand the kind of mayhem that ensues with a set like Evergreen's. There's moshing and stage dives left and right for kids who are into that aspect of shows, as long with plenty of good shots of the band. High Roller really did do a superb job putting this together.

For fans of Evergreen Terrace, hardcore, or toothless Cuban immigrants with a penchant for bulldozers, this DVD is a must have. You'll laugh, you'll close your eyes when Josh is playing instruments naked, and you'll be impressed by the live footage. Sounds like a deal to me.