Emblem3

Emblem3

Emblem3 is a music group that gained popularity for participating in season 2 of 'The X Factor' in 2012. The band formed in Sequim, 2007. They signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records and Columbia Records after finishing fourth on the second season of The X Factor (USA). They left Syco and are now independent. On June 20th 2014, Drew Chadwick left the band to start a solo career. 

On June 6th, the remaining members announced that Emblem3 will be on a break as they start working on seperate projects.

On October 25th, after weeks of speculation, Drew confirmed that he had returned to the group and that they were all back together working on new projects. They have officially announced their return a week later on November 3rd 2015 with all 3 members: Wesley, Keaton and Drew. They announced plans for a new album and a tour for 2016.

The band has been active again since 2020.

Members

• Wesley Stromberg - main vocals, guitar, bongo drum
• Keaton Stromberg -bass guitar,back up vocals, guitar
• Drew Chadwick - songwriter, singer, rapper, guitar

Former Members

• Kenny Galbraith
• Kyle Miner
• Riley P (GroLove) 

Discography

See this page "Albums"

Beginnnings

Wesley moved to California at 16 with his girlfriend at the time to pursue a career in music. He played many open mike nights. Drew moved to Cali two years after Wesley did. Wesley at that point got picked up by an Indie Label and was starting to record his EP "Bite Your Lip and Take It'. Keaton then moved down with Wesley and Drew and formed Emblem3 with Kenny and Kyle . They played small shows and bars around California together. They first auditioned for America's Got Talent but dropped out at last minute, deciding it wasn't right for them. They later auditioned forThe X Factor (USA) after getting a call saying that they should audition. 

The X factor

In 2012, Emblem3 auditioned in San Francisco for the second season of the X Factor, singing an original song called "Sunset Boulevard ", written by Drew. They passed their audition with 4 "yes's" During bootcamp, they sang Iris by Goo Goo Dolls and at judges' houses, they performed Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by The Police. They were chosen by Cowell for the live shows despite an error in their performance.

They passed task 1 of bootcamp and were called back to judges' homes in the groups category after task 2.

At the judges' homes, the guys met their mentor, Simon Cowell. They performed for him and his guest advisor, Latin music superstar Marc Anthony, and managed to pass to live shows where they wowed the public with their strong performances, earning them a strong fanbase, especially with the ladies. However, critics accused the guys of coming across as jerks because of  their honest and laid-back personalities. The guys were also frequently accused by Demi Lovato as coming across as "manufactured" mostly due to them having Simon Cowell as a mentor. 

Emblem3 were eliminated on December 13, 2012, finishing in 4th place.

Performances on X Factor

The boys performed many covers on X Factor. They were not allowed to perform their own music and was restricted of using instruments.

• Week 1: One Day by Matisyashu

• Week 2:  My Girl/ California Girl/ What makes You Beautiful Mash-Up
• Week 3: No One by Alicia Keys
• Week 4: Secrets by One Republic
• Week 5: Im a Believer by The Monkees
• Week 6: Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars and Forever Young by Alphaville
• Semi-Final: Baby I love Your Way by Peter Frampton and Hey Jude by the Beetles

Pre-X Factor music

They worked together as a band on music as well as alone. With Wesley releasing an album called "Bite Your Lip and Take It"  and Keaton releasing his EP, Suns and The Seasons when he was 14. Their refreshing musical style has found takers all across the globe, earning them a strong international fanbase. Drew, who is an excellent guitarist, even composed songs such as called "Heaven Awaits"  "Jaiden" and "Black and White". Along with all of this, the guys did various cover songs such as the Maroon 5 hit "This Love" and "Santeria" They have also recorded many songs before their time on X Factor. These songs are reffered to by fans as "The Original Songs" .

Post X Factor

After their elimination from the X Factor, Wesley said that they were looking forward to going back home and "making some badass music". Simon Cowell has also admitted in multiple interviews that he intended to sign Emblem3, saying "Im not going to let anyone else have them". Drew Chadwick later confirmed in an interview that the group has been signed to a one-year contract with Columbia Records/ Syco Music. Soon after, they released Nothing to Lose and toured around the country. They are now independent. Drew left the group June 20, 2014 to pursue a solo career.

Album

The guys released their first post-X Factor single, "Chloe (You're The One I Want)" , on April 16, 2013. Their album Nothing to Lose was released on July 30, 2013 and charted at number 7 on the Billboard Top 100. Their second single 3000 Miles was released October 15, 2013. 

Tours

Emblem3 has been on many tours since coming off of the X Factor. They opened for Selena Gomez on her Stars Dance Tour and headlined their first tour (Bandlife) in Febuary 2014. They finished their Fireside Story Sessions Tour in August 2014, and went on theirForever Together Tour later that year. They are currently preparing for their Waking Up Tour.

2014

At the begining of 2014, they went on their first headlining tour called the #Bandlife Tour. The tour came with tour diaries of the same name and a webserries called #E3TV.

After the Bandlife Tour, their label dropped them and Drew left the band shortly afterwards to pursue a solo carrer. 

Wesley and Keaton continued making music and toured the U.S and Canada on the Fireside Story Sessions Tour from late June to August. They released a new EP on October 27th called Forever Together. It was manufactured, written and produced by themselves. They then headed on a short 7 stop tour called the Forever Together Tour. In December, they performed for 2 Cali dates on the DigiTour. The boys teamed up with Jack and Jack (Jack Finnegan Gilinsky and Jack Edward Johnson) to make the song "Cheat Codes". 

2015

As 2015 started they started working on new music and uploaded covers to YouTube. They uploaded a cover of Maroon 5's "Sugar in January and a cover of "Home To Mama" in February. As the months went by Welsey started collaborations with other small artists and Keaton started to focus more on producing the songs. Wesley teamed up with Jack and Jack again to make the song "Bucket List". Wesley also covered "Crooked Smile" in April with his friend and fellow artist, Kenny Holland, which Keaton produced. Keaton also started working with other artists and producing their music. 

In June, Wesley went on DigiTour with friend Kenny Holland. A few days later (June 6th) the band announced that Emblem3 will be on break as they both start working on seperate projects. Wesley and Kenny started a band together called The BalCOny while Keaton started a band called Never Getting Older.

In August of 2015, Welsey started getting closer to former member Drew Chadwick again. He even hinted at making new music with him and asked Keaton on Twitter if he wanted to write some music with them. All 3 members also went together to the Janoskians film premiere in LA that same month. On the third anniversary of Emblem3 getting onto the show The X Factor (which is September 12th, 2012), Emblem3 updated their social media with the icon of Wesley,Keaton and Drew's silhouettes, further hinting a return.

After Drew finished his solo tour, they met up again in October and posted a photo of them making music together on all their social media. They released a cover of Adele's "Hello" and released the video on YouTube showing all 3 members reunited and involved. Finally, on October 25th, Drew confirmed that a) he had returned to the group and b) they were back together for new projects. On November 3rd, the band released a video announcing their official return and released details of an upcoming album and tour for 2016.

2016

On February 1st, Emblem3 released a song on their YouTube channel called "Now". On February 14th, they announced their own app (which includes free streaming of their Waking Up EP, which was then released on iTunes and Google Play Store in April) along with tour dates for their Waking Up Tour. In May, the band announced through their individual social media accounts that they were working on a full album to succeed the Waking Up EP. 

After The Waking Up Tour, the band seemed to be on another hiatus as Wesley was working with Keaton on a solo album and Drew doing solo shows. Wesley tweeted on September 23 on how this "isn't a beak up but an addition to Emblem3" as they "are all braching out and becoming ourselves as individuals"

Later, Wesley did an interview with Teen.com talking about how they were going to release an E3 album in 2016, but it was hard to get so everyone on the same page as they were all such different artists. After the Waking Up Tour ended, Drew decided he wanted to go solo again, so Wesley decided to "set himself up" and make a solo project with Keaton's help with production. Welsey said that they will release the E3 music that was made for the album seperately in single form.

2017

1/2

Home Run was released on the Emblem3 app for listen. Wesley and Drew got in another twitter fight claiming that Drew only cared about himself and not the band. Wesley also said in an interview that fame has got into Drew’s head and being selfish when Wesley invited him to a party at L.A. Drew is still pursuing his solo music under the name CHADWICK. Wesley is also pursuing solo music, releasing SoundCloud tracks and YouTube covers. Keaton released his album, The Simple Life  on March 23, 2016. Emblem3 has a patreon page to suppport these projects. The patreon releases old bts pictures and videos along with old/unfinished/unreleased Emblem3 songs.

Once again, the band went on hiatus due to problems with their agency and Drew's departure again.

2018

The band's activities were interrupted and each began solo work that year. Wesley ambitiously released many singles and played live, starting with the single "Remedy". Keaton had an ongoing musical career, including contributing songs to his friend Spencer Sutherland. Drew also continued his solo musical activities, releasing the single "Pacific" under the name "Chadwick". Although there was no activity as Emblem3 at all during this year, it was an important year in shaping the musical direction of the new Emblem3 activities that would begin the following year. In addition, the band members did not get along well with each other that year, and it was thought that the band may have broken up. Wesley was not on good terms with Keaton at the time, and Wesley's feelings at the time are revealed in his solo song "Don't Have To Say You're Sorry".

2019

Keaton announced the formation of his band THE SOCIAL on New Year's Day. Starting with the single "Any Other Way," the band released several singles, EPs, and live performances. Wesley continued his solo career, but in September 2019, Drew and Wesley started to get back in touch. They later clarified that they both missed each other's production work and live shows as a band at this time, and said that the timing of their attempts to contact each other was the same. Wesley and Drew released the EP "Pyro" under the name Emblem3 on October 22. Later, they invited Keaton to join the band again, but Keaton refused because he had been traumatized by Emblem3's activities due to past troubles. However, under the enthusiastic approach of Wesley and Drew, Keaton agreed, and once again Emblem3 restarted with the three of them.

Trivia

• Drew and Wesley often argue about who came up with the name.
• The band was originally going to be called just "Emblem" but a company already had that name so they chose Emblem3.
• At first the "3" in Emblem3 stood for body, mind, and soul, but in a recent interview they said the 3 stood for Welsey, Keaton, and Emblems. With Drew back, it can be assumed that they (privately) believe the 3 stands for the three of them. 
• Their fans are called "Emblems"
• They were going to audition for America's Got Talent but dropped out at the last second saying it wasnt right for them
• Kenny and Kyle were members of the band.
• Keaton temporarily quit the band, but he came back later.
• Nothing To Lose charted number 7 on the Billboard Top 100.
• They won Breakout Group at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards.
• They created the group Team Inspire.
• Drew left the band on June 20th 2014. He returned in October 2015
• Emblem3's snapchat is 'wesandkeats'.
• They used to do a livestream every Thursday at 4 pm PST/ 7 pm EST during the end of 2014.
• The band went on a short hiatus between May-September of 2015.
• Emblem3 returned with all 3 members in October 2015.