With a resume that includes fronting the band Automatic Loveletter, a stint on The Voice and a solo career that’s featured a summer on Warped Tour, listeners have had plenty of opportunities to discover Juliet Simms’ raspy rock vocals. With the release of her new EP, From The Grave (due out July 15), listeners will have a chance to discover the person behind those vocals.

In anticipation of the new EP, we spoke with Simms about the personal nature of the release, as well as her attempts to avoid being pigeonholed and the time her quick thinking helped keep her—and her old bandmates—out of handcuffs.

Your new EP is titled From The Grave. Did you feel buried in some way when you entered the writing process for this EP?

I did. I actually really did. Having come off of many record deals, lots of ups and downs with my band, The Voice, kind of being not really artistically free in the record deal I got after The Voice... it kind of felt like I had been burned a couple of times, and I felt a little bit buried, definitely.

During the writing process for these songs, these songs were more of like an, “I’m not gonna feel sorry for myself. I’m not gonna let this stop me, or stifle me, or kill me. I’m gonna come back with a vengeance.” These songs are more of the aftermath of having gone through something a little bit dark, and this is the coming out of that, and rising up, and how that can affect you mentally, and spiritually.

I imagine writing about those types of personal subjects can bring about some revelations. Do you have any especially memorable moments from the writing process?

You know, particularly “Phoenix” and “Found Missing.” I think writing those songs—and really taking a look at yourself—like really confronting yourself, it kind of brings your awareness up, so to speak. I feel like a lot of people can have a fog over them at times, and don’t really want to look at what’s in the mirror, and I think that taking a look at what’s in the mirror, seeing things for what they are, and not being afraid to point out your flaws, and point out what’s wrong with you, and wanting to fix it, brings about a level of awareness, and a level of confront, and an ability to take something on with more strength. I think that’s what I got from writing “Found Missing,” and “Phoenix,” more strength, and being able to see myself and be like, “I’m gonna fix that. I don’t really like that about myself, I’m gonna fix that,” and not letting it affect me in a depressive way.

You mentioned strength, and I know that, along with personal growth, is an important aspect of From The Grave. What, to you, most exemplifies your personal growth, or strength, since the last project?

I guess I would say, just a little bit thicker skin. Not letting things, or people, or words, or hate, or the business side of the music industry, really get you down. Don’t take it so personally. Don’t let it affect you. Life doesn’t have to be so serious. It really doesn’t. Life can be fun, and full of joy, and I think since the last project I’ve really, truly found that.

You went from Automatic Loveletter, to The Voice, to being a solo artist. A lot of people would look at your career and see all of those things as stepping stones. At any point, however, did you feel like one, or more, of them was less a stepping stone, and more a false start, and did it ever get you down?

Yeah, of course. The music industry is so hit or miss. You can’t really predict what’s gonna work, and what’s not gonna work. It’s all about the right timing, right team, right songs, right record, right everything. It’s really really hard to predict what’s gonna help, and along the way you’re like, “Well, I’ll try this. Well, I’ll try this. Well, I’ll try this.”

I definitely feel Warped Tour was a massive stepping stone.

I don’t want to dog The Voice, but I look back, and I’m not gonna lie, I’m like, “What if I had just kept going with Automatic Loveletter, and didn’t throw up my hands and go, 'OK, well, I’ve tried for a decade, I may as well go on a singing competition show.'”

The Voice was not a setback in the way of fan growth, because it certainly gave me this amazing stage, and platform, to sing to a bigger audience, so that was huge, but at the same time, for a while, it took me a little while to get out of that, “Oh, the girl that should have won The Voice,” “The raspy singer from The Voice” pigeonhole.

You've toured a lot. No matter how professional everyone may be, touring usually involves some hijinks. During all your time on the road, what’s the closest you’ve come to getting arrested without actually getting arrested?

I was on the road with my band Automatic Loveletter. This was so many years ago. This was like seven or eight years ago. At the time we were traveling in an RV, and (our tourmates) were traveling in an RV, and we’d usually follow each other to the next venue. One day we were somewhere in the Arizona area, down one of those straight desert roads that just goes for miles and miles and miles. We got bored, and we started throwing food at each other’s RVs. We were going back into our little kitchens and finding anything we could—chips, Cheez Whiz, crackers. We were having a food fight on the road while were driving, which is not OK, I don’t condone that, littering, very not cool.

This went on for about 15 minutes. Finally what ended it was the sirens pulling us over. The cops thought that we were in a fight. They thought we were attacking each other. We were like, “No. Oh my gosh, no. We’re on tour. We’re both in bands. We’re all friends. We love these guys.” The cop said, “OK, just so you know, with the amount of food you guys littered, and trash, and shit like that, I could fine you thousands and thousands of dollars... I could arrest you guys right now.”

I ended up being like, “Do you have a daughter?” He said, “Yeah, I do have a daughter.” I said, “Maybe she’s heard of my band.” He called his daughter. He goes, “Have you ever heard of Automatic Loveletter?” She’s like, “Yeah. Oh my God, I love Automatic Loveletter.” He’s like, “OK, she knows who you guys are. If you give me some merch, and a CD, and you sign it, I’ll let you off.” I was like, “Done,” and we got off.

What would have happened if the daughter hadn’t heard of you?

We would have gotten fined for sure. I don’t know if we would have necessarily gotten arrested, but we certainly would have had to go down to the police station.

That story could have ended with you guys in orange vests picking up trash by the desert.

Yeah, no shit. Automatic Loveletter does community service.

To end things on a humorous note, when you’re driving in your car, what’s the most embarrassing thing someone might catch you singing along to on the radio?

I don’t really have shame, or embarrassment. I’ll listen to Britney. I’ll listen to Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, proudly.

Singing is fun. When you know the words it’s even better.

I love that you said, “When you know the words it’s even better,” because we’ve all had the moment when we get to that verse...

Yeah, and you keep moving your mouth, and you look away, so if anybody’s looking at you they’re like, “Well, they’re still moving their mouth, maybe they do know the words.”