Anberlin interview with Stephen Christian

by Joe Toeben – 2009

 

So how is the tour with Taking Back Sunday and Envy on the Coast going?
Really good, we’re only in day 4 so we haven’t gotten that much experience in it, so far all the shows have sold out and they’re just two incredible bands.

Yeah I think I saw Taking Back Sunday two years ago with Underoath and Armor For Sleep, it was awesome.
Wow I can’t imagine.

So what’s the reception to your newest album, “New Surrender”?
It’s been really good; I think on the radio we’ve had a lot of success there. This is the fastest selling record we’ve ever had, you know if that’s any indication, it’s definitely the best record thus far.

Is “Never Take Friendships Personal” the best selling record? Or is it “Cities”?
Nope, Never Take.

I really like the new one. I had never heard of you guys, and then I heard Feel Good Drag on the radio one day and then I was like wow these guys are good so then I went and bought the album and took a while to get into it. So about a week ago I started listening to it again to get ready for the concert and it’s really amazing.
Oh thank you.

Feel Good Drag as heavy as it is, I mean it seems a little heavier than the rest of them but really the album as a whole, with The Resistance, Disappear it’s altogether a great one.
Thank you very much.

No problem. Just to add on to that, what was the reason to re-record Feel Good Drag?
I always had a hunch that it could have been a radio hit back in the day, I kinda guess my hunch paid off.

It did very well too. 20 some weeks on the chart?
It’s sitting at number 5 right now; it’s been on there for 32 weeks.

Congratulations.
Thank you very much.

So do you consider “Cities” or “Never Take Friendship Personal” to be a bigger commercial success?
Commercial? I don’t think either of them was. We were on Tooth and Nail records and it’s just a DIY label, so I don’t think commercially they had that. I think the newest, “New Surrender” has the biggest potential.

So between you and your guys are you exactly where you wanted to be musically and life wise?
I think the guys would say yes. Like I never really set out for music, it was more along the lines of going to college, getting a Masters degree, go work with like a non-profit charity but I just happened to stumbled into music, it wasn’t like I didn’t mean to get here, it wasn’t like a goal. All of this is great, it turned out to be a wonderful life.

How would you describe your sound?
I don’t think anyone sets out to start a band and then the next decision is how should we classify ourselves as? I think we leave that up to the listeners, or the critics, you know people who listen to it. I just kind of like Anberlin, let the fans decide.

What does Anberlin mean, or where does it come from?
About 6 years ago, I was having a conversation with someone, that he had a niece that was just about to be born and her name was Amberlyn, so I was thinking about it and I came back to the rest of the guys, and I said how about Amberlyn for a girl’s name? They were like yeah that’s cool. We tried to figure out a band name and nothing else stuck, so I just said let’s call ourselves Anberlin, you know till you guys think of something better and they never thought of anything better.

What was your name before that?
We all had different bands. I was in an acoustic band called The Tasties, the drummer was in one called Bottlerocket and Deon and Joey had a band, one of them was in a band called I’m Not Sure. We all had different kind of punk rock bands so some of them overlapped, I was with Joey in another band and Deon before we got around to Anberlin.

What is the meaning behind the Feel Good Drag video?
A lot of the songs I write, I like to keep open ended and the video is nothing different. But for me I just felt like she was dragging him down and he was still like I have to be with you even though this is wrong and and before you know it she was gone anyways.

What was the reason for leaving Tooth and Nail for Universal?
We feel like we had hit a glass ceiling at Tooth and Nail. They are a great, great label and I would recommend any band to sign up with Tooth and Nail and for us we felt that we didn’t fit with a lot of the bands genre that Tooth and Nail specializes in and we kind of felt like Universal had that next level, as far as radio, expanding, like if we would have never signed at Universal we wouldn’t be doing this interview, because you said the first time you heard us was on the radio with Feel Good Drag, see that’s something that would have never happened on Tooth and Nail, so I didn’t sign to get commercial, I signed so me and you could have this interview.

Well that’s a good reason, it’s not about being famous, it’s about getting recognized and doing what you love. What was the reason to add the rhythm guitarist, Christian to the new record instead of leaving it to Milligan?
We definitely could have done that but we know that Christian comes from a great band called Acceptance and Christian was one of the primary music writers there and so we felt like Christian brought on a whole new different sound to Anberlin. We could’ve done a record just by ourselves and just left Christian for touring but ever record subsequent would’ve sounded the same, all the first 3 records would’ve sounded like the fourth and the fourth like the first 3. We just wanted like an injection shot of a new sound.

So is there more rhythm guitar incorporated in it then?
There is rhythm guitar in all the albums but I think that maybe the rhythm had a little more integral part on “Retrace” and “Blame Me!” which are rhythm oriented songs, which both those songs were written by Christian.

Do any of you guys live the straight edge lifestyle?
Yeah I mean we have for years. I don’t think any of us would call ourselves straight edge, we wouldn’t wear X’s on our hands or join their club or anything like that. But as far as not like getting wasted and we’re not out for girls or anything like that, we’re basically out there to make music.

What’s your favorite part about touring?
I think the whole goal of touring is being on stage in front of the crowd, having them sing along. I think if there was any way that I could teleport home after the show, then come back after I’d probably do that, because we’ve been out there for 5 and a half years and I don’t remember what home feels like. So when I’m there is feels amazing but I’d say being up there in front of the fans, if it wasn’t for them, I don’t think I’d be doing this.

Who would you say are your major influences?
I think my biggest influences are Jeff Buckley, Steven Patrick Morrissey, Jimmy Neko, John Bunch, Freddie Mercury, Paul and John from The Beatles, if I could cultivate all their talents into one person I think that’d be my favorite of all time.

Going back to Feel Good Drag, can we expect more heavy songs like that?
Yeah absolutely with the culmination of Christian I think we are going to start going back to the riff-rock, stuff like that I think would be really fun because we have had a lot of success with that so that makes us want to go in that direction even more.

I think I read something, it could have just been a rumor but I read something about a compilation album coming out on Tooth and Nail?
That, we are trying to shoot down. We were dumb kids, we signed a contract when we were young so they have that option to do it if they want. We’re really good friend with them so hopefully they see the light of day.

So what’s next for Anberlin?
After touring?

Maybe a break?
You know I think it’s just tour and record and tour and record, that’s going to be the segment till we’re done. This year is pretty packed up we’re going to Australia, Singapore, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico then back to the United States then a Canadian tour next year so we’re just going to keep going.

So can we expect a new album in 2010?
That’s the goal, yeah.

Who would you say the nicest or coolest band to tour with is?
I don’t think I could do the reverse and say that we didn’t like anyone we’ve toured with. There’s been a lot of good bands we’ve got to play with. I can’t say I’ve had a negative experience, Taking Back Sunday is awesome, Envy on the Coast are super rad dudes, so far so good.

Well I think that’s all I got for you. Thanks again for taking the time to do an interview with us.
Thank you too. Are you sticking around for the show?

Oh yeah, I wouldn’t miss it. Thanks Stephen.
You’re welcome.