Taking
Things Personal 101
Anberlin came to town this past summer and so naturally the BotD team was there to 10 questionize
the situation. We had a little chit chat
with lead singer Stephen Christian, and dipped into a little bit of everything
from side projects, to famous fans, to Canadian cities that rock the most.
Stephen also dishes out some wholesome advice on what one should take personal
in…
10
Questions with Anberlin
- by Mattias and Dave-OS -
1. Your past two albums hugely
brought in your fan-base. What kinds of things would you like your new fans to
know that they might not know about you now?
S:
Well, we’ve been doing this for about three and a half years now, we’ve been on
Tooth & Nail Records and just got a chance to tour with a lot of amazing
bands, and so I guess….I don’t know what to tell them…. Well just come and hang out at a show, you
know. It’s usually like…That’s one of our strong points. Just like the
interaction and just having a lot of fun and stuff like that.
2. Paper Thin Hymn: What can you
tell us about the video?
S:
Well the song is actually written about me and another guy in the band. When
this album was being recorded, we had members of our family pass away, so it
was a really rough time in our lives. So it was like we wanted to capture what
we were going through with like a song; and with the video we wanted to capture
what the song was about and the kind of the hurt. I guess kind of the depths of
depression that you can get into when people that you care about so much pass
away.
Mattias: So like, in the video, is the girl only dreaming about the guy
pushing her?
S: See
I don’t know *laughs* I have no idea. It’s just one of those things where like,
I didn’t want the director to tell me what happened. I think it’s cooler if you
could like formulate your own story. So, sure, whatever happens.
Mattias: I watched it like three times and I was like “what’s going on?”
S: There
are so many different possible scenarios. Like, that whole thing could have
been in her head, or it could have all been in his head, or who knows.
Mattias: And at the end, everything’s fine again…but is it?
S:
Yeah *laughs* We don’t know. So yeah, I love it like
that.
3. What’s the reason behind the
title “Never Take Friendship Personal”?
S: Um,
there was a guy in the band we had to kick out for the last record and he was pretty
much into sex, drugs, and rock & roll -and that’s something we weren’t into
at all. That’s something we didn’t even want to be associated with. And so I
think the final straw was when he almost got arrested for giving minors beer
and then getting in a fight with a security guard – a female security guard at
one of the shows, and we were like “Dude, are you serious?” I mean, that’s a
horrible reputation. Maybe for Mötley Crüe that would be cool, but like, we’re not like that at
all. And so, it was kind of like when we kicked him out of the band, we always
thought that we were like better friends with him than we were. And he just
like, completely turned his back on us and trashed us. It was just like
“Alright” you know, and so…I think one of the last practices we had with him, me and him were like seriously going to get into a fist
fight. It was just bad. And so, he was like “Why don’t you just write an f’ing song about it?” and I was like “Ohhh,
he should not say that to a lyricist.” So…that’s what the song’s about
and everybody kind of liked that phrasing of “Never take friendship personal”
as far as a name for a record.
Dave-os: How long did you know him before that?
S:
Like five years – five or six years maybe. We had been
friends through high school and stuff like that. Man, it was just weird- really
rough.
Mattias: Do you still talk to him?
S: Noo. Last I heard he’s mowing lawns on a golf course so
good for him.
Mattias: What’s something you should take personal?
S: The
irony of it is, you should take friendship
personal. Like, obviously that was said out of spite, you know. Like at the
moment you’re almost fed up. But you know, there’s a lot of stuff you should
like… especially families are one thing you should take personal. And your beliefs, whatever you believe in. Whatever you hold
dear and whatever you’re willing to die for, that should be held personal. So, beliefs, family, and friends. Very good friends, you
know, like close friends, not someone who’s going to mess you over in the end.
4. Punk Goes 90’s: You guys are
on it, you had the Depeche Mode cover. What’s a song
you want to cover that you haven’t covered yet?
S:
Wow. There are so many. I would love to cover something by the band The Smiths,
just because they’re my favorite. But it’s so hard to cover them because
they’re such an untouchable band like The Beatles. Like if you cover a Beatles
song, you’ve got to be kidding me. I’ve only heard one cover that’s been good
and I don’t even listen to Fiona Apple, but she covered “Across the Universe”.
Unbelievable! Almost (I know this is irreverent and almost sacrilegious) almost
better than the Beatles. But so… There are certain
bands you shouldn’t cover, but I think the next thing we want to do is either
The Promise or that [sings]: “You spin me right round” *laughs* I just think it’s fun. I think it’d be a lot of fun to do. Who knows though?
5. What are your top five
favorite Tooth & Nail bands?
S:
Wow. The Juliana
Theory for sure. Zao’s up there – top
five. I can’t give an order yet. Maybe Juliana’s first. Um, Further Seems Forever – I just thought
that all three records were like different.
Mattias: Yeah, they had like a different lead singer every album right?
S:
Yeah, and if you look back, they use to be Strongarm.
And so the band has had five different singers for five different albums. Isn’t
that nuts? You have to kinda like sit back as a band
and go “Dude, I don’t think it’s something wrong with the singers anymore. I
think it’s us”. *laughs* …Twothirtyeight -unknown band but man, if you get any Twothirtyeight albums, they’re just years ahead of their
time. Like, they should just be coming out now. I mean they’re so way
ahead of their time. Five? Man, that’s hard.
Dave-os: They could be current or old.
S:
Yeah, I’m not too fond of any current bands. Um, I don’t know… I really like Living Sacrifice, that’s an honorable
mention, but um… Let’s just do those as the top four, ‘cause
I’m going to kill myself when I figure it out. *laughs* But I think that’s
it.
6. Can you tell us a little bit
about your solo project, “Anchor
and Braille”?
S: I
am sooo excited about it. I think I’m going to do one
release on Tooth & Nail with it, just because they own our souls and so I
pretty much have to – No, I’m just kidding; I like them. I don’t know, I’m just really excited. It’s like we were sitting around
December, Copeland and us were off at the same time and so I was like “Why
don’t we do something”. ‘Cause I had been doing acoustic shows on my own just
for fun, you know? And um, so I called Aaron Marsh, the singer of Copeland and
was like “Dude, why don’t we just put something together, me and you?” And he
was like “Well, I’m not really for it because you write all the songs and stuff
like that, and you’ve been playing now. Why don’t you just do something
and I’ll produce it?” So I pretty much called all the guys in Copeland and some
of the local bands and was like “Hey, would you come and work with me on my
record” and everyone was like “Oh yeah, yeah”. So it pretty much sounds like if
I fronted Copeland. *laughs* That’s what it ended up being because me and Aaron
switched off on piano and guitar and then Jon Bucklew,
the Copeland drummer played, and a guy named Louis from Gasoline Heart –
they’re a really good local band. It really just turned out to be a lot of fun
to make. Just a lot of fun, but I’m really excited about it.
Mattias: Did any of the band members get jealous?
S: No,
because they all have their own thing. Like, I just can’t stand sitting around.
Like, if we have time off, I’m either going to tour or I’ll find another band
to hang out with, or I’ll do something. I’ll travel or something but I can not
sit at home like they can. They love time off and I’m just like tour, tour,
tour, tour. *laughs* So, they don’t care. I mean, they
could do it too, you know? I think Nate our drummer
is working with Timmy from Underoath and they’re
doing a side project, and little stuff like that. So,
I don’t know. They don’t really care. They’d rather watch movies than do stuff
like that *laughs*
7. So this last summer was your
Canadian tour,
S:
Actually, this is really, really random – We had an off-night last night and
instead of taking the night off, in appropriate Anberlin
fashion, we played a show. So we played in
Mattias: Was it a secret show?
S: No,
we put it up on our website, but we didn’t know about till last minute. But it
turned out to be over sold out, people were just like
lined up at the door, cuz I guess they just don’t get
too many shows in
Mattias: Yeah and the scene is like booming there. Bands like Stutterfly…
S:
Yeah! Yup, yup… I heard that. And then there’s another band last
night…Dissension…something in Dissension, that was from there and they were
really good. The best city we’ve been to was
Dave-os: No.
Mattias: Nah.
S:
Dude, it’s like
Mattias:
S: Oh,
Oui, oui. No *laughs*
8. Adam Lazzara’s?? dad is one of your fans. Who would say
is one of your most famous fans?
S: Oh,
I don’t know man. Yeah, Adam… To sound giddy like a school girl, like the fact
Adam knows who I am, I’m like “Oh my gosh!” *laughs*
Mattias: And his dad too!
S:
Yeah, yeah. But I have no idea, I mean, maybe there’s somebody out there that…
Like we’ve heard certain people, like Saves the Day are into us and New Found
Glory, but we don’t know. We never meet a lot of these people and stuff like
that, so…I dunno. From what I know
for now, probably Adam. But I got to meet a lot of cool famous people; like
I got to meet Elijah Wood and Jack White and stuff like that through the band. Jack White’s such a pioneer and that’s why I
like him so much.
9. If you could rule a kingdom,
what would the one thing you’d order your people to do be?
S:
Wow. Okay.
Dave-os: It could be anything.
S:
That’s good. Um, there would have to be a Starbucks coffeemaker in every
household just incase I visited them because I need my split and skinny mocha
on ice. *laughs* That would be my one grand rule.
10. Who would you like to see
next on Band of the Day?
S:
Well there’s a couple bands, so could I suggest more?
Mattias: Yeah, definitely.
S:
Well there’s this really cool band from
Mattias: Yeah, a lot of bands give us bands that they’re on tour with, but
this is better.
S:
Yeah, Gasoline Heart is really one of my favorites right now because…I don’t
know if you guys like Ryan Adams or
Mattias: Does it sound right?
S: It
sounds beautiful. Because like she sings, and then he sings and they switch
off, and you don’t know who’s the girl and who’s the guy because they kind of
have the same voice. I just like creative music. Like just anyone that’s not
afraid to step out of the bounds of whatever’s going to be acceptable. So those
are some of the bands that I really like right now.
Well as
you can see, not only is Stephen the lead singer of a famous rock band, but
also a wealth of musical knowledge. I
think there were enough bands mentioned in this interview to fill up BotD for weeks.
Don’t forget to pick up a copy of Anberlin’s
“Never Take Friendship personal”, and check out Anchor and
Braille while you’re
at it. Anberlin’s
new album “Cities” is set for release this February.
Bring on
the Day,
The BotD team