quadrangle questions
THE QUADRANGLE Questions:
1. How is this tour going?
the tour just ended about less than a week ago. it feels good to finally be home after those 9 weeks. but it ended brilliant, it was probably one of my favorite tours we have ever done. the other bands were really really good, and im always up for traveling anywhere, meeting new people, and playing shows.
2. How was the tour in Australia?
unreal!!!! i would never expect to sell out a tour in another country, and especially not a country on the other side of the planet. new zealand’s parachute fest was unbelievable as well, playing in front of 18,000 people singing along was a bigger rush than i can explain in mere words.
surfers paradise felt a lot like florida, sydney and melbourne i would move to in a heartbeat. perth was beautiful but we didn't get enough time there at all. and new zealand has the best rugby team in the world (the all blacks) so everywhere we traveled was phenomenal.
3. Some people would put you in a category of not only rock but Christian Rock...does this bother you guys in the sense that you just want to make music without being a label?
yes it bothers me, not because i am ashamed of my faith in the least bit, but because christian music is not all that unique or, in my opinion, or original in the least bit. i think that if you like a bands music you should like buy their CD regardless of what race, creed, sexual orientation, or religion they belong to. music is universal. i would hope that people would judge our music, individual songs and live show by what they see and hear, and not ignore it, or downplay it just because the band holds has faith in something bigger than themselves.
4. Were you worried about getting labeled as a band?
well we knew coming into tooth and nail that we would automatically be labeled, but our hope was that people would be open minded enough to see past the labels and give our art (music) a chance.
5. Would you even put yourself in any category?
no way. every time you put yourself in that genre you are destined to die with that genre. if you labeled yourself ‘grunge’ you died with that scene, if you call yourself ‘emo’ you are destined to disintegrate when the fad is over. but if i had to label my self i would call us straight up rock. because as we all know rock and roll will never die.
6. Radio stations have been picking up the single Paperthin Hymn, how does that feel to know your songs are on the radio?
i could have never predicted that something i put down on paper, then onto a record would ever be broadcast on the radio. in a word its very humbling.
7. Is that a goal you always thought about reaching?
no that seemed like too lofty of a goal a year ago. now it is teaching us to reach for the unobtainable, try our hardest, and make bigger plans then we ever thought possible before.
8. Each song has strong guitar sounds and catchy melodies so any reason you picked Paperthin Hymn as a single?
i think paperthin hymn is right in the middle of our music. its not as poppy as day late friend, its not as slow as symphony, and not as heavy as feel good drag. its right in the middle. and i hate it when you buy a bands album and that one song sounds so different than all the rest. i believe if you like paperthin you would like the rest of the album.
9. When tooth and nail signed you what were initial reactions?
we had no idea the ride we were in for. for sure. i never imagined we would be touring non stop, around the world, and NEVER thought that people would take to us, and buy the records like they have. my sincere thanks to each and every one of you that helped us along the way.
when we signed we were excited but nervous for sure. we were so nieve that everything advancement or opportunity was the biggest thing that could ever happen. sometimes i wish i could go back to those days.
10. Was it stressful to make the demo because you really wanted it to make an impression?
no, i think we as the band were giving up on music. we were making the demo as a last ditch message in a bottle type of deal. if something landed then great, if it didn't, well we had something to walk away with and show the grand kids. but we got allot of attention from major labels right off the bat, but that is not where we thought we would best belong. so we signed with tooth.
11. What’s the main difference in Never Take Friendship Personal from Blueprints for a black market?
the biggest thing is confidence. for drums nate was comfortable. he had turned from a prodigy to a professional in the matter of one album. deon experimented more with playing on his own then following the lowest note of the guitar. me and joey pretty much did our own production. aaron was absent for a good majority of my vocals. but it turned out great. it pushed me to do it on my own, get better at my weakness’s instead of relying on aaron to come up with something. i want to continue that on this next record and do the vocal production completely by myself... since ‘friendship’ was pretty much just that.
12. What were you going for sound wise on Never Take Friendship Personal?
raw energy. we wanted to pull off a live show on a record. aaron (sprinkle the producer) really enjoys making radio rock albums, and we like dirty, gritty music. so when we finished friendship i think we had the amalgamation of the two.
aaron had never seen us live before he recorded our first record, so coming into the second one we asked him to come see a couple of shows to get the idea of the impact, and energy we wanted to hear on the record.
13. Would you say you experimented with guitar sounds more?
yes! joey did all his own guitar tones on this record, he experimented for hours with sounds and different types of guitars. i think he spent more time coming up with the sound than recording!
14. The first song is Never Take Friendship Personal and so is the album, why?
the name for the album came from a hard time we in the band had just dealt with prior to getting into the studio. we had just kicked out a member because his focus was ‘sex, drugs, and rock and roll,’ where ours was simply rock and roll. the music came first to us, but he had already adopted the rock star idiosyncrasies, and none of us could handle that. in a near fist fight between him and i once he yelled, ‘why don’t you go write a *&@#$ing song about it’. i one upped him. i wrote a record.
15. The album has done well, selling over 100,000 copies. Were you worried about the sophomore slump?
oh yes. i thought for sure the first album would be better then the second. no question. i think everyone is scared of the sophomore album. you have your entire life to write the first record, but only a year and a half to write your second. that is pressure. especially since i write my songs out of personal tragedy or experiences. and being in a van for a year and a half, your days are more monotonous than monumental.
16. Stephen, you said you try to make every song a true story , are you ever worried that your writing about someone or something that people you know will know its them or a situation involving them?
yes they know. a lot of them are not flattered in the least bit. some friends have distanced themselves from me in hopes their failures will not appear on the next record. but i cant help it. i cant just write a song for the sake of writing a song. it wouldn't resonate in people as much as it does if all the songs were not relatable. i want people to feel or have felt in their own lives every song that comes across their radio. poppy boy band stuff could have a catchy chorus, but it means nothing. i want my life and my music to have meaning.
17. You started the band with Deon and Joey out of boredom, is it funny in a way to look back because Anberlin is a successful band?
its a conundrum. we never in a million years thought that our boredom would turn us into the busiest people i have encountered. we rarely have time off and when we do there is always fly out dates, practice, interview, or some business matter to discuss. but i would not have it any other way. i try not to take a single day for granted!
18. You 3 also had to teach yourselves everything, was there ever time you got fed up?
not fed up, frustrated but not fed up. i think that this business is so huge the more you know the more you realize that you have no clue.
i try to read and explore as much of it as i can. i don’t want to be nieve as to where our name is represented. i want to know at the end of the day that i have done everything in my power to follow my dreams and passions to the best of my ability and not let life pass me by. it is time consuming like i said before, but completely satisfying.
19. Both Nathan’s joined the band later, what were you guys looking for in new members? Why did they fit with the band?
nate young has been with us since the beginning of anberlin essentially. strayer started as our merch guy, then he went to guitar tech and finally he started playing guitar for us when he was ready. more than their ability to play guitar like eddie van halen i think we want somebody who meshes well with us personality wise. we spend ALOT of time together and if somebody is going to act like a rock star... well, we know the ending of that story.
20. For the Paperthin Hymn video, why decide to work with Chris Sims?
chris simms had only really done hard core bands up until working with us. we wanted the video to be a little darker and more thought provoking than our previous video day late friend. with that in mind we turned down a lot of directors and treatments before finally settling on chris. he did NOT let us down.
21. Inspiration for video? The ending kind of surprised me because you think the girl is going to die with the boy by her side by in the end it's him that ends up dying.
hospitals. the whole song is about a series of deaths that occurred to a couple of us in the band, including joey’s sister who was only 29 and had a one and a half year old son. we were trying to portray the emotions that were behind the song, and i think it worked.
22. What’s up next for Anberlin?
nathan young and myself are going to haiti for 2 weeks to help build an orphanage. its something we have wanted to do for some time, and being that we had a couple days off it worked out perfectly.
in june we will be headlining a couple weeks before meeting up with hawthorne heights in late june.
that carries us up until we meet up with story of the year and do a canadian tour with them which ends in late july.
we end in seattle and being recording our 3rd record (out this fall), and will be up there for nearly 2 months. after that we are trying to make an australian/new zealand/japan tour happen with our good friends copeland.
so as you can see were staying busy... following our dreams. (and loving every minute of it).
1. How is this tour going?
the tour just ended about less than a week ago. it feels good to finally be home after those 9 weeks. but it ended brilliant, it was probably one of my favorite tours we have ever done. the other bands were really really good, and im always up for traveling anywhere, meeting new people, and playing shows.
2. How was the tour in Australia?
unreal!!!! i would never expect to sell out a tour in another country, and especially not a country on the other side of the planet. new zealand’s parachute fest was unbelievable as well, playing in front of 18,000 people singing along was a bigger rush than i can explain in mere words.
surfers paradise felt a lot like florida, sydney and melbourne i would move to in a heartbeat. perth was beautiful but we didn't get enough time there at all. and new zealand has the best rugby team in the world (the all blacks) so everywhere we traveled was phenomenal.
3. Some people would put you in a category of not only rock but Christian Rock...does this bother you guys in the sense that you just want to make music without being a label?
yes it bothers me, not because i am ashamed of my faith in the least bit, but because christian music is not all that unique or, in my opinion, or original in the least bit. i think that if you like a bands music you should like buy their CD regardless of what race, creed, sexual orientation, or religion they belong to. music is universal. i would hope that people would judge our music, individual songs and live show by what they see and hear, and not ignore it, or downplay it just because the band holds has faith in something bigger than themselves.
4. Were you worried about getting labeled as a band?
well we knew coming into tooth and nail that we would automatically be labeled, but our hope was that people would be open minded enough to see past the labels and give our art (music) a chance.
5. Would you even put yourself in any category?
no way. every time you put yourself in that genre you are destined to die with that genre. if you labeled yourself ‘grunge’ you died with that scene, if you call yourself ‘emo’ you are destined to disintegrate when the fad is over. but if i had to label my self i would call us straight up rock. because as we all know rock and roll will never die.
6. Radio stations have been picking up the single Paperthin Hymn, how does that feel to know your songs are on the radio?
i could have never predicted that something i put down on paper, then onto a record would ever be broadcast on the radio. in a word its very humbling.
7. Is that a goal you always thought about reaching?
no that seemed like too lofty of a goal a year ago. now it is teaching us to reach for the unobtainable, try our hardest, and make bigger plans then we ever thought possible before.
8. Each song has strong guitar sounds and catchy melodies so any reason you picked Paperthin Hymn as a single?
i think paperthin hymn is right in the middle of our music. its not as poppy as day late friend, its not as slow as symphony, and not as heavy as feel good drag. its right in the middle. and i hate it when you buy a bands album and that one song sounds so different than all the rest. i believe if you like paperthin you would like the rest of the album.
9. When tooth and nail signed you what were initial reactions?
we had no idea the ride we were in for. for sure. i never imagined we would be touring non stop, around the world, and NEVER thought that people would take to us, and buy the records like they have. my sincere thanks to each and every one of you that helped us along the way.
when we signed we were excited but nervous for sure. we were so nieve that everything advancement or opportunity was the biggest thing that could ever happen. sometimes i wish i could go back to those days.
10. Was it stressful to make the demo because you really wanted it to make an impression?
no, i think we as the band were giving up on music. we were making the demo as a last ditch message in a bottle type of deal. if something landed then great, if it didn't, well we had something to walk away with and show the grand kids. but we got allot of attention from major labels right off the bat, but that is not where we thought we would best belong. so we signed with tooth.
11. What’s the main difference in Never Take Friendship Personal from Blueprints for a black market?
the biggest thing is confidence. for drums nate was comfortable. he had turned from a prodigy to a professional in the matter of one album. deon experimented more with playing on his own then following the lowest note of the guitar. me and joey pretty much did our own production. aaron was absent for a good majority of my vocals. but it turned out great. it pushed me to do it on my own, get better at my weakness’s instead of relying on aaron to come up with something. i want to continue that on this next record and do the vocal production completely by myself... since ‘friendship’ was pretty much just that.
12. What were you going for sound wise on Never Take Friendship Personal?
raw energy. we wanted to pull off a live show on a record. aaron (sprinkle the producer) really enjoys making radio rock albums, and we like dirty, gritty music. so when we finished friendship i think we had the amalgamation of the two.
aaron had never seen us live before he recorded our first record, so coming into the second one we asked him to come see a couple of shows to get the idea of the impact, and energy we wanted to hear on the record.
13. Would you say you experimented with guitar sounds more?
yes! joey did all his own guitar tones on this record, he experimented for hours with sounds and different types of guitars. i think he spent more time coming up with the sound than recording!
14. The first song is Never Take Friendship Personal and so is the album, why?
the name for the album came from a hard time we in the band had just dealt with prior to getting into the studio. we had just kicked out a member because his focus was ‘sex, drugs, and rock and roll,’ where ours was simply rock and roll. the music came first to us, but he had already adopted the rock star idiosyncrasies, and none of us could handle that. in a near fist fight between him and i once he yelled, ‘why don’t you go write a *&@#$ing song about it’. i one upped him. i wrote a record.
15. The album has done well, selling over 100,000 copies. Were you worried about the sophomore slump?
oh yes. i thought for sure the first album would be better then the second. no question. i think everyone is scared of the sophomore album. you have your entire life to write the first record, but only a year and a half to write your second. that is pressure. especially since i write my songs out of personal tragedy or experiences. and being in a van for a year and a half, your days are more monotonous than monumental.
16. Stephen, you said you try to make every song a true story , are you ever worried that your writing about someone or something that people you know will know its them or a situation involving them?
yes they know. a lot of them are not flattered in the least bit. some friends have distanced themselves from me in hopes their failures will not appear on the next record. but i cant help it. i cant just write a song for the sake of writing a song. it wouldn't resonate in people as much as it does if all the songs were not relatable. i want people to feel or have felt in their own lives every song that comes across their radio. poppy boy band stuff could have a catchy chorus, but it means nothing. i want my life and my music to have meaning.
17. You started the band with Deon and Joey out of boredom, is it funny in a way to look back because Anberlin is a successful band?
its a conundrum. we never in a million years thought that our boredom would turn us into the busiest people i have encountered. we rarely have time off and when we do there is always fly out dates, practice, interview, or some business matter to discuss. but i would not have it any other way. i try not to take a single day for granted!
18. You 3 also had to teach yourselves everything, was there ever time you got fed up?
not fed up, frustrated but not fed up. i think that this business is so huge the more you know the more you realize that you have no clue.
i try to read and explore as much of it as i can. i don’t want to be nieve as to where our name is represented. i want to know at the end of the day that i have done everything in my power to follow my dreams and passions to the best of my ability and not let life pass me by. it is time consuming like i said before, but completely satisfying.
19. Both Nathan’s joined the band later, what were you guys looking for in new members? Why did they fit with the band?
nate young has been with us since the beginning of anberlin essentially. strayer started as our merch guy, then he went to guitar tech and finally he started playing guitar for us when he was ready. more than their ability to play guitar like eddie van halen i think we want somebody who meshes well with us personality wise. we spend ALOT of time together and if somebody is going to act like a rock star... well, we know the ending of that story.
20. For the Paperthin Hymn video, why decide to work with Chris Sims?
chris simms had only really done hard core bands up until working with us. we wanted the video to be a little darker and more thought provoking than our previous video day late friend. with that in mind we turned down a lot of directors and treatments before finally settling on chris. he did NOT let us down.
21. Inspiration for video? The ending kind of surprised me because you think the girl is going to die with the boy by her side by in the end it's him that ends up dying.
hospitals. the whole song is about a series of deaths that occurred to a couple of us in the band, including joey’s sister who was only 29 and had a one and a half year old son. we were trying to portray the emotions that were behind the song, and i think it worked.
22. What’s up next for Anberlin?
nathan young and myself are going to haiti for 2 weeks to help build an orphanage. its something we have wanted to do for some time, and being that we had a couple days off it worked out perfectly.
in june we will be headlining a couple weeks before meeting up with hawthorne heights in late june.
that carries us up until we meet up with story of the year and do a canadian tour with them which ends in late july.
we end in seattle and being recording our 3rd record (out this fall), and will be up there for nearly 2 months. after that we are trying to make an australian/new zealand/japan tour happen with our good friends copeland.
so as you can see were staying busy... following our dreams. (and loving every minute of it).
posted by Sven at 3:01 PM
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