Sara: For the record state your name and what you do in Anberlin
Stephen: My name is Stephen Christian and I sing in the band Anberlin


Sara: Cool. What would you change about the current music?
Stephen: Well… starting with maybe the superficiality. I just don’t like how everything revolves around what’s cool and what’s not and what people wear and what videos play where. I wish it would go back to just being music you know?
Sara: Yeah
Stephen: Like, think about it as you have people like and I’m not a fan of Janis Joplin she was probably the most imperfect woman in history but she was amazing, she had an amazing blues voice and a great rock and roll lifestyle she was great but you see you take her and integrate her into today and she would never make it because everyone wants some 15-year old blonde hair fake girl. They don’t want real music so I would like to see it go back to real music. Where it was just centered around rock more than entertain their puppet. And I wish people would be really be careful with the influence they have, that they have to realize that it’s no longer about sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, like that’s not cool anymore that is completely dated. I think more people in the music scene should get involved helping create a better world. Like Chris Martin or Bono stuff like that, people that are trying to make a difference with their music instead of trying and taking advantage of other people, living their lives for themselves. I guess the last thing is I would like more groups or bands, not just necessarily in the indie-rock scene but I guess music in general to go back to their own songwriting and not having other people write their songs for them. I think that kinda just takes away from the beauty of it, the raw… the talent of it. To have someone else write all your songs for you and you just get into a mic and sing something again it’s more like a puppet on a string and no a music industry.


Sara: The tour you are on is almost over, what has it been like, is there a reason why it stands out more than other tours?
Stephen: Yeah absolutely, like first off I was just talking with Anthony from Bayside, they are on tour with us and I was saying yesterday “Man I just wish this tour would never end” because it’s great I love the 4 bands, I mean the, 3 other bands we are on tour with Jonezetta, Meg and Dia, and Bayside. They are just incredible people, and incredible musician, and just a lot of fun. And the thing is they are really responding. This is our first headlining, tour ever, it’s just really cool to be able to finally headline and play over an hour worth of music. That just sets it apart, it just makes it really cool for us to be able to take out our own lighting guy and sounds guys, I don’t know just kinda make it an Anberlin show, instead of always opening up for other people. So the shows have been incredible, the response to the record was great as far as sales and reviews and stuff like that but I think the real test of the record is do people show up to your shows and stuff like that. And if they do show up, are they singing along to the new songs or do they just want you to play your old stuff? I think it’s really cool, people are really responding to the new record and so yeah this tour is completely different then all the other tours.

Sara: What are plans after this tour, I heard you are going to play Warped Tour?
Stephen: Right um right after this tour we don’t even go home. We go straight to Canada then we spend 2 ½ weeks there then we play Bamboozle and I think we play May 6th. Then we have 2 weeks of and then we go to Japan, Singapore, Austrailia, and New Zealand with our good friends Copeland. Then right after that we come and we have about a week off then we play Warped Tour for the first time in our entire lives so pretty exciting. Then right after that we head off to Europe and come back then in the fall we will probably open for someone, that’s small.

Sara: How is your most recent album different from your other ones?
Stephen: I think the biggest thing would be confidence. I think that over 3 ½ years you learn your instrument, whether it’s your voice or bass, guitar or drums you just learn it, just night after night you get to play it. So going into the studio we all new what we were capable of whether it was a vocal range, or no matter what the instrument was we all just got more confident at it. So it was incredible I think the song writing took a turn for the better because we had more practice at it and we… like the other records, first record we walked into the studio and had 9 songs, so all 9 had to go on the record, the second time we had 11 songs so we could only chop 1. This time we had 15 songs and we got to narrow it down to the 10 that we wanted on the record and just gave the other ones away whether it’s through comps or itunes, or a special addition. So that what was really cool about it we got to pick and choose about what would sound best on the record.

Sara: What made you decide to record with Aaron Sprinkle again?
Stephen: Well we didn’t want to at first, we didn’t want to make Never Take Friendship Part 2. We wanted to kinda make a brand new record completely set apart from the other and what happen was we called him and kinda voiced our opinions we were like “hey man I just don’t think we should record with you” and he was like “yeah I totally understand.” So we started looking around for other producers and what happened was Aaron called back said “listen guys, I think that you’ve grown as a band and I’ve grown as a producer and how about we take this record and make it completely different and set it apart and try to come up with the best record. So what we did was we recorded with Aaron but, we went to a new studio called “London Bridge” where Pearl Jam recorded their record “Ten”, and Alice in Chains records, and Nirvana, Soundgraden all these alternative bands from the 90s. But, it was an amazing studio right outside of Seattle, Washington. We also got a different person to mix and master the record. The same guy that did Andrew WK and we got a new engineer Randy Torrez. So we just made sure that everything surrounding Aaron Sprinkle was different. So that it would come out sounding much bigger and a much better record and we realized that going with Aaron Sprinkle and utilizing his specializes which is the production of the song, you know making it the best possible song was the absolute right choice for us.

Sara: Myself and other people that I have talk to think that “Cities” is a much more mature the Never Take Friendship Personal, was this intentional or did it just happen?
Stephen: I think a little bit of both. We set out to make lyrically a deeper record, even a little more darker, not on purpose I think that just came with time, with the natural progression of the songs and just where we were in life. When I sat down to write the record I didn’t have a concept or anything like that I just kinda wrote what was going on in my life and told Joey about it, and told Joey what kind of direction I wanted to take the song so Joey kinda worked around the lyrics and around the feel of the record I think it worked out perfectly. We didn’t plan it. I think it was kinda like the natural progression of life.

Sara: What do you find difficult about being in a Christian band?
Stephen: I don’t know. I’m not really in a “Christian band.” I can tell you what it’s like to be a Christian in a band. Not all of us in this band profess Christianity so it’s like I can’t really speak for everyone else. For being a Christian being in the music scene it’s awesome, I mean there are definitely challenges and stuff like that but you know I think that, I try to make a positive influence on the rest of the bands members, the rest of the world. As far as being a Christian band I don’t know how to answer that really.

Sara: If you could tell people one thing about your band that most people don’t know what would it be?
Stephen: Oh wow, that we are not like the stereotypical band. It’s so funny. We don’t do the normal you would think, everything that goes along with a band like go hang out with girls, and go get drunk, or do drugs or anything like that. We are totally abnormal, like me and Nate’s only addiction is coffee, like everyday you will find us no matter what time we are in we are in the coffee shop, like the closest coffee shop. Deon and Joey are like completely into movies. Christian is completely into video games. It’s what we do. It’s so hysterical we are just not the normal band. Like people hang out with us all the time are like ‘you guys are band guys, why don’t you go out and party.’ It’s just like ‘I don’t know! I don’t know.” It just seems so alluring to me. So that’s about it. We are kinda dorks.
Sara: That’s cool!
Stephen: Probably the best summation is we are not cool enough to be in a band.

Sara: Not too long ago you went to India what was that experience like?
Stephen: Aw, man it was heart-wrenching and emotive and all the way around one of it was one of the best experiences of my life. We worked with an organization that taught human trafficking and they were amazing. It was an amazing experience it’s something that I want to take every person that’s in a band. Going back to your first question and asking about what I would change about the music industry that is one thing I would change. I wish that every single person that is in a band was forced, or asked to go overseas and experience any kind of third world country and come back, they’ll realize that “wow, we take so much for granted everyday we have a roof over our head and food in front of us and people catering to every need we have” and when you go over there and you see this adverse poverty and these heart-wrenching people, that can’t afford anything, that don’t even have running water or have to sell their bodies just to put food on the table it will totally wake you up. So that is why this December I am going with a group of guys just anybody that wants to come as far as band related people we are going to go Nairobi, Kenya and help fight AIDS, help fight, there is also and orphanage there, that the roof collapsed and we are going to go and help build the roof during the day and help teach AIDS prevention.
Sara: Wow…
Stephen: And it’s something that I want to keep doing I want to keep taking people that may never experience third world poverty or other bands that may never actually have a chance and kinda just coordinate the trip because I think more people would go if they could just, if they had the resources or if somebody was organizing the trip. So that is what I’m doing. I want to organize trips, and hopefully maybe that’s a legacy that I can leave with Tooth and Nail, or just the band world as we know it. Maybe hopefully when I get done being in a band, hopefully there is someone else that will take other bands across the world and maybe open up their eyes and I’d like to see how it starts to begin to influence their music and maybe their lifestyle and maybe how they influence other people and just hopefully I’ll get a chance to influence the listeners. You know? You don’t have to go to India to create change in the world. You can just go to Habitat Humanity in your own town. There’s tons of organizations that just, they don’t need your money as much as they need your time. Maybe there is a soup kitchen in your town or something like that, maybe they’ll get involved, maybe I’ll help be like conduit to the listeners and they’ll think “well crap if they can do that then I just want to” I don’t know that is kinda my ultimate goal my ulterior motive to going on these trips. Not only helping the people I come in contact with but also helping people in other bands to kinda get motivated and go out and make a difference and change in this world .

Sara: So that kinda leads into my next question. What do you want people to take away from your music?
Stephen: Well I want them to take away… I mean there’s to parts to be so candid and coursed to quote my own lyrics but in the “Unwinding Table Car” one of the lines is “I want to lead you in and out of the dark.” And I think that there is a point in everyone’s life where they have to come to terms and to grips with themselves and to figure out what they believe. Whether it’s about life or faith or beliefs or morals or decisions or choices in their life. I think that everyone can’t be spoon fed, you can’t just swallow a pill of whatever your parents believe or whatever your friends believe but you have to come to grips with what you believe. So I would hope that all my listeners kinda challenge themselves to kinda grow and seek knowledge and truth and figure who they really are. So I think that is my first point is to lead them into the dark and kinda question them “hey, what do you believe.” And then, out of the dark is that fact I think there is hope for everyone, I think that no matter how lonely or depressed or bipolar or how bad your life circumstances has gotten you, no matter the abuse you have taken or have given, I think there is hope for everyone . That you can change your life you can make a difference and stand up and say “you know, what I’ve been doing I wrong, or what they’ve been doing is wrong and I am going to get out of this situation.” So I would hope that everyone would find themselves and realize that again to quote a lyric “there is more to living then just being alive.” That it’s just not all about trying to make it through the day, it’s about living life to it’s fullest. To being whatever they dream or whatever they think they can become. They really can. They just their mind to it. So you don’t have to go through life just really living but realizing that there is so much more to this life then just the mundane you know, speaking and existing.

Sara: Do you have any advice for young bands that are just starting out?
Stephen: Yeah! Tons! Oh gosh, well if I could go back in time and tell myself something, I would tell them that there is this thing called “lawyers” and you might want to get one before you sign a contract. So don’t be naïve, like what you said music business, music industry. It is music. It’s 50% music it’s also 50% a business. You can’t go in there thinking that you are so artsy. You know you are just going to do something so different. That you are going to recreate a wheel or that you are going to do something so avant garde you know the business isn’t going to affect you. Everything affects you. The tours that you are going to go on you have to be smart about. The mangers that you pick and trust, you know the lawyers, the booking agents. You just have to realize that at the end of the day yes, you create music for a living but yes, you are in a business. You are in a company and if you don’t want to handle that then you do find someone that is going to do it. Find someone you really trust. Whether it’s another band mate or a close friend someone in your family, that is going to make the business decisions. You just can’t be so artsy that you don’t think that this is going to affect you. If you keep thinking that and you keep signing your contacts just so you can keep creating music you are going to wind coming home off your tour for the first 2 ½ years of being in the band like we did and having to get a job. I dug ditches, you know Nate mowed lawns, Joey worked at he worked at like this bottling company doing graphing charts. So I mean all of us had day jobs because we just couldn’t afford it because we made some early business mistakes. And also realize, go to school as long as you possibly can. You can play weekend shows. You can book classes Tuesday through Thursday so you can go take weekend tours but until it comes to the point where your booking agent says “look we have two tours lined up” go to school go to school as long you can. Don’t drop out of college because you got a show 2 weeks from now. You know?
Sara: Yeah
Stephen: Like that doesn’t cut it. Always have a plan b. And at first I was like “oh whatever” and then I read one of the Misfits they had done an interview. I forgot what magazine it was but one of the guys from the Misfits was like “oh probably one of my biggest regret was I waited so long to go to school and now we are kinda winding down touring and I missed out on college, I missed out on a degree” and I guess he was going back to school or something like that. And it’s just like you get into college and I ended up taking 2 years off before going back because I thought my other band was going to go someplace and it didn’t it went nowhere it was just stagnate and I missed out on two years that I could have been in college or something like that. So stay in college as long as you possibly can. And then also utilizes marketing. Realize that when people buy your t-shirt at shows and stuff like that, that just doesn’t get gas and food for your next show but that is also advertising realize that stickers, keep your stickers and your shirts cheap at first. Make them as inexpensive as possible. The whole idea of get your name out there so people are inquisitive and people feel like that got to check out your band. So just be smart and realize that there’s a lot of great books out there if you go to Barnes and Noble they have a whole music industry section form literally business contracts to something like Musician’s Atlas or something like that which gives you numbers to agents and clubs and works hard. The most important all that aside, it doesn’t matter about your looks or how you dress what matters the most is your music. There are some ugly bands out there but they got great songs [laughter by both] but honestly, it’s all about the music, write great songs. Study music like as if it was your college class go back to the greats The Smiths, and The Beatles, and Led Zeppelin. Who started rock and roll and realize that we all come from blues and jazz. Like it’s all blues it’s all early music. Here we are… the worst thing that America has, the most atrocious thing that my beautiful country has every done is slavery, but out of that slavery came the most beautiful thing, one of the most beautiful thing is the blues you have Holland Wolf, Buddy H- all these amazing blues artists. Just all these great and some day we as rock and rollers transpired. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the likes of Little Richard and stuff like that just people early that were just like “hey, I am going to go out there and I am going to pick up a guitar and I am going to run around stage” like why do we do that? Because blues turned to rock and roll. Study jazz there are some great musicians Nina Simone and John Coltrane and Miles Davis and Sonny Smith who could absolutely tell stories and bring you to your knees but they didn’t even tell you words there was no words or lyrics utilized it’s just an instruments. So I don’t know, go study music. It’s an amazing world out there don’t limit yourself to just one genre your core, you don’t want anybody to know you are into The Beatles or something like that.

Sara: That’s it but do you have anything to say to the World Wide Web?
Stephen: Ah, I don’t know I think we kinda covered it as far as going back to the whole think like what Mahat Magandi said “Become the change that you wish to see in the world” Go out there and make a difference. Whether it’s through music or painting, or becoming a doctor or a lawyer just you know go out and make differnce in this world and make it better. That would be my salvation to the World Wide Web.

Sara: Thank you so much!
Stephen: Thank you Sara I really appercaite it.