{"id":37575,"date":"2019-03-31T14:26:11","date_gmt":"2019-03-31T03:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=37575"},"modified":"2019-03-31T14:26:49","modified_gmt":"2019-03-31T03:26:49","slug":"stephen-christian-of-anberlin-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2019\/03\/stephen-christian-of-anberlin-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Christian of Anberlin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cWe were tired, tired of the road, tired of our jobs, tired of our lives, and tired of each other, again there wasn\u2019t any animosity but it definitely took about a year for people to start talking to each other again.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Release: Australia holds a special place in the hearts of ANBERLIN and fans similarly embrace the band with open arms.\u00a0 This coming May 2019, the love affair continues with the band returning to play shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth for the first time since announcing their break up in 2014. At these incredibly special shows, ANBERLIN will be performing songs from their classic albums \u2018Never Take Friendship Personal\u2019 and \u2018Cities\u2019, as well as career spanning fan favourites from their stellar discography.<\/p>\n

We gave Anberlin front man Stephen Christian a call to find out just what is going on with Anberlin\u2026 check out what he had to say\u2026<\/p>\n

What an absolute pleasure to talk to you again, didn’t think we’d be chatting again any time soon\u2026<\/strong>
\nI know! It has been many, many a year.<\/p>\n

It has, it\u2019s actually been five and a half years since we last chatted, and boy howdy a lot has happened since then but let\u2019s catch up, how have the last five and a half years been for you?<\/strong>
\n*laughs* Up, down, all over the place, some of the best of my life, some low points you know it\u2019s life, I guess that is generally life, and I\u2019ve lived a lot of it but it\u2019s been yeah, fantastic.<\/p>\n

Now this tour has come out of nowhere! So tell us, after a breakup back in 2014, how are you heading back to Australia, what\u2019s happening here? *laughs*<\/strong>
\nSo here\u2019s how it goes, you know I think a lot of times when you start a band there is so much passion\u00a0 involved, there\u2019s so much motivation, everything is inspiring and life just seems so full and rich then when you take that same passion and you put a monetary figure on it and you start to make that as a n income and it becomes your profession, slowly the passion wanes and it just feels like what was once purposeful and full of life becomes a career and a profession and I think that sucks a lot of the passion out of it. So at the waning years of Anberlin starting in about 2013 it just became a chore and a task as opposed to life itself and invigoration and so basically we left in late 2014 exhausted and tired and just longing for the days to where life was once ours again. Over the years we realised you know going back with Anberlin when it\u2019s on our terms and our timing and when it suited us as opposed to us being obligated to go on tour, or obligated to write record, obligated to do all the stuff, it\u2019s back to being full of life, it\u2019s back to being a passion and a joy and something we look forward to as opposed to vetoing tours and dragging our feet and getting on a bus or getting on an airplane. So of course when we all kind of got together and talked about it last year, last July, the first place we wanted to go was Australia because obviously this will be our fourteenth time going and to us it\u2019s just everything that encompasses and embodies what we loved about the band. It was the crowd screaming back at us, the insanity of it all, the shows, the travel, the camaraderie, the brotherhood , and again the passion is all back and so Australia was first and foremost on our list.<\/p>\n

I thought it was just because you missed us so much, and thanks for confirming that.<\/strong>
\n*laughs* It\u2019s so true.<\/p>\n

Tell us how these shows will shape up set wise, have you thought about set lists as yet?<\/strong>
\nYou know the simple fact of the matter is we\u2019re not trying to make it, we\u2019re not trying to be a band, we\u2019re not trying to reinvigorate, this isn\u2019t like a reunion we\u2019re not back together, the band isn\u2019t back together and so for us we were thinking let\u2019s put ourselves in the side of the fan, if we were a fan and one of our favourite bands broke up and they got back together what do we want our set list to look like and that\u2019s why we really wanted to focus on albums like \u2018Never Take Friendship Personal\u2019 and \u2018Cities\u2019 and \u2018New Surrender\u2019 because down there that\u2019s what sold the best. So I don\u2019t want to call it a greatest hits show or anything like that, we definitely want to play a few songs out of the blue but we definitely want to focus on things that we ourselves if we were fans wanted to sing along to and so that\u2019s going to be our set list.<\/p>\n

OK well this fan would love to hear \u2018Breathe\u2019, so if you want to do that please do so!<\/strong>
\nAwesome! Well there you go! I like it.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s get back to the return, after you all went your separate ways, what was the catalyst behind getting back together? Was it like you said did the passion just come back?<\/strong>
\nWell, no, I\u2019m gonna be brutally honest. On that last year of touring we collapsed, there wasn\u2019t fighting in the band, there wasn\u2019t screaming or yelling, there was just simple exhaustion. We were tired, tired of the road, tired of our jobs, tired of our lives, and tired of each other, again there wasn\u2019t any animosity but it definitely took about a year for people to start talking to each other again. It was no hard feelings, it was just time of life, we had literally spent the best past of twelve years together, seven, eight, nine months a year sleeping next to each other bunk next to bunk for twelve years, so we just kind of felt like we needed a break. After a couple of years we realised and I wanted to call a few of the guys and just say \u201cIf there\u2019s any hard feelings or anything that I did , if I frustrated you\u2026\u201d I mean I was and it was really tough on me the last few years and I kept saying no to tours and didn\u2019t want to be on the road and I just called and said \u201cHey man, if I ever frustrated you or if there was a point of contention on my part I just want to say I\u2019m sorry.\u201d We all had different visions of where the band should go the last few years and different visions of what real life looked like, you know some of the guys still wanted to be in a band, they still want Anberlin to go full time again and they know that\u2019s not a possibility and they still even now. I just called and said \u201cI\u2019m sorry\u201d and I think that was just being real with them and the impetus of saying \u201chey I really miss you guys, we are a band of brothers, we have spent more life with each other than our own parents or our own wives like you know more about me than anybody else, let\u2019s be friends.\u201d Then after friendship it was let\u2019s talk about the good old times, then after the good old times it was like you know what would be so cool, go travel one more time, go see the world one more time and so that\u2019s kind of how it all started.<\/p>\n

You mention going to see the world one more time, I know a lot of people were absolutely Australia? What about us, what about my city? Can we expect to see Anberlin in more territories over the year?<\/strong>
\nYou know, I don\u2019t want to promise anything, we\u2019re kind of just taking one step at a time and again we I think the majority of us love our lives where we\u2019re at right now and don\u2019t see the band as like a full time profession and I don\u2019t ever want it to be, that was the whole thing that was frustrating us at the beginning just trying to have to feed so many mouths, tour managers and managers and lawyers and booking agents and it was kind of a perpetual machine that if we didn\u2019t tour these people didn\u2019t survive, so we felt almost obligated to appoint to tour and I don\u2019t think any of us want to feel that way again, we just kind of want to be liberated. So honestly we have Australia in sight and if other territories kind of fall into place then that\u2019s great, but for me like I\u2019m just ecstatic about Australia.<\/p>\n

We were too, I woke up and saw the announcement and had to check it was real\u2026<\/strong>
\n*laughs* Well good man, I\u2019m so excited, it\u2019s gonna be great, just a few shows it\u2019s not like we\u2019re there for weeks on end but I was talking to a good friend of mine just today and he said \u201cMan are you excited about Australia?\u201d I was like \u201cDude, I just calculated it and I\u2019ve spent almost four months of my life if you combine all of those tours, I\u2019ve spent almost four months of my life in Australia!\u201d That\u2019s insane to me, that\u2019s a lot of time, so it just feels cool to be back and see the same people, the same places, the same faces, so yeah, it\u2019s surreal.<\/p>\n

So\u2026 I should ask, is there a possibility of new music?<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s one of those things that I don\u2019t think will ever happen, because again this isn\u2019t like a reunion, this isn\u2019t a revitalisation or a rebirth of the band, we\u2019re not trying to promote or push anything, so if there ever is new music it would have to be because\u2026 *sighs* I just don\u2019t even know\u2026 I don\u2019t think so, all cards on the table we have not written a single song, there\u2019s not music being passed around or songs or anything like that. To me it\u2019s just one of those things where if it happens it has to be natural but again another reason we don\u2019t want to push a record is because let\u2019s say we sign to a label then the label expects us to tour, then we\u2019ve gotta get back\u2026 the obligation just makes it such a chore, I want this to be one of the nest tours of my whole life, I want this to be so full of life and laughing and just being ourselves and being friends again and brothers and family that kind of putting that much weight on whatever this is this soon it just seems like it would suffocate the band more than it would bring health.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s easy to say what\u2019s changed over the years but what for you is the one thing that\u2019s stayed the same about Anberlin?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s funny that at the core of who we are, that really never changes like our character, we may change like our taste in music, we may change cars, we may change clothes, but honestly who the guys are at the core that has never changed. Joey is still absolutely lovable and amicable, Christian is the most friendly guy you\u2019ve ever met, Deon is the most loyal friend you\u2019ll ever have, Nate is beyond creative, and not a single aspect of those guys has changed.<\/p>\n

Lastly let\u2019s look ahead to the future and this might be fun, finish this sentence for me, in 2019 Anberlin would like to\u2026<\/strong>
\nOh my gosh\u2026 in 2019 remember what we loved, I guess that what it is, just look back with not only utter fondness but be on stage in that one moment remember what captivated us and what kept us there for so long, I think that would be the best part of 2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Catch ANBERLIN back in Australia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday 25 May<\/strong> – The Tivoli, Brisbane
\nSunday 26 May<\/strong> – Enmore Theatre, Sydney
\nWednesday 29 May<\/strong> – The Forum, Melbourne
\nThursday 30 May<\/strong> – HQ, Adelaide
\nFriday 31 May<\/strong> – Metropolis Fremantle, Perth<\/p>\n

Tickets: https:\/\/sbmpresents.com\/tour\/anberlin\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Florida, USA<\/p>\n

Band members:\u00a0<\/strong> Stephen Christian \u2013 Vocals, Guitar, Deon Rexroat \u2013 Bass, Joseph Milligan \u2013 Guitar, Nathan Young \u2013 Drums, Christian McAlhaney \u2013 Guitar<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.anberlin.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n