A “Chin Fest” with Stephen Christian of ANBERLIN

Posted on Sep 15, 2010 / Posted by Lily Howell /

With Soundwave just around the corner, Lily decided to catch up with Stephen Christian from ANBERLIN and have a chat about what Aussies can expect from the tour, Stephen’s humanitarian efforts and the state of the music industry. Enjoy….

LILY: Firstly, I’d like to take a little trip down memory lane if I could… How did you come to be where you are today, with respect to your musical influences?

STEPHEN: I have no idea! I was raised in a very sheltered home, so I wasn’t exposed to a great deal of rock n’ roll…Umm, you know we were a very ‘church-going’ family, so I didn’t get much of a chance to listen to a lot of different genres, but as soon as I went out on my own, I started to discover the 80s and my favourites were THE SMITHS, THE CURE and DEPECHE MODE. I just thought they were so great and I felt so gravitated to not only the lyrics, but also the sound and it felt so innocent, like… I don’t know how to explain it!

LILY: I think I understand what you’re saying; they’re some great bands.

STEPHEN: Oh yea, I mean NEW ORDER. JOY DIVISION, I love it! I absolutely love those bands. I mean, there’s just something about that music that just struck a chord with me that has never left and I am still absolutely inspired by the 80s. You can hear it not only lyrically in my song-writing, but at times it appears musically. That’s kind of how it all started, but I’m really just a music fan, I just love music.

LILY:
I’m loving the first single, IMPOSSIBLE, off DARK IS THE WAY, LIGHT IS A PLACE…

STEPHEN: Thank you!

LILY:…Can you tell me what was the inspiration behind the album?

STEPHEN:Well, I think behind the album, the whole inspiration was, for me, I wanted to write a ‘coming of age’ album, like J D Sallinger’s CATCHER IN THE RYE or something like THE GREAT GATSBY. I wanted that kind of feeling – a coming of age, but written into music. And so each song is kind of like this contrast. You know, like you’re impossible to love or leave. It’s that whole feeling of, ‘what is life really about, but a series of contradictions’ you know? Everybody tries to pretend they have it figured out, but no-one really does. But, I think through these contrasts though, we find out who we are and who we want to be.
Through the contrasts of life and through the ups and downs, the good and bad, dark and light of it all, you know that’s how we find ourselves and that’s how the contrasts come into play.

LILY: So, how was it working with Brendan O’Brien – he’s a bit of a big wig!

STEPHEN:Yep, he sure is. [laughs]. It was incredible! I mean, just incredible. He’s worked with such greats as TOM PETTY, BOB DYLAN, ACDC – he won a Grammy with them last year! There’s BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, PEARL JAM, and just to be able to – you know, hear his insight on our music was absolutely eye-opening. We could not have picked a better producer. I loved him and hope I get a chance to work with him again.

LILY: Now he’s a bit of a muso himself, can we him on the album?

STEPHEN: You can hear his voice and he sings the harmony on ART OF WAR. He’s in there, he’s just buried a little bit. You know, he’s an incredible musician; I mean he can play almost every instrument. He’s incredible.

LILY: Now, you have a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Do you recall the defining moment where you decided to pursue music, instead of going down the path of psychology?

STEPHEN: I don’t think I was ever going to do Psychology as a career, it was just the only thing that really grabbed my attention, you know…I’m all over the place and I’m pretty “ADHD” you know, so psychology was the one thing, like art and I could sit through this boring classes because it’s so interesting, but I was actually going to work for a non-profit organisation and one month before I graduated college, they fired me for no reason! They came in one day and said, “Hey, just wanted to let you know you’re no longer employed here.”
I thought to myself, “What am I gonna do?” And so I was in this little band called Anberlin and I was like, “why not just go and pursue music and see where that takes me?” And it’s taken me around the world!

LILY: How do you find being in a Christian rock band with regards to how the public and your peers perceive you?

STEPHEN: I definitely think that when people label us a “Christian rock band” the negative stigma is there. But we’ve never called it Christian music or ourselves a Christian band, by any means. I mean, I’m not going to deny my faith, you know? I mean, I’m a Christian who plays in a band and you know, I’m not even sure what a Christian band is!

LILY: I know, I didn’t actually know whether to ask you this question, because I find religion and one’s beliefs really quite a personal thing.

STEPHEN: Oh yea! I mean, I have no problem people asking me; I’m just an entertainer, that’s what I do, you know, and not a pastor. Like I’m never going to get up on stage and yell at people or … You know I go out there, I sing songs and have a great time. And you know, I think the frustrating part is, a lot of people turn a blind eye to religion, like they’ll say, “Oh, they’re a Christian band, so they must sound like ‘this’. “ I just want everybody to listen to it and if you don’t like us, you don’t like us, you know? But if you like the music, give us a chance.

LILY: Now you’re currently touring the US and I think you’re in Texas?

STEPHEN:Yes, we’re in Texas and we’re doing a couple of ‘in-stores’. I think it’s a great way to reconnect with fans, because the bigger you get the wider the chasm gets between who you are and them. We never wanted that, we always wanted to make sure that our fans are like friends, you know? And so, with festivals and large shows, you don’t get a chance to have some one-on-one time where they can ask questions, where they can hang out, you know, learn their names. To us, this is absolutely imperative.

LILY: The internet’s really helped with that, really connecting the fans and having a chance to kind of ‘access’ you more freely.

STEPHEN:Absolutely! I mean, that’s definitely helped. It’s really built a bridge between us and them. We try to make sure we do as much as we can on the ‘net, so they know or feel like we’re still around, we’re still available. I mean, from Facebook, to Twitter, to You Tube channels, I like to check out our Myspace. I’m into it all. I like to find different ways to connect, so they know they’re not forgotten.

LILY: Now, you’re involved in some humanitarian efforts and you co-founded an organisation to fight human trafficking, which I think is brilliant! How did you come to get involved with this?

STEPHEN: Well, in 2006 a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go to Haiti and I said, ‘absolutely’ you know? I mean again, it’s something I’ve wanted to do with my life, after I got fired [laughs]. So, I took a group of 11 friends down there and I just watched the lives just transform in front of me and I’m not just talking about the people that went down there and helped, I’m talking about us! It was just incredible, the experiences, the culture, the people, all of it. You know, getting to help as much as we could in a small village. So, coming back from there, my friends and I decided that we wanted to do something and help in some capacity, so we started FACELESS INTERNATIONAL, but we really didn’t have any direction until we went to India and worked in the red-light district, with children of those who had been trafficked and you know, who are now prostitutes… like we saw nine-year-old prostitutes, 10 year olds who were pregnant who had kids and it was just devastating. So we knew at that point, that was our mission,that was our goal, to prevent and end human trafficking, in the United States and the world.

It’s [trafficking] everywhere from the Ukraine, to India and Equador, Haiti…We’ve done trips here in the States and we’re planning to go to Africa. Anyone can come with us, we’ve actually had people from Australia come with us, on these trips. We’re just taking groups of people who want to be on the front lines, who want to fight human trafficking.

At the end of the day, we just want to know that we didn’t use our fame for sex, drugs and rock n’ roll and any type of notoriety that we got, we used it to try and make the world a better place.

LILY: Us Aussies are really pumped by the line-up of next year’s SOUNDWAVE FESTIVAL. How do festival tours differ from headlining tours?

STEPHEN: I think the biggest difference is, I feel a little more connected to the fans, when I’m at a headlining show, because I’ll get a chance to hopefully meet a few of them and shake hands, you know? Whereas on a festival tour, last time we played Sydney at Soundwave, there were 24,000 people there, so it was very hard to be able to hang out with people and meet fans and I felt like there was a giant gap between us and them, not just physically, but we just didn’t get to hang out.

I think playing festivals is very advantageous, by the fact that a lot of people aren’t there to see you, but they’re there to see IRON MAIDEN or 30 SECONDS TO MARS, or THIRD EYE BLIND, they’re not there to see ANBERLIN, but when they go, here’s this band and they’ve heard about them somewhere and they think, “Oh why not, I’ll go check them out,” and then hopefully we gain a few new fans from it.

LILY: The music industry is taking a massive dive in record sales, thanks to file-sharing and the piracy problem and a lot of bands have strong opinions on this subject. How do you feel about it?

STEPHEN:Illegal downloading is killing the industry. I mean, that’s an obvious statement.

LILY:Yep…

STEPHEN: It’s just weird to me how people justify illegal downloading, you know? I mean, you wouldn’t walk into an art gallery and take a picture off the wall and just walk out. To me, it just feels weird how people have somehow justified it, like they’re okay with stealing music.

What they don’t understand is they’re absolutely taking a toll on creativity. Let’s say you personally have one million dollars and you are in charge of a record company ok.. Now, who are you going to sign? Are you going to sign JUSTIN BIEBER and LADY GA GA, or are you going to sign these little indie bands, like us or take a chance on a band like WHITE STRIPES, because you have to make money, you have to recoup. So, what they don’t understand is, you’re killing the really small indie band and who knows if METRIC or BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE would have ever been discovered, 10 years from now.

LILY: I know. And you know, Stephen, I think there are bands out there who have a thousand times more talent than some of these bands artists who are getting money thrown at them – personally, I don’t get Lady Ga Ga, [both laugh] but I think it’s so sad that people with such talent, aren’t getting a chance at all.

STEPHEN: Companies will look at the Top 40 and they’re going to go, “okay, rap is selling, boy bands and pop music is, then you have pop singers like Lady Ga Ga and Kesha’s selling. So, then companies are going to sign bands like that and forget the rest of us. Why sign, if nobody’s buying?

So in 10 years, pop, rap and country music will be all that’s on the shelf, you know? Everybody else is going to have to get a day job. And whilst they will put out independent albums, that they produced themselves, they won’t tour, because they can’t afford to and no label will give tour support.

It comes down to voting. If you like a band, buying a record now is not just to have a physical copy, buying an album now, is a vote. Think of it just like a politician. If this is your favourite band, and you want them to succeed and you want them to tour and you want them to get produced by a good producer, then just buy the record.
I mean, we used to struggle and we still struggle. I lived with my parents up until about two-and-a-half years ago, I sold my car because I couldn’t afford insurance, I don’t have health care, I mean, people have such a false perception of how we live. They think we’re living in the 80s, living in mansions and making millions of dollars. Dude, it’s not like that at all! We’re not rich and we don’t have money and that doesn’t matter, but we want to make a next record.

I mean, here’s the thing; If ANBERLIN’S latest record doesn’t make money, I mean, if this doesn’t make as much as NEW SURRENDER, our previous record, we’re done as a band. It’s over. Like, Brendan O’Brien is one of our favourite producers and he’s not cheap, you know? So, if we can’t pay back our record label, we’re done. They’ll drop us and for us it was like, “well where are we going to go now?”
For us and this record, we are absolutely on the brink of breaking up or the brink of success, but either way, we’re on the brink and honestly, a lot of this has to do with illegal downloading.

LILY:
Stephen, that seriously sucks and I sincerely wish you and the guys all the success in the world. Thank you much for talking to knobrock and we’ll see you at Soundwave, in Australia next year.

STEPHEN: Thank you so much, Lily, we can’t wait!

Check out Stephen’s charity organisation, Faceless International http://www.facelessinternational.com and Anberlin http://www.anberlin.com or http://www.myspace.com/anberlin

Tags: anberlin, faceless international, interview, knobrock, soundwave festival