Having released their sixth studio album at the end of 2012, Floridian five-piece, ANBERLIN, will be celebrating their 10th anniversary by bringing brand new anthems to Australia in September. SEAN FRAZER caught up with drummer NATHAN YOUNG.
You guys just got off the Anberlin Lite tour, how did that go?
Man, it was so great. We did a similar tour in the past about a year ago and that was amazing. The last time that we toured Australia was actually one of the things that inspired us to do this tour. We came out to Australia last time and did the ‘Evening With Anberlin’ tour which was sort of a chilled sort of set, which inspired us to do this tour.
You guys are coming back to Australia for your first tour in two years this September. How are you feeling about your return?
We are so excited! It’s crazy that it’s been that long. Australia has been like a second home to us. I think this will actually be the tenth or eleventh time that we’ve been on your shores.
Have you guys got some favourite things or places that you like to do in Australia?
Yeah, we’ve got plenty of friends in Melbourne that we always go and see, and actually Melbourne is one of our favourite cities to visit and to play. Early on in our careers we did all the typical touristy things, you know, we went to Sydney to see the Opera House, for example, so we’ve done all that. When we head there now we just sort of chill and just soak up the Australian lifestyle.
This year you’ve got The Maine, and William Beckett (The Academy Is) supporting you guys on the Australian tour. The Maine are also hanging with you guys on your tour through the US and UK. You guys must be tight?
Well, actually, we haven’t even met them yet [laughs]. We’re good friends with the guys from Taking Back Sunday and those guys have been friends with the dudes from The Maine and we thought we wanted to mix things up a bit and tour with The Maine. We’re going to be touring with The Maine for months at a time. It’s a little weird that we haven’t met them yet but like I said, they’re really good friends with Taking Back Sunday, so if they say that they’re fine then we vouch for them and believe it will all be fine.
You guys are going to be on the road with these guys a long time, hopefully you all get along!
I was just about to say that [laughs]. Hopefully they’re not crappy dudes and we all get along. We’ll find out soon. I’m sure they’re cool.
Do you guys always get the final say with who you get to tour with?
Yes. When it comes to tours it’s totally up to us who we tour with.
What is it that you look for in a support band on a tour as big as the one set with The Maine?
We like to pick bands that are either similar to us, or what we’re into at the time. Music wise, we’ll be listening to the band every night so if we dig them that’s an added bonus. But in saying that, if a band that we’re touring with is full of awesome dudes, that can be enough, we don’t particularly have to be into their music to have a great tour.
I was at your show at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney around two years ago. You guys played a Crowded House cover in the middle of your set, are there any surprises in store for the Australian tour?
Actually on this tour I don’t think that we’re playing a cover this time, especially now that we have a fair few albums out. Cover songs take up space, and if we’ve got so many songs now that we want to play, our originals will take priority in the set list always. We love playing covers though!
All of your records have been significantly different, but you guys have managed to keep that definitive Anberlin sound without having to change too much. What is the collective goal for the band when heading into a studio for the sixth time?
Well with every record you want to progress, you want to push yourself and you don’t want to just put out the same record over and over again. But you also want to keep that same sound, you don’t want to abandon those people that have been listening to your stuff since the beginning and spoil that relationship by completely changing your sound. You have to find the perfect balance. I think with Vital it was really important for us to push ourselves and to do stuff that we haven’t done before, but not drastically change too much beyond recognition, if you know what I mean.
How has the reaction for the latest album, Vital, been?
For us it’s probably been the best reception that we’ve gotten from any of our records. People always used to say that Cities was our best record. But I remember when Cities came out and it wasn’t getting that many good reviews, but people are still talking to us about that record to this day. Cities was the kind of record that took time for people to get used to. But when Vital came out, across the board, it felt really good. We’ve had people coming up to us saying, “I’ve never been a real big fan of Anberlin but I really like this record”. This album has helped us branch out on a different demographic than our previous records. So for us it’s just been really exciting, we worked really hard on this new one so it’s been great knowing that people have been happy with it across the board so far. In saying this, I’m not sitting here saying that no one doesn’t like it, because I’m sure there are people out there that might not, but from what we’ve seen and heard its been really positive feedback.
Do you feel that Anberlin are continuing to pick up new fans with each record that you release?
Yeah, that’s what it’s felt like. To be able to still be around after ten years and six albums and have people say things like “man, I’m really digging this new album and I haven’t heard of you guys before”, it’s all that we could ask for, to be able to still progress our style and continue to pick up new fans on the way.
You guys have quite a catalogue of songs now having released so many records, it must be getting harder to pick which songs make the set and which ones end up on the cutting block?
Yeah, totally, it’s definitely tough; you’re not going to make everyone happy. To pick the ones that we want to play off six albums is pretty tough but after the years of touring that we’ve done, we’ve been able to pin point which ones are the crowd favorites. If you go too far back into the catalogue of songs and start playing really old songs, there will generally be about two or three people cheering on and the rest not really knowing the tune, so after plenty of years on the road we’ve been able to see which songs are crowd pleasers and which ones won’t be played again. We never want to be that band that you go and see and all that we play is our latest record that no one knows that well.
I know that you have plenty of tours happening over the next few months, but what else is on the Anberlin calendar?
Well, right now we’re actually in the studio messing around and recording some new songs for something that we’re about to do, which is really exciting. We head on over and see you guys in Australia then we do a full tour in the USA, then we head to the UK for the Warped Tour. Right now it’s just working hard until the end of the year.
So you’re recording right now? Is that for an upcoming EP or a new album?
Um… it’s actually… I can’t say [laughs]. It’s one of those things where we haven’t really told anyone about what we’re doing in the studio. But at the moment we’ll settle it by saying, we’re recording three new songs.
Anberlin performs at Newcastle Panthers on Friday September 6, 2013.