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Anberlin.
Emo's pretty trendy at the moment - and so is denying your status as an emo band. But, when Anberlin's enthusiastic frontman Stephen Christian tells me that he's not in an emo band you can't help but believe him. "Emo to me is just a phase. In the grand scheme of life I hope we lie just in the rock category, just straight up rock. Hopefully when you're fifty years old you'll still put in an Anberlin CD and say, 'man, I used to love these guys, this brings back so many good memories!'"
Listening to Anberlin's second album 'Never Take Friendship Personal' you can see what he means. While there are undeniably emo elements, Anberlin borrow from everyone for their eclectic mix of hard-edged punk blasts and 80s flecked pop. Most importantly, it's delivered with an abundance of honesty, and it soon becomes apparent that honesty's typical of the band: "That's what's so great about it, man," Christian emphasises. "We're just a bunch of kids that happened to get lucky and play a three chord song and write a catchy chorus and, bam, they were on tour. I don't take that one bit for granted."
Lucky could be an understatement. Plucked from obscurity in Florida by Tooth & Nail Records, home to Further Seems Forever, Anberlin's 2003 debut 'Blueprints For The Black Market' was a storming success in the States and they soon found themselves on tour with the likes of Fallout Boy, Story Of The Year and My Chemical Romance. It wasn't all smooth sailing though - deaths in the family and a painful line-up change (hence the album's name) also had a telling effect on the band that, according to Christian, is evident on their second effort. "I love the first record, but I think that the second record is a step in the right direction as far as maturity," Christian says. "Lyrically I think I've matured... the lyrics have a lot more staying power as far as helping people through situations, or giving life lessons, or talking about the heavier things in life instead of just bubble-gum rock that you see a lot of today. That is definitely one of the things we tried to achieve on this record and I think we really got it. We tried not to evolve musically on this album. I wanted to sound like the same band, but I just wanted to mature and get to a whole new level - and bring our audience with us, because they're growing up too, you know? They're learning new things about the world every day. I didn't want to lose their attention, but I wanted to bring them with us."
The fans certainly came along for the ride - all but two shows on Anberlin's recent US tour sold out. Now, however, comes a new challenge, as the band heads to Australia, and overseas for the first time. "This is honestly the most thrilling thing that has happened in Anberlin's history," Christian tells me. "To have our album out internationally, it's huge - I couldn't believe it when we finally got it out in Australia, but then to find out that we were going to go there on tour? It was unbelievably exhilarating. This is something that you dream about in childhood, travelling, but Australia? Oh man, I never thought that was possible."
Nor is he daunted by the fact that they come here relative unknowns. "The idea of going on tour to a new place is to win over new fans and to prove yourself, you know? So what if we have a following in the States? We have to win you guys over. We're gonna come there with a clean slate and say, 'hey, let us prove ourselves to you, let us show you why we should be one of your favourite bands.'"
In fact, Anberlin's plan to seize the opportunity pretty much sums up Christian's philosophy on life: "Honestly, bands at our level, we don't earn a lot of money. I don't even own a car, I don't have health insurance, I don't have anything. Life is not all about money. It's not about possessions. It's about memories and it's about living life to its fullest... I don't wanna be the biggest band in the world, it doesn't matter to me. This is just an amazing ride and I'll keep riding it as long as it will let me."
Matt Vesely
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Anberlin play an all-ages show at the Enigma Bar on Fri 22 July with Antiskeptic and In Fiction.
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