My name is Stephen Christian and I sing for the band Anberlin.

We were all from a small town, kind of a very small community of musicians. We kind of formed out of the ashes of a lot of smaller projects. Everything from acoustic. Nate was in a punk-rock band, kinda wanna say hard-core band, but very much like aggressive punk rock. In the way of Against Me and Avail and stuff like that. We were all in different projects and just got together and started the band. Then we eventually got Christian from an amazing band Acceptance. And he joined us and now is Anberlin! Anberlin, the name. It comes from several (laughs) At the beginning of Anberlin we used to make up all these kind of different stories, because no one actually knew where it came from. We just kind of thought of it. I thought of it for my daughters’ name. I was listening to Radiohead one day in college, and thought in the song, “Everything in its right place,” It sounds like in the background, backwards it goes ‘Anberlin’ of something to that effect. And I thought, Oh Anberlin, that would be a really cool name for a daughter. Then we were at band practice and nobody could think of a band name. So we threw it in there until somebody thought of something better. And so it became Anberlin. That was nothing exciting like we used to make up!

Oh man. I think multiple things. In no particular order. I think friendship is a huge factor because we’ve all been in this together for quite some time and its like these are my best friends and I love to travel and I love to hang out with these guys. They’re so much fun. Also music is a huge passion. Being able to write and create art that’s almost tangible, that people can relate to and can feel. So that’s a huge thing. Also I think Anberlin gives me a platform to springboard into other things that I’m really involved in and really have a heart for. Faceless International is a non-profit that I co-founded. And we go all around the world, and do humanitarian projects. So that’s a huge deal for us. And something that I really love. I think with all those…it’s one passion of being Anberlin.

They’re insane! Like they are insane! Its like, beyond fan, and its almost like a friendship. Its like, they feel like they are apart of our family, which is awesome, and they are. Its like beyond that, its like they are friends. Like true Anberlin people are just friends. Like they know our hobbies, they know our favorite places to hang out, they know what books we read and it’s just, ya know, it’s awesome because it doesn’t feel stalkerish in any way. Its actually like they’re just friends, they are part of this family. And they know it. And I think that’s what the greatest thing about our fans is.

Its very generic, but I think its definitely just life itself. Like life is the greatest teacher, and if you just shut up and listen, like I try to do, there’s so many great lessons. So what I do is just apply those to songs. No matter what phase of life you’re going through or what challenge. I think people are kind of tired of the mundane ‘girl, I love you’ song. Ya know, I think they want a little more depth and like ‘ah man’ and they wanna like feel the song and be like, ‘hey. Ive been in that exact same situation.’ The relatability is the biggest advantage. I don’t know, it’s not the biggest advantage to our lyrics, but the biggest draw to our lyrics, so, I dunno. Everything on this past record the topics range from homelessness, like I’m out here in Las Angeles now, so everyday I’m confronted with that situation in my face. Every single day. To topics such as making a difference in the world and then wanting to have looked back and say like, you know what I made a difference with songs like Burn Out Brighter. There’s songs about substance abuse, and there’s also songs about physical abuse. A song called Soft Skeletons. So I think if you just watch life and take it in and just study it, it will show you, especially if you’re a lyricist, what to actually sing about.

Oooh that’s so hard! I don’t know! Ah sheesh! Um…there’s a song that I wish I could go back in time and redo and make it better. Its called ‘Alexithymia.’ and the chorus is, “There’s more to living then being alive.” And I really feel like the stable message if I could send one message to everyone. A motivating factor, like, live life to its fullest, experience it. Go out and don’t let fear stand in the way of your passions and dreams. Go out there and do it! Whatever it is, who cares! Just do it! “There’s more to living then being alive,” I think is kind of like a statful one line message.

Oh really?

I think what inspired it was…actually a book that I had written called ‘The Orphaned Anything,’ actually inspired it. I had written it as kind of a tag line for the entire book kind of a synopsis of the book, and I felt like, man this would make such a great lyric. So actually a book inspired the lyric.

I think its one and the same. Like whatever the crowd is reacting to, is my favorite song of the night. Ya know, if they are just going insane. If they are screaming and they have no voice left and somebody’s like leaping at this giant and somebody’s yelling and dancing and having the night of their life, I think that’s my favorite. Certain nights it’s ‘Day Late.’ Certain nights its ‘Godspeed,’ ‘Paperthin,’ ‘Dismantle. Repair,’ seem to be songs that everyone is very heartfelt about. So I think those four are kind of like, live right now are my favorites.

Oh drastically! Drastically. I think we’ve gotten to be so much better musicians. I think we’ve gotten to know ourselves a lot better, I think we’ve gotten to know each other a lot better. We’ve become kind of better songwriters. I’m able to convey my message and what I’m trying to get across a lot simpler. I’m not trying to like rap like I used to. Like trying to add in all these words and tell this huge great deal story, when in all reality there’s a lot better way of saying it, while getting a better message across and making it a better song.

Wow. I don’t know if ‘Cities,’ debuting on the top 20 on billboards…it really didn’t set in for months. And I don’t know if it will fully set in until I walk away from my career and I look back because Anberlin has never been the overnight success. We are not the one hit wonders. We are not TRL darlings. We’re not all over the radio. I feel like we just started with one building block, and then we just added one more, and one more and before we get…ya know, we step back, we’re building this like small city. It was kind of just a slow build. I think ‘cities’ could have potentially gone right to my head if like, we just started the band, and then two months later here we are at the top twenty.

I think it could have been a lot more prideful and cocky and arrogant, but I think that’s what’s so great about it, is that we have been touring non-stop for five years, and meeting new fans and meeting new friends and becoming a part of peoples lives. When ‘cities’ hit that number, it was just kinda like, I didn’t even look at Anberlin, as much as I looked at Anberlins …it was just kinda like, ‘Wow, you guys are amazing. I can not believe you did this.” I wasn’t saying, “Oh I cant believe I did this, I’m so good.” I stepped back and was just like, I had no idea our fans were this passionate about us. Because it’s all about them, it’s all about the grassroots. It’s not about advertising or like flying an airplane in the sky trying to announce our release date. It wasn’t like that, it was very much like, I’ve met, I know that I’ve met at least half these people first hand. I’ve shook all these peoples hands, I’ve signed autographs and had a conversation. And that’s what’s cool about it. As far as ‘New Surrender,’ I have no idea.

What the musical landscape is compared to ‘Never take friendship…’ or even all the other records is totally different. I mean, bands whose last record sold a hundred thousand, are now selling half that number, even though the record is better! They’re still selling half their number they used to because to be honest people are not wanting to buy the cd anymore, they kind of just take it. So I don’t know how it’s going to look. I can’t judge and I couldn’t even say a number because I have absolutely no idea! I will just say its gunna debut in the top seven thousand, and if it can make it any better then, you know what, awesome!! Then I will be extremely ecstatic!

Music to me personally means very much like, it’s almost like a soundtrack to my life. It’s the background, when I hear particular songs, I can relate a memory right with it. And that’s such a great feeling. Like when I hear Keane, there’s a band from the UK called Keane, and when I hear that record I think of summer of 2003. Or when I hear Radiohead, Kid A, I think of 2002 in college. It’s a very awesome and amazing feeling to know that one day somebody’s going to be like, “Dude, when I heard Anberlins ‘Cities,’ when I listen to Adelaide, I was totally driving in my car to go see my ex-girlfriend and I’m not dating her now, but those were some good times.” That’s such a cool feeling, I really love it. But music to me is deeper then just soundtrack. I think its because I dissect the lyrics. Its almost like philosophical when I listen to other peoples lyrics, like a band called Bloc Party came out with a record called ‘Weekend in The City,’ and its lyrics man, are just so gut wrenching, so thought provoking. And a lot of people didn’t like that record because it was so thought provoking. I just think that Kele is a thinker, he really wants to know all about life, and I was totally swept up. There was one song called “Kreuzburg,” on that record I literally listened to fifty times over and over and over in one sitting. I was just completely blown away because the time frame it came out and the age that he was talking about on the record and everything like that, I was like, “Oh my gosh, he’s talking to me!” it was so weird, but its almost spiritual. Spiritual, philosophical, emotional and sentimental all wrapped into one. I think that is music for me!

Oh gosh. I have come up with some ideas about, the importance of first week. Like the sales in the first week. Everybody is so…everybody always looks at just that number, and I don’t know why! It doesn’t matter. I would hope that the record would be like a long-term project, like you would wanna push that record for two years and hopefully your biggest numbers are in the middle of your cycle, not in the first week. I don’t know if people care about critics as much as bands think about, so I don’t know if I would actually send out cds before they actually came out. I would send it out in the first week, because who cares? If you think about it, people online, like lets say, Absolute Punk. They review a record like a couple days before the record comes out, so why not let them review it after the record comes out, what’s the difference? I have never, ever, ever, in my life, and maybe I’m weird, all my friends are the same though. Ive never bought, or not bought a record because some critic says it was good or bad. I wouldn’t so much care about what the critics’ thought, as what the fans thought.

So I would really be more, working around the fans. Trying to introduce new music to the people might not have ever heard it before. And so I don’t know if I would spend so much money on the first week sales. I don’t know if I would make such an effort. I would kind of make it like…The Raconteurs, they just surprised everybody by releasing a record. And no one had any idea and Bloc Party just announced, ‘Hey we’re coming out with a record in 60 hours,’ and everybody was stoked. One thing I think people are realizing, is hey, its about long term, its about getting it out there to as many people as possible. Not just like, hyping up your fans for one week, and then letting the record go. Also I would try, in the record industry I would like to gear more toward the band actually touring. I would start signing bands to 360 deals, which means kinda like stating, I want a piece of your merch, piece of your touring, and in exchange for that, I’m going to make your record dirt cheap, if not give it away. Make it like $3.99 or $4.99 or like $7.99 so that’s very, very acceptable to a wide number of people, because if you think about it, lets say Converse came in and sponsored your record. So like our next record is going to be called ‘Converse,’ no joke, we’re gunna have a giant shoe on the cover, and its going to be called Anberlin, Converse. So in exchange for that, the record is absolutely free. Converse gives the label one million dollars to do this, but the fan cant be pissed because they’re like…it's not selling out because what’s the label is doing is they are turning around and giving you the music for free, so you don’t even have to spend any money. I don’t care if you buy converse or not, its just cool that, hey, crap, I just got a record for free!

But the cool thing about it is now Anberlin, instead of selling like three hundred, or four hundred or five hundred thousand records, like you would have if you sold it at $15.00. Now nobody is going to go to illegal downloads, because you can just go to iTunes and download it for $2.99. That’s awesome. I would buy any record for $2.99 practically. In exchange we now have one million legal downloads, we’ve sold the record one million times. So instead of our live showings being like two thousand people, we now have like five to ten thousand people coming to every show, and the label gets a percentage of the marketing, a percentage of the live show. So the record label gets the same, if not more, then just selling the record for $15.00. That’s my thought. I dunno, that’s totally being a visionary and I don’t see that happening in the next five years. But I think some label is going to catch on and go, this is what has to happen. We need to give the music away, for a lot lot cheaper. And in exchange really focus on the band, not as a one hit wonder, but as a band that I would wanna go see live and interact and buy the merch and really belong to. So lowering the price and exposing it to millions and millions of more people.

I just completely gave you a game plan for a record label Jen, you go run with it! (Laughs)

I dunno, somebody’s going to read this interview, and they are going to make millions of dollars on that…its like, I just want a car! (Laughs) just a newer car, that’s better then the one I have! Let them make millions, what’s one car?

YOU CAN TOO! YES!! (Laughs)

Two cars, that’s all we’re asking for! I hope they’re honest and that’s how they do it!

I didn’t personally go to Africa. I helped send several trips to Guatemala, Ecuador. This year we’re going back to Guatemala, we’re going to New York City, L.A, we’re going to the Ukraine, we’re going back to India. All these experiences have, I believe in a long term, have developed who I am in realizing that there’s a much bigger picture then Anberlin. I can’t get a big head, about…oh man I’ve sold this amount of records, or I’ve toured to this amount of places, because it just doesn’t matter, in light of looking at a ten year old girl whose had a child in the eyes, or a nine year old whose pregnant. What is life, what is popularity or fame in the line of the struggling and the hurting in the world? So I think it’s really built a lot of character, not just for me but the band, and the guys in the band. In our lyrics and where we see ourselves in five, ten years. I feel like it’s given me a long-term goal to inevitably always be helping people. In the short term, I feel that Anberlin has given me this platform, because I don’t think Faceless would have got off the ground if Anberlin wasn’t around. It’s just powerful. I mean, going around the world experiencing humanitarian and experiencing poverty first hand, will change you. I don’t care if you’re rich, poor or what religion you’re involved in, or what color. Poverty will change you. The AIDS epidemic, human trafficking will change you as a human being. And I don’t care if you all around the world. I’m saying go into your community and volunteer, donate your time and donate your money and you will see that you will change as well. And it will give you a whole new perspective as to what life really is all about.

(Laughs) if I was a scented candle I would smell. Oh… gosh this is so hard! I dunno. I want to say my favorite scent is like cotton. It’s like this candle I got at target I think, and its fresh laundry. So I hope that I would smell like that. Fresh laundry. I don’t know if that even portrays my personality in any sort of way, but I’m just gunna go along with fresh laundry.

Ooooh. I don’t even know their names. I just know their colors.

Okay good! I think I would be the white ranger. Normally I would be black, but I think if you can pull off white, you know, that’s pretty cocky. That’s pretty awesome. You gotta give it to him. Dude, he’s wearing all white. How does he not scuff that up in battle!? (Laughs) I just killed that giant dragon beast and lord Zandars right hand man, and my outfit is still WHITE! I got no blood on it, no dirt on it. It’s post battle and it’s still white!.

That is badass. So I think the white guy cause of the white outfit! That’s part of his powers. I can attract dirt. I am like Tide! (Laughs) I can stay clean during battle!

This is totally not fair!! Superman’s like…Who has kryptonite though? There was actually a comic book that batman beat superman because like, all Batman had to do was he wore a kryptonite outfit. It was kind of like one of those What If books. But like, Superman is so unfair. I’ve always hated Superman, for the simple fact that he is so immortal and unbeatable. I don’t like him, so he’s out of the equation. Batman’s freaking touch as nails, but he’s just a human. So in like twenty and thirty years, Batman’s like a fifty-year-old guy trying to like jump on walls and crap. Spiderman’s got super powers. So I would have to go with Spiderman. If I could have any of their abilities, I would go with Spiderman. Super man doesn’t count and Batman will eventually be a seventy-year-old man in a wheel chair and trying to roll real fast, and Spiderman will still be able to (FLING/SLING) webs around his wheel chair. And therefore Spiderman would win.

IT IS!! You’re right! You’re right!! (Laughs) “Move, I see the bat sign but I can’t get there.” Maybe there are some problems in the retirement community, and he can solve those problems. But outside the retirement community I think its Spiderman all the way.

If I could be any of them, I would say a Ninja. Because the other two have to stay on a boat all the time. And though I love boats, for short amounts of time. I think long term I’d get seasick and just want land. Ninjas’ for sure, because they have throwing stars. And that’s just awesome!

Oh man, fictional character. Now we’re going back to comic books. Because they are fictional characters right?!

In the X-Factor they had this guy called Multiple Man. And what he would do is when you punched him, he would turn into two people, and if they punched him again he would turn into three people. And I always thought that would be the coolest ability because I could punch myself and one person could go on tour. And I could punch myself again and somebody could go on a trip to another country. Then punch myself again and go make myself a sandwich.

Or four!

Yeah! Depending on how many times you wanna punch yourself! I mean sure you got bruises but, man, you’re in like four different places around the world, this is great!

Thank you Jen, it was great talking to you! Have a great day!