By snoadmin
After releasing its third album, “Cities,” in February, Anberlin has begun making its way across the country while selling out shows with the help of Bayside, Jonezetta and Meg & Dia.
Anberlin, consisting of vocalist Stephen Christian, guitarist Joseph Milligan, bass guitarist Deon Rexroat and drummer Nathan Young, started out in Orlando, Fla. as a fusion of members of many other small bands.
“That’s how you find out who fits with who,” Christian explained. “As soon as me and Joey got in a band together, our guitarist, we knew we were pretty much inseparable. He wrote the music and I wrote the lyrics and the melody lines.”
In the summer of 2002, the band signed with Tooth and Nail Records, a record label that has been known for representing many Christian rock bands like Underoath and MewithoutYou. The reputation of the record label, in addition to the fact that the lead singer is a Christian, led to Anberlin being instantly labeled as a Christian band.
“We don’t consider ourselves a Christian band,” Christian said. “We had known about Tooth and Nail because of Juliana Theory, Further Seems Forever and our friend Chris Carrabba. They all went over there so we were like, ‘Oh yeah, why not Tooth and Nail?'”
Once Anberlin signed with Tooth and Nail, people assumed it as a Christian band and today, Anberlin can be found on such Web sites as christianrocklyrics.com and jesusfreakhideout.com. This image impressed upon it has caused some opposition from other bands along the way. Christian explained that Anberlin was set to be the main support for a bigger band (he didn’t want to mention which one) this past fall, and when the band found out they were Christians, they were no longer willing to tour with them.
“I wonder why,” Christian said. “Do they think we are going to come in and like try to get them all saved or baptize somebody?
“That sucks sometimes, but on the other hand, a lot of bands really don’t care who we are and that I have faith.”
However, the label attached to its name and opposition from other bands has not hindered Anberlin’s success. After its current U.S. tour concludes, the band will head to Canada with Jonezetta and two Canadian bands for a two-week run, followed by a tour with Copeland to Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Then it will return to the United States for the Vans Warped Tour this summer.
Although there have been a few bumps in the road, the bumps haven’t prevented Anberlin from touring with such bands as Fallout Boy, Story of the Year, Hawthorne Heights and My Chemical Romance. Seeing that the band is about to perform all over the world, the little setbacks shouldn’t be of concern to it at this point.
“We get to live out our dreams,” Christian said. “Every day, we wake up in a new city, I hang out with my best friends all day, I’ve created art and now I get to show you my art every night.”
