Today is the world premiere of the video for "Impossible". Your last album New Surrender (2008) was a huge success, but this feels entirely different... bigger, if that makes sense. What has changed the most for the band between the release of New Surrender and the new album Dark is the Way. Light is a Place?
We stopped 'wanting to be' and instead started accepting who and where we were. Good bands make fans, great bands inspire... and that's what we want to do. We wanted to think outside the norm on everything involving the record. Our pictures, our cover art, the title, the videos — all are meant, not to gain fans, but to inspire... future art and artists, music and musicians.
I've heard the songs "Breaking" and "Feel Good Drag" on the radio quite a good bit over the last couple of years. Anberlin has a very unique, recognizable sound. This is probably due to your song writing process. Is there a certain way that songs come together for you guys? Like someone does the music or the lyrics first? Or is it always a group effort?
Either Christian [McAlhaney] or Joey [Milligan] or — on this record, Nathan [Young] our drummer, come up with a song and send it to me, I mull over it for a few days and see what words or lyrics I can apply. It may sound pseudo-metaphysical, but the song really talks to me. Listening through the song once, I can already tell you what it's going to be about content wise. There's always a mood or a feeling in music... you just have to shut up and listen and it will tell you.
The words all come from journals that I've kept, and still keep, throughout the years; a lot of it is random quotes, things that I've learned or experiences I've lived.
Something truly amazing happened when you went into the studio to record the new album. You were approached by legendary producer Brendan O'Brien (Stone Temple Pilots, Papa Roach, Velvet Revolver). What was that call like?
It was the worst practical joke ever — Or so we assumed when we first got the call from our manager. But it turned out that he really did want to meet with us and come watch the show in Atlanta, Ga. I remember that show specifically, because I was concentrating on every note, pitch, and sustain.
Working with Brendan was a miracle; he is beyond any level of musician or producer I've ever met. We joke in the band that we don't really care how many copies we sell of our new record Dark -- we just want to sell enough so that we can work with Brendan again.
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