Based in Central Florida, Anberlin has had a whirlwind adventure since its formation in 2002. Their sixth album Vital peaked at number 3 on the Billboard US Top Alternative Albums chart. Recently, the band released their collection Devotion: Vital Special Edition, with over forty tracks including both remixes and new material. The Bite sat down with guitarist Christian McAlhaney before the band’s gig at the House of Blues with The Maine and chatted about touring, songwriting and tattoos.
What’s the best thing about coming home and playing here?
Well, the weather’s quite nice right now compared to some of the other places we’ve been. I’m the only guy who’s not from Florida originally, so the other guys would probably say seeing their parents and families and wives and that kind of stuff.
What sets apart Devotion from the rest of your records and what did you do differently on it?
Devotion’s basically just a deluxe version of Vital. We recorded a few new songs for it and added in the 4 B sides from the vinyl recordings and put them into the track listing. A lot of times when you get a deluxe version you just get the record and some bonus tracks at the end, but we actually put them in and re-tracked the record. We made it all flow together for 18 songs. We have an acoustic live show that we had done in Brooklyn, and we did a lot of electronic remixes. It’s a lot of things that we’ve never done before…It’s a unique package for Anberlin…This is a lot of content. The special edition has like 31 songs, and the deluxe version has like 44 songs.
Your lyrics are known for being incredibly honest. How do you go about your writing process?
Well Steven is the lyricist…Songwriting is generally Joey and myself, two guitar players. It’s just writing a lot of music and sending it to the band. Actually, recently Nathan our drummer has started writing a lot, and he’ll send us ideas. He’ll do it on keyboards and send it to Joey and [me,] and we’ll add guitars or whatever.
So you normally make the songs and the instrumentals and then send it to get lyrics put in?
Generally, yes. Generally it always starts with music for us. There’s been a few songs where Steven has had a melody. I think our song “Down” on Dark is the Way [,Light is a Place] was originally just a melody that Steven had, and we wrote the music to it. But generally the music comes first.
Is there a specific song or lyric that relates to you the most?
I really like playing “Unwinding Cable Car.” Lyrically and emotionally I just really connect with the song…It’s a very heart-wrenching, beautiful song to me. But I don’t know if I have a favorite, there’s so many.
Is there a story behind your tattoos?
Oh yeah, behind every one. I take a lot of time to plan it out. It doesn’t feel great, but it really doesn’t hurt that bad. Just certain spots are brutal.
Since tonight is the last night, what has been your favorite memory of this tour so far?
Kicking [opening band] From Indian Lakes’ butts in football, which I was sore for about two weeks after. I’m still sore. I think I broke a rib, or cracked a rib or something, playing with them. That was pretty fun. We’ve done it twice. The first game we played, my girlfriend was out so I opted out of that game and was spending time with my lady. The last time was Halloween, and we had a day off in Norfolk, and we found a park and just played football all day. It was awesome.
Do you have an artist who has inspired you to make music?
I originally picked up a guitar to play Metallica songs. But that was in like middle school, I think I was in seventh grade. Yeah, I listened to a lot of metal. I had a buddy who played guitar and started a band with a bunch of friends in middle school. That was awesome. I have a lot of different influences.
What can people expect to see at your shows?
You can always expect a pretty energetic rock show. There are a lot of bands who kind of just stand there, and that’s their vibe. That’s great, but we are not that kind of band. It’s pretty wild…We’ve tried to have a lot of crazy production in the past, but it seems like it takes away from the actual performance that we’re doing onstage.
What kind of atmosphere do you want to create?
Just a positive one. It should be fun you know. You’re paying to go to a concert, and you want to be entertained and have a good time. So that’s definitely something that we try to do. If you wanted to listen to the band, you could just put on the record. You come to the show because you want to see a show. You want a performance, and we realize that.
Do you have a favorite venue that you’ve played?
The Norva in Virginia is pretty nice. The backstage area is insane. I think it used to be a health club, and they kind of kept a lot of the stuff, so there’s like a hot tub in the back, and a sauna and showers and a basketball court…I got to play Radio City Music Hall a few times, and that was pretty crazy. I’ve played it twice. I played once with Acceptance; we opened for Good Charlotte. And then I did it with Tommy Lee. That place is cool just because of the history of it. Any of the cool historic venues are always the places you thought you’d never play.
