Circa Survive

Prior to the hitting the stage on a snowy night in Omaha, NE, I had the opportunity to sit down with the man, the legend: Mr. Anthony Green. During the interview, we touched on a number of subjects such as the reception of the band's 2010 epic, Blue Sky Noise, as well as plans for his next solo album, Beautiful Things. Will we be seeing Anthony Green channel his inner hip-hop artist on the upcoming solo release? Read on to find out!

Shawn@RRR: How are you doing today sir?

Anthony Green: I’m doing great!

Shawn@RRR: Early last year the band released their third full length effort, Blue Sky Noise. With the initial nerves and excitement well subsided, how do you feel the album was received?

Anthony Green: I believe it was received well.

Shawn@RRR: Additionally, the band released the Appendage EP in late November, which features B-sides from the Blue Sky Noise sessions. Why do you feel it was important for these songs to see the light of day?

Anthony Green: Making these albums and writing these songs is our livelihood. There isn’t a song that’s more important or less than important than the other ones. So I feel like if we’re going to work on something and get it to the stage to where we’ve recorded it, and to not have it be put out somehow is just a shame. It’s such a waste. We’ve found ways to put out B-sides for charities, or our friends charities.

When we went into the studio this time we opted to record all of the songs we had, rather than chop away the ones that will go on the album, and kept in mind that we wanted to release an EP. I think it’s just important to get all the music out there, you know?

Shawn@RRR: Are there any songs from the Blue Sky Noise sessions that didn’t make the 2^nd cut, or have you closed the book on that album?

Anthony Green: I think that chapter is finished.

Shawn@RRR: As with your entire discography, the artwork for the aforementioned releases was done by Esao Andrews. Do you feel that his art has become a staple of the way people view Circa Survive?

Anthony Green: Yeah. I mean he’s sort of like the visual soul mate of the band. He really does capture the feeling that we want for our artwork.

Shawn@RRR: Blue Sky Noise marked the band’s first release on a major label. Do you feel any stigma attached with being a part of a major label, or are people looking too much into things?

Anthony Green: I think things are a lot different now than they were say, five to ten years ago with major labels. The music industry is so fucked right now that the playing field has been sort of leveled. Everybody, no matter if you’re a small independent label, or a major, has been changing up their game plans, so they can figure out how to make the most money out of their musicians. So I feel like a lot of stigmas that major made for themselves have washed away because they’re having to try so many different things to stay afloat. We’ve haven’t had to make any sacrifices. It’s been pretty awesome being on Atlantic. I can’t really say that it’s much different than being on Equal Vision, except for the fact that we get to do more interviews, play more shows, and they send us overseas more. The pros massively outweigh the cons.

Shawn@RRR: Between the real of On Letting Go and Blue Sky Noise you were a part of The Sounds Of Animals Fighting who, in 2008, released the final chapter of their trilogy of albums titled The Ocean And The Sun. Creatively, how did your time with the project influence what would eventually become Blue Sky Noise?

Anthony Green: Well, those albums and that band gave me so much freedom to do anything that I want. They’d have these songs, I’d go into a studio, or I’d go into a booth, or someone’s house. Just anything I wanted. I never heard one thing from them like “this isn’t that cool.” Everybody just expected to do their best and supported each other. I think that creatively, going through experiences like that, they exercise your muscles, making them strong. There isn’t anything that I’ve had the opportunity to do that hasn’t effected the next project,  or a project after that. I feel that creatively is a muscle, and I think that if you don’t exercise it, it becomes weak.

Shawn@RRR: The band has adapted the hobo graffiti symbol for “safe camp” for a number of things pertaining to the band. What’s the story behind the band’s use of the symbol?

Anthony Green: We have friends of ours that like to train hop, and spend a lot of  their time doing that. That’s more or less where the symbol, I believe, gets used, for people who are travelers, walkers, train hoppers, etc. We consider ourselves sort of like hobos within the music industry. We wanted to find a way to be inviting, but at the same time keep exclusivity to the people that we care about. And not to say that there are people that we don’t care about, but it’s weird when you have a show and there’s some dickhead there being a total asshole, being real sexist, or being really loud. I don’t want to play for those people. I don’t want their fucking money. I don’t want their time. I don’t want to feel like I’m putting on a show for someone who used to beat me up in High School.

Shawn@RRR: Late last year, the band unveiled a member’s only fan club dubbed The Creature Club. Could you explain what the club is about and why it was formed?

Anthony Green: It was really just a chance for a our die hard fans to get more exclusive content from the band. We wanted to find a way to invite people who are interested in finding out the origins of our songs, and see different types of photos and videos, and not have it be a thing that’s thrown up for everybody. We knew that there would only be a certain amount of people that would be into it. Plus the last tour we did, all the people that got to watch the sound check, we’d hang out with them before and after show. Also, the last tour we invited them all up on stage to sing a song live. It’s just a way for us to keep in contact with our really crazy fans that know EVERYTHING.

Shawn@RRR: It was said that once the band was done recording Blue Sky Noise, that you would begin to work on your next solo album, titled Beautiful Things. What is the status of the record?

Anthony Green: I don’t want to say that anything is finished, but I was just in the studio where we recorded Avalon with Good Old War/Jason Cupp from January 1^st to January 6^th or 7th. We recorded like 13 songs in like 6 days. It’s the coolest shit that we could have come up with and without any pressure, without rushing. I know there will be stuff that I want to change and add. I know it’s not going to come out for a long time, so I hesitant to say that it’s done, but all the songs are there. I don’t want to put it out until I feel that Circa and Blue Sky Noise got their chance to really stretch, you know? I don’t want to rush it. Plus I’m working on like 10 other things at the moment. I would like to say that it’ll be out during the Summertime, or the end of Summertime, but I can’t really be sure.

The other day I had this idea, I woke up and wrote all this stuff down, and one of the things that I wrote was that I was going to can this solo record and write another one the next time we had time off. Get those dudes to come back for like 10 days, do another album, and save the stuff we have for a third solo album. I don’t really know why. I think it’s because this album is really weird. The songs aren’t just acoustic, it’s just really strange.

Shawn@RRR: Will the album be released by Photo Finish Records much like Avalon was?

Anthony Green: I think so, yeah.

Shawn@RRR: Will you give Colin the honor of remixing this album much like you did with Avalon?

Anthony Green: I think I’m going to yeah. I really liked how Avalon went, and Colin is so good at that kind of stuff. Actually, since we have so much time, I may just give him the stems now and have him go nuts, and then instead of  it being “oh, here’s Colin’s remix CD,” some of the tracks that get changed in the remix will become actual songs on the album.

Shawn@RRR: At this point, how do you feel the album compares to Avalon both lyrically and instrumentally?

Anthony Green: Lyrically, it’s massively different. I think that some of the songs are stories about other people, and not necessarily about me. They say when you dream, everything in the dream represents you and I feel that when I write songs, everything in the song kind of represents something about me, in a way. But, this album tells a lot of different stories that aren’t necessarily stories that came from personal experience, and came from stuff that I watched, read, heard, etc. One of the songs I wrote after watching There Will Be Blood for the fifth time. I sat down and wrote these lyrics and wrote music to it, which is one of the first times I ever really did that.

It sounds a lot different, like, it’s not just all acoustic. There are ukuleles in it, electric guitars, slide guitars… Good Old War and Jason Cupp really went crazy and filled up all the spaces with unreal sounds and beats. I really hate to say this, but there is a tiny bit of hip-hop feeling in some of songs, in a non cheesy way. I swear to God.

Shawn@RRR: Why do you feel it is important for you to have your solo project?

Anthony Green: You know, Circa is a collaboration It’s not my band, or Colin’s band, or Brendan, or Nick, or Steve’s band. It’s all of us coming together to make something together. A lot of times the things that you really love and believe in, you have to make changes with them. You have to sort of compromise with them, and that’s what makes Circa so great. For my solo project, it’s really just something for me to do whatever I want and not have to worry if it’s making someone in the band happy, or fulfilling their vision of a song. It’s more or less all my vision. When I get together with Good Old War to write the stuff and record it, they come up with some of the coolest ideas.

Shawn@RRR: Obviously Circa remains your main focus for the time being, but once your current obligations with Circa are up, do you plan on going out on tour in support of Beautiful Things?

Anthony Green: Yeah. I’d like to put a little more time touring behind the release, rather than Avalon where I didn’t do that much. I think I want to spend a little more time with the solo stuff. There are a couple of other projects I’m working on too, that I’m trying to find time to work on. Me and Casey from The Dear Hunter have been talking a lot about putting some stuff together. He’s really busy and I’m really busy, but we’ve had this dream about putting stuff together. There’s other stuff I can’t even say because I don’t want to fuck it up.

Shawn@RRR: Though the release of Blue Sky Noise was last year, has the band begun to write new music in any aspect?

Anthony Green: Yeah, Steve and I are sending ideas at each other, and you know, everyone’s been constantly working on new ideas. I think right after this tour, we’re going to get together and spend a little bit of time writing. For Circa it’s always been like, we write a record, tour, may take a little break, and write. I want to be writing all the time. For Circa’s sake it’s best if we’re all just are writing all the time, and not just designate time for writing.

Shawn@RRR: Once the tour with Anberlin and Foxy Shazam culminates, what are the band’s plans for touring for the remainder of 2011? It’s been rumored that the band will be making an appearance on this year’s Warped Tour.

Anthony Green: No, we won’t be on Warped Tour. I know we’re going to do a couple one off dates in February and March. There’s some stuff that’s coming up that isn’t totally confirmed yet, that I don’t know if I can say. I know we’d love to do another headlining tour on this album, maybe sometime in the Summer time. There’s some support tours that we might take. We just got offered this really cool tour that we’re all talking about and I’m really excited about. I think we’re going to be doing stuff well into the Summer time.

Shawn@RRR: Ultimately, what do you want people to take away from listening to Circa Survive?

Anthony Green: I’ve heard lots of different things that people take away from listening to our band. Some people get really deep into it, and they take all this really interpersonal shit away. They credit the band with helping the band get through tough times in their life and it just blows my mind. There are other people that just like the music and the show, and maybe it doesn’t go much deeper than that. There isn’t a minute of a day that goes by where I’m not so grateful to have this in my life. To have our fans be so cool and have our relationships together be awesome, I feel like it’d be arrogant if I broke it down to a few things that I’d like people to take away. Just having them with me is enough.

Shawn@RRR: That’s all the questions I have, do you have anything to add?

Anthony Green: Just thank you for paying attention to Circa.

If you're not paying attention to Circa, then what the hell are you doing? Head here to purchase the band's 2010 release, Blue Sky Noise.