Anthony Green Interview

Here is my interview with Anthony Green of Circa Survive and The Sound of Animals Fighting. Enjoy.


What was the inspiration for the lyrics on the album, or you main inspiration?

Well, inspiration came from all over the place. But, I would say there were a couple of main sources they were coming from. Thematically, I think the time of the year we were writing the record greatly influenced the feeling that the songs got. They took on like a fall/winter feeling and that has a lot to do with when we were writing it. Movies that I had seen around that time, art, everything that was going on in my life at that time, pretty much everything around us
became part of our inspiration.

Why did you include references to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?

That movie had a huge affect on me. The concepts and the themes that go throughout that movie got introduced to me in a time in my life when they were so prevalent and meant so much. The idea of memory and how your memory is distorted by facts and biases. The love
story behind it and how you remember people in a different light when you look back on stuff and when you look forward towards stuff. I think the reason I made so many references to it in the record is that it meant so much to me.

This is definitely a different tour for you compared to your last headlining tour. You're playing at much larger venues. Do you prefer playing tours like this or smaller, headling tours?

I prefer playing smaller shows. But, you don't usually get what you prefer, you get what you get. We'd prefer to play smaller shows, headlining or not, just because of the feeling you get with a
smaller show. But, you have to do both to get the feeling for it. I'd rather do smaller shows, but I love them all, it doesn't matter.

Colin was kind of mum on your side-project Moshtradamus. Are you
gonna leak anymore on that?

I say nothing other than it's not a side-project.

(laughs) okay...So you also do The Sound of Animals Fighting and how does that project differ from Circa Survive?

With The Sound of Animals Fighting, shows and the project itself are mainly based on improvisation and creation in the moment. The first record was recorded all in one day, improvised, all on the spot. With the second record, same deal. But, with Circa there's more
passion, more time on my end. Because I know that the Rx Bandits and I know everyone that works on The Sound of Animals Fighting put so much of their own personal energy in it. But, my personal energy is spent directly on Circa. That's what I love doing. But, The Sound of Animals Fighting is such a fun project to be a part of though.

You guys are recording your new album after this tour, so can you give me any details on that?

We have a bunch of demos already done and I have a bunch of songs I need to put vocals to still. So we'll go home from this tour and finish up all the stuff we have to do and go into the studio
January 1st. Hopefully the record will be out by the time spring is coming.

Wow.

Yeah man, we aren't wasting any time dude.

So did you approach the writing of this album any differently than Juturna?

Oh way differently. With Juturna I had just met Steve, Nick, and Brendon. We were coming together and were like, "Let's make an album," having not known each other or played a show. Now, we're like two years into our personal relationship with each other, we're two
years into our business relationship with each other. We know what we want to do live, we know what we want to do, period. We know what we want to do as a band, we know why we're making music. So, we're going in the direction of growth that's being taken from us naturally, being
drawn out of us. Whereas the first record, a lot of it was give and take, some people did this song, some people did that song. There'd be no vocals and I'd put vocals to it. Now I'm writing a lot of the songs, Brendon and Colin are writing full songs, all by themselves. Steve will come up to me with lyrics, ideas, like, "Yeah or I love this line or check this idea out about a robot doing some messed up stuff." Steve comes up with some great lyrical ideas. Actually, Steve helped me write "Holding Someone's Hair Back," lyrically. So, writing-wise it's completely, 100% opposite of Juturna. We're trying every avenue we can possibly go down.

You've been involved in a ton of different projects, everyone knows what they are, we don't have to name them, but why is Circa Survive the one that you're most passionate about, like the one that gets you?

Well, I think that back in the day when I was in high school and right out of high school, I wasn't trying to make music for a living, I was just making music. When I joined Saosin I was making
music for a living, officially. And the whole concept of that band went from, "Ok, let's make music and be a band," to, "Let's be huge rock stars," really quickly. Saosin came to me in a time of my life where I didn't want to be on a major, I didn't want to sign my life away for the next seven years. I didn't know anything about music. All I knew was you've got to treat it with sincerity, with honesty, you've got to give it the space to grow, the chance it deserves to be everything that it is. When I left Saosin, I left primarily because I didn't want to sign to a major label in that band, I didn't want to make that same type of music anymore, like singy/screamy, Anthony-emo type of stuff, which is awesome and they do it amazingly. Their new record is unbelievable, but it's not what I wanted to be a part of.

Well yeah I think your voice definately fits Circa Survive way..

Better. That's the same way I feel. This band means more to me than anything I've ever done just because of the people involved in it. I love Steve, Colin, Nick, and Brendon more than I've loved any men in my life ever. I would do absolutely anything for them. Creatively, I respect them more than I've respected anybody that I've ever worked with. So those are just two of the top differences between this and all the other stuff I've done. This is for real.

Well yeah, you guys are obviously tight because Colin said you guys all live together in the same house. Why did you decide to do that and how does that work?

We chose to do it because it seemed like the most appropriate thing to do. We're all trying to be creative together and get to know each other and have those dynamics come out in our creation, in the music, in the art. So, why would one person want to be here, one person be there, the next person be here. It's like, "Let's all get at the same spot so there's never any question about when we have time to fuse.” So we can just make music at any time of the day, night, whatever.

Well I think that's all I've got for now..so thanks for doing it.

No problem man, thanks for paying attention to our band.