Circa Survive Interview

Below is my interview with Colin Frangicetto, guitarist in Circa Survive.

Since the blog is on the Minneapolis music scene I must ask the required question; what do you think of the city and how's it been when you've played here in the past?

It's always been really good here. The city itself I haven't seen enough of yet but we have a day off tomorrow so I think we're gonna go to the Mall of America and just hang out. Every time I've
been here it's been fun. I think the only I ever did is I went to a bookstore or something. But, we're kinda boring so I don't know what else we would do.

Where did you guys get the name "Circa Survive"?

It was actually something where we had a lot of different names. We were writing a lot before that and we didn't even really think about the name thing. When we were signing with Equal Vision, they even signed us without a name. By the time everyone else joined the band it just came time when we had to name it and there were some names floating around and it just kinda stuck out to us. We're kinda big on following intuition, we go with gut instinct a lot and for some
reason that just became our name. Now in hindsight it makes so much sense. It's really creepy actually how much sense it makes and beautiful at the same time. We like that it's an abstract pairing of words and that it can mean pretty much whatever anyone wants it to mean. It keeps evolving, but to me it means surviving and era or a time to focus on survival. That just makes a lot of sense to me now. It's sort of a mantra of sorts for our band. Ironically it's taken it's shape and that's all we care about, getting by and creating art. We live in a house together and it's a really great thing that we don't have to break apart when we come back from tour and seperate
like most other bands do. We just decided to make it like a family or tribe-like situation. Some of our girlfriends live there too, it's definitely like a big family.

The album is named after the Roman goddess Juturna. Why did you
decide to name the album that?

It was another one of those things. It was mainly a thing between Brendon and Anthony. They just sort of stumbled across a story and everyone just really liked the way it sounded, it just kinda rolls of your tongue and sounds strange. It didn't have a really obvious meaning. It was just the idea of the goddess of springs. Water is the essence of life of sorts, so the goddess of the springs controls the flow of life.

You could also say it could tie into your band name too with survival...

Definitely it's that, but at the same time Juturna was also associated with birth so we saw it as us giving birth. This was the thing we had been creating for so long and waiting for it to be out
there. And springs, wells, they're all kind of related, you know, magical weird stuff.

What's the symbolism behind the album's artwork? Is there a
story to be told if you look through the book?

You tell me. I hope everyone can make up there own story to it. I don't know if there was a specific story in mind that we all shared. You just sort of make a story out of it when you look at it. The basic premise of it was a dark fairy tale, that was what we wanted. Esao is just amazing and fits our band. We definitely just wanted something different than what was out there.

Why did you name the hidden track "House of Leaves" after the book by Mark Z. Danielewski?

Well I know it's one of Brendon and Anthony's favorite books. I've read bits and pieces of it, it's mind-boggling. I really appreciate it for what it is, I just haven't gotten through the whole thing yet. But, we didn't even really name it that. We eluded to the idea that we did, then it became it. We had kinda leaked it out that that's what it was, and I'm sure there's little hints here and there. It wasn't officially a name until people started saying it.

You guys are touring with some huge bands this time around, Thursday and Rise Against, how has the tour been so far?

It's been awesome. It's been different. We just got off a headlining tour so the transition between playing an hour plus to going back to like 30 minutes was awesome. After getting off that tour where we were playing a very complexly put together set we just let this time be loose and let there be silence between songs. We never used to do that, we always usually had samples running. We just thought because it's a short tour and we're in a weird, creative process right now anyways, which is just a break from writing, we just thought we'd let it be loose and let the set be what it is. We even did a cover song which is really weird for us. Like tonight we did
Duran Duran, it's a weird song, but it's awesome. It's actually been a dream of mine for so long to cover that song. It wasn't even my idea to do it, but I thought it would be awesome.

Is it different playing at larger clubs instead of smaller venues where it's more intimate and more on the crowd.

Yeah it's definitely different. We tend to like both. We love small, intimate shows and we also love huge rock shows. They're both equally fun and fulfilling to play. We kinda had our cherries popped during the My Chemical Romance tour so this even seems kinda small now after doing that.

Why did you guys decide to start the side project Moshtradamus?

(laughs) I don't even know what that is. No comment.

After you finish this tour, you're going back into the studio with Brian McTernan and why did you choose him as your producer again?

We weren't 100% positive we were going back to him, but when we sat down with him after our headlining tour and talked for a while it was extremely obvious that we were on the same page with how we wanted to approach the record. Also, the way he felt about the stuff we were recording, we just saw eye to eye. So it was just like "Yeah, we're definitely going back to him." He has a new studio space which is really exciting, so we'll be in Baltimore for at least two months doing that. It's gonna be awesome. Can't wait.

Can you give me any details on the album?

All I can really tell you is that we've been extrememly creative and productive. We have a lot of ideas we're working with, a LOT of ideas. We haven't really been refining anything and just letting it be what it is, then we're gonna sort everything out in the studio. I'm so proud of the material so far, as far as the way it sounds, I can't really say because I'm so biased towards it. I think it'll definitely be a surprise for everyone.

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

Yeah, we definitely kinda knew what we were doing this time around. For Juturna we were kinda doing everything for the first time. Even though we'd all been in bands before, when this band started, everything was different. We almost over-rehearsed for the studio last time and spent more time the material to be tight rather than using all of our time to be creative. This time we just took every approach we could possibly take, at least so far, we still have at least a
month of writing when we get home. We've just been trying all different pairings of writers. Sometimes it'll just be Brendon, Nick, and Steve that come up with a great blueprint for a song, other times it'll be just me doing and idea, or just Brendon, or just Nick, musically, then Anthony puts vocals to it. Some ideas are just Anthony playing guitar with vocals, then there's full band stuff. So we did all these different pairings and tried to keep the amount of cooks in the kitchen to whatever felt comfortable at the time and it worked out great because we came up with these great songs and anyone who didn't work on it initially would put their spin on it. Rigth now we're
working on around 50 ideas and a lot of that stuff is really rough, but I've never been in a band before where we could be that productive. We were definitely somewhere else when we wrote that, now I don't mean drugs or anything like that, but we definitely found our center and everyone just came to a place where we were just all working together cohesivelly. It's a very inspiring time.

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.