EastScene

Brennan was a busy little interviewer at the Montreal date of the Vans Warped Tour on July 20th 2008. He managed to catch up with Anberlin drummer, Nathan Young, after their set, to chat about music, touring and life.

Brennan Schnell:  So, how was Montreal?

Nathan Young: Good man. It’s awesome, I love it.

BS:  Yeah?

NY: Yeah, it’s really cool so far.

BS:  Anything that you really didn’t expect, kind of a shocker here?

NY: Uh, man, the crowd was amazing today, so that was really cool

BS:  Yeah, you guys had a good set, I watched that.

NY: Oh awesome, thanks man.

BS:  Other than that how’s the whole tour going?

NY: Other than that, we just got done with the first month, so we’ve got a month left; it’s been incredible so far.

BS:  You guys are going right to the end, eh?

NY: Yeah, all the way.

BS:  You getting tired yet or what?

NY: Uh, I think the last week and a half we’ll be pretty crazy waiting for it to be done. So far it’s been good, it’s been cool. Doesn’t feel like a month.

BS:  The new album; what can you tell me about it?

NY: Man, we’re stoked, it comes out in September, we did it with Neal Avron, it was cool, we spent the most time we’ve ever have on a record. Hopefully it’ll be our best record.

BS:  Did you get any different influences, like is it going to sound like a different band?

NY: Yeah, yeah, it definitely does. I think it’s the most mature record we’ve got. Just all the stuff we’ve been listening to over the years just kinda fit into this. I wouldn’t say it sounds like a certain band or anything. Yeah, it’s just more diverse. We’ve always wanted to do, there’s like more throw, harder, just kinda, there’s a bunch of different songs that things are just put together.

BS:  Sound like it’s going to be a good one. So what are your main influences as a band, or as just yourself?

NY: It’s something that differs because you’ve got like 5 guys, but the majority, we all love like, the Beatles, Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World. It goes from all over the place, which is cool and you can definitely tell on the record that we listen to so many different bands, I mean. But I listen to super chill stuff like Sigur Rós and like chill stuff. You can definitely tell that our music that we pulled from all sorts of different styles and bands.

BS:  Other than the Vans Warped Tour, you guys going to be doing a headlining tour?

NY: Yeah, yeah, in the fall. After Warped Tour we’re going to take a little break and settle down and then we’ll do the full Fall tour.

BS:  Who you going to be going on tour with?

NY: We’re still working that out. I know one of the bands will be Scary Kids Scaring Kids.

BS:  That’ll be a good show.

NY: Yeah, it’ll be awesome.

BS:  You better come to Montreal dude!

NY: For sure we will, for sure. [Author’s Note: EastScene would like to know if Young’s pants have caught fire yet.]

BS: What do you have on your mp3/iPod right now?

NY: Oh man, I’ve been listening to this band called wolf parade, their new record. Sigur Rós is pretty good. Ah man, every time I die, I love that band. It sounds so lame; it’s not like one genre or anything. Always like, Jimmy Eat World, the Beatles, all that kind of stuff.

BS: The Beatles are awesome. Five years ago, would you have ever pictured yourself here where you are?

NY: No way, not at all!

BS: What were you guys doing five years ago?

NY: We were touring but like, on peanut butter [!!] and drinking water, know what I mean? So, I never thought we’d be here. That fact that we can be on Vans Warped Tour and on main stage is just insane. I never would have thought we’d be here, so this is pretty cool, for sure.

BS: The crowd was pretty nuts out there, just singing along.

NY: Just…to be in another freakin’ country and have kids, like, know our stuff just blows my mind.

BS: If you can go on tour with anyone, any band, dead or alive, who would it be?

NY: We’ve always said like, Jimmy Eat World, Foo Fighters, I think it’d just be incredible. Or Third Eye Blind, I think it’d be awesome to tour with a band who’s influenced us so much.

BS: Downtime: when you guys ain’t playing, rehearsing, fixing your strings, what do you do?

NY: We play Halo 3 a lot, and we play a board game like risk.

BS: Does it help keep your mind off of home?

NY:We try to keep in touch with home. Talk to our girlfriends and our family as much as possible.

BS: It must be hard.

NY: It is, but we always come home, time off from the tour and stuff.

BS: It seems like you guys never take time off though, there’s always something coming, something happening.

NY: We love touring, but we try to take off as much time because you don’t want to burn out or anything.

BS: It happens a lot.

NY: Yeah, definitely.

BS: Ever since you were little, did you always picture yourself as a musician?

NY: I started wanting to play music when I was like, 10 or 11. And then I didn’t know what I wanted to be. I started playing drums, and I knew I would always play. I didn’t know I would do it as a profession, like this would be what I’d be.

BS: Is there anyone that stood out, that convinced you to be a musician? Or were you just listening to music one day and went ‘you know what, I wanna be a drummer?’

NY: I was really listening to so much music, my brothers are a huge influence on me with that, and they always had music playing and stuff. I just started listening to it and then that’s when I wanted to start playing drums and how it all started.

Catch Anberlin’s new record New Surrender in stores and online on September 30th, 2008. They might also be in your city on their Fall tour, starting in October.