Bakotopia

All > Rants & Raves > Music Reviews
INTERVIEW: Anthony Green of Circa Survive
Topics: Bakersfield, music, Bakotopia, Bakotopia.com, Circa Survive, Anthony Green
Posted by Chase Tue Aug 5, 2008 15:03:27 PDT
Viewed 560 times
0 responses 1 comment Location: 3201 F St, Bakersfield, CA 93301

Circa Survive
An interview, a show, and some Semi-Constructive Criticism

By: Chase Brockett, Bakotopia staff
Photos by Emily Becerra

I’ve always hated telephones. 

Not the technology; the technology is great.  But you lose so much in conversations when there is no countenance to ground certain phrases with sincerity.  The subtle cues in face-to-face dialogue can mean the difference between giving credence to someone’s words and calling ‘bullshit!’ on them. 

In written word especially, you still cannot always pick up the intent or the legitimacy behind some of the things musicians say.  Imagine the difference between reading the phrase “I’m not in this for the money” (hypothetically) from somebody like Bob Dylan and then somebody like 50 Cent.

My point is, just saying something doesn’t make it so.

So it should be understood why, when I was being led down passed the microwave, couches, beds, and random luggage toward the back of their tour bus, I was skeptical about the authenticity behind the notes and philosophies of the musical endeavor that is Circa Survive. 

But you do get the feeling that someone has to be doing it for the love of the music when they begin recalling their previous show in Bakersfield by saying “Part of me wishes we were here right now playing Jerry’s Pizza”



Bakotopia: And uh… which part of you is that?

Anthony Green:  The awesome part of me wishes we were playing there.

B: I’ve got to say, that’s the first time I’ve heard any band say they wanted to play at Jerry’s again.

AG: Dude, that show was retarded!  The people are fun, it’s up close and personal – I had to get them to strike the barricade tonight so everyone could be up against the stage.  Having a barricade is just more of a risk for me to fall, you know what I mean?  As a dude who moves onstage, I don’t like barricades.  Not just because you’re disproportionate with the audience, but because I’m gong fall in and hurt myself.

B: So you have the audience there to catch you if you fall. That’s actually happened?

AG: Yeah. All the time! Especially at shows like this tonight.  I rely on them to be there with their hands up, keeping me safe.

B: That’s very poetic…

AG: ::laughs::

The show being referenced was the one on May 26th, 2008 at the Golden State Hall featuring Pelican, Endless Hallway, and locals Vogue in the Movement, located inside (you guessed it) the Golden State Mall on Golden State and F Street.
And aside from the grossly mishandled setup for the show which nearly resulted in stage lighting crushing concert goers, an unsecured barricade that almost led to the entire sound system being demolished, and a number of asshole concert-goers who could care less if there are smaller people suffocating because they just couldn’t get close enough to the stage, (really guys, where’s the respect for your fellow man?) I’d have to say it was one of the best shows I’ve witnessed. 

Seriously.  The amount of intensity put into that show was amazing, which reinforced Anthony Green’s comments during the interview before the show.

Bakotopia: Why should people want to see you guys perform?

Anthony Green: There are a lot of bands that I really like and enjoy seeing live, but it bores me.  We’re not a boring band.  We might sound like shit sometimes, but we’re not boring.  If I’m not singing well, I’m not going to be able to enjoy myself, but if I can’t move, I’m not going to be able to enjoy myself either. 



B: You guys seem to have a more philosophical approach to your music.  At least from the outside, that’s what it kind of gives. 

AG: We consider ourselves artists – first and foremost.  Art should be revitalizing.  It should be refreshing.   For me, the most effective art has ever been in my life when I was young and I needed something to come and shake my fuckin’ world up.  And we want this band for each other that is constantly challenging.  And if you’re going to take part in it with us, and you’re going to take your role in it as whatever your role in this band is, and everybody’s role, you know, we want to share that with everybody that’s going to be involved.  I think we want to keep the people that are really open-minded and really sensitive and really interested in finding new ways of dealing with their life and dealing with each other.  We really want to keep those people really close.  It’s not our gimmick.

B: Yeah, there are a lot of bands that use it as a gimmick and then you talk to them and it’s kind of like… meh…

AG: You can tell. You can tell with those people, because you can’t fake it.

B: What is it about interviews that you don’t like?

AG: It seems like when anyone wants to interview us, they want to talk about this irrelevant stuff.  I can understand why you as a dude who listens to the song wants to know what the song is about but I don’t see the relevance in disclosing anything about my personal life. With music and with art it’s not about…this band’s not about me.  Even the songs that I write are not about me. They’re not my songs, they never were.  Music is something that is not farmed, and if you try to farm it, good fucking luck. That gets a whole other thing.  I have no disrespect for those people, that’s a whole art form in itself, if you want to raise music for money that’s your own thing. Its fun for me, it’s a lot of fun for me.  And it’s also a very therapeutic thing for me.

B: I think it’s that way for a lot of people who listen to your music…

AG: And that means a lot to me, because it wasn’t my goal, it wasn’t my intention to get people to like or identify with my songs.  I wanted to identify with my songs; I want to write stuff that I can understand.  And I think it’s difficult when you do a lot of interviews and people are asking you about this band, or this shirt, or what you wore here, or why you said this.  It just doesn’t matter.  I don’t matter.  I can say anything right now and it wouldn’t change the band that exists.  It wouldn’t change who I am you know?  I’m the same as every dude that you know.  And I like to avoid interviews where people like to elevate normal people or poets or artists or whatever into these things that they aren’t so they can put that freedom out of their own reach, like some self-defeating thing.  And it’s not, it’s within your reach and everybody can do it, everyone can be free you know?  And it’s not like a hippie thing, haha. 

B: Well, I think for a lot of kids too – even though I don’t agree with the whole ‘elevating’ thing – I think what it is though, you’ve got the musicians, especially those they identify with, they are able to articulate what those kids can’t, in a better way and in a way that makes it easier for them to not do it themselves.

AG: Bob Dylan was being interviewed once and they said “Why do you sing the songs that you sing?” and he was like “Well, I’ve got a lot of ideas in my head, I’ve got a lot of feelings, and I like to get them out, and I guess a lot of people have a hard time getting them out and its for those people why I do what I do” and I always thought that was awesome.

B: Yeah, and I’ve always thought too that the bands who try to do it for themselves, the bands that are, not really egocentric, but more, like you said, you just do it for yourself, its more honest so I think you get more fans who connect more to the authenticity of that. 

AG: We’ve been very fortunate in that people have liked our band and people who have chosen to identify with my lyrics or the sound or whatever, we have no disillusions about who we are as a band or what our place is.

B: You guys completely turned down the major label thing right?

AG: We’ve had so many meetings with so many major labels and it was such a nightmare.  We finally decided it doesn’t matter what we end up doing as long as we end up keeping the freedom and shit that we have; that is the reason we started the band, we want to hold on to that wherever we go. So I think if we ever end up getting in bed with a major label, it will be our label, it will be an imprint.  If there’s a label that will win us over, they’re going to have to give us our own label and 100% freedom and take a huge risk, and if they’re not ready to do that, we’ll do it ourselves. It’s definitely difficult when you are getting married – I’m getting married – and it’s a very different situation from when you’re like, 20.  And I like doing this for a living, but I’ll do whatever, you know, if I can’t do this the way I want to do it I’ll do something else.  I’ll never stop making music, but maybe I’ll stop making money from it.  But I don’t give a fuck about that shit. 

B: Congratulations on the marriage!  So, your album art and the art you have surrounding your band – where does that come from?  Or what inspires it?  Because it’s definitely a little more unique for what it is.

AG: There’s this artist from NY name Esao Andrews that we’ve all admired for a long time and Brendan specifically brought him to the table and said “Yo, check this guy out!”  Hopefully he’ll do the next [album] too.  I think its cool to have a running theme with the artwork.

B: So is there anything else you want to add to this? Anything you want people to know.

AG: Listen to music not people!…that doesn’t make any sense

 

*After the interview, myself and those with me were fortunate enough to hear Anthony Green perform an acoustic version of a song he had begun writing a few days prior, so for those of you who couldn’t be a part of it, we will try to get a clip up soon.

Story also printed in Bakotopia magazine, issue 34, 8-7-08

Send to a Friend

Report a Violation

Comment From: Malface

Aw I liked when you had the lyrics to that piece at the end.