“New York, New Jersey, and the Northeast in general is definitely a spot where, if you go on tour, you’re gonna play there and you know you’re gonna love it…”
You’re right, Christian McAlhaney, we do love it, and we love Anberlin just as much all these years later.
Two years ago I stumbled upon a Reddit post that has since come to mind every time this band pops up on shuffle. “Right now I’m driving home from a nice evening with a good friend and somehow, now at 29, Anberlin hits so much harder than at 16 when I discovered them,” the user wrote in the pop punk-themed subreddit. The love was clear. The responses were honest. The fact was evident: Anberlin ruled, no matter how underrated they may have been to some. The original user made a great point, too, about how Anberlin is a band that has only gotten better with age, both in terms of musicianship and the discography itself. There’s a rawness and a timelessness that shines through and reminds us why we gravitated towards these songs and this art in the first place.
Matty Mullins of Memphis May Fire takes center stage as the new vocalist for Anberlin now, and he is one of us, one of these longtime fans who have grown with the music. (He just so happens to have something even better than a front row seat to seeing it live… he’s in the damn band and doing fantastically.) Chatting with him and guitarist Christian McAlhaney for this cover story let us put a spotlight on the fan to band relationship, which has only evolved over time with appreciation and trust (an anomaly in the genre at hand).
Earlier this month, the band dropped a new LP, Vega, which is a return to form in some ways, but also a complete and utter fresh start. There’s a new voice leading the anthemic, evocative numbers, fresh songs with said voice, and a new sense of care for the Anberlin name – what is means, what it sounds like, and what continues to release under it.
How has this summer been for you? It’s been full of excitement for fans, so I can only imagine what it’s like to be you guys.
Christian: You know, this was a long time in the making with so many things culminating around the beginning of this tour. So many plans we had set in motion like almost two years ago, so it’s been super exciting and very validating and vindicating to be out here playing – just kind of proof of concept with Matty. It’s just been awesome and we’re just very grateful every day.
We have these two pieces of art kind of coming together on Vega, which dropped in full earlier this month. How did the two new songs come about? Was that always the plan going forward – to combine the two existing EP releases with two new, additional tracks?
Christian: It’s been a slow process. We obviously broke up for a certain amount of years, and when we reformed, there was no real intention to write music at that moment. We just were like, “Let’s kind of feel it out and just play some shows and get back together in that way,” because we just missed each other and missed all the fans and missed doing it. Then when COVID hit, we found ourselves with a lot of time on our hands, obviously. That was the catalyst to start writing. We recorded Silverline ourselves. We did that all ourselves and then we kind of shopped it around and found a home to release it at Equal Vision. They kind of came up with the plan of doing a slow drip/multiple EP thing. This slowly developed, but we had already finished the second EP when this all came into focus, like I said, two years ago. As we were trying to finalize the idea of a record, we knew we were gonna combine the EPs for it, but also do a new track listing and with a couple new songs. Once Matty entered the picture, it was kind of an opportunity to be like, “Well, let’s do those new songs with the new singer and kind of give people a taste of what’s to come.”
It’s been exhilarating to watch, exhilarating to see and be part of. The single art alone for these songs, as well as the EP and LP art, stirred up some excitement in and of itself. How hands-on is Anberlin with that visual, artistic aspect at this time?
Christian: We’re in control of all of it, honestly. Nate [Young], our drummer, is kind of the creative director. Everyone has a say, but everyone also has their own separate lanes, as well. Nate is definitely the vision behind a lot of our creative stuff. We use the same artist’s buddy of ours (that lives in Australia) for all of the art, the past two EPs, all the single art, and Vega. Everything’s been from the same dude, so that’s why it might seem cohesive.
It definitely does – that’s what I first took note of when putting all the releases next to each other, so to speak. The new track, “Seven” falls in line with that, too, and the intense emotion behind it. It’s a really beautiful track, very hard hitting. If and when that gets played live here in New York, will it be as emotionally charged, if not more so? I’m particularly taken with that track, so I have to ask.
Matty: Yeah, so once the song is out, it’ll be only natural to play it live. It will be on the back half of this tour, but we actually already played that one live at Steven’s farewell shows in Tampa. This was so long ago, but we were like, “Why not introduce the new song to the fan base? This is so obviously the core fan base – those that would fly from all over the country to see his last two shows for the indefinite future.” We played ’em both live and “Walk Alone” was a success, but “Seven” was the hit out of the two, so we have all been looking very much forward to that song coming out.
How thrilling to be part of, and continue to be part of. Now, something we’ve talked about with Anberlin in the past – I was reading through old interviews we’ve done with you all – is that there have always been many songs and stories about trust – trust in each other, trust in a partner, trust between you as a band and the fans. In this moment, kind of coming back off this sort of hiatus, this breakup, and having these two pieces of music coming together, the trust in the fans and in your audience both new and old is, I think, imperative to this rollout of the era. What has the reception been like coming back with these certain songs? And what are you looking forward to seeing the fans take away from everything?
Christian: You nailed it; no one likes change. Change is tough in life in general, right? I think before we launched everything with Matty, before we went on tour, there were a lot of opinions about how and when we were kind of rolling out what this new era of Anberlin was gonna look like. Everyone had a lot of different opinions – positive and negative. Even at the time, I’m like, “We’re only talking about a hypothetical here.” There was a lot of love, longing for that trust in our fan base to keep going, so we needed to say, “Hey, trust us. This isn’t some sort of knee jerk or like a snap judgment. These are things that we’ve thought through and talked about at nauseum.” It had been a couple years, you know? This was something we really deeply sat on and were like, “Do we wanna do this? And if we’re gonna do it, how do we do it right?” Yeah, there was a lot of like longing for that trust, like we’ve said, especially of that to fans online. It’s just like, “Hey, trust us. There’s more coming down the pipe. Maybe you don’t care for ‘Walk Alone,’ but we’re already five steps ahead of that, and you don’t need to know everything. Let it be a surprise. Trust us.” In this day and age, everyone likes instant access to everything and almost feels entitled to having all the information. We had to be like, “Let us surprise you.” We have so much going on – so much that we’re even way far past Vega at this point internally, you know what I mean? This is just a set piece to move forward into the next year and all the things we’ve already laid the groundwork for… we already have a bunch of new songs finished with Matty.
Oh my goodness! Fans need to hear that – they need to understand that this era of Anberlin is not just a blip in the radar; there’s a whole world being built out. There’s more to come. Let us all take a deep breath and take the music as it comes. These 12 songs have such a flow to it, such a different and raw distribution of the art and the tracklist and the bonuses. We have to let it fully unfold before saying anything, especially when Matty is tearing it up in the best way so far.
Christian: 100% – don’t make any judgements until you either listen to the songs or you come see it live. You can’t just go, “Well, I am probably not gonna care for that because it’s a different singer.” It’s like, you don’t even know yet that you might actually like it better [Laughs], who knows? It’s not lost on us that switching out a lead singer is a very weird process; it’s much different than if you switch to guitar player. We’re not naive to that fact. People align and connect so much with the music, but if you ask anybody about any band, they probably know the lead singer, but won’t probably know the rest of the band members’ names. We understood all of that, but this was just a way forward to keep this band operating because the opposite was gonna be probably breaking up again, you know?
Matty: I think the positivity and negativity on social media is kind of a double-edged sword where it’s like, when we were starting our careers, if somebody didn’t like a song, they just wouldn’t listen to it. It was not like, “I have to get out there and express my opinion,” but people like to have a platform and the ability to speak their mind. At the end of the day, it would be so much worse for no one to be saying anything, right? Like, I’ll take any negativity any day over silence because negativity is just gonna point other people to go check it out and see what they think for themselves. Ultimately, when people come out and see it live and hear what I’m able to do with the old stuff and then also how we are taking the new songs and putting them into that live realm and bringing ‘me to life…. I don’t think that there’s been a single person that has come to a show and been like, “That ain’t it.” This has been a long time in the works with a lot of stuff that people didn’t see, but we didn’t come out here by accident, you know? When this tour started, we were doubted, but we were ready to tear it apart. Just come out and see and hear it for yourself, see what you think.
That is a very special, honest, and validating perspective to have, and I hope you know that it is paying off with these high-energy, well-received live shows. It’s a new era, embrace it! I wanted to ask what you guys love the most about this project – the records, singles, and tour.
Christian: Matty can vouch as well, but probably most artists will say that their newest whatever is probably what you’re most excited about, right? Because the other songs we’ve sat with for a while. When we finished the first EP, we were like, “This is great! This is the best stuff we’ve ever done!” Then we were like, “Ok, we gotta top that for the second EP.” Then we’re like, “Oh, did we do it? I think we might have done it!” You know, every time you’re writing a new song, you’re just trying to outdo yourself, so usually whatever is current is kind of the one where you say, “Yo, this rips. I can’t wait to play it.” We were talking about “Seven” and we haven’t really played that yet live. I just can’t wait to unleash that on the crowd because I think it really is a song that leans more towards some of Matty’s specialty, if you will, as it kind of highlights his vocal ability in a different way than Steven. They’re just such different voices.
Matty: Yeah, and the two new songs are the only two that I was part of during the writing and recording, obviously. I can’t speak to the excitement of the other songs being out within the package, but the whole record is cool, for sure. I’m just stoked to be along for the ride.
Christian: I have an anecdote here. When we released the first EP, the first single was “Two Graves,” right? I get a FaceTime call from Matty while he’s on tour with Memphis [May Fire] on his tour bus. They’re ripping the song on the stereo and they’re all just rocking out to it. He’s like, “This is so sick!” Because Anberlin had been defunct there for a minute and that was our first song back, he was super pumped as a fan and the singer!
Matty: That song is also a lot of fun to play.
Christian: That’s how much of a real one he is. We’ve known each other casually for a minute; maybe not intimately, but anytime our path would cross, we’d hang out. We would talk on occasion. We’ve been in each other’s periphery for a long time. That’s how this all kind of made sense for us once it started taking shape.
That is so sweet, it really brings everything full circle for this moment with Anberlin, and Vega, and Matty. There’s something new in the air and from what I’ve seen, most people are on board. It’s wonderful to hear that you all are wholeheartedly on board, too.
Christian: Yeah, we are, as well. We really are.l
Matty: Like we said, it’s awesome. We’re excited. Every night on this tour, we’ve left people feeling more excited than before, so I am just looking forward to more of that.
We mentioned this earlier, Matty, about the setlist right now and sort of intertwining within the set of the new and the old, as well as you really finding your space in these songs – not necessarily reimagining them, but doing them the way you would do them while also do paying homage and credence to how they originally sounded. What has that experience been like for you? Because I can imagine it’s pretty fun to, in a way, step into the shoes of a frontman you were already listening to, cover a song of his and the band’s, but also be yourself and have that freedom as a vocalist.
Matty: For sure! When I was five or six years old I would get my mom’s vacuum cleaner out of the closet and I would pretend that it was a mic stand with a microphone, and I would sing to my curtains in the living room. My “set” was always two songs that were inspiring me at the time, and that feeling of freedom is everything. You hear a song, you love a song, you connect with a song, and then you sing it as a fan. That is a feeling that I have never been able to accomplish with my music from my band that I write with, because although they’re so special to you and you love to bring them to the live environment, there is always going to be this voice in the back of your head that ‘s like, “Well, you wrote this, so are you sure it’s a great song?” That kind of thing is hard.
Imposter syndrome?
Matty: Yeah, and having grown up in the time of Anberlin and loving this band and loving these songs for so long, playing with this band live… it feels like I’m holding my vacuum cleaner in the living room again. I can’t get that from something that I wasn’t inspired by at a young age. It’s just so cool to be up there and to be playing “Never Take Friendship Personal” and having these dudes on stage with me that I visually saw with my eyes live at The Detour in Spokane, Washington, or The Big Easy, when I was growing up. Being alongside them, singing these songs, it’s a feeling that I wish more people had the opportunity to experience at some point in their lives. […] Instead of just giving a performance to the crowd, it feels like I’m enjoying the show with them. I’m a fan, too. I’m celebrating their return with the crowd and I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way with Memphis. Not that it’s a bad thing – I just don’t think it’s possible. I look out at the fans, I look out at the crowd, and I see myself, because I am one, if that makes sense. To be there, to be here, it’s this wild, cool full circle thing.
YOU CAN STREAM VEGA, THE BRAND NEW ALBUM FROM ANBERLIN, BELOW – OR WHEREVER YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC!
