In 2003, alternative music was evolving from 90s rock and nu metal into new branches of experimentation. Ranging from hardcore to emo, bands like My Chemical Romance and The Used had already begun paving the way for others in the post-punk, pseudo-emo revolution. Among the wave of new music was Blueprints for the Black Market, the album that would ignite a romance between a cult-like fan base and the beloved Florida-based rock enigma, Anberlin.
11 years later, the undefinable group announced that their album Lowborn would be their last, leaving the alternative scene. In fact, Lowborn still remains their “most recent” album, but not for much longer. As fate would have it, Anberlin was not finished making music, they merely found themselves once again.
Stephen Christian, the charismatic vocalist of Anberlin, balances several projects without sacrificing an ounce of quality in his work. He is not only the vocalist of Anberlin, but he is also the creative mind and voice behind indie act Anchor & Braille, a husband, a father, and a pastor.
We sat down with Stephen to talk about Anberlin’s rebirth, their upcoming music, and his personal journey. Our conversation painted an abundantly clear picture — that despite his full schedule, he continues to prioritize his love for life, music, God, his family, and people.
Thanks for taking some time to connect! I wanted to start off our conversation by asking about Anberlin’s announcement that you will be playing at the iMatter Fest on July 30th. As someone who is a strong advocate for mental health awareness, I love that you’re a part of this event. How did you get connected to it?
Yeah, honestly, if you look through what Anberlin has been about since 2002 (not just our records), we’ve tried to be as philanthropic or pseudo-altruistic as we possibly could. We’ve done everything from taking different organizations on the road like To Write Love on Her Arms – the first time they ever went out on the road was with us. We’ve taken World Vision, we’ve done a lot of work within different cities, and we worked with Habitat For Humanity on a few different projects. In Denver, we worked with families of cancer victims, because sometimes they’re forgotten about. We got to meet with the families and love on them, work with them, do some acoustic stuff, and bring them groceries. Little things like that. We have tried to be as giving as possible throughout the decades.
This interview is mostly centered on Anberlin, but something about you I find fascinating is how you balance multiple roles in your life. Not only are you a member of Anberlin and the mastermind behind Anchor & Braille, but you are also a campus pastor at Grace Family Church, correct?
Yeah, I wear several hats for Grace Family right now. Definitely a big one is starting a new campus. We’re in the process of opening up our Grace Family Church Clearwater location. It’s a beautiful facility. It’s about 65,000 square feet, and I just know it’s going to make a difference in this community, for sure.
How do you balance everything? You’re also a father, right?
I am, of three beautiful, beautiful kids. You know, I think it’s something that’s always been a part of my work ethic, just working hard. And honestly, for me, Anberlin and Anchor & Braille are very much side projects to the project of working at the church. For me, Anberlin and songwriting and all that kind of stuff has gone back to being a passion project. Some men golf, other people hunt, some people go fishing. I cannot stand fishing or golfing, so for me it is my weekend, it’s my mental holiday. It’s a lot of fun. These guys I’ve grown up with – I met Deon (bassist of Anberlin) in the 4th grade. It’s getting together on the weekends and hanging out. For us it’s just a good time just to be together and keep pursuing the passion project that is Anberlin.
“You can hear New Mexico on the record — the four years I spent there – you could hear it in the lyrics and being able to draw on that. You can hear the political climate. You can hear inner struggles with spirituality to family dynamics. It’s all there and that’s refreshing.”
You’ve had quite the personal journey the past several years. You were living in New Mexico, but now you’re back in the Tampa, Florida area once again, close to family. Has that been nice?
Absolutely. The impetus to be back [in Tampa] was to be near them. My parents live 1.5 hours away. My in-laws live literally a half-mile from us, so yeah, it’s been great.
Alright, let’s get to Anberlin and the new music we’ve all been waiting for since 2014. What can you tell us about the upcoming release(s)?
We’re looking to do two EPs, and then kind of collect them together and add some more material, and then release a full-length. I think that singles and EPs are the future of music. There’s so much noise as far as so many other bands competing with bandwidth with online platforms that I think they enjoy the algorithms, they enjoy a chance to be on different playlists, and they also enjoy content. I think that’s one thing that helps with releasing little bits at a time, is that bands can keep up on social media.
Instead of announcing one big thing and then a month later it’s gone, if you released one song a month, you have 12 big things to look forward to in just 365 days. So, that’s the way we’re heading. We’re working with a record label right now. So far, it’s been a great relationship. They’ve pushed us in areas that we thought were kind of dead for the band, as far as even recording music videos. Playing shows, I’m not sure. I’ve learned my lesson about never saying never; it’s definitely come back to bite me a few times. But as of right now, I’m not sure what a tour would look like. I will say we’re going to be doing a lot of creative things to reach people in-person around the country and around the world. I would call it the “work smarter not harder” strategy, so that we can maintain relationships with our families and our jobs back home.
Do you plan on releasing both EPs prior to releasing the full-length album?
That’s the plan. I mean, anything is able to be adjusted, moved, or manipulated, but that’s the overall goal. They say that with artists, you have your entire life to write your first record, because you have all of those experiences. And over time, all of those experiences become past material. So, sometimes it’s hard as a songwriter to sit there and come up with new ideas, new thoughts, new melody lines, and even new guitar riffs.
But having this kind of break, because we haven’t been in the studio since 2014, has allowed us kind of a second life, where I had so much material to draw on, so much inspiration. You can hear New Mexico on the record — the four years I spent there – you could hear it in the lyrics and being able to draw on that. You can hear the political climate. You can hear inner struggles with spirituality to family dynamics. It’s all there and that’s refreshing. I always thought being a pastor that goes on stage once a week, that’s got to be brutal, not just for him, but for the congregation as well, because you only have so many stories. To be able to share the pulpit would keep things fresh and keep things vibrant. In the same way, I think that’s how I look at songwriting. You kind of need a break or need some help, even if it’s co-writing. For me, I love songwriting, but this break has been tremendous.
Again, I’m passionate about it. I’m not writing songs to put food on the table. It’s not like, “If you don’t
go on tour, if you don’t write a record, if you don’t write great songs, your kids are going to struggle.” It’s not like that anymore. That pressure is relieved, so the passion can flow back, and it’s a great place to be.
Have you ever thought about writing a book about your journey as a member of Anberlin, as a songwriter, and as a pastor?
I have not. I think there are many, many more stories to tell in the future. I think I have a lot more life to live. I would love to write a book and inspire other people. Man, I really haven’t put a lot of thought into that.
I believe you have a story that could inspire many people, especially artists who are balancing a job, their art, and maybe other responsibilities in life. A lot of people want to know, “How do I glorify God in this? How do I find peace and purpose?” Many artists, whether musically or other, are having to find ways to make money in the year 2022 that don’t have anything to do with art. With the digital world, there are a lot of possibilities. I think your story could be very encouraging to many people trying to find their place.
Man, fascinating. I will say, going off of what you just said, if you’re a small/medium-sized band – and I’d call Anberlin a medium-sized band…When I think “massive”…We had just gotten signed with Universal Records, and it was the first time that we were going to meet them. It was awesome, man. The red carpet experience. They ushered us in, and there in the front is our picture, like, “Welcome, Anberlin.” As we get to the top of the building and we walk out of the elevator, there are two massive, massive pictures hanging there of Taylor Swift and Drake. It immediately put me in my place, and I was like, “Yep, here we are.” So, I think no matter how big you get, there’s obviously someone bigger.
If you are in the small/medium-sized pond, you have to have a side hustle in 2022 or you’re done. You’re sleeping on couches. It doesn’t work in this day and age not to have multiple streams of income, whether that’s a YouTube channel, a podcast…You’ve got to get creative in 2022. I look back in just wonderment at how we made it through the struggles we did, and we lived in the era of 2005 – 2015 where there was still money to be made. I remember the first time that our song went #1 and my A&R at Universal said, “Man, too bad we don’t live in the 90s, or you’d be a multi-millionaire.” And I was like, “Don’t tell me that stuff,” because we came nowhere close to becoming multi-millionaires.
“If we had claimed Christian music, and we had claimed only Christian festivals and only Christian venues, I don’t think we would have ever had the opportunities that we had professionally — more than that, the people we’ve gotten to meet, the lives we’ve gotten to pour into, the phone conversations that I’ve had with musicians who (for lack of better words) have ‘fallen from grace,’ and it gives me an open door to be able to tell them, ‘There’s hope. There’s grace. There’s mercy.'”
With the new music coming out, particularly the full-length record you’re planning on releasing, how would you describe the vibe?
It just doesn’t sound like anything else. I think when you infuse passion and time and space between 5 individuals, I think you come up with different versions of who you are. It’s like raising your child. Every day they get a little bigger, but you don’t notice. If you only saw them once a year, you’d be like, “My gosh, you’re getting so big!” And in the same way, when you’re living 24/7, 8-9 months a year on the same bus, you almost don’t see the growth musically. It’s like you’re just growing together.
I feel in these many years apart, we’ve gone in different musical directions in what we listen to sonically. Production has gotten better than in 2014. I do think this is going to be different. I think the biggest influence, if I had to classify, would almost be the 90s, as if you formed a 90s band and then dropped them into 2022 with current-day production. What would that sound like? I’m really excited about it.
As far as a cohesive record, I’m not sure that there’s been many Anberlin records where it almost sounded like the same band, but Anberlin was good at that. One thing that we did was kind of like “best idea wins.” Best song gets on the record; it doesn’t have to fit this certain mold. I feel like this is a much more cohesive record than perhaps anything we’ve put out in some time.
When it comes to indulging in music as a consumer, not as a songwriter, what have you been listening to lately?
Oh man, that’s a great question. Around the house, on a weekly basis, we are huge Motown fans. We are huge into Jazz. Nina Simone. Tycho. The War on Drugs is a staple for me. He’s been putting out some really good stuff lately. It’s been one of those seasons of life where instrumental music has been predominant. We’re into anything neo-classical; my wife calls it soundtrack music, but to me, I just use it as thinking music.
If I’m working on something intently or I want to be in my thoughts, I just go to the neo-classical. I don’t want to say I’ve been influenced by it as far as the sound of Anberlin. The other thing that’s been cool lately is just being able to teach the kids about genres of music. We talked about “What is rock and roll?” It’s been a fun adventure to rediscover a lot of music that I liked and now they like.
As a philosophical mind, what books have you been reading recently?
Honestly, the big one, and I know this is very 101, but the big one lately has been John Maxwell’s “21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.” The cool thing is I have a very young, incredible staff, so that has been awesome. I just want them to get basic leadership knowledge now, because in the future, I do believe they are going to help lead this entire organization. To be able to invest into them early and often is awesome.
The next book that we’re going to be reading as a staff is A.W. Tozer’s “The Knowledge of The Holy.” I think that is an incredible book that allows people to have their minds expanded about the depth and breadth of who God is.
Despite your faith as a Christian, Anberlin has a very strong appeal to audiences from different walks of life, not just Christians. What is your take on how that has played out over the years?
I think it’s been great. I think it’s opened up doors that, if we had claimed Christian music, and we had claimed only Christian festivals and only Christian venues, I don’t think we would have ever had the opportunities that we had professionally — more than that, the people we’ve gotten to meet, the lives we’ve gotten to pour into, the phone conversations that I’ve had with musicians who (for lack of better words) have “fallen from grace,” and it gives me an open door to be able to tell them, “There’s hope. There’s grace. There’s mercy.” To really speak into their lives. I have a passion for that.
If I hear of someone who’s been ostracized or got arrested or whatever, to me that never, ever shakes me away from going to meet with them, because as everyone’s scurrying to make sure they’re canceled properly, I want to be the first unit in as triage. One of those situations just came up in the last several months where someone was just trashed. That person knows that I’m not going anywhere. Christians fall too. I feel like, if I had chosen a different route, who would have ministered to some of these people? Who would have been the first people in who would have wrapped their arms around them and been there for them?
In closing, what can fans expect from Anberlin in the coming months?
All of it. Soon. Once it starts, it’s just not going to stop. Everything’s ready, everything’s done. We are now just waiting on the strategic plan to be executed. I’m really looking forward to hearing what people think about it.
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