Last week I had the opportunity to speak with the lead singer of The Classic Crime, Matt McDonald, to talk a little about the band’s new album Vagabonds, their trip to Haiti, their future plans, side projects,  and even a possible acoustic EP.

Let’s talk a little about the songs on Vagabonds your new CD. In several songs, like “A Perfect voice”, “Vagabonds” and “Four Chords” you sing a lot about music, about the pleasure of being in a band and just being able to sing. You also mentioned before that this CD focuses more on music itself and not necessarily on money, or material things. What has changed? Is this something new… a realization you had?

Matt: Well I think that we have always been a band that have wanted to do something more than just for ourselves. I think everybody who is an artist or a creative person is in someway responsible for impacting the world for the better. And we started this band knowing that we wanted to do more than just play music or hoard money to ourselves. We wanted to play for a bigger purpose, to do things outside of ourselves, and to serve people with our music and hopefully bless them and inspire them and give them hope. I think that just recently that thought, that belief that we had in our head sorta moved into our hearts and we started acting on that, and of course the record reflects sort of the attitude that brings. It’s just a lot about struggling, a lot about being poor and getting older, but also having joy in simple things, and that music brings us joy. So that’s what we’re going to do… we’re going to create music.

Do you feel that as a band you have accomplished your purpose, or you’re just starting a new phase?

Matt: I think that we’re finally starting to do what we set out to do when we first started this band 7 years ago. We are growing up a little bit and becoming more mature, we’re realizing the reality of it all, and we’re being thankful for the blessing that it is to make music, tour and play shows for living; regardless of how successful that is… just the opportunity to do that is priceless and is irreplaceable. So the record flows from that vibe. We are ready to feel blessed and to bless others.

Yeah, I can tell it definitely feels like several of the songs sound a lot like a celebration, you are happy, and a little more carefree. You can definitely tell that the record has a purpose and a direction.

Matt: Our last record was darker and epic, and it sorta was struggling with a lot of unrealized dreams and a lot of bad habits, and things that we weren’t excited about in life. Things that we were just coming back down to reality after doing this for a few years on the road. I do believe this record is a lot happier in general because things are coming a full circle out of that struggle into accepting what we have as a gift and just sing it out.

There are two songs that I would like to talk about in specific. The first one is “My Name”. This song seems to have a lot more metaphors and a little more spiritual content like you had on The Silver Cord Can you share a little about this song?

Matt: It’s funny. I wrote that while we were on the studio recording The Silver Cord. So it makes sense that it sounds like The Silver Cord. It’s the oldest song that was written for Vagabonds. But we wanted to put it on this record because we feel like it does represent the music style of The Silver Cord well… and I don’t know… I think we did justice to put it on this record and putting in context with these different songs. Yeah, it’s a lot more metaphorically rich because that was the vibe of The Silver Cord. A lot of metaphors and a lot of metaphysical topics, a lot of spiritual topics of life and death. So we wanted to represent that part of our band on this record, and we will probably represent that on every record because it’s part of our band. But the first 5 songs on vagabonds are very tongue-and-cheek, organic, sort of street talk so to speak, and not as metaphorically rich as “My Name “or any song on The Silver Cord.

Yeah I kinda divided the album in my own head in two halves. The first half with very light lyrics and as you said not like The Silver Cord. And on the second half you have other songs like “My name”, and “Count” that have a heavier content.

Matt: Last record we did it differently, we had a lot of heavy content up front because that was the vibe, and then 3 songs at the end were all pop songs. So now we switched it up a bit just because the record calls for it to be this way.

The second song I would like to talk about is the last song on the record “Broken Mess” which is probably my favorite song of the whole record

Matt: Thank you…
.

“Broken Mess” is tragic in the beginning and yet very hopeful at the end. Can you tell us the story behind this song?

Matt: Yeah, unfortunately it’s about something that happened to my brother. I don’t want to get into details about it, but it’s my response to a pretty dramatic situation that happened to him. I was on the road when I wrote it… I wrote it in 5 minutes into my phone as my mind was racing after learning some new stuff he had gone through. So I typed it all into my phone and I think we were at a show the next day and I sat in the trailer with an acoustic guitar and figured it out. I think when a lot of tragic things happen to me I put it in a song and I put it in a box so that it doesn’t haunt me. That’s like my grief. If I have it in a song then it’s there if I need to go to it. It won’t consume me on the inside it will be on the outside. So that was sort of like a grieving song, but at the same time there’s hope. And there’s reconciliation in my brother’s situation right now, so things are looking positive. So I definitely wanted to highlight that opportunity at the end of the song, for sure.

Yeah, it’s a really good song, I have been listening to it a lot….

Recently you have used your band, especially with the whole Haiti situation, as venue to speak about social injustice and also to support non-profit organizations. How did it start?

Matt: Well first off, both Skip (Paul Erickson) and I had been to different trips to India with Faceless International. An organization started by Christian Stephen from Anberlin and Sarah Freeman. I went on one with Stephen and Skip went on a different one with Sarah and some other folks. And we were just really fired by that. We wanted to get our whole band to do a trip together, and sort of through writing this record and everything we were trying to do to take the focus off of our personal gain. We wanted to change the focus and see if we could be a blessing to other people. We decided to go to Haiti as a band in November and it was an amazing experience. We came home just so ecstatic and really with ideas of how we could help the people that we met. 8 weeks later the earthquake hit and so everything kicked into high gear. We were able to get our pre-order up early with 100% of the profits going to earthquake relief in Haiti. And we were able to raise close to 4,000 dollars so far.

Yeah, I checked it online today…

Matt: If you consider that a Haitian makes a bout 150 to 180 dollars a year, 4,000 dollars can do a lot of good. So we are really excited about bringing relief into long term fixes that we can be involved in through Tom, my friend who lives there.

This whole experience that you’ve had in India and in Haiti, has that influenced your music in any way?

Matt: I think everything influences music. I don’t claim to know where the music comes from or what inspires it as longs as things happen when they happen I’m lucky enough to write them down. I don’t know what our music is going to sound like. I don’t have any preconceived ideas about what we want to do. I just sit down and write a bunch of songs and we decide where to go from there. Yeah, I think it has influenced me personally and music is a large part of my life. So I think it definitely influences my music in some ways.

Do you plan to continue to support non-profit organizations?

Matt: I think that we have been given a platform, and we do have people who look up to us. So we have a responsibility to raise issues. I’ve never been the activist type. I’m not a bleeding heart type of person dying for every cause. I’m not a cause person in general either, but I think this cause with Haiti has sort of fallen into our lap. When we went to Haiti and 8 weeks later the earthquake hit, I think that happens for a reason and I think that we are supposed to do our best to help out, and that’s what we’re going to do.

A little off topic, could you share a little about Skin & Teeth? Is this a new side project?

Ah… it’s not really a side project, it’s Chad Crawford from Scary Kids Scaring Kids, and Erick Serna from The Deer Hunter played on this song. Chad basically sent me the music. I wrote the melody, the lyrics and sang on it and got my wife to sing on it, and sent it back to him. So we’ve had ideas about collaborating more. He got a bunch more songs and we want to sit down at some point when our schedules are freed up a little bit and actually see if we can write a collection of songs together.

Where does the name come from?

Matt: Something I came up with and ran it by Chad because he was thinking about a name. It’s something that’s really visceral skin and teeth, skin and bones. There’s a play on words there. It’s just really stripped down. There’s not a lot going on other than just acoustic and some pads and vocal. So it sorta has that skin and bones vibe and skin and teeth, teeth and bones. Teeth are also bared in emotional situations. I don’t know, there are plenty of metaphors that you could draw from. I thought it was a cool enough name and we just went with it. I don’t know if it will stick, but it works for now.

Before The Silver Cord came out you released an Acoustic EP, Seattle Sessions, which I guess it took a lot of fans by surprise. You guys seemed to have a lot of good response from that EP. Do you guys think about recording another acoustic?

Matt: Yeah, I mean there aren’t enough hours in the day, but if they just payed me just to sit in the studio all day it would be great cause I have plenty of songs that I would love to record and put out there. It’s just a matter of time and a matter of the opportunity presenting itself. And I hope it presents itself. A lot of the music I listen to is acoustic base, it’s sort of folk music, so I do like creating that. It’s sort of a hobby of mine. I’ve got songs that I write all the time that fit in that genre but that wouldn’t necessarily fit on Vagabonds. We like to represent all different genres, we like to dabble, we like to have fun with music. We don’t like to pigeon hole ourselves or put boundaries on ourselves. I think that our fans or the people who listen to us tend to expect that. We aren’t going to put out the same record twice. I know a lot of people have been asking about another acoustic record so I have definitely been thinking about it.

Usually when you hear about an EP coming out you think there’s going to be just 3 songs and they are probably going to be on the full album later on, but when your EP came out there were 7 original songs that no one had heard before, and I think that’s why people enjoyed it.

Matt:Yeah I got 7 more ready if the opportunity presents itself, and I think these 7 songs are actually a lot better than the last I recorded. It’s just a matter of time.

Just to finish it up… with the Vagabonds CD coming out… is there one main message that you hope your fans will get out of the new record?

Matt: I guess overall just to be thankful for your blessings. Count your blessings, enjoy your blessings and enjoy music. It’s a pretty lighthearted record for the most part. There’s some heavier topics towards the end of course. But yeah we’ve just wanted to have fun with this one for a little bit.

Thanks Matt and The Classic Crime!

TWENTYFOUR64 kindly took some time (they’re on tour right now) to answer some questions about their new record, “Know Me”, and give us some insights about their contagious music.

1. Could you please introduce the band? Who is who, who plays what, and are any of you guy related?

TWENTYFOUR64 is Junior Tubera aka “Junior T.” – Lead Vocalist, Junior Macadangdang aka “Junior Boy” – Bassist, Samuel Kanekoa – Pianist/Synth/BG Vocalist, Roy Nuesca – Drummer, Kenton Fukuda – Guitarist, Joe Trejo – Guitarist. Most of us grew up together at our home church back in Honolulu, Hawaii.

2. How did the band come together?

Junior Boy, Sam, Roy, Kenton, and Mark McDonald (Former Guitarist) were already a band from Jr. High through High School. Junior T. joined the band in 2005 after an attempt at American Idol. Having played the Hawaii circuit for two years, we decided to take our music to the next level with a move to Southern California in 2007. Mark McDonald left the band in early 2009 due to academic obligations. We met our new guitarist, Joe Trejo, at Faith Community Church in West Covina, CA.

3. You have a unique sound, blending R&B, gospel, with alternative rock, what are your musical influences?

We listen to a wide variety of music, from Paramore, Underoath, Anberlin, Mae, Coldplay, Switchfoot, Relien K, Saosin, to Kim Burrell, Mariah Carey, Brandy, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayer, Israel Houghton, Kirk Franklin . . . the list can go on and on so i’ll just leave it at that! If you haven’t noticed, our music is quite bi-polar.

4. Not only your music, but also your lyrics are quite captivating, varying from love songs to spiritual songs… Who write the lyrics and where does the inspiration come from?

Junior T. wrote most of the lyrics on the “Know Me” album. The grace and wonder of God, and the beauty of creation inspire him. He also pulls from his life experiences and those of others. The song “Know Me” was written in memory of his brother, whom his family lost to cancer. The song “Drowning In Shallow Love” was written after a heart to heart with a friend going through relationship issues. “Dance With The Embers” was written after witnessing fireworks with friends at Disneyland. As you can see, our lyrical influences are as diverse as our musical styles.

5. Not too long ago you got to play during GMA week. How did you guys have this opportunity? Was it your first time in Nashville?

Yes, this was our first time in Nashville and at GMA Week. Our manager, Tim Gionet submitted us to several GMA venues. We were then selected to perform two GMA Showcases and secure our summer tour. We were blessed with the opportunity to perform at the legendary Rocketown. Tom Jackson, Taylor Swift’s stage producer, also gave the Xtreme Tour artists an informative stage performance seminar.

6. The news about your band is starting to spread, and more people are having the opportunity to hear your music, what has been the response so far?

People have been very receptive and excited about our music. We’re reaching an audience, not only in the US, but even as far as the Philippines, Japan, Australia, and the UK. This is very exciting for us as a band that started on a little island.

7. You released your debut album, “Know Me”, this past March, what is your first single from “Know me”?

“We Are Taking Over” is our first single off of the album. We re-recorded it for radio play and we are asking for your help in calling your local Christian station to request it. It was also released on June 3, 2009 on itunes for your listening pleasure.

8. When can we expect to see you on tour?

Right now! We are currently on the XTREME Tour West Coast. We will also be headlining a tent at Creation Festival in Pennsylvania (which is our most eastern stop this summer, and possibly our biggest show to date), as well as two dates on the Cornerstone Festival in Illinois. Our tour dates are posted on our myspace.com/TWENTYFOUR64 and purevolume.com/TWENTYFOUR64.

9. Of course most bands want to have as many listeners as possible, but who are your listeners? Teenagers? Twenty-something’s?

We were aiming for the toddler demographic; however, it’s been mostly teens and the college crowd. However, we still capture the “wiser” demographic and we could not be any happier about it. It shows that our music can be trusted, and that’s a great feeling. Our music comes from the heart, and that is being accepted universally, no matter the age or the place.

10. What is the music scene like in Hawaii? Have you played there much?

The music in Hawaii is mostly a Hawaiian/Jawaiian music scene. There are some rock/alternative bands that are slowly gaining attention, but it is still a work in progress. Big name bands rarely make their way across the Pacific ocean, but when they do, that’s when bands like us gain greater exposure by opening for them. Other than that, it’s mostly underground local shows with a faithful local following. Never underestimate the power of faithful friends (not just fans) in Hawaii! They rock!
We’ve played mostly church shows in Hawaii, as we were still a young band growing musically. Whenever we return to visit family and friends, we always make it a point to do a show of our appreciation for them. Since our move to California, God has amazingly connected us with people who’ve helped to propel us to that next level. We feel really blessed and encouraged to move forward! “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it!”

11. What is one thing everyone should know about twentyfour64?

We want you to know that you are loved through our music and us!

Thank you guys for your time! Hope to see you live soon!

Here at To Start A Fire, we recently had a chance to have a conversation with Brett Dennen about his new record Hope for the Hopeless, his tour with John Mayer and some of his many interests. Brett shared his reason for the title of the album, his thoughts on what others think of his music and an inside look to his song “Heaven”, among other things.

When asking for the reason behind the title of Brett’s new album; Brett will tell you, “finding hope in hard times, being optimistic when we feel like everything is going wrong.” It is the common theme in every song on Hope for the Hopeless. He feels that there needs to be hope in this world and especially in the United States. The 2008 election is very hopeful for him, “at least for me in this election; in Barack Obama, there is hope.”

As for the song “heaven” is about the after life or what the common conception of that is. Brett says he sees a lot of contradictions in what people say about heaven. He feels that people are all trying to be good and are reaching for this perfect place but the prisons, wars, businesses and things of this life are keeping us from getting to that place. Want to know more about this song? Brett tells us to take look at his lyrics because they say what he means best! “It’s hard for me talk about any songs really but I think they are better in the lyrics.”

We all know that Brett’s new album is great but in case you were wondering what he thinks about the record, we have the scoop. “I know that all my friends, family and people I work with, we’re all stoked about the record.” He says that he has heard some negative feedback from fans, critics and magazines and has heard some positive too. This news, either way doesn’t seem to faze him too much. “I don’t know, the songs come to me I write them, they feel good, I don’t write some stuff because it’s not what I want to do and I write the stuff I write because it’s what I’m inspired by. I don’t really want to pay too close attention to it (the feedback) because I made the record that I wanted to make and when I made it I didn’t care about who is going to say what about it.” So there you go, Brett is proud of his work and we at TSAF think he should be!

Brett has been touring with John Mayer and says the overall experience is great. John Mayor, his band and all the people he works with are very professional which gave Brett a wonderful environment to flourish in. “Every show that we play there are thousands and thousands of people there, and it’s really high profile. I see my name on billboards; I get to see my name in newspapers and magazines all over the place. It’s really cool.” Brett noted that the most amazing part of the tour was seeing all of John Mayor’s devoted fans. “They seem to be really loyal to him. They love him for everything he does and they are really good people to be in front of.” Brett hopes to build a fan-base like that.

Now, it is time for something near and dear to Brett’s heart; non-profit organizations. Brett, his girlfriend and a friend, on a Halloween a few years ago came up with the organization Love Speaks. It was created as a way to bring non-profit groups to the concerts so that they can communicate with the concert goers one-on-one and share with them what is going on in the community around them. Love Speaks provides the opportunity for the organizations to speak in front of the audience and highlights them for the work they are currently doing. It is mainly a way to educate concert goers and help them get actively involved. “So if my music inspires people to get involved in something, then right behind them, by the doors are the non-profits ready to sign them up or pass out information that is going to educate them on something that is going on in the community.” Also, Brett is the co-founder of The Mosaic Project; an organization that helps to bring 5th graders together from the San Francisco Bay Area. The children are from very diverse backgrounds. The Mosaic Project allows them to express their individuality with people who are very different from them. “We build community across differences and break down stereo-types, and discrimination and prejudice. They (the children) learn how to communicate and celebrate diversity.” Brett certainly has his hands full with being involved with non-profit organizations and his main gig; a professional musician.

Besides Brett jokingly telling TSAF that Mandy Moore is his sister (she isn’t), his latest music video “Make You Crazy” features Miss Moore taking her shoes off. Brett explains that his label was looking for some movie star power to give his video some pizzazz so they asked him to find someone. In his words, “I was like, ‘I don’t know man’ so I just called her, asked her and she said yeah. She’s great to work with.” They had met a couple years ago and had kept in contact.

When Brett is not busy making music videos or performing; he likes to grow vegetables, ride his bike around, draw, take pictures and cook fancy meals. So there you have it; Brett Dennen is a regular Renaissance man, or better stated: a laid-back, compassionate musician who believes in hope. Thanks for chatting, Brett!

Brave Saint Saturn’s vocalist, Reese Roper (from former band Five Iron Frenzy), answers some questions about the past, present and future of BSS and everything in between – side projects, anti-meridian, mercenary, Showbread, his personal life, faith and much more.

1. We’ve not heard much from you since the end of Five Iron Frenzy (2003), and that was also the last time we had news from Brave Saint Saturn, so… where have you been and what have you been up to this past 4 years?

- It’s kind of boring. I worked as a Cytogenetic Technician in a clinical genetics lab, at the University of Colorado for a few years, and then as a type of electrician for a dental x-ray company while I waited to get into nursing school. Right now I am about halfway through the nursing program. I also got married in December of 2004, and have been working on this Brave Saint Saturn album and a DVD for Five Iron Frenzy that we hope to put out by Christmas as a joint release of Asian Man Records and the Department of Biophysics.

2. Brave Saint Saturn started as a side project while Five Iron Frenzy was still going on, back then did you think BSS would get this far? Or was it just an outlet to expose your music?

- I never meant to record it, actually. Five Iron just had too many good songwriters in it to compete with, so I was writing the songs for Brave Saint on the side, just to be able to write something. Because Five Iron was mostly goofy, these songs tended to be kind of dark and introspective to balance that. It was really a mistake to record the first album as fast as we did, but Five20Minute Walk talked me into doing it, and needed us to crank it out in a few months, so we did. After we realized what an effect it had on people to hear songs made with such honesty, we decided to flesh it out into a trilogy, and the rest is low-grade, mediocre, rock history.

3. Along the last few years you formed two other bands (Guerilla Rodeo, and Roper) – what happened to those bands?

- Guerilla Rodeo was by far the best planned out band I have ever heard of. I think because Sonnie and I saw the end of Five Iron looming on the horizon in 2002, we decided to try and put together some sort of super-group that we thought would be able to make it to a major label. In doing so, we planned out where we should all move- to tour best out of; we tried building it from our own label, and even the sound of the band, etc. The problem to me, was that we were trying to undo all of the mistakes we had made in Five Iron: to spend more on advertising, to make videos, to have a manager- things that still haunt me to this day. But it was too well ordered- almost overplanned. When some of the guys began to deviate from what we had discussed, I freaked out and quit. At the same time, Five Minute Walk offered to try and put a new band together with me for the purpose of pursuing a major label record deal. So in the span of about two weeks, I made two of the dumbest mistakes I have ever made. Not that I hold anything against Five Minute Walk, itÂ’s just that I thought that if I gave them free reign over the decision making (up to and including the name of the band), they would work harder and make it happen. It didnÂ’t work, and because there was no written contract, there was no way to tell what was promised on either side.The first 6 months of that band were spent making a great album and gaining progress on it, and the last year and a half were spent trying to figure out how to get out of it. In the end, what I learned was to relax a little bit, and to always get a contract when working in the music business. It is kind of disheartening to look back at these two projects, because one had the greatest potential of any thing I have ever been a part of musically, and the other was one of the best albums I feel that I have ever made.

4. You made appearances on two Showbread albums, how did this opportunity come up? What was it like to work with them?

- They actually emailed me when I was recording the Roper album in the Summer of 2004. They loved The Light of Things Hoped For, and they had wanted me to do something similar to the ending of “Daylight” on “Matthias Replaces Judas”. So I drove up to where they were recording one afternoon and laid down some tracks. I had never met them previous to that, but we have become great friends since then. I toured with them during Roper, and lately recorded the track on Anorexia/Nervosa. They are re ally cool guys, who truly love the Lord, and make amazing music. They stay at our house every time they come through Denver and eat all of our food.

5. Now that Brave Saint Saturn is back, what can we expect from you guys? Are we going to see you on tour? Are there any plans to continue with the band?

- Well, we’ll see how this album does. Brave Saint has never sold a lot of albums, even though it always seems to garner a lot of acclaim. I think that if it gets a moderate amount of sales, we all are discussing putting out another trilogy of albums (maybe centered around a different story). We are also talking about playing about 10 festivals next summer too, if we can figure out how to practice with Dennis living in New Jersey. Keep your fingers crossed. I would like to see where we can go with Department of Biophysics as a label too, maybe helping other bands not to make the same dumb mistakes that we made as younger musicians.

6. Anti-meridian is a pretty impressive album, with a mixed range of genres spread out through 17 tracks – can you tell us a little about the writing and creative process?

- Oh, man. So much of this album took so long. I have never been a great songwriter, and I have always regretted how much you have to sacrifice musically to get an album to make a deadline. I started writing the songs for this album in February of 2004, and some of those songs literally took all of those 4 and a half years to finish. I20think that I just became obsessive with controlling every last aspect of what went into each song, because I didn’t want to have the same regrets that I have had with other albums in the past. The problem with this, is that you can never make a perfect song. At least I can’t. (Freddy Mercury- maybe). Last Spring, my wife told me I needed to get a second job to help pay for school, and I was able to talk her into letting me finish the album instead. So I forced myself to make a deadline. and then we just pushed through and did it. I was a little scared that Dennis wasn’t going to be able to finish his tracks, just because he is so busy with his job and family, but he really buckled down and got 5 songs done for the album. We even ended up cutting songs, one from Dennis, four of mine, and one of Andy’s. Overall, it was one of the hardest things I have ever done, because I was too much of a control freak, and wouldn’t let other people help until the end. If you listen to the song “Fortress of Solitude”, it somewhat chronicles this- my obsession with perfection. I used a lot of Superman imagery to paint a picture of how it was making me feel crazy, made a clean and pretty song, and then just destroy it at the end.

7. “Mercenary” is a classic Reese Roper song – it’s creative and clever – can you share with us about the meaning of the song?

- Yeah, I’ll share part of it with you. I hate it when musicians tell you exactly how to interpret a song, because good art should be about how the audience sees it, not just how the artist intended it (not that I am saying I’m good!). Mercenary is really about the things I hate about myself. We all have a price, where we will compromise our values, and Mercenary is about me giving into that. Specifically it is about choices I have made as a musician, and how I think the Christian Recording Industry is ruled by others who have made entire lifestyles out of those bad decisions.

8. Anti-meridian follows some sort of a war theme mixed with your personal faith, what was the idea behind the album?

- I tend to, as a rule, write the most honest things I can at the time I am feeling them. I think that I am really upset with the American Church’s response to our country being at war, and even our saber-rattling to join that war, so a lot of that crept into the album. I can’t see how anyone, interpreting scripture through the character and example of Jesus Christ, can think that a Christian perspective on war can be anything but to see it as the very last measure available. We should support our troops with all the love and mercy of Christ, but at the end of the day, we should be the voice for peace and mercy, because people are judging us by that. And one day we will be judged by what we, in turn, did with the love of Christ.

Also, we wanted to make the three Brave Saint Saturn album s a metaphorical picture of one’s spiritual life. To me, this album is about the end of life, or even death. The songs that touch on issues of war, or issues of life and death were pushed toward the middle of the album to create that picture, and then hopefully resolved again in songs like “These Frail Hands”, and “Invictus”.

9. BSS line up is still the same, was there anyone else involved in Anti-meridian?

Yes. Sam Hernandez, ex-Dime Store Prophets, played some bass, as well as Jonathan Byrnside from Roper. And Justin McRoberts did some background vocals. Oh, and Masaki Liu, in addition to mixing and mastering it, did a lot of the strings, programming, and guitar playing.

10. You’ve an extensive resume… is there anything you still wish to accomplish as a musician?

- Really? I would say I have a lot of near hits, but many more misses, in this business. I guess if I had to say it, there are two things I would like to do. The first would be to just get one song into the rotation in general market radio play. Not for the fame, or the money, but to somehow be able to look back and know that I at least wrote one song that was good enough for that. I guess for the assurance as a songwriter that I was doing an okay job. The second, and this is going to sound extremely corny, is that I have always had a pipe-dream of writing a musical. But, my musical goals are far superseded by my spiritual goals, which are just to be remembered as someone who knew the Love of God, and always shared it with others.

I think that a lot of people get confused when I tell them I am going to nursing school right now, because they don’t know what to do with the Reese Roper they’ve seen as a musician or songwriter for so long. Part of the reason I am doing it is so I can have a good paying job that gives me four days a week to work on music, and I don’t have to depend on touring as a source of income. But a larger part of me has realized that this is where God wants me to be, and that this is something I was made for. When People ask me what the best part of Five Iron was, I always remember this one day when we were on tour in South Africa. We went with some missionaries that were hosting us to a township called Phutadejaba, near Lesotho to do a concert before someone was to show the “Jesus” film. We spent all day playing with kids as they led us through the streets of this town, then played an average show, and later, just hung out with the people who came. The “Jesus” film never showed up, but it hardly mattered- to us or them, because Jesus Christ was still preached, through our words, but mostly our actions.

When I look back, that was my favorite day of my entire musical career. Not because we totally rocked that show, or because we were somewhere where few bands will ever go, but because all of the superficial trappings that go along with being in a band were stripped away. It was just us, and some kids- who could care less that we were in Five Iron Frenzy, and just needed someone to play with them. That is what I feel like when I am a nurse. That it is just me, with all the crap stripped away, and if I am to help people, I have to depend on God to work through me, and in me. Amazingly, He does, and somehow, I am always changed in the process. You can’t go into a nursing home knowing that you have to change the diapers on 30 or so elderly patients- who may or may not know who you are, or why you are there, who may or may not make it through the week, who may love you or hate you for doling out insulin injections and omaprazole- and not be afraid. Every day I have to ask God for the strength to do it, and to somehow be filled with His love, and that maybe that same love might come across to my patients. He has yet to fail me. It is far better than any sermon I have ever heard, and even though it doesn’t quite gel with my other life, it is a huge part of me. I still hope to continue making music, but I would like to balance it with this.

Thanks Reese!

Ruth is back with a brand new album entitled ANORAK which comes out on October 28th. Below are 10 questions we asked the band regarding their experiences on tour, Anorak, projects and much more.

1. It’s been a little over a year since your debut album, Secondhand Dreaming, through T&N. What has this past year been like?

Crazy. It’s been like a secondhand dream! There have been so many cool ways that we have been blessed over the past year. Touring with bands like Emery, Surrogate, Relient K, and Switchfoot were all dreams come true. Often times I have people come up and say ” I saw you on the Switchfoot/Relient K tour”. Those are the times I am assured that it wasn’t all just a dream.

I love writing and this past year has also inspired a lot of writing. That’s my favorite part of what I do. So recording those songs was hard work but a lot of fun.

2. What’s the meaning behind the title “Anorak”? And why the bigfoot?

Anorak is a word that is used in the UK as a slang term for someone who is invested in knowing about something that not a lot of people care about. Like Star trek, Bigfoot, or Jesus. We chose Bigfoot for the front cover because he is a mystical piece of home that fits the definition we were going for with the title. Obviously our lyrics don’t cover the mysteries of who he is though. As for the songs they’re about the mysteries and truths God’s given me lately.

3. Can you share with us a little about the writing process.

This album is primarily written while on the road. A lot of time in rest stops, hotel parking lots, and scenic hot spots. So I would say the record is a lot about traveling growing and changing and being caught up in the mystery of why God is so good to us even though we don’t know what we are doing most the time.

4. Chris Keene (from Surrogate) produced several tracks on Anorak – how did he get involved with this project?

Chris Keene is one of the most brilliant song writers I know. We met him on tour with Surrogate and Emery. That tour goes down as one of the best we will ever go on. Anyway Chris and I talked while on the road a lot about music and the band and we became huge fans of what he does. You can tell what a producer is made of and Chris is a garden full of creative colorful musical genius and I believe will work with much more talented bands than ours in the near future as well as continue to put out amazing art of his own.

5. “Back To The Five” is the first single out of Anorak – What’s the story behind the song?

Well Back to the five is talking about the Interstate highway 5. It stretches down the west coast connecting Washington, Oregon, and California. Over the last year of hard touring I really missed home a lot. During my first Easter on the road in the Midwest I hopped in the van and that song flowed out. I was really homesick and was just needing to be reminded of why I’m doing what I’m doing. Anyways I just wanted to be on the 5 because It’s the home stretch. I have a lot of family and friends on that freeway.

6. Musically speaking, what are some of the main differences between Secondhand Dreaming and Anorak?

Anorak is more of a band album. We had a lot of time to develop as a band and grow a bit on the road. I also got to show the songs to the guys a few months earlier this time which gave us good time to develop all of our individual parts. Also I had a lot of time to select what songs were written for this album as a whole.

7. Are you pleased with the final result? Or is there anything that was not included in Anorak due to time constraints

We are super pleased

with Anorak. As with all recordings you always come up with stuff you didn’t think of in the studio and that can be frustrating but that’s what the live show is for. As for stuff not included, well I’m always writing and we can’t wait to record the next album. So everything that was meant to be on Anorak is there.

8. You were part of the “Appetite for Construction Tour” which donated one dollar per ticket sold to the organization Habitat For Humanity – Are you guys involved with any other projects and/or organizations?

At this point our band is not a real viable source of income for anyone involved. We are still developing as a business and so we don’t have much to offer anyone. This is what made the Habitat tour so special. It gave us a chance to be a part of something special and give back. If we held a concert in any given city to promote habitat the cost of putting on the show would be far more than what we could make ect…but we do plan on approaching some different organizations Habitat being one that we might be able to contribute if our band ever really takes off.

9. When we will see you on tour again?

Well we are going on tour for Nov. with a band called Decemberadio. Most these shows are in the northeast. So if you are around you should come out. As for the future we are working on stuff for feb/march and for the spring as well.

10. Is there any crazy / weird / awkward / funny story you’ve brought back home from touring around US?

Having a dance party on Switchfoot’s bus with all us guys on tour was pretty crazy/weird/awkward/ and a ton of fun. Drew and Chad are by far the best dancers. I will say that. Drew is a good DJ too. I wish I could be Drew.