Anberlin, Photo Essay mon

Lead singer Stephen Christian and Bassist Deon started the band SaGoh 24/7. Later on, Sean Hutson and Jason Milligan, drummer and guitarist respectively, joined the band. SaGoh 24/7 is a punk band from Winter Haven in Florida. In 1999, they released their debut album, “Servants After God’s Own Heart” under the record label Rescue Records.


In 2001 , SaGoh24/7 released their second album named “Then I Corrupt Youth”. Unfortunately, Servants After God’s Own Heart and their latter album’s sales together only amassed to 1300 copies in sales. Because of this, drummer Sean Hutson left the group and started a family. Nathan Young was quickly called in as a replacement.

Stephen Christian, Deon Rexroat, and Joseph Milligan started a side project, the early beginnings of Anberlin. This also marks the beginning of the end, for SaGoh 24/7. As the band struggled for money, they managed to hire producer, Matt Goldman to record 5 demo tracks. These 5 songs received a lot of attention from big record label companies but they decided to sign with Tooth and Nail records.

The band Anberlin was officially created in the year 2002. Out of the five original demos, three of them were selected to be reworked and added to their debut album “Blueprints for the Black Market”. The album was released in 2003 and was produced by Aaron Sprinkle. Blueprints for the Black Market ended up selling over 60 000 copies, which is a very good accomplishment for a debut album of an Indie band. This success can be accredited to their first single “readyfuels”.

Before their next album Never Take Friendship Personal, rhythm guitarist Joey Bruce was kicked from the band because he was “all about sex and drugs” according to Stephen Christian. After many failed replacements, the band agreed on Nathan Strayer to carry out the rhythm guitar. But, in 2005, Never take Friendship Personal was released. Before the album came out, Anberlin released two singles: “A Day Late” and “Paperthin Hymn”. Upon release, critics and fans alike gave favourable reviews for NTFP and peaked at #144 on the Billboard 200. This album was also produced by Aaron Sprinkle. The album sold over 150 000 copies.

In early 2007, the album “Cities” came out. Before it was released, Anberlin put the Godspeed EP on iTunes a few months before Cities came out. The 12 track album will be Aaron Sprinkle’s last album he produces for Anberlin, reached #19 on the Billboard 200 chart when it was released. It sold 34 000 in its first week of release, more than doubling the total sales of their first album. The greatly anticipated album received good reviews from critics.

Before the album was released, rhythm guitarist Nathan Strayer returned to the band he was in previously, The Mosaic. The new Rhythm guitarist, Christian McAlhaney, originally from the band Acceptance is still the rhythm guitarist. The three original band members that are still part of the group are Stephen Christian, the lead singer, Deon Rexroat, the bassist, and Nathan Young, the guitarist. They are, along with Nathan Young and Christian McAlhaney, an alternative rock band that has released four albums and one compilation, Lost Songs. Lost Songs was released November 20th 2007 after, Cities. It is full of covers, B-side, and acoustic remakes of some of their songs and a few newer songs as well.

On the 30th of September in the year 2008, their newest album “New Surrender” was released. After signing with major label company Universal Republic Records on August 16th 2007, Anberlin now had a new producer, Neal Avron, the same producer from such bands as Fall Out Boy and Yellowcard. The band was afraid that this new producer would send them in the wrong direction, but the final product tells otherwise. New Surrender hit #13 on the Billboard 200 and received very good criticism. The album has 12 tracks that end with one of their famous, perfect endings. Misearbile Visu (Ex Malo Bonum) is a six and a half minute twin of (*Fin) from their album Cities. Upon the first week the album was released, it had already sold more than 36 000 copies.

Stephen Christian is the main lyricist along with Joseph Milligan. Christian said in an interview that “The first CD (Blueprints for the Black Market) was childish in the manner that it was Man vs. World in the lyrics. The second (Never Take Friendship Personal) was Man Vs. Man. Cities is more adult in the manner that it's Man vs. Self." As Anberlin evolved, their lyrics and image became more and more mature. New Surrender is, in my opinion, one of their most lyrically complex pieces up to date. Songs like “Younglife” make me want to stay 17 for the rest of my life.

“First time staying out all night.
Last time that we got away with lies.
I can hear it in the back of my mind.
Over and over again.”

In 2010 you can expect a new album to hit the shelves. It is expected in September of this year according to Stephen Christian. He says that the new album might be called “A Go”. The drummer Nathan Young says that it will sound “less poppy" and "darker". Anberlin had many stories as to how they got their name, Anberlin. Christian explains many different ways that they got their name. One of the stories is that they hit a dog, and the dog’s name was Anberlin. But the real story was, according to the band “There are several stories that have circulated on the internet, but the actual story is when I was in college my favorite band was Radiohead; on one of their songs off the record Kid A there is a background noise on the song "Everything in Its Right Place" (about 2 minutes 31 seconds into the song). While Thom (Yorke) is singing try to say I always thought the backgr ound noise sounded like Anberlin, I always thought that Anberlin would have been a great band name and well ... it was/is.”