Christian McAlhaney is the "new" member in the band, but he's already been in the fold since the release of their last effort, Cities. Guitarist Nathan Strayer and the band parted ways one day before the release of the effort, so the forthcoming effort New Surrender was the first creative endeavor for the band with McAlhaney.
Anberlin takes a big leap with
New Surrender, and we asked the new guitarist backstage at the Warped Tour about their evolution.
"One of the biggest differences -- not to toot my own horn or anything, but I actually come from another band -- I'm actually new with Anberlin. I'm a new guitar player. I've been playing with them for about a year-and-a-half. I was in a band before called Acceptance. We were from Seattle. We were a very similar sound to Anberlin, and we were good friends with them. We had broken up a couple of years ago, and they had parted ways with their guitar player a little bit ago and so I joined. The previous three records were basically done by Joey the other guitar player and our singer Stephen our singer. I think they've done a great job in progressing as a band. That's a lot of material. Not a lot of bands can get to four records in this day and age."
He also talked about getting to work on new material with Anberlin.
"I came in as another songwriter and Joey and I have worked together. I think it was good for him because I don't think he ever had anybody to bounce ideas off of. They've played musical guitar players since before I joined the band. Hopefully I'll stick around. That was a big deal. You always try to evolve and just mature. We're a lot older, you know? I'm pushing 30 now, so you always try to outdo yourself. You can't always write the same record, so..."
New Surrender is set to hit stores September 30, and the first single "The Feel Good Drag" is up for adds on Radio Stations across the country as of August 11.
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Christian Of Anberlin On Sound Change
