Circa Survive are celebrating the release of their sixth studio album Amulet with a May 2018 Australian tour. Amulet is another truly impressive album that sees the band build on their well crafted signature sound. We caught up with Circa Survive vocalist Anthony Green ahead of the tour to talk about the new album and Aussie tour.

SCENEzine
Firstly congrats on your latest album Amulet. I feel like Circa Survive can do no wrong.

Anthony Green
It’s one of the first times we ever recorded an album and released it and started breaking the songs down with an acoustic guitar and vocal. I never felt more of a compulsion to play and sing my own songs. We had a bunch of songs on the album and when we broke it down to play it acoustic at this concert it was my favourite moment of the whole night. Singing those melodies and hearing the music. Not to say that feeling hasn’t happened before but there’s something different about it. The confidence of a decade of playing music and the freshness of something that you really like. This record is fresh, exciting and new yet I feel confident with it like it’s been a part of me forever.

SCENEzine
Did the songs change much from the demo stage to when you were in the studio with Will Yip?

Anthony Green
Yeah dude the feeling of the song will change with the production. When a songs recorded on a laptop sometimes it has a cool quality to it because it sounds lo-fi and crazy but then when you add other instruments and go into the studio it’s going to evolve. Elements will drop off and elements will be heightened in that sense. There’s something that happens when we are at the studio with Will where he highlights all the cool elements and helps us to explain it in a way that makes it more sustainable.

SCENEzine
Has your lyric writing process changed much over the years?

Anthony Green
Yeah it’s changed a ton, it changes all the time. There was a few years in the middle of the band where I wasn’t really writing poetry or writing in my daily life at all or reading. I was just getting fucked up a lot. But right now I’ve been writing a lot, not in a compulsive way but every day I write. Whether it’s a couple of poems or a reflection on something. It helps keep my brain exercised in that way of communicating my thoughts. I feel like that benefits my song writing. I always struggled a lot with lyrics when I was younger. I think I was too stoned to really think straight. You think you would get high and be able to write so poetic but it just blocks you sometimes. It blocked me for a long time in a way that I felt like I was doing it in order to help me but it was hurting me.

SCENEzine
Was the video for “Lustration” an awesome experience to be a part of?

Anthony Green
Yeah it was really fun. The idea came from a friend of mine who had done a couple of videos. It was really cool to be a part of this thing where we were hiking and surrounded by nature.I have never hiked so far, we hiked for four hours.

SCENEzine
A big part of the appeal of Circa Survive is your amazing and unique voice. When you were younger did you realise you had something pretty special?

Anthony Green
Not really no. Honestly that didn’t even come into my mind until the last couple of years. When I was younger I was screaming in bands for a really long time because none of my friends would do it. We would get together and jam and nobody else would sing. We would be playing Minor Threat songs or trying to play Misfits songs and nobody else would sing. It always was something that made me feel good to do but on the flipside I had a very difficult time taking any type of compliment. I was never really good at anything except maybe making people laugh. It’s a weird thing hearing people telling me I was good at it. I’m still figuring things out as I go. Even just hearing you say my voice is unique I get weird chills when I hear that, it’s like a dream. When you have something like that you never take it for granted.

SCENEzine
Between Circa Survive, Saosin, your solo material and being a dad how do you juggle it all?

Anthony Green
I don’t really know. Am I juggling it, sometimes I just feel like I’m picking it up all the time. I’m just throwing it in the air and sometimes it looks like I am juggling. Really I have no idea but I have a lot of stuff I want to do. I have great people that help me manage my time so I can get to everything without burning out. Everyone in all of the bands that put up with my erratic timeline of life, all of those people are why I am able to have so much output. Saosin is going to record a new record in the next coupe of years, they are ready for me and to start writing songs. Same with Circa Survive we are working on writing a record right now, everybody just makes themselves available in all ends up kind of just working out.

SCENEzine
It’s not long until you are back in Australia. I there anything besides playing shows that you like to do when you are down here?

Anthony Green
I haven’t done as much outdoor hiking and stuff as I have wanted to when I’ve been to Australia. We don’t get over there that often and sometimes don’t have as much time to really see the sites.

SCENEzine
Do you have any favourite memories of playing Soundwave festival?

Anthony Green
I remember watching Marilyn Manson on multiple times and the kind of showman he was. I was floored by his stage presence in a horrified way and in a impressed way. We watched Angels and Airwaves on that tour a bunch I remember enjoying that. It was also the first time I saw Letlive they are an incredible band. They broke up but the singers new project Fever 333 it’s also incredible and has these amazing elements of all different types of music. Our backstage at Perth Soundwave was a prison where everybody had their green room. I remember partying in their with the guys from I Am The Avalanche.

SCENEzine
One of my all time favourite Circa Survive memories is seeing you at Chicago Riot Fest 2014 singing while painting your face with mud. Do you remember that show?

Anthony Green
I do that was one of my favourite shows. That happened in like a black out. I was not on drugs or alcohol or anything. I just got worked up on stage where I’m in a frenzy. When we were done with the set I remember sitting down and being covered in mud. Something on stage came over me and it was the best feeling. I really enjoyed that weekend and I played with Saosin and Circa Survive. That Riot Fest was one of my favourite experiences.

SCENEzine
What’s your opinion on Warped Tour ending?

Anthony Green
Kevin Lyman is a extremely smart individual and I admire him. There’s no way he isn’t going to transition Warped Tour into something else. Maybe a once a year in one spot kind of thing, who knows. So I don’t think it’s going to go away forever.

SCENEzine
Is there any secret as to how Circa Survive have been able to keep the same members all these years?

Anthony Green
I really love everybody in the band. There’s times when I literally hate every one of them too and I want to fucking kill them and rip their faces off but we work through all of that. We made this agreement at the beginning of the band that we wanted it to be a thing where we are taking care of each other first and foremost. That was the only way the music was going to represent something truly harmonious. I’ve also quit like five times, we are like a regular old family.

SCENEzine
With your music videos and album covers it takes the music and art to another level. Do you personally think it’s important to have the art across so many aspects?

Anthony Green
Music is such an incredible thing in my life. In peoples lives across the board it’s always positive. Our words are limited but what music does for the human spirit isn’t something that we can describe. The visual aspect of art is the perfect way to describe something without words. They go together hand in hand, they compliment each other. It helps you to dream in an awakened state when both of them come together.

SCENEzine
A huge favourite of mine is the song “Get Out” do you still enjoy playing that one live?

Anthony Green
Yeah I love that song. It’s funny because it’s hard for us to find a spot to put that in the set other that it being the last song we play. Coincidently when we put it at the very end people usually go crazy at that point. So it’s always fun to hit the first couple of chords of “get out” and people just start losing their shit, then you start losing your shit.

SCENEzine
Lastly can you give us a message for all your Aussie fans who are stoked for the tour?

Anthony Green
Start stretching now, drink lots of water. Start doing a little bit of cardio everyday. maybe a little bit of yoga. Get yourselves together because it’s going to be a fucking crazy show. I want everyone dancing, sweating, pushing themselves to the limit.

(interview by Christian Ross)