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124-473: Anberlin is an American alternative rock band formed in Winter Haven, Florida , in 2002. Since the beginning of 2007, the band consists of lead vocalist Stephen Christian , guitarists Joseph Milligan and Christian McAlhaney, bassist Deon Rexroat, and drummer Nathan Young. Members of Anberlin originally formed a band under the name SaGoh 24/7 in 1998, releasing two studio albums before disbanding, with
248-422: A punk band called SaGoh 24/7. Drummer Sean Hutson and guitarist Joseph Milligan joined the group as well. The band released two albums, Servants After God's Own Heart (1999), and Then I Corrupt Youth (2001), both under Rescue Records. After the albums sold only 1,300 units, Hutson left the band to start a family, and Nathan Young was brought in as a replacement. Christian, Milligan and Rexroat began working on
372-484: A confessional tone. Rites of Spring has been described as the first "emo" band. Former Minor Threat singer Ian MacKaye founded Dischord Records which became the center for the city's emo scene. Gothic rock developed out of late-1970s British post-punk . With a reputation as the "darkest and gloomiest form of underground rock", gothic rock uses a synthesizer-and-guitar based sound drawn from post-punk to construct "foreboding, sorrowful, often epic soundscapes", and
496-523: A cynical response to an "authentic" rock movement. Bush , Candlebox and Collective Soul were labelled almost pejoratively as post-grunge which, according to Tim Grierson of About.com , is "suggesting that rather than being a musical movement in their own right, they were just a calculated, cynical response to a legitimate stylistic shift in rock music." Post-grunge morphed during the late 1990s and 2000s as newer bands such as Foo Fighters , Matchbox Twenty , Creed and Nickelback emerged, becoming among
620-500: A fall headlining U.S. tour alongside Scary Kids Scaring Kids , Straylight Run , and There For Tomorrow . Kyle Flynn, formerly of the band Acceptance, joined the band while on tour doing keys, loops, acoustic guitar, and background vocals. The band then traveled to the United Kingdom where they supported Elliot Minor and played a handful of headlining shows with Furthest Drive Home and Data.Select.Party. Anberlin went into
744-399: A fall release date. On July 31, the band announced on their official website that Vital was to be released on October 16. The new album's opening track, "Self-Starter",' was streamed on Billboard.com for free listening on August 17., and the album's second single, "Someone Anyone" was released on August 22. Infectious Magazine reported on October 26, 2012, that the band had already "made
868-545: A flurry of British bands emerged that wished to "get rid of grunge" and "declare war on America", taking the public and native music press by storm. Dubbed " Britpop " by the media, and represented by Pulp , Blur , Suede , and Oasis , this movement was the British equivalent of the grunge explosion, in that the artists propelled alternative rock to the top of the charts in their home country. Britpop bands were influenced by and displayed reverence for British guitar music of
992-571: A headliner in 1998. In light of the festival's troubles that year, Spin said, "Lollapalooza is as comatose as alternative rock right now". Despite these changes in style however, alternative rock remained commercially viable into the start of the 21st century. During the latter half of the 1990s, grunge was supplanted by post-grunge . Many post-grunge bands lacked the underground roots of grunge and were largely influenced by what grunge had become, namely "a wildly popular form of inward-looking, serious-minded hard rock."; many post-grunge bands emulated
1116-642: A late night new wave show entitled "Rock and Roll Alternative". " College rock " was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the college radio circuit and the tastes of college students. In the United Kingdom, dozens of small do it yourself record labels emerged as a result of the punk subculture . According to the founder of one of these labels, Cherry Red , NME and Sounds magazines published charts based on small record stores called "Alternative Charts". The first national chart based on distribution called
1240-533: A line in Dylan Thomas ’ "Poem on His Birthday". Along with the disclosure of a track listing, the press release also announced the album's lead single, "Impossible", which went to radio play on July 12, 2010. When asked about the possible impact of the new album, Stephen replied 'I feel like we're on the brink of something... either world domination or destruction, but either way we're on the brink'. Anberlin supported Thirty Seconds to Mars on their Closer to
1364-631: A lot of headway writing for the next record". The band released " City Electric " on September 20, 2013. It is the first of three new and previously unreleased tracks from their rework of Vital , Devotion which was released on October 15, 2013. On the January 16, 2014, the band posted a video in which the band confirmed that this year would be their last and that they would release their seventh, and seemingly final, studio album in mid-2014 on their original label, Tooth & Nail Records. They also stated that they would do their last set of tours following
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#17328024065651488-420: A majority of groups that were signed to indie labels drew from a variety of rock and particularly 1960s rock influences. This represented a sharp break from the futuristic, hyper-rational post-punk years. "Alternative music is music that hasn't yet achieved a mainstream audience, Alternative isn't new wave any more, it's a disposition of mind. Alternative music is any kind of music that has the potential to reach
1612-469: A new wave of post-rock bands such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Sigur Rós emerged who further expanded the genre. In 1993, the Smashing Pumpkins' album Siamese Dream was a major commercial success. The strong influence of heavy metal and progressive rock on the album helped to legitimize alternative rock to mainstream radio programmers and close the gap between alternative rock and
1736-602: A number of compilations during this time, recording covers of Bob Dylan 's " Like a Rolling Stone ", Depeche Mode 's " Enjoy the Silence ," and the song " Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) ". Anberlin's third album produced by Aaron Sprinkle was released in early 2007 under the title Cities . It sold 34,000 copies in its first week of release, debuted at No. 19 on the Billboard 200 chart, and, like their previous album, received fairly positive reviews from critics. Before
1860-464: A number of genres, including Krautrock , progressive rock , and jazz . The genre subverts or rejects rock conventions, and often incorporates electronic music. While the name of the genre was coined by music journalist Simon Reynolds in 1994 referring to Hex by the London group Bark Psychosis , the style of the genre was solidified by the release of Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996) by
1984-497: A preacher, I'm an entertainer." Despite these statements and others of the like, multiple sources list the band as part of the Christian rock genre, and some Anberlin song lyrics do contain Christian references. Furthermore, the band appears at Christian music festivals such as Parachute Music Festival and Cornerstone Festival , and their songs have been included on Christian rock compilation CDs and DVDs. They are also played on
2108-486: A release probable later in the year. He said "it looks like we are going to go to the studio in January, February or March, right around that time". Drummer Nathan Young stated that the album would be "less poppy" and "darker". Christian posted on his Twitter account in December 2009, that his choice for an album name was "a go" but did not reveal the name. The band entered Blackbird Studios, Nashville, to begin recording
2232-549: A series of headlining shows across Australia in May 2019. This expanded to an announcement of a 22-stop U.S. tour the following month. Young stated the band had no plans for a full comeback after the reunion shows. However, Christian revealed in May 2020 that they had reversed course and were in the process of recording new music. On September 2, 2021, the band released their first new song in over seven years, "Two Graves" on their Youtube channel, and began touring two days later to promote
2356-467: A side project, marking the beginning of the end for SaGoh 24/7. The side project's sound transformed after a suggestion from Milligan to develop more of a rock sound for Anberlin. They used money left over from shows SaGoh had performed and teamed up with producer Matt Goldman to record five demos. The demos that were then posted on PureVolume (which was mp3.com at the time). On the advice of friends, including Chad Johnson, and Timmy McTague from Underoath ,
2480-488: A wariness of its "macho" aesthetic. While indie rock artists share the punk rock distrust of commercialism, the genre does not entirely define itself against that, as "the general assumption is that it's virtually impossible to make indie rock's varying musical approaches compatible with mainstream tastes in the first place". Labels such as Matador Records , Merge Records , and Dischord , and indie rockers like Pavement , Superchunk , Fugazi , and Sleater-Kinney dominated
2604-568: A wider audience. It also has real strength, real quality, real excitement, and it has to be socially significant, as opposed to Whitney Houston, which is pablum." —Mark Josephson, Executive Director of the New Music Seminar speaking in 1988 Throughout the 1980s, alternative rock remained mainly an underground phenomenon. While on occasion a song would become a commercial hit, or albums would receive critical praise in mainstream publications like Rolling Stone , alternative rock in
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#17328024065652728-492: Is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s with the likes of the grunge subgenre in the United States, and the Britpop and shoegaze subgenres in the United Kingdom and Ireland. During this period, many record labels were looking for "alternatives", as many corporate rock , hard rock , and glam metal acts from
2852-514: Is he a good friend of the band but also a fan favorite. The band will begin recording around the start of March, and are not expected to be finished until May. In a recent interview, Stephen Christian announced their new album is finally done. On June 11, during the Nashville show of their acoustic tour, Stephen Christian announced that the title of the new record would be Vital , calling the record "their most aggressive to date" and also announced
2976-479: Is more complicated than a simple label: "I think we're categorized like that a lot because we're on Tooth & Nail Records , which, years ago, was known as a Christian label and never lost that reputation. I don't care who listens to our records. If it helps people in whatever circumstances they're in, that's amazing, but I definitely don't classify us as a Christian band." Elsewhere, Christian has remarked, "[My faith] affects every single aspect of my life, but I'm not
3100-510: Is often difficult because of two conflicting applications of the word. Alternative can describe music that challenges the status quo and that is "fiercely iconoclastic, anticommercial, and antimainstream", and the term is also used in the music industry to denote "the choices available to consumers via record stores, radio, cable television, and the Internet." However alternative music has paradoxically become just as commercial and marketable as
3224-462: Is the second studio album by alternative rock band Anberlin , released on February 1, 2005 on Tooth & Nail Records . Its singles were "A Day Late" and "Paperthin Hymn" and music videos have been made of each. "(The Symphony of) Blasé" is sometimes referred to as "Amsterdam". The album's name is inspired by when the band chose to remove guitarist Joey Bruce. The song "Dance, Dance Christa Päffgen"
3348-660: The Billboard 200 album chart. Soundgarden 's album Badmotorfinger , Alice in Chains ' Dirt and Stone Temple Pilots ' Core along with the Temple of the Dog album collaboration featuring members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, were also among the 100 top-selling albums of 1992. The popular breakthrough of these grunge bands prompted Rolling Stone to nickname Seattle "the new Liverpool ". Major record labels signed most of
3472-504: The Billboard charts. Pearl Jam also continued to perform well commercially with its second album, Vs. (1993), which topped the Billboard charts by selling a record 950,378 copies in its first week of release. In 1993, the Smashing Pumpkins released their major breakthrough album, Siamese Dream —which debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 4 million copies by 1996, receiving multi-platinum certification by
3596-649: The Gospel Music Channel . Anberlin has also been repeatedly featured in Christian rock magazine HM ( Hard Music , which was originally the fanzine Heaven's Metal ). Christian submitted a letter to the magazine, criticizing the more overtly religious Christian punk band the Knights of the New Crusade for a promotional image that represented a "black mark on the face of Christianity". Christian has also said in an interview with Lightforce radio how
3720-476: The Indie Chart was published in January 1980; it immediately succeeded in its aim to help these labels. At the time, the term indie was used literally to describe independently distributed records. By 1985, indie had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, rather than simply distribution status. The use of the term alternative to describe rock music originated around the mid-1980s; at
3844-631: The RIAA . In 1995, the band released their double album, Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness — which went on to sell 10 million copies in the US alone, certifying it as a Diamond record. With the decline of the Madchester scene and the unglamorousness of shoegazing, the tide of grunge from America dominated the British alternative scene and music press in the early 1990s. As a reaction,
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3968-578: The Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida , as part of Underoath 's Erase Me Tour. They subsequently announced their first comeback show would be the 13th, a "secret show" at The Orpheum in Tampa. The band implied at these shows that they were coming back full time, as reflected in their social media saying they've been back from 2018 to present. In March 2019, it was announced that the band would perform
4092-495: The hair metal that had dominated rock music at that time fell out of favor in the face of music that was authentic and culturally relevant. The breakthrough success of Nirvana led to the widespread popularization of alternative rock in the 1990s. It heralded a "new openness to alternative rock" among commercial radio stations, opening doors for heavier alternative bands in particular. In the wake of Nevermind , alternative rock "found itself dragged-kicking and screaming ... into
4216-561: The "grunging of America" to the mass-marketing of punk rock, disco , and hip hop in previous years. As a result of the genre's popularity, a backlash against grunge developed in Seattle. Nirvana's follow-up album In Utero (1993) was an intentionally abrasive album that Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic described as a "wild aggressive sound, a true alternative record." Nevertheless, upon its release in September 1993 In Utero topped
4340-553: The 1970s, which served as a progressive alternative to top 40 radio formats by featuring longer songs and giving DJs more freedom in song selection. According to one former DJ and promoter, "Somehow this term 'alternative' got rediscovered and heisted by college radio people during the 80s who applied it to new post-punk, indie, or underground-whatever music." At first the term referred to intentionally non-mainstream rock acts that were not influenced by "heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave" and "high-energy dance anthems". Usage of
4464-479: The 1980s was primarily featured on independent record labels, fanzines and college radio stations. Alternative bands built underground followings by touring constantly and by regularly releasing low-budget albums. In the United States, new bands would form in the wake of previous bands, which created an extensive underground circuit filled with different scenes in various parts of the country. College radio formed an essential part of breaking new alternative music. In
4588-553: The 1980s were beginning to grow stale throughout the music industry . The emergence of Generation X as a cultural force in the 1990s also contributed greatly to the rise of alternative rock. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial rock or pop. The term's original meaning was broader, referring to musicians influenced by the musical style or independent, DIY ethos of late-1970s punk rock . Traditionally, alternative rock varied in terms of its sound, social context, and regional roots. Throughout
4712-463: The 1980s, alternative bands generally played in small clubs, recorded for indie labels, and spread their popularity through word of mouth . As such, there is no set musical style for alternative rock as a whole, although in 1989 The New York Times asserted that the genre is "guitar music first of all, with guitars that blast out power chords, pick out chiming riffs, buzz with fuzztone and squeal in feedback." More often than in other rock styles since
4836-402: The 1980s, magazines and zines , college radio airplay , and word of mouth had increased the prominence and highlighted the diversity of alternative rock's distinct styles (and music scenes), such as noise pop , indie rock , grunge , and shoegaze . In September 1988, Billboard introduced "alternative" into their charting system to reflect the rise of the format across radio stations in
4960-752: The 2000s with multi-platinum acts such as Fall Out Boy , My Chemical Romance , Paramore and Panic! at the Disco . Bands such as the White Stripes and the Strokes found commercial success in the early 2000s, influencing an influx of new alternative rock bands that drew inspiration from garage rock , post-punk and new wave , establishing a revival of the genres. In the past, popular music tastes were largely dictated by music executives within large entertainment corporations. Record companies signed contracts with those entertainers who were thought to become
5084-585: The 2008 Warped Tour. On July 11, 2008, the band showcased a second new song called "Disappear" on their MySpace profile. The first actual single from the album was the re-recorded " Feel Good Drag " which was set to go to radio on August 18 - eventually being released on August 26. The band booked eight weeks of recording sessions with noted producer Neal Avron ( New Found Glory , Yellowcard , Fall Out Boy ) in early February 2008. Stephen Christian stated in an interview, "We're very excited about working with Neal; I think our fans are going to be pleased when they hear
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5208-473: The American indie scene for most of the 1990s. One of the main indie rock movements of the 1990s was lo-fi . The movement, which focused on the recording and distribution of music on low-quality cassette tapes , initially emerged in the 1980s. By 1992, Pavement, Guided by Voices and Sebadoh became popular lo-fi cult acts in the United States, while subsequently artists like Beck and Liz Phair brought
5332-484: 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. Cities was the most anticipated album on Jesus Freak Hideout's Most Anticipated Albums of 2007. Three to four weeks before the release of Cities , it was announced that guitarist Nathan Strayer amicably left
5456-559: The Black Market. Before its release, the band promoted the album by releasing a track per week on their PureVolume and MySpace website accounts, as well as on their own website. Two singles were released from the album: "A Day Late" and "Paperthin Hymn". Both were reasonably successful on alternative rock radio, with the latter peaking at the No. 38 position on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. Anberlin participated in
5580-512: The British indie scene through the end of the decade, as various bands drew from singer Morrissey 's English-centered lyrical topics and guitarist Johnny Marr 's jangly guitar-playing style. The C86 cassette, a 1986 NME premium featuring Primal Scream , the Wedding Present and others, was a major influence on the development of indie pop and the British indie scene as a whole. Other forms of alternative rock developed in
5704-723: The British music press at the end of the decade along with the Madchester scene. Performing for the most part in the Haçienda , a nightclub in Manchester owned by New Order and Factory Records , Madchester bands such as Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses mixed acid house dance rhythms with melodic guitar pop. The Amerindie of the early '80s became known as alternative or alt-rock, ascendant from Nirvana until 1996 or so but currently very unfashionable, never mind that
5828-586: The Chicago group Tortoise . Post-rock was the dominant form of experimental rock music in the 1990s and bands from the genre signed to such labels as Thrill Jockey , Kranky , Drag City , and Too Pure . A related genre, math rock , peaked in the mid-1990s. In comparison to post-rock, math rock relies on more complex time signatures and intertwining phrases. By the end of the decade a backlash had emerged against post-rock due to its "dispassionate intellectuality" and its perceived increasing predictability, but
5952-559: The Christian market, they get bummed out by questions about it. I don’t really mind it, because I’m a Christian, and I’m okay talking about it. With the whole term 'Christian Band,' I don’t understand how a band can be Christian. We get the question, 'Is Anberlin a Christian band?' and it’s like, yeah, Anberlin is — as humans". Current members Former members Current touring musicians Former touring musicians Alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music , alt-rock or simply alternative )
6076-730: The Edge Tour with CB7 during April and May 2011. In an interview with Common Revolt , Stephen Christian stated that the band had begun work on their next album. A few songs had been written, including one with the working title "Control" (later renamed Orpheum), and a song influenced by the events in Egypt (later confirmed to be "Someone Anyone"). The band announced via Facebook and e-mail in February 2012 that they would be returning to Aaron Sprinkle to record their upcoming album. The band recorded their first three albums with Sprinkle; not only
6200-881: The Lollapalooza festival became the most successful tour in North America in July and August 1991. For Dave Grohl of Nirvana who attended the festival at an open-air amphitheater in Southern California , "it felt like something was happening, that was the beginning of it all". The tour helped change the mentalities in the music industry: "by that fall, radio and MTV and music had changed. I really think that if it weren't for Perry [Farrell], if it weren't for Lollapalooza , you and I wouldn't be having this conversation right now". The release of Nirvana's single " Smells Like Teen Spirit " in September 1991 "marked
6324-625: The Replacements upended a number of underground scene conventions; Azerrad noted that "along with R.E.M., they were one of the few underground bands that mainstream people liked." By the late 1980s, the American alternative scene was dominated by styles ranging from quirky alternative pop ( They Might Be Giants and Camper Van Beethoven ), to noise rock ( Sonic Youth , Big Black , the Jesus Lizard ) and industrial rock ( Ministry , Nine Inch Nails). These sounds were in turn followed by
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#17328024065656448-522: The Story) Morning Glory? (1995), went on to become the third best-selling album in the UK's history. Long synonymous with alternative rock as a whole in the U.S., indie rock became a distinct form following the popular breakthrough of Nirvana. Indie rock was formulated as a rejection of alternative rock's absorption into the mainstream by artists who could not or refused to cross over, and
6572-589: The Tooth & Nail released Blueprints for City Friendships: The Anberlin Anthology , which is a 33-song, three-album set including all the songs from their Tooth & Nail studio albums. In an interview with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in December 2009, it was revealed by lead singer Stephen Christian that the band were tentatively due to enter the studio in the beginning of 2010, with
6696-591: The Top 40 and spawned a number of jangle pop followers. One of the many jangle pop scenes of the early 1980s, Los Angeles' Paisley Underground revived the sounds of the 1960s, incorporating psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and the guitar interplay of folk rock as well as punk and underground influences such as the Velvet Underground . American indie record labels SST Records , Twin/Tone Records , Touch and Go Records , and Dischord Records presided over
6820-463: The UK during the 1980s. the Jesus and Mary Chain 's sound combined the Velvet Underground's "melancholy noise" with Beach Boys pop melodies and Phil Spector 's " Wall of Sound " production, while New Order emerged from the demise of post-punk band Joy Division and experimented with disco and dance music . The Mary Chain, along with Dinosaur Jr. , C86 and the dream pop of Cocteau Twins , were
6944-577: The US by a more pop-oriented focus (marked by an equal emphasis on albums and singles, as well as greater openness to incorporating elements of dance and club culture) and a lyrical emphasis on specifically British concerns. As a result, few British alternative bands have achieved commercial success in the US. Since the 1980s, alternative rock has been played extensively on the radio in the UK, particularly by disc jockeys such as John Peel (who championed alternative music on BBC Radio 1 ), Richard Skinner , and Annie Nightingale . Artists with cult followings in
7068-626: The US received greater exposure through British national radio and the weekly music press, and many alternative bands had chart success there. Early American alternative bands such as the Dream Syndicate , the Bongos , 10,000 Maniacs , R.E.M. , the Feelies and Violent Femmes combined punk influences with folk music and mainstream music influences. R.E.M. was the most immediately successful; their debut album, Murmur (1983), entered
7192-577: The United States by stations like KROQ-FM in Los Angeles and WDRE-FM in New York, which were playing music from more underground , independent, and non-commercial rock artists. Initially, several alternative styles achieved minor mainstream notice and a few bands, such as R.E.M. and Jane's Addiction , were signed to major labels . Most alternative bands at the time, like the Smiths , one of
7316-481: The Velvet Underground , which influenced many alternative rock bands that would come after it. Eccentric and quirky figures of the 1960s, such as Syd Barrett have influence on alternative rock in general. The Dead Kennedys formed the independent record label Alternative Tentacles in 1979, releasing influential underground music such as the 1983 self-titled EP from the Butthole Surfers . By 1984,
7440-533: The Way, Light Is a Place , Anberlin had sold over 1,000,000 albums. Their sixth studio album Vital was released October 16, 2012, and rereleased on Big3 Records under the title Devotion a year later, October 15, 2013. On January 16, 2014, it was announced that Anberlin would be disbanding in 2014 after recording their seventh studio album, Lowborn , on their original label, Tooth & Nail Records, and touring one last time. After performing concerts in late 2018,
7564-558: The advent of Boston 's Pixies and Los Angeles' Jane's Addiction. Around the same time, the grunge subgenre emerged in Seattle , Washington, initially referred to as "The Seattle Sound" until its rise to popularity in the early 1990s. Grunge featured a sludgy, murky guitar sound that syncretized heavy metal and punk rock. Promoted largely by Seattle indie label Sub Pop , grunge bands were noted for their thrift store fashion which favored flannel shirts and combat boots suited to
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#17328024065657688-475: The aesthetic to mainstream audiences. The period also saw alternative confessional female singer-songwriters. Besides the aforementioned Liz Phair, PJ Harvey fit into this sub group. In the mid-1990s, Sunny Day Real Estate defined the emo genre. Weezer 's album Pinkerton (1996) was also influential. Post-rock was established by Talk Talk 's Laughing Stock and Slint 's Spiderland albums, both released in 1991. Post-rock draws influence from
7812-461: The album eight squares out of ten, proclaiming that "Seldom has art rock worn such an accessible sheen." Scott Weber of AbsolutePunk rated the album an eighty-eight-percent, stating that the band has the "ability to construct such beautiful songs with euphoric vocals." At Jesus Freak Hideout, John DiBiase rated the album four stars, calling it a "solid sophomore effort from these experts of catchy, hooky alternative rock." Punknews.org's Anchors rated
7936-430: The album four stars, highlighting how the album is "for those seeking an artfully made and engagingly played project, just not ideal for those looking for faith based edification" on which the music has "sophisticated alternative sonics, ample hooks and sweeping melodies." Rick Anderson of Allmusic rated the album four stars, affirming that it is "Very highly recommended overall." At Cross Rhythms , Tony Cummings rated
8060-446: The album four stars, noting the album as "one hell of a guilty pleasure." At CCM Magazine , Louis R. Carlozo graded the album a B−, cautioning that "while its individual songs (and sing-along hooks) often satisfy, fails to transcend a formulaic plateau." All tracks are written by Stephen Christian and Joseph Milligan Note: In August 2011 while doing a Q&A on AbsolutePunk.net, Stephen Christian spoke of "New Fast Automatic",
8184-551: The album in March 2010. It was announced on March 3 that the band would be working with Grammy Award-winning producer, Brendan O'Brien . The tracking of the album was completed on April 9, with mixing commencing on April 13, 2010. In an April 2010 interview with MyMag, Christian stated that the album's release date is "looking like late July or early August" 2010. However, in a May 2010 interview with Spin Magazine, McAlhaney stated that
8308-485: The album via the band's MySpace profile. New Surrender was placed at the No. 2 spot on Jesus Freak Hideout's 25 Most Anticipated Albums of 2008. In the week of its release, the album sold 36,000 units, entering the Billboard 200 chart at No. 13. It also placed at No. 5 on the Top Current Rock chart, according to a Universal Republic press release. In support of the album, the band embarked on
8432-399: The album would be released in September 2010. In early June 2010, the album's release date was confirmed to be September 21, 2010. The band also began exposing their new music, with videos of live performances of the album's songs appearing online. A press release revealed on June 17 that Anberlin's fifth studio album would be titled Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place , taking its title from
8556-539: The alternative rock community" including Henry Rollins , Butthole Surfers , Ice-T , Nine Inch Nails , Siouxsie and the Banshees (as second headliners) and Jane's Addiction (as the headlining act). Covering for MTV the opening date of Lollapalooza in Phoenix in July 1991, Dave Kendall introduced the report saying the festival presented the "most diverse lineups of alternative rock". That summer, Farrell had coined
8680-437: The alternative/independent scene and dryly tore it apart." David Lowery , then frontman of Camper Van Beethoven, later recalled: "I remember first seeing that word applied to us... The nearest I could figure is that we seemed like a punk band, but we were playing pop music, so they made up this word alternative for those of us who do that." DJs and promoters during the 1980s claim the term originates from American FM radio of
8804-427: The band first started, in interviews they "would take turn making stories about how it came to be" as a joke, as he believed the actual origin of the band name wasn't interesting enough. Christian said there was a story about how his grandfather had "saved a little girl from a World War II bombing... her name was Anberlin" and that they had hit a dog, which had the name Anberlin, with the stories getting more diverse, it
8928-472: The band signed with Tooth & Nail Records . Out of the five demos Anberlin recorded with Matt Goldman, three were eventually chosen to be reworked for the band's debut album, the lead single "Readyfuels", "Driving" (later renamed "Autobahn") and "Foreign Language". Another song, "Embrace the Dead", was also recorded as a demo track and is often mistaken as an Anberlin song, however, the song didn't make it onto
9052-601: The band to go back to the Mosaic and that Christian McAlhaney, formerly of the band Acceptance , would take over as the new guitarist. A compilation album of unreleased material, called Lost Songs , was released on November 20, 2007. It features B-sides , demos , covers , and acoustic versions of their previous songs as well as other tracks recorded at Sessions@AOL . The band signed to Universal Republic on August 16, 2007, and soon after began to write material for their major-label debut, entitled New Surrender , which
9176-520: The band tries to "step out of the bubble" and referred to themselves as being part of Christian music. He discussed in detail what Christians should do in their lives: love and embrace others as Jesus would as well as show God's grace to others. He mentioned as well how the band Fall Out Boy said in an interview that they did not really know much about Jesus until Anberlin toured with them. In an interview with Smartpunk, drummer Nathan Young commented, "The thing is, some bands that are trying to get out of
9300-405: The band's debut album as it didn't constitute the stylistic direction the band wanted to head in. After hearing demos from the band Acceptance , Anberlin chose to record their debut album with the same producer, Aaron Sprinkle, creating a relationship that would last the entire duration of their time with Tooth & Nail Records. Barely a year after their formation, their first album as a new band
9424-464: The band's name was created when he was thinking about cities in Europe he wanted to visit. In his mind he listed "London, Paris, Rome, and Berlin ." Christian thought that "and Berlin" would be an appropriate name for a band, and so when the band was looking for a name Christian suggested "And Berlin," which was then modified to "Anberlin." Christian has since retracted those comments admitting that when
9548-467: The death of Layne Staley and the subsequent disbanding of Alice in Chains in 2002, and the disbanding of both the Cranberries and Stone Temple Pilots in 2003. Britpop also began fading after Oasis ' third album, Be Here Now (1997), was met with lackluster reviews. A signifier of alternative rock's changes was the hiatus of the Lollapalooza festival after an unsuccessful attempt to find
9672-459: The decisions were business people dealing with music as a product, and those bands who were not making the expected sales figures were then excluded from this system. Before the term alternative rock came into common usage around 1990, the sorts of music to which it refers were known by a variety of terms. In 1979, Terry Tolkin used the term Alternative Music to describe the groups he was writing about. In 1979 Dallas radio station KZEW had
9796-453: The early 2000s, when indie rock became the most common term in the US to describe modern pop and rock, the terms "indie rock" and "alternative rock" were often used interchangeably; while there are aspects which both genres have in common, "indie rock" was regarded as a British-based term, unlike the more American "alternative rock". The name "alternative rock" essentially serves as an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in
9920-423: The final result." Christian also discussed the difficulties in writing this record. "When you try to write 29 songs lyrically you find yourself topically working in circles; I only go through so much in one year, but needlessly I have dedicated myself to begin searching books, art, and friends for new directions." During the recording process, the band set up a live webcam in the studio so fans could watch them record
10044-515: The first from the EP Convinced , which was released on June 30, 2023. Mixed by Jeremy SH Griffith and Mastered by Jonathan Berlin at The Loft Studio LA. After the EP's release, the band appeared at the 3-day Furnace Fest event in September. On October 10, 2023, lead singer Stephen Christian initially announced an indefinite hiatus from the band for touring. Memphis May Fire singer Matty Mullins
10168-429: The formative influences for the shoegazing movement of the late 1980s. Named for the band members' tendency to stare at their feet and guitar effects pedals onstage rather than interact with the audience, shoegazing acts like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive created an overwhelmingly loud "wash of sound" that obscured vocals and melodies with long, droning riffs, distortion, and feedback. Shoegazing bands dominated
10292-430: The foundation for its large cult following. The key British alternative rock band to emerge during the 1980s was Manchester 's the Smiths . Music journalist Simon Reynolds singled out the Smiths and their American contemporaries R.E.M. as "the two most important alt-rock bands of the day", commenting that they "were eighties bands only in the sense of being against the eighties". The Smiths exerted an influence over
10416-440: The group reunited to tour through 2019. In May 2020, Christian mentioned they were working on new material. Anberlin released their new EP Silverline on July 29, 2022. In October 2023, Christian announced he was taking an indefinite hiatus from touring with the band and was replaced by Memphis May Fire 's Matty Mullins . Lead singer Stephen Christian met bassist Deon Rexroat while they were both in high school, and they formed
10540-457: The instigation of the grunge music phenomenon". Helped by constant airplay of the song's music video on MTV, their album Nevermind was selling 400,000 copies a week by Christmas 1991. Its success surprised the music industry. Nevermind not only popularized grunge, but also established "the cultural and commercial viability of alternative rock in general." Michael Azerrad asserted that Nevermind symbolized "a sea-change in rock music" in which
10664-422: The key British alternative rock bands during the 1980s, remained signed to independent labels and received relatively little attention from mainstream radio, television, or newspapers. With the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream, and many alternative bands became successful. Emo found mainstream success in
10788-420: The local weather. Early grunge bands Soundgarden and Mudhoney found critical acclaim in the U.S. and UK, respectively. By the end of the decade, a number of alternative bands began to sign to major labels. While early major label signings Hüsker Dü and the Replacements had little success, acts who signed with majors in their wake such as R.E.M. and Jane's Addiction achieved gold and platinum records, setting
10912-495: The mainstream rock, with record companies using the term "alternative" to market music to an audience that mainstream rock does not reach. Using a broad definition of the genre, Dave Thompson in his book Alternative Rock cites the formation of the Sex Pistols as well as the release of the albums Horses by Patti Smith and Metal Machine Music by Lou Reed as three key events that gave birth to alternative rock. Until
11036-559: The mainstream" and record companies, confused by the genre's success yet eager to capitalize on it, scrambled to sign bands. The New York Times declared in 1993, "Alternative rock doesn't seem so alternative anymore. Every major label has a handful of guitar-driven bands in shapeless shirts and threadbare jeans, bands with bad posture and good riffs who cultivate the oblique and the evasive, who conceal catchy tunes with noise and hide craftsmanship behind nonchalance." However, many alternative rock artists rejected success, for it conflicted with
11160-494: The mainstreaming of rock music, alternative rock lyrics tend to address topics of social concern, such as drug use, depression, suicide, and environmentalism . This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s and early 1990s. Precursors to alternative rock existed in the 1960s with proto-punk . The origins of alternative rock can be traced back to The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) by
11284-439: The members having a change in musical direction and name. Anberlin was formed in 2002; within a year of forming, they had signed with semi-independent record label Tooth & Nail Records and released their debut album, Blueprints for the Black Market . In 2005, the band released their second album, Never Take Friendship Personal . The band's third album, Cities , was released in 2007, and became their first album to reach
11408-509: The mid-1980s, college station KCPR in San Luis Obispo, California , described in a DJ handbook the tension between popular and "cutting edge" songs as played on "alternative radio". Although American alternative artists of the 1980s never generated spectacular album sales, they exerted a considerable influence on later alternative musicians and laid the groundwork for their success. On September 10, 1988, an Alternative Songs chart
11532-460: The more melodic, diverse music of college rock that emerged. Azerrad wrote, "Hüsker Dü played a huge role in convincing the underground that melody and punk rock weren't antithetical." The band also set an example by being the first group from the American indie scene to sign to a major record label, which helped establish college rock as "a viable commercial enterprise". By focusing on heartfelt songwriting and wordplay instead of political concerns,
11656-527: The most popular rock bands in the United States. At the same time Britpop began to decline, Radiohead achieved critical acclaim with its third album OK Computer (1997), and its follow-ups Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001), which were in marked contrast with the traditionalism of Britpop. Radiohead, along with post-Britpop groups like Travis , Stereophonics and Coldplay , were major forces in British rock in subsequent years. Never Take Friendship Personal Never Take Friendship Personal
11780-448: The most popular, and therefore who could generate the most sales. These bands were able to record their songs in expensive studios, and their works were then offered for sale through record store chains that were owned by the entertainment corporations, along with eventually selling the merchandise into big box retailers . Record companies worked with radio and television companies to get the most exposure for their artists. The people making
11904-443: The music is still there. — Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s (2000) By the start of the 1990s, the music industry was enticed by alternative rock's commercial possibilities and major labels had already signed Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dinosaur Jr. In early 1991, R.E.M. went mainstream worldwide with Out of Time while becoming a blueprint for many alternative bands. The first edition of
12028-413: The music video for "Seven". Anberlin lead vocalist Stephen Christian has stated different origins of the band's name in various interviews, prevalent among which was his claim that he had long intended to name his first daughter Anberlin. Struggling to find a name for the band, Stephen suggested it; "We were all sitting around trying to come up with a name. None of us were married or had kids, but one day I
12152-569: The past, particularly movements and genres such as the British Invasion , glam rock , and punk rock . In 1995, the Britpop phenomenon culminated in a rivalry between its two chief groups, Oasis and Blur, symbolized by their release of competing singles “ Roll With It ” and “ Country House ” on the same day on 14 August 1995. Blur won " The Battle of Britpop ", but they were soon eclipsed in popularity by Oasis whose second album, (What's
12276-418: The prominent grunge bands in Seattle, while a second influx of bands moved to the city in hopes of success. At the same time, critics asserted that advertising was co-opting elements of grunge and turning it into a fad. Entertainment Weekly commented in a 1993 article, "There hasn't been this kind of exploitation of a subculture since the media discovered hippies in the '60s." The New York Times compared
12400-427: The rebellious, DIY ethic the genre had espoused before mainstream exposure and their ideas of artistic authenticity. Other grunge bands subsequently replicated Nirvana's success. Pearl Jam had released its debut album Ten a month before Nevermind in 1991, but album sales only picked up a year later. By the second half of 1992 Ten became a breakthrough success, being certified gold and reaching number two on
12524-503: The release date was undetermined, as the band needed to give the new material the proper time and effort. They also undertook an Australian tour in August, alongside The Academy Is... . A b-side from New Surrender , "A Perfect Tourniquet", was released on the soundtrack for the TV show 90210 . The cover of New Order's "True Faith" was released to radio airplay on November 17, the same day as
12648-447: The release of Cities , the band released Godspeed EP exclusively through the iTunes Store in late 2006 to give a preview to the new album. In support of the album, Anberlin held their first headlining tour, supported by Bayside , Meg & Dia and Jonezetta . In an interview about the album, Christian commented that the lyrics throughout the band's discography are progressively becoming more mature. "The first CD ( Blueprints for
12772-571: The release to celebrate what the band had become. On May 6, 2014, Anberlin revealed the title of the album, Lowborn , as well as the album artwork. The band played their final show on November 26, 2014, at the House of Blues in Orlando, Florida. On December 15, 2017, it was announced that the band's former rhythm guitarist Nathan Strayer had died. He was 34. On October 18, 2018, the band announced that they would reunite for one show on December 14 at
12896-433: The rest of the band. After several failed replacements, Nathan Strayer from The Mosaic took over rhythm guitar duties. Anberlin released their follow-up to Blueprints , Never Take Friendship Personal , in early 2005, again produced by Aaron Sprinkle. Charting at No. 144 on the Billboard 200 , the album brought the band closer to the mainstream. NTFP was generally more well received by critics than Blueprints for
13020-421: The shift from the hardcore punk that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock that were emerging. Minneapolis bands Hüsker Dü and the Replacements were indicative of this shift. Both started out as punk rock bands, but soon diversified their sounds and became more melodic. Michael Azerrad asserted that Hüsker Dü was the key link between hardcore punk and
13144-406: The song). While Thom (Yorke) is singing try to say I always thought the background noise sounded like Anberlin , I always thought that Anberlin would have been a great band name and well...it was/is." Over the years, many fans, critics, and other members of the media have consistently characterized Anberlin as a Christian band. However, Stephen Christian stated in an interview that their faith
13268-399: The song. Anberlin released an EP, Silverline , on July 29, 2022, via Equal Vision Records , with whom they signed earlier in the month. Mixed by Jeremy SH Griffith and Mastered by Jonathan Berlin at The Loft Studio LA. On June 9, 2023, Anberlin released a single entitled “Lacerate” via Equal Vision Records. It was the first single to feature guitarist Christian McAlhaney on lead vocals and
13392-479: The sound and style of grunge, "but not necessarily the individual idiosyncracies of its original artists." Post-grunge was a more commercially viable genre that tempered the distorted guitars of grunge with polished, radio-ready production. Originally, post-grunge was a label used almost pejoratively on bands that emerged when grunge was mainstream and emulated the grunge sound. The label suggested that bands labelled as post-grunge were simply musically derivative, or
13516-514: The stage for alternative's later breakthrough. Some bands such as Pixies had massive success overseas while they were ignored domestically. In the middle of the decade, Hüsker Dü's album Zen Arcade influenced other hardcore acts by tackling personal issues. Out of Washington, D.C.'s hardcore scene what was called "emocore" or, later, " emo " emerged and was noted for its lyrics which delved into emotional, very personal subject matter (vocalists sometimes cried) and added free association poetry and
13640-514: The studio to record several tracks, including a cover of the New Order song " True Faith ", which was made available online. The band also recorded a cover of the Danzig song " Mother ", which they performed during an interview with Billboard . After supporting Taking Back Sunday throughout May and June 2009, the band planned to start writing the follow-up to New Surrender in the summer, but
13764-513: The subgenre's lyrics often address literary romanticism, morbidity, religious symbolism, and supernatural mysticism. Bands of this subgenre took inspiration from two British post-punk groups, Siouxsie and the Banshees , and Joy Division . Bauhaus ' debut single " Bela Lugosi's Dead ", released in 1979, is considered to be the proper beginning of the gothic rock subgenre. The Cure 's "oppressively dispirited" albums including Pornography (1982) cemented that group's stature in that style and laid
13888-644: The term Alternative Nation . In December 1991, Spin magazine noted: "this year, for the first time, it became resoundingly clear that what has formerly been considered alternative rock —a college-centered marketing group with fairly lucrative, if limited, potential—has in fact moved into the mainstream." In the late 1990s, the definition again became more specific. In 1997, Neil Strauss of The New York Times defined alternative rock as "hard-edged rock distinguished by brittle, '70s-inspired guitar riffing and singers agonizing over their problems until they take on epic proportions." Defining music as alternative
14012-514: The term would broaden to include new wave , pop, punk rock , post-punk , and occasionally " college "/" indie " rock, all found on the American "commercial alternative" radio stations of the time such as Los Angeles' KROQ-FM . Journalist Jim Gerr wrote that Alternative also encompassed variants such as "rap, trash, metal and industrial". The bill of the first Lollapalooza , an itinerant festival in North America conceived by Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell , reunited "disparate elements of
14136-528: The time, the common music industry terms for cutting-edge music were new music and postmodern , respectively indicating freshness and a tendency to recontextualize sounds of the past. A similar term, alternative pop , emerged around 1985. In 1987, Spin magazine categorized college rock band Camper Van Beethoven as "alternative/indie", saying that their 1985 song "Where the Hell Is Bill" (from Telephone Free Landslide Victory ) "called out
14260-489: The top 20 of the Billboard 200 , selling 34,000 copies in its debut week. Anberlin signed with major label Universal Republic in 2007 and in 2008 released New Surrender , which peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200, with the first single, " Feel Good Drag ", claiming No. 1 on the Alternative Songs chart, after 29 weeks in the chart. Prior to the 2010 release of their fifth studio album, Dark Is
14384-488: The type of rock played on American 1970s Album Oriented Rock radio. In the early 21st century, many alternative rock bands that experienced mainstream success struggled following the suicide of Nirvana 's Kurt Cobain in April 1994, Pearl Jam 's failed lawsuit against concert venue promoter Ticketmaster , Soundgarden 's break-up in 1997, the Smashing Pumpkins losing its original members in 2000, L7 's hiatus in 2001,
14508-405: The wake of punk rock since the mid-1980s. Throughout much of its history, alternative rock has been largely defined by its rejection of the commercialism of mainstream culture, although this could be contested since some of the major alternative artists have eventually achieved mainstream success or co-opted with the major labels from the 1990s onward (especially into the 2000s, and beyond). In
14632-529: Was created by Billboard , listing the 40 most-played songs on alternative and modern rock radio stations in the US: the first number one was " Peek-a-Boo " by Siouxsie and the Banshees . By 1989, the genre had become popular enough that a package tour featuring New Order , Public Image Limited and the Sugarcubes toured the US arena circuit. Early on, British alternative rock was distinguished from that of
14756-573: Was decided they reveal the true origin. He has said the "real" name came from the Radiohead song " Everything in Its Right Place ", stating that "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
14880-403: Was entitled Blueprints for the Black Market (2003). It failed to chart, but spurred on by their debut single, "Readyfuels", the album sold over 60,000 units. They toured steadily with other bands in their label. Rhythm guitarist Joey Bruce was eventually ejected from the band. According to Christian, he was "all about sex, drugs and rock & roll", and was going in a different direction than
15004-455: Was going to name my daughter Anberlin, so I figured we could name the band that until we thought of something better. So we chose Anberlin and no one has thought of anything better." He stated he was no longer going to use Anberlin to name his first daughter, however he said, "If I ever have a daughter and name her Anberlin, she'll think she was named after the band instead of the other way around." Christian had also stated in another interview that
15128-438: Was inspired by multi-talented artist Nico , whose given name was Christa Päffgen. The song references her struggle with drugs and unrelated death. Never Take Friendship Personal garnered positive reception from Music critics . Johan Wippsson of Melodic rated the album four stars, remarking how this "is a fantastic album and a great follow up, even better than their great debut." At Christianity Today , Andy Argyrakis rated
15252-413: Was named Anberlin's new live lead vocalist. On June 14, 2024, the band announced their album Vega , which is the combination of their 2022 and 2023 EPs Silverline and Convinced , with a release date of August 2, 2024, as well as featuring two songs with Mullins on lead vocals, "Walk Alone" and "Seven", the former released on June 21 with a music video. One day before the album's release, the band released
15376-405: Was released on September 30, 2008. This was the band's first album to not be distributed through Tooth & Nail Records or produced by Aaron Sprinkle. The first song to be heard from the new album was tentatively titled "Bittersweet Memory" during its initial live performances; it was later renamed to "Breaking", with an acoustic remix of the song included on USB wristbands sold exclusively during
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