Circa Survive: Recover and Revive
By Lansie Sylvia

In the darkness of the bar, the members of Circa Survive are only visible when camera flashes spark the stage. Singer Anthony Green is caught in a stilted set of action shots, suddenly on the floor, his face contorted once then gone, suddenly shaking his head furiously, only the hint of a profile caught in a frame. The rest of the band is hypnotic: guitarists Colin Frangicetto and Brendan Ekstrom bob heads and pendulate in sync, drummer Steve Clifford clamors precisely yet unbridled, and bassist Nick Beard anchors the scenario dead center, tall, his stance solid. Their live performance captures their recordings -- lush, seamless and daedal compositions punctuated piercingly with Green’s vocals. In their own words, “wet with little bits of sharp.”

If their music seems unclassifiable, that’s because it is. The only way to describe the music is organic, heartfelt, and full of integrity…. exactly the way Circa Survive describes their recording process. Every member in the band writes his own music, often building off of one riff, a completed song being the fruit of a lengthy jam session. All of their recordings have been compiled in exactly this fashion, one that is progressive and constantly evolutionary. Circa Survive, in everything they’ve done and seemingly will do, is impulsive, sincere and completely natural.

Circa Survive’s first album, Juturna, is an 11-track tour de force released April 19th on Equal Vision Records. Juturna, the Roman goddess of never-failing springs that held healing qualities, was traditionally honored in a Roman ritual where people would throw gold, silver and even precious jewelry into a fountain. It is fitting that a band that was built upon faith should have an album named after the nymph whom all Romans entrusted with their good intentions.

Interestingly enough, Equal Vision had enough faith in Circa Survive to sign them before they ever played a show. EVR had the privilege of being privy to the band's recordings at the earliest stages of the music's creation because of the label's ties with Ekstrom and Frangicetto's previous band, This Day Forward. EVR supported Circa Survive based on unadulterated, reciprocal love for the members of the band and a confidence that they were doing the right thing.

But faith alone does not a record deal make. Ekstrom admits that the buzz surrounding Green and his former band, Saosin, had a lot to do with Circa Survive being picked up. "The honest truth is that people that have heard Saosin, which is a lot of fucking people, will wonder what Anthony's new band is like," states Ekstrom. "There was a lot behind Saosin. They had, a still have, a lot of momentum."

Some bands might sweat a bit being signed so quickly and with so much confidence. After all, from those to whom much is given, much is expected. This pressure is felt by some members of Circa Survive, but not by others.

"I personally feel more pressure now than with my previous bands because my last band with Equal Vision split up," confesses Ekstrom. "I wouldn't want to have to go through that again, telling them that it wasn't working."

"I sort of feel the pressure, but all of it comes from inward. None of it comes from EVR. It is unconditional love with them,” professes Green. “They will support us and they want us to be happy and they’re not bullshitting. They’re like that with all of their bands. They’re like family.”

"I certainly don't feel pressure from the label because they believe in this project as much as we do, if not more. And everyone in the band is that dedicated to it," adds Ekstrom.

Their faith lies in the palpable enthusiasm members feel towards the project. Though "enthusiasm" conjures images of bravado, loud voices, and exuberant hand gestures, none of these mannerisms are present with Circa Survive. Their intensity comes through when they quietly accentuate their voices, when they emphasize passion and creativity, or when they look directly at you not only with confidence, but also with trust. Spending time with them, one is drawn into their alliance swiftly, and cannot help but wish for only good things for them: success, solace, and satisfaction. It is evident that this band is fiercely loyal to each other and their music, both from the words that they say and how they say them.

"Colin and I weren't sure if we ever wanted to be in a band again [after TDF] because we were just so disappointed with the fact that it had to end. This band made us want to work with people again," explains Ekstrom. "This started out with us trying to really find people we could be with for awhile, and not just in music. As cheesy as it sounds, we've been trying to make this a family."

“We all wanted to do this indefinitely," Ekstrom continues strongly. "We wanted to find people we could be around all the time. I remember Nick when he was in Taken, and he was always calm, always had his shit together. I thought we should really have him come out here. He's a solid guy."

Beard, the balanced force tempering the intensity of some members in Circa Survive, flew out from California to join the band. Clifford joined the band last, and soon after, all of the members moved into a house together in August of 2004. The breakneck pace of the band’s formation, signing, and tour display the fervor the members feel towards this project.

The band also has an incredible amount of love for each other. Frangicetto is quick to compliment Ekstrom on his technical abilities, as well as the sense of comfort and familiarity he brings to Circa Survive; a large part of this camaraderie stems from being in TDF together and weathering some harsh winds.

“In a very short amount of time we went through stuff I haven’t been through with people that I’ve known my whole life,” says Frangicetto. “It feels good to have someone here that I believe in as a person on a human level, and as a musician, someone who is constantly teaching me new things and pushing me to be better. That type of thing is so refreshing. He brings wisdom to the band. He has a certain degree of reserved calmness and makes good decisions when my head is spinning.”

“As with Colin, it’s really comfortable to have him here in a new situation. It’s so much more like we’re brothers now,” reciprocates Ekstrom. “It’s good to know I have someone here that I can have any kind of conversation with and gain something out of it. That’s really what TDF was like for a long time--us talking in the van late at night about issues about life and fear and shit. That's really important to me.”

“Anthony brings a familiarity too,” comments Frangicetto. “We've been friends for a very long time. We'd play shows together every weekend when we were in high school and from day one, when I saw his band when it was this horrible grind band and there was just the smallest bit of singing ever, when I heard his voice I was like, Oh man, you’ve got to be kidding me! It sent chills down my spine.”

“We are in awe of him,” adds Ekstrom.

“And the thing is that he’s in awe of us as musicians, and that’s an amazing thing,” continues Frangicetto. “When you’re in awe of someone and they’re in awe back, it's like being in love. It just feels so right. The fact that we are constantly impressed with each other is definitely a driving force behind our music. There’s nothing that would be limiting. You start getting these ridiculous ideas and you’re okay just going with it.”

“The most important thing musically was that when we started everyone was so incredibly excited about what the other people were doing,” says Ekstrom.

“No one held back. Everyone was, and still is, just really open,” follows Green. "Everybody brings this unafraid, vulnerable quality. They bring themselves, and they just throw themselves into it."

“And then there’s Steve,” grins Green, leaning forward. “Steve is young and has a lot of energy. He says things every day where we just crack up. He’s like immediate comic relief.”

It is in these small personality descriptions that you see the familial aspect of Circa Survive come through: the brooding eldest brother, the calming brother, the jokester, the impetuous boy, the philosopher. Still, these personalities are, very pointedly, not what the band wants to promote.

“I like to look at it as just the voice. I don’t think my personality should play into it as much. It’s really about the sound and about the music,” comments Green in response to the focus on him as part of the band, and his enduring popularity stemming from his stint as singer of Saosin. Continuing, he explains that his unique vocally abilities were, unbelievably, stumbled upon during a jam session early on.

"I don't know how I got to this point vocally. I was just never afraid to sing," confides Green. "I was in my bedroom with my two buddies growing up and we were jamming; we had no drummer, it was just two guitars and a bass. We were playing metal and I just started to do it and I've never been afraid to do it since. I've only been doing this full time for two and a half years. This is all really, really new to me." Charmingly humble about his talent, Green seems like a completely different person when he is on and off the stage. It's as if he has two different personas, equal parts prodigious front man and unaffected confidant.

However, the band would prefer it if the focus was taken off of them completely and only shone on the music as a work done by artists. Ekstrom earnestly takes it a step farther, spouting off a very polite but distinct “fuck you” towards the trenches that our scene falls into: self-marketing, idolism, and corporate buy-out.

“I’m so fucking tired of it not being about the music,” asserts Ekstrom. “That’s what we felt like. Who fucking cares who we are or what we look like? This whole idolism thing is very strange right now.”

"It’s killing music,” adds Green.

"At this point it's at a whole new level and it's completely different than it's ever been before in that idols are very attainable right now," maintains Ekstrom. "I’ve seen kids become obsessed with the bands that we tour with which is weird because a kid can walk right up to those bands now.  It's not like Motley Crüe where they're backstage with security and you can't interact with them. The way music has evolved, you can now interact with your idols. It's a really weird line to be walking."

"There's a fine line between how much of your personality is involved in it and how much of it is just art. I think that when it's more about just the art, that is way more important," persists Green.

In response to this stance against idolism, Circa Survive is being careful about how their press is managed.

“We haven’t put out any legible pictures of us and that was intentional,” says Green. The band is picking and choosing what magazines to do interviews with and how much information they are going to divulge.

“It’s just based on how you feel. If you’re honest about what you do and don’t feel like disclosing, everything else falls into place and whatever people don’t know, ends up being what people are psyched about,” says Frangicetto. “I feel like a huge mantra for this whole project is that the only thing we’re very forthcoming about is our music.”

“I’ve had that conversation with people about what makes art art and what distinguishes art from that which is posing as art to sell and there is a very fine line to be walked,” he describes. “As artists, it’s almost our duty not to criticize other people. Everyone has different intentions. Self-promoting, to me, is just about being who you are and being nice to people and being polite. If they want to find out certain things that you don't want to talk about, then you find a tasteful way to avoid talking about that which you keep for yourself.”

The way they’d like Circa Survive to build a fan base is the most honest of them all: word of mouth.

"I'd like to think that the way a lot of people find out about us is because somebody they know is like, ‘Hey dude, listen to this shit. I really like it’," says Green.

“It is a give and take type of involvement," he continues, making a beckoning motion with his hands. "We would rather be on the end where it’s like, we want to know more about them, rather than have people just be like, pssshhhh, enough already!”

“Relationships with people can be very based on mystique sometimes," says Frangicetto, "whether it's just from a male perspective, like a girl I would see that I want to know more about, or just a person that I met that I thought was interesting, or someone that I looked up to as an artist or a musician...I'd be much more enticed to go on the Internet and check out what's going on with a band if I didn't already know everything that there was to know about them from other sources."

“I pretty much would never have had a girlfriend if it wasn’t for that whole mystique thing,” concludes Ekstrom.

The group laughs. “But it's not like I stand in the corner in the shadows,” deadpans Ekstrom, obscuring his face with his hand, “and then girls are like, ‘Oh word, I need to go buy me some panties with hearts on them’.” More laughing. “None of that ever happened." Pause. "Not with girls.” Still more laughing.

Serious and funny, spontaneous yet careful, Circa Survive seems to know what they want and how to attain it. For a band that is comprised largely of “ex-somethings”, Circa has forged their own way, keeping morals and value judgments intact while still participating in what they love the most: the creation and performance of music.

Perhaps it’s better to have their audience questioning their emotions and their influences, because this band was born from questions. Where each member wanted to go, where they had been and what they wanted to do were all integral inquiries that produced the ultimate solution, being the formation of Circa Survive.

For the band, it is all about the recovery of the artistic integrity of the independent music scene and reviving a sense of passion and immediacy, not only in their music, but in each of the individual members as well. Circa Survive is the type of band that reaffirms your faith in the unbelievable, incredible things that music can do to and for a person.

I’m sure Juturna would have liked it this way.