Circa Survive Interview: SXSW 2010

With an EP, two full length albums and one more LP on the way, Circa Survive are no strangers to the music industry. The band have toured with well known acts such as Coheed and Cambria, Cute Is What We Aim For and My Chemical Romance and have graced the cover of the Alternative Press' coveted 100 Bands You Need to Know issue (April 2007). With so much going for them, it's hard to imagine their early beginnings in a suburban, Pennsylvania house. Spinner sat down with Circa Survive's lead singer Anthony Green to talk about their beginnings, their influences and their upcoming shows at SXSW.

What does Circa Survive sound like in your own words?

Circa Survive sounds like rock 'n roll music.

Has that changed over the years?

I've gone out of my way to think of clever and unique ways to say what we sound like, but I just can't. We are just something you will have to experience for yourself. Anything I say would just be worthless.

How did you guys get together?

Me and Colin [guitar player] had known each other for a while, and both of our bands were breaking up or in a state of turmoil and we decided to join forces and start a new band. We got the other guys together, and we all knew each other through friends.

Is it true you all live in the same house?

We did for four years. We wrote the first album living in a house together for four months. The house I am currently sitting outside of, the band used to all live here. Right after I got married, we all scattered about a bit. I got an apartment with my wife, but we ended up coming back here.

So you guys must be very close. For those four years, even when you came home from touring, you couldn't get away from each other. How did that work out?

It was fine. We are really good with each other. We know each other well enough to know when give each other space. We don't really have that problem where bands need to get away from each other for months on end. I think the closer you are with the people you create music with, the more honest the outcome.

Who are your biggest musical influences?

For me, I would say Porno for Pyros, Jane's Addiction, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles. The list could go on and on. It's just the stuff that I hear and I know that's me. I was in the grocery store the other day and Green Day's 'Longview' [came on] and I remember how that song hit me and how I loved it. Our influences are everywhere from some music you hear on the radio to wind chimes on our neighbor's front porch to things my mom sang to me when I was going to sleep. We are very open, broad to our influences. It's not like, "Yeah, were really influenced by Bjork." We really take the little graces out of everything we love, and that is our inspiration.

How does it feel to hear songs at the supermarket by bands such as Green Day that were once so radical?

It makes me aware that times are changing.

Where did you get the name Circa Survive?

It was something we meditated on for a while and it came out of a brainstorming session Tom and I were having. We just wrote it down and it was done.

What is the band's biggest vice?

Well ... I don't know if I can talk about that. [laughs] I'm sure it would be food for some of us. Some of us it would be a substance or a drink. For some of us sex. I don't think there is one that generalizes the group though. I think we can appreciate and become agonized by the vices all at once.

Is there a favorite restaurant you guys have to stop in if you pass by it?

There's a place in Albuquerque, New Mexico called Frontier Cafe, and its so f---ing good. It's the best Mexican food ever. We always like to go to In and Out Burger in California, even though it makes us feel like s--- afterwards. We actually try to eat healthy on the road. For the most part, as hard as that sounds, we accomplish it.

Do you have a favorite place in Austin?

I love Stubbs. They have great barbeque there. There is a little taco place near Emo's where I hear people got food poisoning, but I still eat there every time.

What is in the band's survival kit?

We got matches, trip wire, laser wire, candles, and lighters. We have beta flashlights, AM/FM radios, safety flairs, life jackets. I usually keep some kind of tourniquet or butterfly bandages. We have several knives and an expensive compass.

So no shark repellant?

I'm pretty sure any of us could hold our own in a shark fight.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

It was either Heather Graham or Winona Ryder.

What is your biggest musical guilty pleasure?

I try to disassociate the feeling of guilt with the feeling I get from listening to music. I feel like guilty pleasures are for people who are embarrassed about something, and I'm not embarrassed to say I like something if I like it.

Beatles or Stones?

Beatles. Stones have a place in my heart for being a glorified cover band, but Beatles ....

If you had to choose one Beatles song for your band to cover, what would it be?

That's so f---ing tough ... 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer,' 'Here Comes the Sun,' 'Don't Let Me Down' ... I'm actually trying to cover 'Don't Let Me Down' for SXSW. We are going to be walking around playing songs, and that's one of them.

What's been your favorite band to tour with since you have been together?

Portugal the Man is always fun to have out on tour since they are friends of ours and we like their music.

What is the craziest thing you've experienced on tour?

It's funny, people ask that question every other interview. It's one of those staple questions. I feel like I never deliver on that. All the crazy s--- I am just trying to hide from people! All the stuff that I would say would sound really tame. The craziest thing I have ever seen on tour was a hooker getting eaten by a shark, and the shark was smoking crack out of his butt.

You know if you would have had the shark repellant ...

EXACTLY! That would have come in handy.

Are you going to try to top that this year at SXSW?

Last year I left SXSW in a wheel chair. Hopefully this year they will have a stretcher waiting for me.

Casey Jones is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.