Christiansen is one of the most underrated bands of the moment. They were able to totally blow me away every time I've had the opportunity to see them live, and their new album, Stylish Nihilistics, is a treat well worth buying. They have a great show lined up at the CMJ Music Marathon in October with Joan Jett and Andrew WK. This band has a great future ahead of them. This interview took place on September 8 outside of the Middle East on September 8, 2003, after they blew away every band that they played with.

PL: Give me your name and what you do in the band.

C: My name is Brandon and I play guitar and sing.

PL: I saw you guys play with Boy Sets Fire last month in Providence and you only played one song off of your old EP (which actually turned out to be on the album). Is there a reason for playing all new stuff because that is rare for a band to do; to play all new songs?

C: We never played Rhode Island before and we didn't know how far the EP had gone; if it had even reached that area and we're trying out our new songs so we're trying just to get like...our new songs have more of a solid structure to it and it has more repeat parts; parts that you can really remember. We also enjoy playing those songs a little bit more. That was one of the reasons. We figured, in Providence, not that many people were gonna know how we were gonna be except for maybe a handful of kids, and besides that, we just wanted to play some new stuff in hopes of sustaining a new audience.

PL: Did you take any different approaches in writing or recording the new album? Anything different that you did from the EP or any other recordings that you guys have done?

C: The difference I guess is the song structure. The EP was more experimental for us. We just set it up to where we had several parts and wanted to develop a continuity and those parts worked off each other and make that a song. And whereas the new record which is going to be coming out it was more or less developed thinking that we're gonna write songs that have a standard structure of a verse, a chorus, a verse, a bridge and stuff like that. We also worked with a producer, Sal Vi? who produced Taking Back Sunday and Thursday and so it was more of an experience because we recorded it at Big Blue Meanie and they're like an actual professional recording house and there were people constantly working as opposed to our previous records where its just us and one guy, one engineer. We'd just go in and take breaks and then do stuff. Here, with this new record, its been a whole new experience for us.

PL: Better or worse, or the same?

C: Better. Completely better. I feel that we recorded as musicians. Not only as songwriters but as just getting the experience just being in the atmosphere and the environment where professionals go.

PL: What do you think is more stressful: recording or touring and why?

C: I think both of them are almost the same in that...on tour...in a van...like right now for instance, we have no break lights and when we drive around, we risk getting rammed into and its really stressful and really annoying or when we get a flat tire. We bought an RV, and the week after we took it out, our transmission died and its gonna cost us $2,000 to get repaired. So, that's stressful in that aspect.

In the studio its more relaxed and more fun; its where we come together. Usually, we write the songs outside of the studio and then bring them to the studio and go for it. And, I think definitely, when it comes to touring, that's where the most stressful situations are. Its not amongst each other, like with the members of the band; its more like outside distractions that are having an influence on us and causing these problems.

PL: Is this band a full time job?

C: Full time.

PL: Okay, that answered my next question...Audible...What did you do before this became a full time gig?

C: Well, before we started touring, we (pause while we wait for a motorcycle to pass us) were students at the University of Louisville and one of the community colleges. I was doing photography and video. Our bassist Brad was studying music. Our drummer Terry was studying educational courses and our guitarist Robbie was a trim carpenter. So we were doing the academic thing and then we were doing the band on the side and it got to the point where we were like: "lets just take this full time. Have fun. School will always be there."

PL: That kind of almost brings me up to my next question. Before you started doing this full time, how tough was it to balance school and Robbie's job with the band?

C: It was difficult because...now looking back on it, it's a lot more difficult for the fact that; not only was I in school, but I was working 25 hours a week with a job and then on top of that, I had tests to study for, I had to go out and shoot rolls of film for my pictures and then fit in band practice everywhere. Its just all about organization and having set schedules and being very meticulous and making sure that we practice twice a week on a Tuesday and Thursday when nothing else is going on. So its all just about organization, but it was a challenge.

PL: From your music and lyrics, you guys seem to be pretty intelligent. I was gonna ask what educational background you have, but you answered that, so, wow, you just keep answering all of my questions before I ask them. How important do you think that education is to the human race as a whole and how important is education to each individual person whether it be a musician or just in general. Like a lot of these bands are coming out just out of high school. Do you think that a college education is better or worse? Do you think its helped you?

C: In my particular circumstance, I feel that it helps me because of certain situations. Like I said, I took a lot of art courses so I worked a lot with the left brain and a lot of inspiration comes from art and its directed into our music and it reflects that. I feel that education is important to everyone. Everybody needs some sort of education and it doesn't matter where it is. I didn't know where I was after high school, but I knew I wanted to go to college. I think that education is great. I mean, I enjoy going to school and it gave me a lot to work with, like, with my brain and with visual images and stuff and I enjoyed it, but school's not for everyone and its not for us anymore. It depends on the individual.

PL: Do you think that you're eventually gonna take time off from the band to finish school?

C: I look at it like this, and I think I said this already: school will always be there and what we're doing right now is only gonna happen once, most likely, and this is our opportunity to actually do that and to just give it our best shot. My parents harass me a lot. They're always asking me when I'm going back to school. I've seen a lot of bands where the guys on stage are 28 or 30 years old and they're playing in front of the same crowd that they've been playing for for the past eight years. And I look at that and I think to myself: "I never want to be like that." If I haven't achieved a certain status by the time I'm 25, I'm gonna give it a break and I'm gonna go back to school and finish that, and on the side, work with the music. But I don't want that to be the main focus and I don't want to get burned out with it, so whenever that happens, I'm gonna jump to something else because I want to keep a positive attitude and burn out on things. But, right now, we're just gonna go with it.

PL: I saw you guys play with Brand New at the Palladium back in December and I was watching the crowd and they didn't seem to be into you at all. I'm not sure if you noticed that (shakes his head yes); when you do notice that, what kind of reaction do you have? Do you feel that you're playing for people that will understand will understand you music because Brand New's got that catchiness where you can catch on right away and you seem geared towards the smarter audience. Not to knock their audience, but...

C: No, I understand what you're saying. Well, we realize that. I mean, a lot of these tours are hard because the sound that we've created; its hard for us to get categorized into a certain genre and so, we've been on a lot of tours where we really don't mesh with the bands. We get along with the bands, but our music and their music are total opposites. We saw a lot of that when we were touring on the EP. We saw a lot of our music just flying over kids' heads. And we understand what's going on and we enjoy what we're doing, so we're up there in the zone and we're giving it everything and if people aren't gonna be able to understand it, that's their fault. We're just having a great time on stage. Eventually, kids are gonna learn to understand where we're coming from and that music is more than just a fashion statement and a social scene and that its actually in your blood and heart; as cheesy as that sounds.

PL: No, that's a great way of looking at it.

PL: How diverse is the Louisville scene and how do you fit into that?

C: I think we fit into the Louisville scene really well. Not only because we're from Louisville, but because we were influenced by a lot of the bands that started the whole thing. I'm gonna draw some names out. I don't know if you've ever heard of these guys, but bands like Slint, Guilt and Endpoint; a lot of pure indie rock came out of Louisville during the early 90s and even earlier than that. That influenced us a lot and we would go to those shows as kids and we would see that and we'd be like: "We want to do that one day." And then, as the years progress, we became what those people were to us. And there's always a place in our hearts for Louisville and those bands have shaped our ears and molded us into what we wanted to do, so we're just carrying on the line of Louisville rock. We're trying to just get that out and not let it die.

PL: What are your expectations once the new record drops and what plans do you guys have after?

C: We plan to tour. We have plans to tour a lot. We have plans to hopefully just make a full time career out of it; be able to financially support ourselves as a band in the music business. We're gonna give that a shot because that's what we'd like to do. For that to happen or not is up to chance, but we'll give it a shot. We'll see.

PL: Do you have any other comments?

C: Just come and see us play when we're in your town.

PL: We do.

C: Thanks.

Interview by: RF

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