Circa Survive

26 November 2007 | 10:45 pm | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

If you haven't already immersed yourself in Circa Survive's atmospheric take on rock then you're missing out on something special. Only a few weeks out for their first tour of Australia, Nick (bass) caught up with us to talk about band reformations and... My Chemical Romance?

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If you haven't already immersed yourself in Circa Survive's atmospheric take on rock then you're missing out on something special.

Only a few weeks out for their first tour of Australia, Nick (bass) caught up with us to talk about band reformations and... My Chemical Romance?

Interview w/ Nick Beard

(bass) of Circa Survive

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By Cameron Chambers





Thanks so much for your

time today Nick. 


Yeah sure. 


Circa Survive are part of

a huge tour at the moment with The Dear Hunter and Fear Before The March

Of Flames (just to name a couple), how have the shows been going? 


Um, it's been going awesome.

Like, I didn't know what to expect before this tour but ah, it's been

great. 


The shows have been awesome...

every band on this tour has been awesome. Overall it's just been a really

good time. 


How have the audiences been

responding to such a diverse set of bands each night? Obviously yourselves

and a band like “Fear Before...” are drastically different so what's

the reaction been like? 


Yeah, I definitely think for

the most part it's been really good. There's these people at every show...

there's always gotta be a few assholes in the crowd that have to think

their music taste is superior to everyone else's, ha ha... 


Ha ha. 


But um, all in all it seems

like everyone has been enjoying it. I think every band on the tour has

something really good to offer so... everybody that comes to the show

with an open mind goes away really happy. 


Circa Survive were signed

before you'd even played a show, so I think it's safe to say that you

were still finding your feet as a band when wrote your first record.

After spending two years on the road together, how did you guys approach

the song writing to “On Letting Go”?  


Um... You know we still, like

the first record we jammed a lot and we definitely did that again for

this record because it feels really natural to do it that way but we

definitely... Anthony wrote a lot of acoustic songs... like vocals with

basic chord arrangements and we'd take those and kind of change them

into more of a Circa Survive type song. 


Colin was writing songs like

fully on his own with his own little recording setup. There's a bunch

of little ways we did it this time.


Did Brian McTernan (producer)

have much input in the direction that your music was taking or was his

focus on the sound and dynamic of the record? 


Um, he's definitely a pretty

hands on guy. He always, at least with us, he'd basically spend however

long it takes before we even start recording, we'll go through every

song and he'll basically give us his full opinion on it and if he thinks

something is terrible he'll tell us we need to re-write it, ha ha. 


That's what you need, ha

ha. 


We definitely respect his opinion...

we love tons of the records he's ton. We take that and try and make

it better and make it as good as can be.  


The video for “The Difference

Between Medicine And Poison Is In The Dose” looks great man. Can you

tell us a bit about the concept, who came up with the treatment and

how it ties in with the song itself? 


The treatment, or the basic

idea was from the director Travis Kopak and I know... he came over to

our house a few months before and basically just told us his idea and

we kind of went over it with him and threw our input into it. 


But the main thing with the

hoses and all that was basically his idea and we thought it sounded

awesome, ha ha, so we just went with it and thought it sounded pretty

sweet. 


In less than a fortnight

you guys will be touching down in Australia to open for My Chemical

Romance. What are you most looking forward to from the shows? 


Oh... I'm just looking forward

to finally playing there! 


I think as far as international

things go we definitely seem to get the most response from Australia

and we've never been there yet, so I'm just kind of excited to get over

there and get our feet wet. 


Hopefully it'll be the starting

point for more in the future. 


Given the spaced out nature

of your music, do you think Australian audiences might be missing out

on the real Circa Survive experience by seeing you in arenas as opposed

to club shows? I'm only asking because I always imagined that we'd be

watching your band in a more intimate setting. 


Yeah yeah. I definitely think

so. We've done a few arenas before in different places and our sound

guy always tells us it's a bit difficult to mix us with all the delays

on the guitar and the natural delay of the room... 


Yeah exactly... 


I dunno... I think, we've played

a few shows with My Chemical Romance in the past and they've always

gone over really well... it should be good! 


Obviously it would be cooler

to do clubs but we had to settle so hopefully next time, ha ha. 


I'm assuming that you'll

be playing tracks for both your records but will we be hearing any covers

on this tour?

We haven't talked about it.

I doubt we will because we're literally flying in the day we get home

from this tour, so I don't think we'll have time to do anything like

that. 


Are there any plans to get

you guys back to Australia for your own headlining tour in the near

future? 


There hasn't been but like

I said... well, at least I'm hoping that this will be... 


The launching pad? 


Yeah, basically! Ha ha 


I still find it amazing

that a band as progressive as yourselves has been able to appeal to

such a wide selection of music fans. What do you think it is about Circa

Survive that pulls in people from all walks of life? 


Um... you know I'm not really

sure. Obviously Anthony's voice is probably the biggest draw for most

people because it's so unique, so I dunno... 


Don't sell yourself short

man because the music is a big focal point. 


Ha ha. Well, you know. We try

and keep it modest, ha ha. 


Once the Australian tour

is finished, what have you guys got in the works for the next six months? 


The only thing we have planned

after that is the UK tour next year. There's nothing set in stone after

that so I'm not sure what's going to happen. 


I was going to touch on

this really quickly because I'm an enormous Taken fan... 


No way! Ha ha 


Yeah man, favourite band

of all time, hands down. 


Taken!? 


Taken, ha ha. 


Ha ha ha ha. 


Don't sound so shocked,

ha ha. 


Um, you know there's a re-union

show happening? 


I was going to mention that.

March in Anaheim yeah? 


Yeah yeah. There's supposed

to be a couple of shows in Japan too. 


I did see that. I'm toying

around with the idea of shooting up to Japan to catch those. 


Yeah, Ray called me a while

ago to ask me about that. I'm still not 100% sure if I can do those

shows depending on our schedule. If we're free I'll be there... it should

be fun if I can make it! 


Definitely. I was going

to say there's no chance of you swinging by Melbourne so I'm going to

have to hit Japan to catch you guys, ha ha. 


Ha ha. That's crazy. I didn't

even know anyone in Australia who would've even heard of Taken. 


There's definitely a bunch

of us down here who are right into you guys. 


That's awesome. 


What prompted the re-union

shows? Was it unfinished business or did you think the increase in the

band’s profile since your breakup warranted another couple of shows? 


Yeah. Well, Ray's like... Ray's

been talking about it since the breakup happened pretty much. He's wanted

to do it ever since. There's always scheduling conflicts and a general

“what would the point be”? 


Goodfellow Records is putting

out a B-Sides compilation so I guess that's the main point... other

than the fact that everyone is itching to do it. 


Outside of the Taken reunion,

do you or any of the other guys have anything else going on musically

at the moment? 


Um, nothing really. Everybody's

kind of... especially Anthony is writing a lot of songs on his own but

I don't know if he's doing it because he loves it or if he's planning

on doing something with it. 


There's been so many great

records released (so far) this year. What have been some of your favourites? 


I haven't really listened to

much. The only thing I've really heard on this tour so far has been

the new Radiohead album... which is awesome! 


I really haven't been listening

to anything. All the time I'm not playing I'm just doing something else. 


If you could assemble your

dream tour lineup – with Circa Survive headlining of course – who'd

be on there? 


Ha ha. Wow man. If I did that

it'd be a bunch of bands that didn't make sense to be on the tour. Does

that matter? Ha ha 


Doesn't matter at all man. 


Probably Tool and um... Incubus

would be on there and ah... I dunno, ha ha. 


Probably Radiohead, you

may as well give them a slot, ha ha. 


Ha ha, yeah. We'll throw them

on there too.  


Throw them a bone, they

could do with the shows, ha ha. 


Ha ha. 


That's about all we've got

time for mate, is there anything else you'd like to add? 


Um... no, just. Are you coming

to any of the shows? 


Hopefully. The only side

show you're doing is in Sydney so I'm trying to sort out some flights

and some time off work to get up there so... I'm sure I'll work something

out. 


Cool. We'll, if you come definitely

try and hit me up. 


Yeah, definitely. Thanks

again for your time man, it's been a pleasure.




 


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