Anberlin: One Last Goodbye Before the End
Joseph Milligan is just like any other band guy that comes from Florida...meaning he's not a fan of the Florida heat, despite however long he lived here. But Joseph is not just any Floridian, is he? As lead guitarist of Anberlin since 2002 and on his penultimate tour, the endearing Joey is a fountain of wisdom for all musicians together now in the same music scene. With limited time to approach this esteemed musician, we took a little while to ask Joey to relate some of his favorite memories and experiences with the band and why they decided to bring this grand musical journey to a close.
Joey: Hi, I'm at Joey and I play guitar in Anberlin.
Zhayda: What's it like being on tour?
J: Oh, very hot. Especially in Warped Tour. It's funny, it's like going to summer camp with all your friends. We had fun the first few years doing it, and then we had the opportunity to do this as our last year as a band. It was really exciting.
Z: So what made you decide to just end it all?
J: [Joey laughs] We get to a point where it's inevitable, and eventually down the road the band is going to go down and our friendships are going to suffer. And I think, as a band, we've done everything we sought out to do. Even more so. We also really love each other, and we just want to see what else is out there. Pretty much, all of us have been doing this longer than we haven't been throughout our lives. Most of us have families and are married, and so we want to do this how we'd like to and not because we are forced to.
Z: What inspired your last album?
J: We've always been dedicated to our fans. Staying after shows, having signings, taking pictures. We've never not allowed fans into our lives, whether it's through social media or in real life. The title kind of reflected that all people are born the same.
Z: What inspired you guys to actually start the band?
J: Man, I think I was 15, and my band had just broken up. Steven's brother was playing guitar and he quit so they asked me to try out. At the time, it was like, "Let's see if we can put some shows in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando!" That was like, the biggest thing there was. After being together for a while we decided to play music that's fun for us to play, so we can branch out, too. We thought that it would something fun, where there's no foreseeable end. Let's just plays music, and see what happens. We had no clue that we would still be here years later, with all these albums out, number one song, gold album… We just never saw that stuff happen.
Z: Favorite memory of being on tour, any tour.
J: First time in Australia was pretty crazy. The first time in New Zealand we had no idea anyone knew who we were or that our name was even mentioned anywhere. Then, I remember playing a show there and getting onstage and they're being 10 or 15,000 people and everyone going crazy the whole time we were playing and that will always be in my mind.
Z: Who have you liked touring with?
J: We've had a great tour is with great friends. We've toured with Bayside three times, Taking Back Sunday, We played football with the Yellow card guys and with Switchfoot guys. We grew up with them, playing on the road. We have a handful of people who we just love playing with. We have movie dates and dinners, so we get all the bands and we meet at a restaurant.
Z: What's the thing you'll miss most about being on tour?
J: There's a lot. Do you know? There's a lot you won't miss. [Everyone laughs] For sure, playing every night. Being in a different place every day. Walking throughout the city in the day and playing a show that night. I think mainly experiencing different places.
Z: Strangest and weirdest experience with a fan.
J: I've had some weird ones. In general, we've had some people that, Because we give so much access to our fans people get this idea that they know you. They'll go, "Hey Joey! Hey Joey! How is so-so?" and it's like, "Uh, cool man." Then they'll ask, "Can we go on the bus? Can you make a funny face in this picture?" and it's just too familiar. And in some circumstances, way too familiar. Way... crossing a line, you know? And doing some borderline creepy stuff! There's some odd ones out there, but as far as bizarre things... I remember being in Washington D.C., It was 1999 or 2000, and the venue told us they had a place for us to stay. We thought it was cool because then we didn't have to worry about a hotel, and it was 10 below outside, it was snowing, so we get to the place they had for us and it was a concrete warehouse. Just bare walls and concrete floors. We walked in shaking, so we later clothing on, and turned on an old oven we found in a corner and slept around it in a semicircle, so, that was kind of weird...
Z: What was your favorite album to record?
J: Vital, probably. I mean we had a lot of fun with every record. You have your ups and downs with every record. Vital was just fun. It felt just like doing a project with friends.
Z: What advice would you give to aspiring musicians?
J: There is a very small percentage of bands that will ever get to that next level they were shooting for. I think the biggest reason for that is when someone gives them a hard time or the people are having issues with one another they just break up, and we were never like that. Any issue that was presented to us, we fixed it or worked around. Any problems between us, we would just work it out and that resulted in a really long career. So basically, just keep going.
Z: With this being your second to last tour, what exactly do you want to say to your fans?
J: I think the biggest thing is, once we're done, don't stop listening to us.
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