Anberlin Band • Page 185

This whole thing feels so tone deaf and cringey to me.

 

I understand the goal. I just don’t understand how they think this particular method is going to accomplish that. Based solely off the comments on the announcement video their fan base isn’t responding well to their choice of singer. I’d imagine that if they’d gone with someone else there’d be people unhappy about it but there are definitely other ways they could have tried to make this work that wouldn’t have caused the response they seem to be receiving.

 

It's not too late to call up ex Story Of The Year's Phil Sneed... if he's still in the music industry

 

Exactly. Play a few more shows with Stephen, release LP8 as they’ve said they intend to do, take a ‘pause’ for Stephen and let it hang for awhile and come back when they’re all ready to. The only way that doesn’t make sense is if Stephen is out for several years or longer, and he may be, for all we know. And in that instance, just go on hiatus again haha

 

I think Stephen is out on touring forever aside from some one offs

 

Going on hiatus isn’t good for the other members of the band, it seems. This is their job. This will allow them to tour and make a living. I’m not a fan of the set up, but I get it.

 

If this is actually true, I’d prefer they just hang it up.

I get the touring for a living angle for the other members but are they really bringing in enough to sustain 5 people and their families? Opening for Yellowcard? I’d be surprised.

 

Can't wait for the big "Stephen is back" reunion tour in 2027.

 

Do we know for sure if there are no more tour dates with Stephen coming before the final show in Florida?

 

Not in North America.

 

It's strange that sporadic touring is too much but they're just gonna jet to Australia lol

 

i dunno, to me this all feels like stephen softly hanging it up. it's not like any of these guys owe us anything, but given their "final" album and tour, following that up with soft reunions leading to their tours and EP's, and now this... it honestly reads to me like stephen is done, but they don't want to just drive the nail in and upset/bum people out again. so they're trying to slowly introduce Matty as the permanent replacement. maybe i'm reading way too deep into it, i do tend to be a pessimist by nature, but i'd be surprised if Stephen comes back at all beyond maybe writing some lyrics or melodies behind the scenes.

 

I could always change the name of the thread to "Mattberlin". Or perhaps "Anberwas".

 

i could eventually see Stephen leaving for good, but given that the band explicitly stated that Stephen is still in the band - just not touring - i don't think it's happening any time soon.

 

Idk. They have a history of going back on things they explicitly stated.

i.e. "We don't want to be one of those bands that breaks up and then comes back 4 years later in 2018" and then literally came back in 2018.

 

Way too generous, 2025 at the latest.

 

Hahaha right?!

 

I just would've preferred for them to do the small 4-5 dates in a row tours, the occasional festival appearance, and keep the lineup consistent. To say Stephen "soft quit" kind of discredits his work on the EPs. There's a lot of bands reuniting these days that are recording, touring sporadically, and (presumably) working full time jobs. But I guess that's not enough for the rest of the guys.

Also, I wonder who the driving force is for the band these days. I'm thinking either Christian or Nate.

 

Yeah, they should take a page from how MxPx does things. Weekend shows consistently throughout the year. 2/3 of the guys have full time jobs and they continue putting out new material. It works.

 

Balance and Composure and Fireworks reunited this year and seem to be doing the same thing. I'm guessing for some parties in Anberlin, that wasn't enough.

 

Or he's over touring and wants to spend time with his family? That's been his consistent stance, from the moment he wanted to step away in 2013 down to this day. I'm not seeing anything else that alludes to more.

The rest concerning the band's current plans, hypothetical new music with Matty and the likes seems like the rest of the band trying to do what they can to keep the band active while having a singer that doesn't want to tour anymore.

 

sorry, to be clear, do you mean no, we are not sure if there are more dates for North America or no, we are not expecting new dates for North America lol

context implies the latter but I felt like the original announcement was ambiguous unless I’m misremembering. It also felt to me like Stephen would continue to be the lyric writer but that Matt was just going to sing Stephen’s songs/lyrics, whether on old or new material

 

i did say i could be reading too deep into it, i’m not stating this as fact, i’m thinking out loud.

 

The two Florida dates are the last NA dates for Stephen for the foreseeable future.