Circa Survive On A Decade of Creating Art
By Megan Fair, Copy Chief
Circa Survive has been the target of love and affection from hoards of fans since its inception in 2004. Upon staring into the sea of excited fans at this fall’s Fashion Meets Music Festival, a third of the audience was sporting Circa Survive tattoos and even more knew every word by heart. The group, now a decade old, has experienced a great deal of change. With a new record on the horizon and a tour quickly approaching, guitarist Colin Frangicetto took a few moments directly after their FMMF set reflect about CS’ Philly roots, philosophy, new music and the challenges of touring as a real grown-up.
You just played a set at FMMF. How do you think it went?
Colin Frangicetto: It was really good! It was a lot better than I--I really had no idea what to expect. I feel like we play Ohio a good amount, but Ohio’s a big state, so it’s like in Columbus, we’ve only had a few experiences here, and this was easily the best show we’ve ever had here, so it was great.
And you felt good about the new song?
Yeah, that’s like my favorite part of the set every night. It’s always really exciting.
Speaking of new songs and new work, Alternative Press reported that there is a new Circa album coming, but the details remain very vague. Can you tell me anything about this elusive new record yet?
It’s still pretty vague! [Laughs]
Fair enough! What are you most excited about when you’re writing this new music?
It was like a really different experience where we went into the studio with very little, and our idea was to write a record in the studio at a rapid pace, and kind of take a very punk rock approach to it. Every record we try to approach in a different way to keep it fresh and keep it exciting for us. We found it was really exciting to come in every day not really knowing what was in store, write something fresh and then to walk out with something completely new, that really invigorated us, I think. I think it’s easily—I mean, are new records always my favorite record? But this new one is like, ‘wow.’ We really did some stuff we’ve always wanted to do.
Do you feel like there’s a difference in the pressure releasing a record now than when you were just starting off as a band?
The pressure is always different, but it’s usually always self-imposed. Even when we were on a major label, we didn’t really fall into that place where we were succumbing to label pressure, or even really our fans. I think our fans are really great and supportive of everything we do that we kind of always rely on the fact that if we’re true to ourselves and make ourselves happy artistically that our fans are going to get behind it. The pressure is very much so, “Are we putting everything we have into it? Are we communicating as a band well?”
We’re much more of like a group therapy/psychology dynamic where we’re really conscious of how we’re communicating as a band so that the end result, at the very least, is going to be pure. We started the band from a very pure place, and we’ve committed ourselves that we never want to go forward making a product. You know what I mean? It has to still feel like what if felt like when we were making the first album, which was exciting, passionate, and connected to each other in a way that it didn’t really matter, financial stuff didn’t really matter.
Speaking of fans, it’s pretty incredible the response you get from people.
Yeah!
How does it feel to look out into that crowd and see that almost all the people in that crowd had a Circa Survive tattoo? How does that feel, that individuals adore your music so much they are willing to make you a permanent part of their physical body?
It’s like the ultimate flattery. I think any band, the most you can really hope for is people make you a little ornament in their lives or their night, and to become a permanent part of somebody, to be buried with someone, literally, is pretty intense. And that’s another reason why take it so seriously. The decisions we make as a band, artistically and the things we do, we take that into consideration. [The fans] mean a lot to us, and they’re the reason that we’re still here. There’s a lot of decisions that we made that probably cost us a lot of money but in the end gained a lot of fans and kept us in a place where we’re on very good terms with our fans and our “legacy” or whatever you want to call it.
Sumerian Records! That’s new for you guys. How are you enjoying it? Is it different than past label experiences?
Yeah, I mean it’s always different because it’s different people. It’s cool, like we’ve known [Ash Avildsen] forever, the owner, and even some of the other people who work for the label. So far it’s been pretty mellow, we’re not really in the the thick of it yet, but ultimately, they have what we’ve always looked for in labels. They’re music lovers, they’re art lovers, and they get what we do, which is really important to us. We would never sign a record deal with anybody that didn’t seem to understand our aesthetic or culture. So far it’s great.
In the late fall you’ll hit the road with Pianos Become The Teeth and Title Fight. Are you familiar with these bands or have you played with them yet?
We’re definitely familiar with them! They were at the top of the list of the bands we wanted, and we couldn’t be happier. We’re definitely honored to go out with bands that, in our opinion, are making music that is meaningful and passionate, and they’re doing something different.
What are you most looking forward to about that tour in the fall?
Well, you know, I love traveling, and I love the camaraderie that you gain when you travel with a new group of people, but every tour is about the same thing. It’s just about performing every night. At this point in our lives it’s kind of taxing emotionally and physically. We all have people who we want to be with, and that takes us away from those people. It’s all about that show every night: that’s what gets us through it.
So, what’s the hardest part about touring now versus when you were just starting off?
Probably what I was just touching on, you know. When we first started, we pretty much had literally given up everything. So, it’s like, well, all attachments and responsibilities, we just cast it aside and got in a van for two years straight and just hit the road. Over the last decade, which is fucked up to say, you know, people have lives, homes and families and people they want to be around and other passions, so it’s very obvious sacrifice, but it’s a very obvious reward every night too. It’s just incredible to be able to do what we do, so even the worst parts about it aren’t so bad. Better than a desk job!
What’s the strangest thing you’ve experienced in 10 years of touring?
Woo! Uh, strangest thing? I think the strangest thing is just, I mean there have been specific events I’ve thought were very strange, but I think the strangest thing is just the sheer fact that a bunch of human beings making noise out of wooden instruments, vibrating frequencies is enough to bring thousands of people together in one place and have them not care about if they get knocked into or if they’re full of sweat, or if their ears are getting beat down. It’s amazing to me the power of live music. It’s still to me strange and weird and beautiful. Every night it’s still weird.
On an unrelated note, Philadelphia [where CS started] is a huge deal music wise right now. How involved, if at all, are you in that scene anymore?
Me personally not at all, because I just moved to California, I just moved to San Jose. But Philly is my heart, and I love it. I think that scene there is incredible. We’ve worked with Will Yip at Studio 4, whose like pretty much the guy in Philly right now, and he’s just an amazing producer, and pretty much his whole group of bands he’s worked with has become a second family to us, so between those people and like [Sean Agnew] and pretty much everyone at R5 who put on shows at Union Transfer and First Unitarian Church who we’ve known for 15 years since we were all in hardcore bands doing basement shows. So the Philly music scene is part of our blood, and it always will be.
