Interviews

By Janelle Jones

    Anadivine—a four-piece out of Kingston, NY—have only been around for a short while and haven't even released a full-length yet, but already they have quite a buzz about them—and for good reason. Composing songs that feature a multitude of styles—from punk to hardcore to emo—these men are inventive and original. In fact, when listening to their self-titled debut EP on SideCho for the first time, one is left awed by the band's sheer passion and the unexpected elements present in each song. Anadivineævocalist/guitarist Sean Paul, vocalist/bassist Mike, drummer Justin, and guitarist/vocalist Billæare quite busy these days, finishing up writing material for their upcoming LP (which is slated for a summer release on the Militia Group) and playing as many shows as possible.

    And still, Sean Paul found some time to discuss the band, the EP, and their much-anticipated full-length.

SKRATCH: First, I have to tell you I spoke with Warren of Digger, and all he had was praise for you guys. I don't know how many times he mentioned you guys, seriously.
SEAN PAUL: [Laughs] We had a good time with those guys. Yeah, it was really awesome. I really praise Digger, too, because, you know, they've been doing it a long time. I think those guys are awesome.

SKRATCH: How many weeks were you out with them?
SEAN PAUL: I think it was four altogether, but it wasn't that far away, so we actually came home a lot, because we just got off a five-week tour with Hidden in Plain View and that really tired us out. And we have to write a new record and start recording it in February, so we're under a lot of stress right now to both like play and write this new record.

SKRATCH: Yeah, about the new record: do you have a lot of material written already?
SEAN PAUL: Yeah, it's probably 75-80% written, and we still have like another couple...like a month to finish it up, so we're in good shape.

SKRATCH: About the EP: some of the songs have ellipses. Are they connected in any way?
SEAN PAUL: I think. Do you mean the song titles?

SKRATCH: Yeah.
SEAN PAUL: Yeah, I think that I kind of wanted to [do that] because there were three instrumentals, and...I don't know—it was just weird for me. I just connected them together. I don't know. I just had this weird visual, because the rest of the record was so...I mean, it goes from, like, "Cross Your Heart" to "Filling the Lungs", which sound nothing alike, so I thought, like, at least I could band the names together, you know what I mean? I think 'cause the musical standpoint is on such different horizons that I kinda just wanted to make it feel more complete by just sticking them all together somehow.

SKRATCH: You brought up a good point. I mean, your sound is a mix of so many styles that I don't even know how to categorize you guys! Like you said, "Filling the Lungs", that's like skate punk almost, you know?
SEAN PAUL: Yeah. [...] I grew up listening to...Among other things, the main influence I really had was always The Descendents. To this day can't get enough of that band, so, you know, although on the next record there is no song like "Filling the Lungs", there's always a part of me that wanted to write a song like that. That's kinda what we do: we just write whatever we write because that's what comes out, which is cool. But sometimes we get a little slammed for that. [Laughs]

SKRATCH: Really?
SEAN PAUL: Well, I don't know. [...] You gotta let people who review CDs review CDs, but one comment [...] that got me annoyed one time was I read a review on us that said, "These guys can't seem to find their niche," which I thought was kind of hypocritical, because then a band will put out a record where every song sounds the same—and they'll bash them for that. [...] It's a no-win situation.

SKRATCH: Right. I mean, I think the varying elements make it more exciting.
SEAN PAUL: That's totally what I believe. It's just [that] I get upset when people use the word "niche," and then in the next CD they review they say how everything sounds exactly the same, so you're like, "Okay."

SKRATCH: Is there any one song on the EP that stands out or means more to you personally?
SEAN PAUL: Hmmm. That's a hard one, because they all came from like a year in the life of Anadivine. Probably "Alcohol and Oxygen" means the most to me.

SKRATCH: You wanna give a reason?
SEAN PAUL: I think just because it really had to do with a big six-month chunk of my life where...Actually, Josh from Coheed [and Cambria] was some of the reason I wrote that song. It's funny, 'cause me and him (Coheed is from the same town) would go to this dive bar, and we'd spend most of our time there. It's just about like everything that happened over the course of six months, like playing and coming home and going to this dive bar and living in alcohol and oxygen, you know what I mean? It's like day and night drinking and breathing. That's kind of like what it's about

SKRATCH: All right. How about the artwork?
SEAN PAUL: The artwork makes us look like a metal band.

SKRATCH: I actually saw a review mentioning that.
SEAN PAUL: The label had come up with that logo, and they showed it to us, and we were in love with it. We were like, "Oh, that's awesome, that's really cool." And then we kinda were just like, "You guys have a handle on what we're doing," and so they kind of just did a layout for us. I think we always try to push the extreme a little. That's kind of funny if you bought that because of the layout and you listen to like the last track or something. I'm not sure what people really think. [...] The layout—it's dark, it's cool, it gets some of the message across; but, I mean, we're not all about guns and knives. There's actually a little disclaimer on the record, if you saw it.

SKRATCH: No.
SEAN PAUL: Underneath the tray it says...Anna Divine, the real person, was a person who did education, and she was just a nice woman and stuff, and then her name's on a CD with guns and knives, so it says a little thing on there that the artwork does not depict the person who Anadivine was or her work. It could have been a little bigger. I guess SideCho didn't want to print that too big. [Laughs]

SKRATCH: That's funny you said you'd think it was a metal band. I saw another reviewer say something about thinking it would be goth.
SEAN PAUL: Oh yeah—it looks like we're one of those Scandinavian [...] metal bands or something like that. I think with the next record the layout's gonna be more…I really don't know what anybody's gonna think of the next record. It's gonna be out there.

SKRATCH: You mean very different?
SEAN PAUL: Yeah. It's strange, but it's gonna be cool, it's gonna be awesome. It's got every element again…I think.

SKRATCH: What do you think is the reason all these bands have been coming out of Kingston?
SEAN PAUL: Something in the water. No—I don't know. But there's a lot more where we came from. I think that there's just a real wealth of talent here, like there's a lot of good bands. I mean Josh from Coheed's brother is in a band called Three. Coheed took them on tour. I think that band is amazing. There's a band around here called No Valentine. I think those guys are absolutely incredible, too. I mean, there's a lot. I don't know what it is. It's just that kids have a real passion for music around here.

SKRATCH: Yeah, it's almost...Well, I can't say for sure, but like it's almost how it is here on Long Island.
SEAN PAUL: Yeah, oh yeah, definitely. It's just that there's places where music really inspires. I mean, I THINK that's why. Even like around us in the next county over is Matchbook Romance and Autopilot Off and those bands, so right around this whole upstate NY Orange/Ulster County thing, we got a lot of stuff going on.

Check www.anadivine.com for updates and info.

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