After Edmund Interview

Who Is After Edmund
After Edmund released their national debut album entitled Hello on Slanted Records this past February. There’s a lot more to life than a signature licensing the collective creativity of five guys. You see, all of them, known as the singular entity After Edmund, think music, creativity, work, play, marriage, school, birth, life, and death are just part of our having a relationship with the Creator. Everything they do is ultimately to show love for/to God. Naturally, this affects everything they do. And that’s a good thing.

KEY:
C:  Chris
L:  Leah
AE:  After Edmund band members

Chris:  I had a chance to read over your bio to get a feel for you guys, but my readers don’t have that advantage.  Tell everyone a little bit about you guys as a band and who After Edmund is.

AE:  Well we’ve been a band for about six years, but just recently (about a year ago) came up with the name After Edmund.  After Edmund comes from the writings of C.S. Lewis. - from The Chronicles of Narnia - the character of Edmund.  So After Edmund refers to the fact that we are all like Edmund - but that we have grace and redemption after the fall. 

C:  So, what, you were a nameless band before that?

AE:  No, no we had a name, but it was a pretty bad name.  Well, the name of the band was actually Taken, but then we found out that Taken was actually taken, so we had to change out name!

C:  Wow - that’s interesting!

AE:  Yeah, but I’m not sure if that pun will actually make it in print.  You might want to edit that a bit - HA!

C:  I mean, I understand all about bad names and all - I mean my website for 12 years was WorldofCM.com.  I mean - when I was 15 that might have been cool - but now?  Not so much.

AE:  Well, once you’ve been given a name - it becomes a part of who you are and people accept that.  We’re comfortable now and settled with After Edmund.

C:  Well, it is a great name.

AE:  Thanks!

C:  So, your bio says that you’ve been together for six years and that you’re all classically trained?

AE:  Well, yeah - four of us are.  Adam, Ben, and Mitch went to the came college that has a great music department and studied there.  Yates was classically trained on piano - we so all kind of have a bit of a background in that style of music.

C:  So how does that come through in your music?  Does that influence your writing at all?

AE:  Absolutely, hopefully the idea is not to use whatever musical prowess we picked up to show off - but rather to enhance to final product.  Music is a language, you know what I mean?  And the better you can speak it - the better you can convey facts.  So, the more comfortable we are with music - the more comfortable and at east we are with using that tool - the better we can communicate.  If that’s not the end goal - then it’s pretty much worthless.  We love music, whatever style - good classical music, good jazz, good pop - good music, you know?

C:  So tell us about your new album?

AE:  The new album just released in February.  It was a blast to write - Scott Wilbanks produced it and he did a phenomenal job.  He really let us, well I shouldn’t say let us, but helped us stay very artsy and very raw.  We loved it.  We recorded at a wonderful studio and the songs turned out great - much better than we expected.

The record is kind of - like really - real.  Musically and lyrically.  I think lyrics may be our weakest point - but musically it feels like people are actually playing the music.  It’s not one of those super-shiny, polished pop records.  It feels organic, like something people can really relate to.  But, at the same time we have synthesizers everywhere on the record - all analog.

And, you know, we played everything for the record.  We enjoy making our music, our way.  We were very fortunate to have a label and a producer who got behind our music and let us make the record and form the songs the way we wanted to.

From a songwriting standpoint - we all kind of write in teams.  Then when we bring it to rehearsal - it’s very much a team effort.  Everybody has their piece in getting involved, you know what I mean?  It really is just neat to then go in the studio with every guitar and every amp possible available to use to help convey that lyric that we feel God has given us.  Really, it’s just a great experience.

Our music is really a collective of the five of us put together.  There’s not any one person’s influence.  It’s really a unique experience to put the five backgrounds together to put together an album.

C:  So, let’s talk a little bit about the record label.  What took you to Slanted Records and why did you decide on settling down on that label?

AE:  Well, you know we were already working with Scott Wilbanks - and he already had a contact with the label.  We were talking with a couple more labels - but Scotty was really influential with hooking us up with Slanted.  What ultimately drew us to Slanted were the friendships and the relationships that we had developed there.  Plus, the way they are just willing to go in the trenches with us and work hard for us.  You know - they said “if you win, we win.” So, that gives them incentive to get down and work with us.  What’s cool is that we can hang out with them, outside of music, and still have a great time and be friends.

It seems like in a world where Christian music has become such a business - it’s cool to find people who really want to invest in our lives as people - as well as our band.  More of a relationship and a partnership can happen that way.

C:  Well, I’m a pretty short winded interviewer, but I think Leah has a couple questions for you.

L:  I just like to know the fun stuff!  HA!  Well, you know people like to hear the fun stuff too?  So, where do you shop for all your cool “band clothes”?

AE:  Are we wearing cool band clothes?

[everyone laughs]

No, really there are a couple places we go to.  Actually Celester [the band’s publicist] is the fashion queen and know-it-all when it comes to this kind of stuff - so she really tells us where to go and what to wear.  She took us to this store in Nashville called Smack and we got a lot of really great clothes there.  And of course Urban Outfitters in Atlanta is another place we like to go to find new clothes.

C:  They apparently go shopping at the same places that DecembeRadio goes to!

[more laughing ensues]

AE:  Yeah, well we are label mates!  Well, there’s also this other place too - it’s in between the Kroger and the Publix - it’s called Goodwill.  It is GREAT!

C:  Well guys, it’s been great getting to know you!

AE:  Yeah, thanks for the time!  Everyone should check out our new record - Hello - in stores now!

Find out more information on After Edmund at their website!

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