Interview with JB Brubaker, guitarist for August Burns Red

Your guys' new record, "Messengers," just came out recently...you guys are going on your first headlining tour to support that, is that right?

Actually, we are not headlining this next tour. Evergreen Terrace is headlining. Oh, right on, are you excited to tour with those guys?

Yeah, sure, we're stoked. We've never toured with them before aside from a couple shows we played with them in May. We don't know them very well yet, but they seem like good dudes. I used to do a lot of promoting back in Lancaster back in like 2002, 2003, and I booked Evergreen Terrace a couple of times, so it's kind of cool that we get to tour with them now. You said you've done some promoting in the past; what do you think the dynamic is like, promoting vs. performing?

Oh, boy...I think promoting is way more stressful than performing. Because, when you're performing; you know if you've got your act together or not and if you're going to be able to do a good job, but like...promoting is almost like gambling, in that, you can work your balls off and still lose money. (laughs) So, I mean, in that respect, I think it's way more stressful. I think promoting is more difficult than performing. How long did you do the promoting deal for?

Um, 2 or 3 years. It was basically something I did to help fund August Burns Red when we were just starting out. If I'd make money, I'd just pour it right back into the band. Definitely. Gotta spend money to make money. Exactly. How has your guys' time on Solid State Records been so far?

Oh, man, it's been great. The label treats us awesome. I mean, it's the only label we've ever really been on that's done a lot for us, so naturally we're stoked to be with them. The people at the label we get along with really well, we really like our A&R over there, Jonathan Dunn, he's an awesome dude. Just all the people at the label that we've met and hung out with and interacted with have been really cool and good to us. So, no complaints about the label. Awesome, how's it been compared to your time at C.I. Records?

Well, C.I.'s awesome, but I mean, I don't think that C.I. could've ever done what Solid State has done for us, just because the finances weren't there. And I love everyone at C.I., like Jeff & Jeremy, the two guys that run that label are like some of my best friends. I still talk to them regularly and hang out with them when I'm at home and stuff, but...it's just a completely different ballgame, I think, between C.I. and Tooth & Nail. [Solid State is a hardcore-oriented offshoot of Tooth & Nail Records] In the past, people have mentioned the collaborative writing process that was used on the recording of "Messengers;" what were some of the pros & cons of such a huge group effort?

Well, obviously, with so many heads involved, there's going to be a lot of differences of opinion. That was definitely a conflict or a stumbling block that we [encountered] in a few circumstances. Like maybe, two of the dudes would feel really strongly about a set of lyrics, and the other three guys would be like “Eh, I'm not sure about this." So like, we'd have to sit down and talk about it and be like “Well, what can we change to make these work?" It's just hard to make five people happy, especially when it comes to lyrics, because we're all coming from a different angle while we're writing lyrics. So we spent a lot of time just talking about it and sharing a lot of different ideas and stuff. I think that in the long run that helped make it stronger than it would have been had we been a little more lax about it. So I'm happy with the product. Where did you get the inspiration for some of the lyrics that you wrote on the album?

I only wrote the lyrics for track three, it's a song called "Back Burner." It's basically just a song about taking your convictions and morals and just setting them aside and doing what the crowd's doing just because it's “in" and popular. I think that's something that a lot of young people struggle with in today's world. So I thought it was a good subject to talk about. Whether it be that or [another song], is there a track on the new album that holds more significance to you than the others?

I guess when you talk about significance, I've got to think about lyrics moreso than the music, and I think the first track [“Truth of a Liar"], lyrically, is awesome. It discusses kind of like...I mean, we're a Christian band, and we hold our Christian values and ideals highly, and the first track talks about just how this life is so short and it's not what we're doing now that's going to matter, but what we do to prepare for, like, what is to come. I think that's the message of the song and I think people can interpret that in different ways, depending on how you look at it. But that's what it means to me. You mentioned you guys being a Christian band; do you think there are any stigmas, or conversely, any advantages to being known as such?

I think that an advantage, which is cool but kind of unfair for non-Christian bands, is that, like, you automatically have the kids who are going to listen to you and welcome you with open arms just because their parents will not let them listen to anything except Christian bands. So, I mean, we get an advantage in that respect, but I guess, on the other side, some people will write you off immediately because you're a Christian band. But I don't think that's the case as much as it was maybe in the past, because I think there's so many Christian bands playing right now that are respected and people know that the music's good. Everyone has their own views and ideals and morals and stuff, and it's about the music moreso than the beliefs coming behind the music. Just a few weeks ago, I spoke with David [Bunton], lead singer of The Showdown, and he had a lot to say about the hypocritical nature of a lot of the market out there; what's your stance on the Christian market as a whole right now?