GIVE US AN A! GIVE US AN N! GIVE US ANOTHER A! GIVE US AN R! GIVE US A B! GIVE US AN O! GIVE US ANOTHER R! WHAT DOES THAT SPELL? ANARBOR! And this dynamic duo is gearing up to drop one of the dopest albums of the year, and we are so stoked!
Love & Drugs is set for release on September 2nd, and includes some INCREDIBLE artist features! With an 11-song tracklist, which includes bangers like ‘Letter In A Suitcase,’ ‘Drugs,’ and ‘Emergency,’ we already know that this album is about to blow our minds and rock our world!
We got the chance to interview the band and ask them about the new album, some of their latest singles, and what’s to come, and trust us when we tell you that you DO NOT want to miss this!
We love learning about what our favorite artists are listening to, but in honor of your album release coming soon, which three albums (by which artists) released in 2022 so far are your favorite? Or which three are you most excited to hear when they release this year?
Danny: Fear of the Dawn, the new record by Jack White, has some of the coolest guitar and drum sounds ever. Harry Styles’s new record is also fantastic, the man knows how to make a catchy song. Most favorite though would have to be from our friends in Katastro and their incredible album Sucker. They are also a Phoenix-based band. They were becoming giants in the music industry until recently they tragically lost their lead singer Andy Chaves in a car accident. We’ve always been inspired by their music and grew up as Phoenix bands together, and Sucker is a true culmination of their years of growth as a band.
You guys formed almost 20 years ago back in 2003, a two-decade-long career is extremely impressive! What advice can you give to other bands and up-and-comers to be able to keep at it as long as you have?
Slade: The advice I can give to up-and-coming bands is to stay dedicated and consistent. It’s easy to get side-tracked once you’ve toured a couple times. It’s about the hustle and having members that are willing to sacrifice certain things for the band. That, I believe, will pay off in the long run and gain some serious experience.
Over those 20 years, music and we’re sure the industry has evolved and changed with the times. How do you guys keep up and adapt to the changes so easily? What would you say has been the most difficult part of evolving with the changes in music?
Slade: It’s important to stay involved with the new trends that are coming and going. With that, music genres fall in and out of popularity. We always tried to keep it interesting and grew as a band. When I say that, I mean our music grew with us. Our songwriting improved and we got to experiment with stuff that we may not have back in the early 2000s. I feel that has kept us relevant throughout all these years.
You guys found mainstream success providing theme songs for Cartoon Network’s Scooby-Doo!: The Mystery Begins, ESPN’s SportsCenter, Good Day L.A., and MLB Network Countdown, which are absolutely incredible! How did you go about providing the theme songs for these programs and how does the success of those types of programs differ from regular streaming/radio success?
Slade: Most of the shows sorta fell onto our lap. With Scooby-Doo, Cartoon Network came to us and asked us to cover Simple Plan’s version of ‘What’s New Scooby-Doo?’ AND make an original song for the upcoming movie. We have never personally had a song on full rotation over the radio, but with that being said, I’m proud of the success we have achieved with the playlists and TV placements. What I’m trying to say is, you don’t need radio to be successful.
Let’s talk about your new single, ‘Letter In A Suitcase.’ It’s quite a bit different than anything you’ve done before, the song heavily channels a nostalgic rock vibe. Is that the vibe we can expect throughout the entirety of your upcoming album Love & Drugs or is it a mix of various different sounds and genres?
Danny: The new record Love & Drugs is a journey through a variety of genres and influences. ‘Letter in A Suitcase’ is definitely more of a rock vibe, but a lot of the influence for that song came from the 80s, and more specifically, the intro to the 80s TV Show Knightrider with David Hasselhoff. We wanted people to feel like they’re the badass, main characters of an action movie when they’re driving around, blasting the song in their car.
Where did the inspiration for ‘Letter In A Suitcase’ come from? What about the inspiration for the music video? Which is nothing short of a cinematic masterpiece!
Danny: Originally, a lot of the influence for that song came from the 80s, and more specifically, the intro to the 80s TV Show Knightrider with David Hasselhoff. We wanted people to feel like they’re the badass, main characters of an action movie when they’re driving around, blasting the song in their car. There’s a hint of Radiohead inspiration in the second verse of the song as well, where it gets really spacey and dreamy. As far as the music video goes, we sent a handful of songs from the record to our good friend Bryan Heiden at 40 Volt Media, and he was obsessed with ‘Letter in a Suitcase.’ Inspired by Quentin Tarantino films like Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, he wrote up a rough idea for the video and we all drove out to the desert and we just had a blast shooting the whole thing. Using fake blood was super fun too.
The album is set for release on September 2nd, what are you most excited for upon its release? What can the fans expect leading up to release day?
Danny: We have a hometown album release show at ValleyBar in Phoenix on September 3rd, where we’ll be playing some of the new songs, so we can’t wait to see how the fans react to the new music live. Leading up to the release, we’re going to drop new merchandise and show dates, and perhaps a live-streamed concert.
Love & Drugs will be your fourth studio album – when choosing what songs to include on your albums, do you consider the overall sound you want to achieve with the album, or do you focus more on telling a specific story? Or maybe you choose the songs you feel the fans would like the best and include those? How does that process go for you?
Danny: The two of us wrote at least 50 songs preparing for this record, mostly just demos, and then whittled it down to the best 11 songs that felt like they not only belonged together, but also brought their own unique vibes to the project. We placed a heavy importance on putting our listeners on a rollercoaster with this record, so when they finish listening through the whole record, they really feel like they went for a ride instead of casually listening to something new.
We know the tracklist hasn’t been released yet, so you don’t have to say the name, but which track on the album are you most excited for fans to hear and why?
Danny: There’s a song called ‘Durango’ which features an awesome Phoenix band called Belaganas. They come from the punk/hip-hop world, and since Anarbor has never really fit into a box when it comes to genre, it made perfect sense for us to collaborate. They brought a really cool vibe to the song and I think the fans are really going to dig it.
Are there any other incredible artist features on the upcoming album that fans can look forward to/will be excited about?
Danny: There are two other features on the new record. We have Boston rapper Sammy Adams featuring on ‘Emergency’ as well as Los Angeles singer Sara Coda from Silent Rival featuring on ‘Don’t Call Me Back.’ They really brought those songs to the next level, and I can’t wait to see all of the fans come together over them.
Besides the release of the album, what else can fans expect from Anarbor for the rest of 2022?
Danny: Anarbor will be performing at the When We Were Hungry Festival in Las Vegas in October, some west-coast dates with The Higher and Animal Sun in early November, and likely announcing more shows soon. New merchandise and acoustic versions of some of our songs will be coming soon as well!
Now, we know that has added fuel to your excitement as much as it did ours, so all we can say is prepare yourself for one EPIC album, and go pre-save/pre-order Love & Drugs here!
What do you think of Anarbor and their latest releases? Are you excited about their new album? What are you most excited about from the duo’s new era of music? Let us know in the comments below or by tweeting us @TheHoneyPop! You can also hit us up on Facebook and Instagram!
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