For Max Cohen and Josh Robison, music has always been there. Along with three other band members, 5 guys came together to start jamming together, and it has all been uphill from there. Get to know the ins and outs of one of BU’s newest and coolest bands, “Anchors Away”!
When did you guys start making music together?
We kind of started up freshman year – last spring is when we started practicing. We would go to the Silver Room of Myles in the basement and cause a ruckus. Sometimes the RA’s would yell at us, saying that they could hear us from the top floor of Myles – they could hear it vibrating through the elevator shaft! One time it was so funny because one of the dining hall workers came and started moshing by himself – he started rapping like Lil’ Wayne when we gave him a mic. That was spring 2011 – we were already super close friends – then our other two members Evan and John came along, follwed by Aing. We met Aing at the first practice – turns out he’s a filthy guitarist. We jammed on some stuff for our first practice, and that’s where the magic began.
How did you come up with the title Anchors Away?
First of all, lets say that there must have been several hours after practice the night before our first gig without a name. None had come up with one. So we sat in the Silver Room at Myles until about 2 or 3AM after rehearsal ended at 11 – we were making venn diagrams and writing words that we liked a board. We tried to agree on concepts at the most basic level and try to match an appropriate name for our style. Someone at around 2AM said “Anchors Away” and it kinda sank in. We didn’t want to have it as a name to settle for, but as it stuck it ended up meaning a little more to us then we realized.
What do you think is your strong suit as a band?
One thing that sets us apart is that our energy is what makes us (says Max). Shows, even at practice. I broke an E String on my bass (the big thick one) just from jamming super hard. Its kind of our running joke, how many things we break and hurt – we just go all out with everything.
How many shows have you played?
We’ve had about 7 – a couple of more low key gigs at BU Central, and more recently we played a super cool gig at a bar in Cambridge, which was our first paid gig which was awesome (we even had our name on a small Billboard thing – the first time we saw our name in lights!)
How often do you rehearse?
Right now we are sort of on hiatus because two of our band members are abroad (doing wonderful fun things). Last semester, on average, about once a week –but when a show is coming up then we might add some stuff, anywhere from like 4-6 hours a week. We did some live music video shoots, which we can count as extra practice time. The way that the whole band came together was on the principle of “music for fun” and we all used it as our de-stresser to escape from everything. Whenever practice gets a little more stressed, we are all able to say “its cool” – it is very much founded on fun and enjoyment and that is what makes it that much better. We’re all pretty busy but we really try to make time for the organized practices that we have.
What is your favorite part about performing?
Josh: Definitely trying to see who can come up with the best on stage trick. We love the energy, so its like who can break the most sticks, or throw their guitar the highest. We have the 10-12 kids that come to every show to start the biggest mosh put, and it’s just so fun to go crazy. You see all your work pays off. The adrenaline is amazing.
Max: The energy of the crowd. One of the first shows I ever played there were people running across the stage because they were having so much fun. It’s the coolest thing ever.
What style of music do you guys play?
If you asked each one of us what style we play, we would all give different answers. If we argued over it for a while, we’d say we play something like ‘progressive alternative punkrock hardcore music’. We all come from different musical backgrounds so its what we all bring to it. The alternative roots of pop punk and the less angry parts of hardcore music come together to make a “post hardcore” sound, a little calmer of a style.
Do you collaborate, or did you each have distinct jobs in writing?
Evan is probably the main lyricist, and Aing writes all the music. But as Aing teaches it to us, we each put our own spin on what he comes up with. He can hear what everything is supposed to sound like – he has great ideas for melodies, and he will usually be the one to influence us in the right direction.
What has been your biggest accomplishment as a band?
When people started buying our t-shirts, that was pretty cool – it’s pretty cool to be able to sell them at shows. When we played our first off campus show, we sort of “tapped” the Boston music scene outside of BU (we give a lot of credit to Evan for getting that gig going). Just to lug our equipment across town and playing somewhere totally new – with kids from Boston and NYC – it was cool to branch out and meet new people. We threw a “secret show” and we hung Christmas lights everywhere. Super small room, but we packed it out – there must have been 50 kids in there, it was really great. We just jammed and everyone was having a great time. Setting up a merchandise table was so cool – we kept saying “Do you know who sets up merch tables? Real bands. We’re basically Blink 182.” Your ego goes up a little bit when you’re playing at a venue outside your comfort zone. I don’t think it ever hit us to play a show not handed to us through the Music Business Performance Club at BU and thru BU Central, but they’ve given us great opportunities.
What is your biggest inspiration?
A Day to Remember – we can all agree on that because of the elements of our style. We really like how they do their covers, so we like to model our structure off of them.
What is your favorite original song lyric?
“Give Me Heaven or Hell” that’s kind of like our mantra: it plays well – never in between. It’s kind of like, give me the best or give me the worst, we’re gonna make it through because we just love it. It’s kind of like a metaphor, more than a religious statement. For me, says Max, my favorite line is, “My minds a fault line and what I love the most lies on either side.”
What is the next step for the band?
We’d like to start practicing again (hahaha). We’re really trying to see if we can’t get signed to BU’s rep records – that’s our goal right now. It’s BU’s record label as a management hook up – senior year it would be a lot of fun to go out with a bang. Our goal can also be “that band’ on campus. It’s even happened to us a couple of times already, walking down the street – getting recognition is awesome. We wanna tell our kids one day that we played with a signed band. That’d be pretty neat.
Check em out!
http://www.facebook.com/AnchorsAwayMA
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at BU chapter.