Anarbor Interview – Vans Warped Tour

We caught up with Mike Kitlas and Slade Echeverria from Anarbor at the Vans Warped Tour in Toronto, Canada.

Introduce yourself.
Mike: Hello, I am Mike and I play guitar.
Slade: I am Slade and I play bass and sing for Anarbor.

How’s the Warped Tour going so far?
Mike: Ah, awesome!
Slade: It’s been really great.
Mike: Dream come true. We’ve been going to Warped since we’ve been growing up, so to actually be playing is just awesome.

For people who may have not heard of you, how would you describe your music in one sentence?
Mike: Rock and roll.
Slade: High energy rock and roll.
Mike: That’s it!

Who are your favourite and least favourite bands to watch on this tour?
Mike: I haven’t seen Alkaline Trio but I want to see them. I’m gonna catch them tonight ’cause they’re playing last. There are some sick bands, I mean The All-American Rejects have been doing great!
Slade: Bring Me The Horizon have been very cool.
Mike: Ah, yeah they have a killer set. Yesterday at the show, a fan actually got his eye ripped out during their set.
Slade: That’s pretty awesome! [laughs]
Mike: Everybody out here is busting their ass, so we respect them for doing that. We’re not gonna sit here and hate on people.

Such nice guys! If you could host your own Warped tour, who would headline and who would support?
Slade: I think if I had a Warped tour, it would be more like a Coachella. It’d be way more chilled.
Mike: Really? I would have Red Hot Chilli Peppers and then there would be like John Mayer [laughs]. It’d be a whole mix of music.

Being on the road so much, especially on this tour which is two months long, how do you cope with being away from home and your loved ones?
Slade: We keep in touch on the phone.
Mike: Yeah, phone calls and text messages, and emails are really important.

Do you ever get moments where you just want to go home?
Mike: Yeah, sometimes when you’re just tired it sucks.
Slade: But there’s always gonna be a break, so you just gotta hold on to the break.
Mike: Yeah, and we knew what we were getting ourselves into, we wanted to do this and it’s something that we like to do.
Slade: We get to perform music every day of our lives.

Tell us a randomn fact about each of you or your band mates.
Mike: Erm, Adam, our other guitar player, has a twin brother. That’s pretty interesting.
Slade: Slade’s my middle name.
Ooh! Whats your real name?
Slade: I can’t tell you.
Oh go on!
Slade: OK, it’s Rudolph. But I’ve been going by Slade my whole life.
Mike: My real name’s… Ronnie?
Slade: That’s a lie! [laughs]
Mike: I don’t really have anything interesting about me. I have a really cool dog named Diesel. It’s a puggle, check him out!
[Mike shows us a photo of himself with Diesel.]

Very cute! Do you have any crazy fan stories?
Slade: We had a fan show up to our hotel room.
Mike: Oh yeah! That was weird. Yeah, like they went to the front desk and looked up our rooms and just turned up to the door.
Slade: So we took the beer they had brought. It was kinda weird. We hung out for a moment and that was it.
Mike: We didn’t wanna be rude [laughs]. Yeah, it was awkward.

Who is the most embarrassing band or artist you have got on your iPod?
Mike: Oh Ke$ha! Yeah, I have a few songs by her on my iPod, that’s embarrassing.
Slade: I have Enya [laughs]. It’s good music to fall asleep to.

Let’s play word association!
Music.
Slade: Guitar.
Mike: Band.

Band mates.
Slade: Dudes.
Mike: Family.

Amsterdam.
Mike and Slade: Drugs.
Mike: Heaven [laughs].

Lady Gaga.
Slade: Hot.
Mike: Really? [laughter] Penis!

Touring.
Mike: Awesome.

Cheese.
Mike: Tease? Oh Cheese?
Slade: Good!
Mike: Awesome.

Cow.
Mike: Milk.
Slade: Spots.

Alcohol.
Slade: Drunk.
Mike: Beer.

Fans.
Mike: Friends.
Slade: Family.

England.
Slade: London!
Mike: Cheers!
Slade: Wetherspoons!
Mike: Yeah! Wetherspoons.

Gary Coleman.
Mike: Midget.
Slade: Dead [laughs].

Fifa World Cup.
Slade: I love it!

How do you think your USA/Canadian fans compare to the UK fans?
Mike: Well, in the US we definitely have a larger following but our UK fans are more well rounded when it comes to music. They have a better idea of music in general. They’ll go to a show to watch all of the bands and not just one.
Slade: Yeah, they appreciate it more.

What is next for Anarbor?
Mike: Touring! Itll be the first tour off our brand new album. Well, there will be a lot of tours to do off this new record.

Will you be going to the UK again?
Slade: Yeah, definitely!
Mike: We don’t have anything planned as of yet.
Slade: But we’ll definitely be back, we love London dude!

Sex, drugs or rock ‘n’ roll?
Mike: Drugs.
Slade: Rock ‘n’ Roll.

[This interview took place days before the World Cup Final.]
Finally, who will win the FIFA World Cup?
Slade: Spain! Spain, Spain, Spain for sure!
Mike: I don’t even know who’s left?
Spain and Netherlands.
Slade: Nether-what? Spain!

Click here to visit the Anarbor MySpace.

Interview by Tanu Ravi.