Interview & Words: Geoff Burns
Home: Poughkeepsie, New York
Now Jamming: In Our Bones
Currently: Preparing to play the Vans Warped Tour this summer
It’s about a week before the pop-rock trio known as Against The Current release their debut album, In Our Bones, and vocalist Chrissy Costanza is on the phone. She’s talking about how the band was supposed to tour in Japan, as they embarked on a European tour in February and March, but a few things prevented them from making the trip which forced some time off.
“We were supposed to go to Japan but I actually got really sick,” begins Costanza, adding she went back to her home state of New Jersey and members Dan Gow and Will Ferri went back to New York during the time off for her recovery. “Then we had more time off because Dan got emergency surgery, so the band has kind of been recovering right now. We’re waiting for Will to come down with some crazy illness that no one has ever heard of (laughs).”
Ever since the band formed in 2011, they’ve graced the world with two EPs, 2014’s Infinity and 2015’s Gravity, as well as countless acoustic covers including Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” Paramore’s “Ain’t It Fun” and 5 Seconds Of Summer’s “She Looks So Perfect” to name a few.
Now, they’ve played sold out shows in Tokyo, Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris during the band’s “Gravity World Tour,” just before their European tour earlier this year. The heavy amount of support of people from around the globe throughout the years has only been increasing. Their new album, In Our Bones, is now making its way through the ear buds of thousands of people. This time, though, it’s their debut full-length, via Fueled By Ramen. It just took them five years to “wait until we knew we were ready to write our debut album and make our official first statement to the world.”
The 12-song pop rock album is much more refined in Against The Current’s overall vibe, really showcasing the power and authenticity of Costanza’s vocal ability. While Gravity contains the fun-uplifting pop rock elements, Bones really puts an edge to the pop fundamentals the band is known for, which works in their favor.
Costanza remembers taking multiple trips from New York clear over to Los Angeles using Airbnb, which is a community marketplace used for people to rent a specific place to stay at when traveling, to write in producer Tommy English’s Studio America, starting in January 2015 through the summer. Some of the trips were as short as two weeks, and others were as long as about two months. Costanza said the members basically lived out of a house in Los Angeles because English’s studio was too small for all three members to stay in.
“We thought we were going to be writing for an EP at first,” says Costanza, adding that “Runaway” and “Roses” were the first songs written that eventually made their way onto the record during the initial two-week trip in January. After more and more trips were made, consisting of about four months of studio time, Bones was created.
English, who also worked with Against The Current and their EP, Gravity, said because of Bones standing as the band’s first full-length, as opposed to an EP, his primary goal was to end up with an album that showcased some of the band’s influences that haven’t been seen before.
“The EPs are both mostly rock tunes, and we definitely spent some time figuring out how to incorporate some of the band’s other influences into the songwriting and production from bringing in drum machines and synthesizers, which hadn’t really been used in the past, and alternatively pushing certain songs into a more unpolished punk rock sonic territory,” says English by email.
Costanza remembers writing a song each day while at the studio, ultimately ending with about 40 songs to choose from foe the final cut of the record. She also remembers taking inspiration from books she was reading at the time and music she was listening to when it came time to write lyrical content.
“I always like to figure out different ways of what I’m trying to express, what I’m trying to say, because there are so many ways to express the same thing,” Costanza says. “I’m always reading lyrics and reading books and articles online and anything I can get my hands on because so many people can express the same thought in so many ways, and I really kind of want to find out like, how can I say this and in how many different ways can I say it, what’s the best way I can say it? It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it that can make all of the difference in a song and make it sound so much more intelligent and so much more well done.”
It was a matter of deciding on which songs contained the best ballads and working 12 to 14 hour days while in the studio that made Bones turn out the way it is. It’s an element English saw in the band that has changed since he first met them a few years ago.
“I think the band has grown so much as songwriters and performers since I first met them,”English says. “Chrissy has become a much more confident singer and lyricist in the studio and I think it really shows on the album. Will really stepped up as a songwriter and arranger in addition to his always great drumming. Gow’s unique style of guitar playing brought a lot to the tournament, and as time went on his personality really became the glue that held the whole crew together.”
While the song “In Our Bones” is the same as the album’s title, Costanza said the two have completely different meanings. But in a way, it made sense to name the record Bones because it’s about their life and what they’re meant to do. It’s in their genetics, their blood, their veins. It’s everything they’re giving to the world.
“It’s just in our bones, this is what we do,” Costanza explains. “This is what is natural to us, this is just kind of what happened and what we do and what our natural movements are,” says Costanza. “We’re not following a precedent and not trying to meet anyone else’s standards other than our own. To be completely honest, we probably hold ourselves to the highest standards out of anyone. It’s just kind of doing what we do, which doesn’t put any pressure on us because we’ve gotten this far just being ourselves and what came natural to us. We’re just going to keep doing what comes natural.”
