My Epic | Turning Of The Tides
resh off their tour with the heavily ambient juggernauts A Hope for Home and So Long Forgotten, My Epic has released one of the best albums of the year. We reviewed Yet last month and trust me, its still blowing our minds daily. There’s just something about it, like the first time you heard As Cities Burn or the first time you were able to drive without your parents, there is just something so new and freeing about cranking it up in your headphones and letting it wash over you. The lyrics are deep and searching, by searching I mean that you will be wanting to dive deeper. A lot of music that is described as ambient or deep would have you believe that the music itself is boring or repetitious, not true here. Aaron Stone spoke with us on the history of the band as well as the process they went through to create such a masterpiece.
What was it that drove you to start My Epic?
Aaron Stone: We all fell in love with music at a young age. In college, a band that my brother Jesse and I were in broke up and we did not feel done yet so we asked our friend Jeremiah to come play music with us and we started My Epic in the fall of 2004. As far as motivation goes, we find that the more we grow in life and in our relationships with God, the more all we truly want is to walk in Him. Our relationships with Him are very real, personal and poignant. The more we get to know Him and learn to follow Him the more He just takes care of the rest. It says in the Scriptures that if we seek the Lord and His kingdom first everything else will be taken care of. So that is what we are trying to do. Music is just one of the areas in which He has given us a little talent and so we are just doing our best to give it back to Him. I have also always found it interesting that God introduces Himself in the Scriptures as a Creator. Of all of the characteristics He could have shown us first He chooses His creativity. There is definitely a feeling of being close to Him in a special way when He is creating in us. We truly believe that every good thing that could ever be found in us comes from Him and this is one of the things, among others, that draws us back to making music. We love creating together and the fact that the things that God is teaching us show others is very encouraging.
Who have you guys pulled influence from in the past and present musically?
AS: There are so many bands we could mention here I wouldn’t know where to start. On the new record we had a few new influences that impacted us a lot. Lately, we have been really into the new Deftones stuff. It is so heavy and yet watery at the same time. We have also been into much groovier music. Tons of stuff where the bass is what makes the songs and the guitars are free to flow. Stuff like Minus the Bear and Paulson. We really loved the rawness of the last few Brand New and Norma Jean records though our songs are quite a bit different. Also I rediscovered a love for Rich Mullins and he affected our lyrics a lot.
For those who have never heard My Epic, how would you describe your sound?
AS: Well it definitely alternates from whisper soft to amps on 11 but we are not a hardcore band by any stretch of the imagination. Our new record is definitely heavier and groovier than our last record. We are a bit “proggy” at times with our time signatures and the guitars can definitely be pretty spacey. I used a baritone a lot on our new record and I feel like our rhythm section is really tight on the new record with some pretty cool grooves.
You wrote the album in basically two parts, correct? Tell us about all that…
AS: Well the first and second parts of the record mirror one another. It helps tie the whole record together thematically and make more sense of the title of the record. We learned a lot about dichotomy over the last few years. Though we have found there to be many gray areas within the Christian faith, there are some very serious issues in which God draws a very clear line in the sand and says there are two sides, you’re on one. So that was part of the picture we wanted to paint with the two sides of the record. We like to hide as much meaning in our musical endeavors as we can. I’m sure the more a listener wants look, the more he would find.
I read that you have a masters in philosophy and that is partially to credit for the deep lyrics. Lyrically was there a certain message you were hoping to get across on the new record?
AS: Well I did my studies towards a Masters of Arts in Philosophy of Religion but I changed my major at the end to a Masters in Theological Studies. So most of my classes were in Philosophy of religion but my degree is in Theological studies. I actually finally finished my degree one week after we finished the record so that was a pretty crazy time. Everything we go through affects our lyrics so my studies have definitely played a role in that. On this record we actually tamed the lyrics down a bit, both musically and lyrically we really tried to tap into what is good song writing rather than the most impressive thing we could do at any given moment. Our previous record could be cryptic at times and we decided to be a bit more forward on this record, but we don’t feel it compromised the quality by any means. We just love to share our hearts and experiences; hopefully they can have some significance to others as well.
What is the process for you when it comes to lyric writing?
AS: Lyric writing is easily the most painstaking part of the writing process. We feel the music can and does speak to people, but once the lyrics are sung and printed, there is no turning back. We’re not a very big band, but we do realize that potentially a few thousand people could hear or read or lyrics and we take that very seriously. We feel we have the most important message there is to share. I don’t mean that prideful way, but we do believe it is life or death. I typically come up with the concepts, depending on what I have been learning or experiencing and start feeling out which song each concept seems to fit. Often times certain lines in certain songs will be what starts that song’s concept. Whether it is based on a book I’m reading, some portion of Scripture, or something God has been showing me recently, it becomes the heart of something I feel is worth saying. I then start wrestling over it and sharing the concept with Jeremiah and we both chew on it for a while. When we write songs, I usually have dummy lyrics that I have just to fill in the melodies I have come up with, so we know about how much room we need to fill up. We discuss the flow of the song and start building it based on what needs to be said and the flow/feel of the given song. Honestly, we really do owe all of the credit to God. We really believe we don’t have anything to say that will change your life. We simply do our best and if God chooses to use it, then glory be to Him, not us.
What track means the most to you and why?
Jesse Stone: That’s definitely going to be different for each member of the band. As for me, I love “Rich” and “Further Up/ Further In” musically. That’s not to say I don’t like the lyrics, it’s just that the music particularly moves me. As far as lyrics are concerned, I would have to say “Patience and Silence”. I wouldn’t say it is our best lyrical endeavor by any means, but it is a blend of the two most important lessons that Aaron and I have learned over the past two years. I’ll do my best to keep it short, but Aaron spent a few days camping in the woods a little over a year ago to be alone with God for awhile. As he always says, he “has a very good imagination, which means that every little squirrel scampering through the forest was an ax-murderer coming to get him.” One night when he was particularly fearful, he so strongly felt the comfort of God. He was reminded that God is the only one to fear and that God is also the only one who loves us just as we are (which has become somewhat of a cliché statement but is deeply profound if truly understood).
My end of the story is rooted in the fact that I’ve never been terribly confident in myself. I am definitely growing into having more confidence but that doesn’t mean that I never struggle with wondering if I really am doing the right thing. I genuinely seek to glorify God with most of the decisions I make in life. I don’t know that I do, but that is my desire, but sometimes those decisions seem to conflict with other people’s understanding of what God’s will is for my life and often times if they let me know that with enough confidence, I can really doubt my understanding of what God has for me and my life. One day on tour I was dealing with this issue and questioning my life when I was overwhelmed by a beautiful truth. I felt God was telling me “Patience and silence, I alone am your Defender and your Judge.” I know that we don’t often want to think of God as our Judge, but it was so encouraging to me because I truly realized that if another human was my judge, I would fail every time. I pray that this song would encourage others as it has me. My hope is that others would trust that God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do. We can’t think of God as a human.
