Abandon Kansas |“To The Stars Through Difficulty”
Written By: Jeremy Seick

The maturity of both sound and person along with their professionalism continue to grow for Abandon Kansas every year. Though they spent several years as an unsigned band you would think by the sound of this record that Abandon Kansas just stepped off of a tour bus with the biggest management in the game. However, if you get a chance to speak with one of the members of AK you will realize they are not much different than you and I. They struggle with the same challenges and issues that we all do. And what I love about their new full-length Gotee (Relient K, House Of Heroes) album, Ad Astra Per Aspera, is that those struggles are as evident as ever. These dudes are real and they aren’t afraid to wear it on their sleeves. Frontman Jeremy Spring talks more about that and this record in the interview below.

The first thing I noticed when I listened to this album was the production. It is even bigger than, and contains more additional instrumentation and vocals than, your latest EP or prior full-length. How do you feel about your first signed full-length release Ad Astra Per Aspera?

Jeremy Spring: I am really proud of the way this record turned out. The biggest difference in this project vs the last one was time. We had three weeks in June and another three weeks in August to pull everything together. We did the last EP in 12 days just a few weeks after we signed. This project is on the same page musically from beginning to end because we approached the song writing intentionally around the concept. It was very much a pedal record. At one point we had four or five full pedal boards chained together creating all sorts of sound effects. At the end of a song called Take My Lead there are horns, extra drums, and even a trashcan on the track. Aside from a lap steel part on one song that Mark Townsend played, we played everything on this record and that feels good to say. You can hear our influences on this record. Bands like The Killers, Kings of Leon, Mew, and Phoenix. Mark and JR McNeely did a fantastic job producing and mixing this record; I am really impressed with the sonics of the final product. Much of the lyrical content is a dialogue with the sky, we needed it to feel big and ethereal and it does!

How have you grown as musicians over the last few years and where do you hope to see an album of this level lead you?

JS: When we spend the majority of the year playing the songs we recorded the year before it can be hard to gauge how much we have really improved musically. I think bands find out what kind of musicians they really are in the studio. The songwriting and recording process for AAPA was so much smoother than the last time, partly because we are better players, and partly because we’ve been playing together for so long and had plenty of time to think about these songs. We brought 18 full song demos in June and cut that down to ten. I think Brad and Brian are much more confident players than two years ago which made writing and recording a breeze. Chet came in two weeks before we pushed record and I thought he really came to the table with some strong bass lines and song writing ideas. Mark Townsend stretched us a lot in the studio again and I am hoping we can expand even more musically on the next project.

I don’t know Spanish, so I’m not sure what your album title means Ad Astra Per Aspera… (Only joking, I know it’s not Spanish.) Can you fill us in on the meaning of it and why you decided to go with such a tongue twister?

JS: Ad Astra Per Aspera is Latin for “to the stars through difficulty” and is the Kansas state motto. When I was writing the songs for this record we had not picked a concept yet, and about halfway through, the concept found us. We have this old Kansas flag as a tablecloth on our merch table and the motto is inscribed around the state seal. Brad busted out this incredibly vivid painting with a borderline psychedelic interpretation of the Kansas state seal. The lyrics have this ongoing dialogue with the sky and almost every song has some mention of the stars, heaven, or the sky. Whatever it is that you are shooting for, you have to go through some serious storms to get there. In a broad sense, Ad Astra Per Aspera is presenting life as a storm and heaven as the stars on the other side of it. It’s a story about where we are headed without forgetting where we came from. Our label, Gotee Records, has been so incredibly open to our creative ideas with songs and artwork and concepts. It took some convincing to have such a foreign album title but it means a lot to us, and it makes for a good story every time someone asks.

What has the reaction been to the new tunes from live audiences thus far? And you guys have always been the kind of band to keep your head down and do your own thing, but what are the critics saying and how have you felt about the critics?

JS: We played The Golden State and Heaven Come My Way live on the last tour in 2010 and the reactions were strong from the audience. The music and lyrical content is more metaphorical and a tad more serious than We’re All Going Somewhere, but our fan base has embraced it so far. You’re right about us keeping our head down and doing our own thing no matter what though, because critics are always there. It’s hard for me to take a Christian cd reviewer seriously when his favorite band is Skillet because he has no idea where we are coming from creatively. On the other hand, we are open about our belief in Christ and a lot of mainstream critics won’t give us the time of day because of that. I’ll never apologize for being associated with Christ, but it makes our job difficult when we are associated with some extreme branches of Christianity. All of the press for Ad Astra Per Aspera so far has been overwhelmingly positive, but again, we have never been a band to take cues from someone else. We didn’t wait for the industries permission to get out there, we just did it, and that’s what we’ll keep doing. We are answering our call and we believe in this record and we are going to play a million shows in support of it like we do every year.

In “A Conversation With The Sky” you state “Change with the times and you’ll get left behind.” I love that! And this song seems to be one of your more cryptic tracks, so can you tell us more about your lyrical direction on this one?

JS: I believe that if you set out to make flavor of the week art or live a life that is guided by the most current trends then eventually you’ll get left behind because it’s impossible to keep up for long.I believe that if you set out to make flavor of the week art or live a life that is guided by the most current trends then eventually you’ll get left behind because it’s impossible to keep up for long. I feel like a lot of people my age give their bodies, their values, and their dreams away in exchange for a few months of public validation. If you sell your soul to 2011 then you are going to feel pretty useless in 2012. What’s sad; we give those things away to people who could care less about us as a creation of God. This track was inspired by a long drive home watching the sunset over the flint hills in Kansas. God has never really spoken to me through his creation, or maybe He has and I just totally missed it. Lately though, I have been going on long walks, just listening and being open to what God has to teach me. The sky didn’t open up and I didn’t hear any audible voices, but if I did, I think this song is what it would have felt like. We tried to make the voice of the “sky” otherworldly in the track and let the dynamic build in the same way revelation strikes your heart. This is my favorite song on the project just because it’s such a journey and it was the most challenging to sing and play in the studio.

“Liar” is off of your first album that you released independently. (A similar move we saw Anberlin make on New Surrender with “Feel Good Drag”.) What was it about that track that made you want to dust it off for this new album?

JS: We have been a band for five years, but in a lot of ways this is our first real release because it’s the first one going to stores. We wanted our best songs on there and we felt like “Minutes” was one of them. We totally flipped the music up and made everything darker which is why we changed the name to “Liar”. Tim Skipper from House of Heroes joined us for that song as well, which brings a really cool vibe to the song. I love Tim’s voice and I am glad he was able to sing on our record.

The album closer “Give and Take” is easily my favorite track. Can you tell the readers more of what was on your heart when you sat down to write this song?

JS: Thanks man, I am humbled you like that song. Give and Take is one of those album closers that you just have to let simmer for a while. To me it’s the kind of song you listen to when you’re driving by yourself and just let the tears flow if they need to. Maybe someday I’ll share the whole story behind this song, but it’s very personal to me. The guys really came around this song and brought it to life. Brad’s guitar solo sounds the way I felt when I wrote it. If the whole record is a journey through life, then this song is the final judgment with that question I ask so many times, “am I more than the sum of the things I have and haven’t done?” There’s that version of me I put up online in my blogs, and on stage, and in public. But really that’s just who I would like to be, maybe someday down the road. I mean, it’s not like I am a total fake, but I need grace. I know the real me, what I struggle with and am still dealing with and this song was an outlet for that. Hopefully everyone can resonate with this song. I think we all want to know if God actually can restore what we have taken from and given away to other people.

Talk to us about your involvement with Compassion International and how we can get involved with that!

JS: We’ve been a Compassion artist for three years now. We really believe in the difference they are making around the world and we got to see it first hand down in Ecuador last spring. Basically Compassion connects sponsors here in the United States with children in third world countries suffering from extreme poverty. I am a big believer in Compassion because they aren’t just feeding and clothing these kids, rather they’re empowering them with education, health care, and a knowledge of Christ to answer their call and reach their full potential as men and women of God. It wasn’t until we returned from Ecuador that I realized God created these kids for more than to just survive. They have talents and gifts that they can use to serve other people if they just have the chance to discover them. Compassion is the kind of mission work I can get invested in because they are transforming people, not just keeping them alive.

Was there anything else that you wanted to use this platform to plug or promote or say?

JS: I hope people will give Ad Astra Per Aspera a real chance to breathe in their cd player or ipod or whatever. We aren’t the same band we were when our last full length came out, in any sense. From the album art paintings by Brad to the lyrics to the songs and the concept there is a very strong and encouraging message here. I ask a lot of questions, but I give hardly any answers. I hope this record opens up some dialogue between listeners and even with us.

At the end of the show we answer to our fans, at the end of the day we answer to our band-mates, at the end of the tour we answer to our label, and at the end of year we answer to our families and friends back home. But at the end of our lives we answer to God, and He expects us to follow through on what he has called us to do. God isn’t a businessman, and I don’t think He is interested in numbers. But I know he wants us to be good stewards of the talents he blessed us with and the time we spend on the road. I love the words from that old song “Be Thou My Vision” that say, riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise.