Hunter Burgan - AFI (06/11/2013)
Off the back of their ninth studio album Burials, and ahead of their appearances at the 2014 Soundwave Festival, The 59th Sound had a quick chat with Hunter Burgan of AFI.
Hey Hunter, how're you?
Good man, you?
Good. We catch you today on Halloween today, where you at?
Portland, OR. Not doing much, just had food, coffee and walked around a bit.
You're renowned for being a coffee-lover.
I love it, with all my heart. There are people that are crazy fanatics, I'm not one of those. I just appreciate a good espresso. I like the espresso better than the drip.
Not a drip man?
No. I don't hate it, but if I have a choice it's a soy cap.
I'm a soy flat white kinda guy.
You'll be here for Soundwave next year, which you last played in 2010. What's made you want to come back?
Any opportunity for us to get back to Australia, especially during Soundwave, is one we will gladly take.
What is it about Soundwave that you're all about?
It's a great opportunity to play with some great bands, in front of a huge audience. And we get the chance to play sideshows. It's like summer camp.
I wish summer camp was like that for me as a kid. I would have gone.
Yeah. Summer camp wasn't like that. We had this thing where to get a badge you had to run down to the lake at 6:30am every morning and jump in.
I'd gladly not take the badge.
[Laughs] Yeah, it didn't seem like a good idea until you got the badge.
You've just had a new album come out, "Burials". It's blown me away.
In a good way?
How could that be in a bad way?
If I walked into a room, saw a bomb count down from five to zero, and then I was blown away.
If your album did that, you guys would be in a bit of trouble.
Lucky it's the good way.
The album seems like it's a re-birthing for AFI. Is this right?
The name means a bunch of different things. It means moving forward, but isn't exclusively just that.
It's diverse. It's heavy. It's fast. And very different to the last album (Crash Love). Did you go about this album in a completely different way?
The first most major difference between the two is on Crash Love, the writing and recording took so long. We recorded the record four times. The tracks were demoed many times then recorded once and then another time.. So by the time you heard things, they were over refined. Not to say they were bad; but the whole process took so much time. Burials was completely different. We didn't want to take forever. Gill Norton was instrumental in helping us focus and reach our goal of recording it faster than any recorded we'd done since the 90's.
It's evident to me that Gill has produced it.
Working with him was so great. We really want to work with him again in the future.
Are you a big Halloween guy?
It's always been in my top five holidays. As a kid it was my second favourite.
Bumped it down?
I appreciate the more obscure holidays now, like National Coffee Day [laughs] But I've always loved Halloween. It's an opportunity to buy all the supplies that I need to dress up year-round.
Stocking up on Soundwave Attire?
We don't wear much crazy stuff on stage. I do have an appreciation for the classic Halloween getup.
You guys go very black on stage.
We try to bring drama and dynamics of theatre to our stage show. It's a performance.
Well that's all we have time for today, thanks for your time Hunter.
Thanks man, see you at Soundwave.
Neal Walters
Hey Hunter, how're you?
Good man, you?
Good. We catch you today on Halloween today, where you at?
Portland, OR. Not doing much, just had food, coffee and walked around a bit.
You're renowned for being a coffee-lover.
I love it, with all my heart. There are people that are crazy fanatics, I'm not one of those. I just appreciate a good espresso. I like the espresso better than the drip.
Not a drip man?
No. I don't hate it, but if I have a choice it's a soy cap.
I'm a soy flat white kinda guy.
You'll be here for Soundwave next year, which you last played in 2010. What's made you want to come back?
Any opportunity for us to get back to Australia, especially during Soundwave, is one we will gladly take.
What is it about Soundwave that you're all about?
It's a great opportunity to play with some great bands, in front of a huge audience. And we get the chance to play sideshows. It's like summer camp.
I wish summer camp was like that for me as a kid. I would have gone.
Yeah. Summer camp wasn't like that. We had this thing where to get a badge you had to run down to the lake at 6:30am every morning and jump in.
I'd gladly not take the badge.
[Laughs] Yeah, it didn't seem like a good idea until you got the badge.
You've just had a new album come out, "Burials". It's blown me away.
In a good way?
How could that be in a bad way?
If I walked into a room, saw a bomb count down from five to zero, and then I was blown away.
If your album did that, you guys would be in a bit of trouble.
Lucky it's the good way.
The album seems like it's a re-birthing for AFI. Is this right?
The name means a bunch of different things. It means moving forward, but isn't exclusively just that.
It's diverse. It's heavy. It's fast. And very different to the last album (Crash Love). Did you go about this album in a completely different way?
The first most major difference between the two is on Crash Love, the writing and recording took so long. We recorded the record four times. The tracks were demoed many times then recorded once and then another time.. So by the time you heard things, they were over refined. Not to say they were bad; but the whole process took so much time. Burials was completely different. We didn't want to take forever. Gill Norton was instrumental in helping us focus and reach our goal of recording it faster than any recorded we'd done since the 90's.
It's evident to me that Gill has produced it.
Working with him was so great. We really want to work with him again in the future.
Are you a big Halloween guy?
It's always been in my top five holidays. As a kid it was my second favourite.
Bumped it down?
I appreciate the more obscure holidays now, like National Coffee Day [laughs] But I've always loved Halloween. It's an opportunity to buy all the supplies that I need to dress up year-round.
Stocking up on Soundwave Attire?
We don't wear much crazy stuff on stage. I do have an appreciation for the classic Halloween getup.
You guys go very black on stage.
We try to bring drama and dynamics of theatre to our stage show. It's a performance.
Well that's all we have time for today, thanks for your time Hunter.
Thanks man, see you at Soundwave.
Neal Walters