-Learn the difference
between an opportunity
and a calling.
JG:
Tyler,
can
you
start
off
by
telling us who your bandmates are and
how you met?
TE: Our guitarist, Nick Webb ,26, and I met sometime in 2005 when he booked my old band at his
church. Tyler Bodkins ,24, our drummer, and I met as
Freshmen in college in 2007.
JG: What’s the origin of the band’s name?
TE: We stumbled upon the word irenic (defined
as the tendency to promote and bring about peace
and reconciliation). I thought it was a cool word that
it really hit the point of why I write songs. I want to
see people brought together, no matter who they are
or what they believe. Music is a gift that allows you
to question and talk about things that could be considered taboo. And thousands of strangers will spend
hours together just to hear a band and sing songs that
they love and believe in and I think that that is very
special. I liked the idea of songs about peace and reconciliation, leading to the second word of anthem, which
means song or proclamations. But Irenic Anthem is a
mouthful, so we went with I Anthem.
JG: How did you decide to make music together?
TE: The drummer and I both realized we loved the
band Switchfoot, so we started jamming some of their
tunes. That eventually led to writing songs.
JG: Who are your major influences?
TE: Tom Petty, The Killers, Switchfoot, The Foo
Fighters... Anything with a good hook and story draws
me in as a song writer and listener.
JG:
What are your favorite and least
favorite venues?
TE: We love to play anywhere that has a good
sound system or places that are small enough where
the crowd makes it feel like family. Our least favorite
place is outside in a field on a truck bed.
JG: Who writes I Anthem’s songs?
TE: I write the lyrics and basic chords structures.
Then we build the songs as a band.
JG:
Could you briefly describe the band’s
music-making process?
TE: First, I write some lyrics or a melody. Next,
I’ll take it to the band so we can decide if it is terrible
or mold-able. We get a rough idea of how we want to
the song to sound, but everything starts to take shape
when we demo