Andrew Schwab/Project 86

We had ten minutes. And I knew we’d be just fine.

Andrew Schwab’s publicist warned us that things were behind, that he needed to be on his way somewhere else in just a few minutes, so maybe our interview wouldn’t turn out well. But if you’re remotely familiar with Project 86 and Andrew Schwab, you realize that even if it was a matter of seconds, you’d at least be provided with a decent soundbyte and insightful quote.

So given ten minutes, Schwab possessed plenty of time to mentally kick back and wax poetic on a number of subjects with us, including the band’s return to their roots and his need for creative outlets. Check out our interview and we think you’ll agree that ten minutes was plenty.

SA: So what’s been going on lately?

Schwab: For Project right now we just came out of a pretty heavy touring chapter. We did an Australian tour with MXPX, we did a bunch of fly dates right after that and immediately after that we did a west coast tour with The Classic Crime. And now I’m here so it’s been pretty packed. Next is writing new material and playing a bunch more shows over the summer. We’re going to Indonesia, we’re going to Europe, we are working on a Canadian run, and possibly back to Australia. So we are definitely working the international angle in addition to touring domestically as well. So there’s a lot going on for us.

SA: Does that give you time to do your thing?

Schwab: Barely. I write for CCM, I write for Relevant, I write for HM, I also write for a couple other publications and I’m working on my new book right now which should be finished in the next month…

SA: So what is that about? What is it?

Schwab: It’s going to be my fourth book and this is a book that is more overtly spiritual than any of my others and it’s also probably a little bit more broader in scope in terms of appeal beyond just the Project 86 fanbase. It’s a book about God’s personality in a sense. The way He works in our lives is usually the opposite of what makes sense to us. So it’s kind of about God’s irony and the way He deals with us. And it’s kind of broad but (I use) very specific instances and stories and sections of Scripture I’m looking at all through the book.

SA: Is it mostly narrative-driven then?

Schwab: Fifty-fifty. There are some stories but there’s also a lot of reflection, commentary, Bible study types of thing. But I’ve been very excited about it and I think it’s a unique take on God’s dealings with us and hopefully it’ll drive people to a better place of faith.

SA: You said that’s out in a month or it’s done in a month?

Schwab: I’m still writing it so it may not be out until the fall.

SA: Who’s your publisher?

Schwab: That’s the other angle I’m working on is that I have to get it finished and then I’m going to be pitching it. I could go the route of putting it out myself or I could go the route of working with a big publisher. We’ll just see what happens.

SA: Do you have a title for it?

Schwab: I do. I don’t want to say it just yet because it might change.

SA: How important is that for you? Because it sounds like you could easily just say, ‘I’m busy with projects…’

Schwab: I could, and there are days, believe me, when that’s all that I could fit into my schedule, because as long as Project 86 is a band it’s a huge priority in my life. And the writing stuff, while it is super-important for my future, it still does take a back seat to Project 86 because that’s the main thing in my life.

SA: Is that necessary for your sanity though?

Schwab: What’s that?

SA: Like, for Andrew personally, is it important for you and your personality to say, ‘It’s good for me to have other outlets for my creativity’?

Schwab: Oh yeah, definitely! And I always explain it this way: Project 86 focuses on a very specific aspect of my personality, that only fits in that sort of category. But the writing thing is a totally different path for me and I get to be more vulnerable, in the writing thing, and it’s just a totally different take on who I am. And hopefully it’s interesting in a completely different way.

SA: Do you feel like that keeps you musically fresh? Or does that keep your interest in the band, in a way?

Schwab: Yeah, it’s definitely like, I have my time for Project, and then I get away from Project to collect myself doing these other things that are very important outlets, like you said. And then, it’s fresh coming back to Project.

SA: So do you think about life after Project?

Schwab: All the time! Man, I’ve been thinking about life after Project the week we started the band!

SA: (Laughs).

Schwab: Because I’m the type of person who always looks ahead. I always like to be three steps ahead of what’s coming next. And the weird thing is, I pray this prayer, and I prayed this prayer for twelve years of being in this band, and it’s “Hey God, is it time yet to lay this down?” You know what I mean? Is it time for me to move on to other things? What I get from what He’s telling me is that every time a door opens for Project, that’s a no. Because we’re supposed to be faithful to what’s on our plates. You know, “God, I know you’ve given me this gift and when will it have run it’s course?” And every time I pray that, some other new opportunity comes up, like all this international stuff we have going on. It’s like it’s a brand new door and it’s this huge open door to getting out into the world a little bit more, you know? So I plan on doing this band as long as God continues to open doors.

SA: International fans versus U.S. fans? Do you find the audiences are any different at all?

Schwab: More similar than you would think but thus far European and Australian fans tend to be a little less narrow in their perception of what they think things, just things, should be. Whether that’s our band, or music in general, or Christianity, which is refreshing. Because the domestic audience, and that’s not to take anything away from our domestic audience, but traditionally Americans have a little more narrow scope of how they see things.

SA: Like they need to be able to classify things?

Schwab: Everything’s real black and white, not a lot of ins and outs; it’s real, like, this is the way it is. When you travel abroad people don’t see things as much that way. There’s a lot more thought put into the details and the other factors that go into certain things so therefore there’s a little more, I would say, balanced perspective on things. And again, that’s not taking anything away from our American fans or anything. We’re talking about ideas, you know what I mean?

SA: Sure. So you guys are hitting Indonesia?

Schwab: That is like, 80-percent sure.

SA: Okay.

Schwab: It’s not completely done but it’s looking good that that may happen.

SA: So how does Project 86 break into Indonesia?

Schwab: You got me, man! I don’t know! I’ve never been. I’ll let you know when I get back.

SA: (Laughs). So obviously someone’s laying some groundwork there though, right?

Schwab: Yeah, yeah, there’s a bunch of clubs that are being opened up over there that are being run by an American promotion company who is a pretty reputable company here in the States. They have a real heart to reach those people and it could be a very cool thing.

SA: So they’re looking to break Christian music into those markets?

Schwab: Yeah.

SA: Man, that’s a really pioneering spirit, going in there.

Schwab: I have no idea what kind of audience to expect. I mean, when we went to Australia I expected no one to know us? We had a big following. So, it’s bizarre.

SA: That’s great.

Schwab: Yeah. It was cool. It was really refreshing and awesome and a great surprise.

SA: Now, a couple of years ago you and I were able to speak and you were sharing how you’d been watching a lot of bands just falling by the wayside, seeing the short shelf-life of a lot of bands yet you guys were still going and still pioneering. So we were talking about moving into the new phase, and it seemed like that last album was a real step forward into new music and a new place it seems. Does it still feel that way, now that you’re a little bit removed from it?

Schwab: Well, that’s an interesting question actually, and someone else asked me that earlier today and I related that concept to that movie, No Country for Old Men. Have you ever seen that?

SA: Oh, yeah.

Schwab: You know Anton Chigurh, the villain? He has this inhuman quality to him, where he is a super-villain. And you’re constantly looking for his humanity to peek through that but he’s almost like a machine, a killing machine. And you keep looking for the humanity, and you get a little hint of the humanity and it’s taken away. For example, at the end, like when he gets in the car accident, bones like sticking out of his arm and you’re like, “Dude, okay, he’s gonna break down, you’re gonna see that this guy is human after all.” Nope. He’s just like, “Give me your shirt. Here’s a hundred bucks.” And he walks away into the sunset. That’s how I want Project 86 to be. Rival Factions was a human take on our band, which was before previously like brutal, in your face, dark, whatever. And then this record showed a little bit lighter side, a more human side. My goal for our next record is to put it back in that sort of intense category, you know what I mean? Now that’s just me! I have two other band members who probably have totally different takes on it. I love writing heavy music and my goal for our band is to always push the boundaries of what we’re classified as, or how people box us in. And that’s what I loved about Rival Factions was the fact that there were a lot of people that expected us to be and do a certain thing, and we kind of destroyed that. But we were able to do something new, I think at least, and I’m biased of course, in a way that was still good. Like, we’re doing this sort of melodic take on our sound. But hopefully it was as good as what it was as compared to what we were doing on other records. So, if anything else, what I’d like for our fans, the people who follow us, to know is that we always want to keep it interesting. We always want to bring surprises. We don’t ever want to be boring.

SA: So what shifted there?

Schwab: There was nothing that shifted. Because we wrote forty songs for that record and the one’s that made the record were the one’s that we felt came out the best, just as songs. That’s not to say that there weren’t heavier songs or songs that sounded like our older material because there were a lot of those type of songs. But if we had already done that before and we did it better, you can’t write “Spy Hunter” part two, three, four, because parts two, three, and four aren’t as good as part one. You know what I’m saying? So that’s why each time one of those songs comes out, it is it’s own thing and it needs to stay it’s own thing. We can’t force ourselves to repeat ourselves. Because then we start becoming a carbon copy of who we are and a worst version, like the cartoon version of who we were before. And again, you just write what comes out. That’s the philosophy. So I can’t really predict because songs have a life of their own and they have a mind of their own and our jobs as artists is not to force those songs into existence but to just allow them to come into existence, like birthing a child.

SA: When you say you like to write heavier material, is that sort of indicative of the ‘Andrew within’?

Schwab: Yeah, if I was playing guitar and bass and drums and everything I would think that our band would be a little more heavy metal than rocky. The other guys in the band are a little more rock-influenced so that’s where that balance comes in. So our band is where we all meet in the middle.

SA: So you tend to bring the more intense personality to things?

Schwab: Yes, definitely. And as far as playing live, I love playing the melodic stuff because I like proving to the world that I don’t just have to scream, that I can sing. I prefer to scream. You know what I’m saying? That’s my take on it.

SA: So in front of you right now is to finish the book…

Schwab: Write more songs and play more shows. (Laughs)

• www.andrewschwab.com/
• www.myspace.com/project86

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