Here's an interview I did with Reese Roper of Brave Saint Saturn and is also known as the singer of Five Iron Frenzy.

I guess we should talk some history first.   How did the band come about?

Brave Saint Saturn came about as an accident, actually. Before we started Five Iron, four of us were in this utterly terrible, Industrial-Metal band. I was beginning to hone my skills at programming, and I didn't want to lose that, so I continued to tinker around with it.

Because Five Iron was so jovial and goofy, the stuff I was writing ended up being slower and much darker and pensive. I was moderately proficient at guitar and playing keyboards, at least enough to write songs, so I slowly evolved this style of song-writing that kind of layered simple guitar riffs and keyboard parts over programmed elements like beat loops and samples.

I ended up doing a few songs on a local sampler in Denver, and then for fun, got Dennis (trombonist from Five Iron Frenzy) and Keith (bassist of FIF) to play some of the songs for the first Five Iron CD release party. We called it "Astronaut", from an inside joke that Keith and I had. Whenever people would ask us what what our major was in college, we would always just reply, "astronaut", ( I guess it was funny at the time).

So... long story short- I went on  a poetry tour with Mike Lewis from Puller, who was looking for new bands to help launch a label he had been hired at, he asked me to do an album when he heard some of the songs, I had to ask Five Minute Walk (our record label for Five Iron) because I was contractually obligated to ask them if they wanted the album first, they said they wanted it, we had to change the band's name to Brave Saint Saturn to avoid being one of 6 bands named "Astronaut", and the rest is some sort of blurry part in the annals of mediocre, Christian-rock history.

How did this latest record come about?

That is the crazy thing about Brave Saint Saturn. Early on, it was a way for me to vent this more serious side of me, and in doing so, I realized that writing very honest and morose lyrics struck a strong chord with a lot of people in the Church, where there is a great vacuum of such things.

During the writing for the first album, (which lasted about 3 weeks, way too little time) we tried to model a lot of what we were doing after the album, TIME, by ELO, in that we wanted to use the album to tell some metaphorical story of life by running a plot about astronauts going into space through the progression of the album, and the CD artwork. When we realized the potential of it, we decided to try and make it a trilogy, to model it after a three act play.

So ANTI-MERIDIAN, is the conclusion of that trilogy. The first album is about the astronauts going into space, the second about them being lost, and then this one is about their trip home.

What's your songwriting process like?

I don't even know. Honestly, I am actually a terrible songwriter. Like I said before, the one element of musicianship that I can do passably, is programming. I usually will start with a beat loop in the tempo and intensity that I am thinking about writing in, and then just tinker around with programming some instrumental tracks over it in a minor or major key, depending on how poppy I think the song should be. Writing songs like that allows me to cut and paste, as well as transpose different parts and switch different instruments in and out until I get a good idea for the direction of the song.

Dennis, on the other hand, is a musical genius, who I think can hear the entire thing in his head beforehand, and could literally just sit down and write out the sheet music and hand it off to an orchestra. To be honest, I am a bit jealous of his song-writing abilities.

Lyrically, I usually keep a notebook with song ideas going in it constantly. It includes phrases and words that I gravitate towards, as well as topics that I feel strongly about at the time. Then, I try and listen to the music and get a feel for what the song should be about. I think it is easier for me to write lyrics than it is to write music, so I try and get a strong sounding song that I feel could almost stand alone without lyrics- and try improve upon it by writing lyrics about what the music sounds like the song should be saying.

Who did you work with?

Well, all the usual cast, plus a couple of old friends who helped out. Dennis played some guitar, bass, keyboards, and did some programming, as well as singing on the four songs that he wrote. Andy (drummer for FIF) played all the drums, and Keith played almost all the bass, except for a few songs where Sam Hernandez (Dime Store Prophets, Rivulets and Violets), and Jonathan Byrnside (Roper) filled in. Masaki Liu, mixed and mastered it, as well as doing some of the producing, programming, and some cleaning up of my crappy guitar tracks. Oh, and my wife helped out with a little bit of the background vocals.

In your press kit you mentioned 'hopefully to save other new bands from the pitfalls we encountered as younger musicians'?  Could you go into that?

Well, this is my third attempt at trying to start a record label. I am finally at this point in life where I am looking at being able to pay my bills, and be a bit more financially secure, as a man-nurse, or murse (official title).

I know that this might be the most awful time possible to be trying to start and independent label, but I really am looking at it like I have very little to lose. Ideally, I would love to be able to work 3 days a week in a hospital, and then work the other 4 on creative endeavors. If it succeeds, Department of Biophysics will hopefully be a small label that can focus on three or four bands who I think could be helped by hearing a bunch of my horror stories and experience.

I would love to take some of the better aspects of labels that I have been on, and combine them with whatever new ideas we can throw out there, plus some experience with what works and what fails in the music industry - and help just one band to share the love of Christ with the world. I guess if it does well, we want to try and branch out into film and publishing, but we'll take it one step at a time.

You have also mentioned that it took 4 years to come out with a new record due to college and careers.   Could you talk about the realities of being in a full-time band to those who think that being in a touring band is the way to go?

Touring is for the very young, idealistic, and impervious to pain- or the very rich. Every band has that song on their second album that laments the pain of touring. I know it sounds ridiculous to complain about something that almost everyone dreams of, and the only way I can think of to explain it is: that it is horrendously ironic.

It is like the difference between when you were young, and all you wanted to do was eat candy but couldn't buy it- and being an adult, who could buy everything in a candy store, but now know that they would only get through about half a pound of candy before it made them sick.

I can remember being in second grade, begging my teacher to give us homework, because I wanted to be like the older kids. I guess it is somewhat like that.

Sure, there were amazing days on tour, and great shows. It was great to see so much of the world, and have so many great friends from all over. But being in a touring band is 90 percent boring, and mostly work.

Imagine spending one hour playing an amazing show, where you just rocked out in front of 2500 people, then hopping in a van without a shower, driving all night, going to some radio station at 6:30 in the morning to pretend like you are well-rested and funny, then driving across town to set up for another show, maybe sleeping for a few hours, maybe take a shower, and then starting all over again.

Yes, touring is only for those who can afford to pay someone else to drive and set up their stuff, or the very young, and those with very advanced immune systems.

What does the future hold for Brave Saint Saturn?

We will see. Right now we are just waiting to see how this album does, if it gets good reviews, and if we can sell enough to make it worth the 4 years we spent making it. If it goes well, we are talking about playing about ten festival dates next summer, and possibly doing another trilogy- somewhat akin to the first three records.

Do you regret anything about your past musical endeavors?

Oh, so very much. Conrad, I think all of Five Iron still regrets that we never were able to put together a tour with Ghoti Hook. You were always one of our favorite bands to play with, those few times we did play with you were amazing.

I also really lament that Five Iron always remained self-managed, which I admit kept us grounded, but really kept us from ever being able to realize our full potential. I guess that is one of the things I would like to pass on to younger bands if given the chance, but that is probably only like number 3 or 4 on the laundry list.

Overall though, I am truly grateful to have experienced some of the things I have, even though none of the bands I have been part of have really been amazing enough to have merited them.

Thanks yo.

So check out their new record right here and buy it: http://bravesaintsaturn.com/