Scene · 1995–2010
Anberlin
Anberlin rose from Florida's Tooth & Nail scene in the 2000s. A remake of Feel Good Drag gave them a No. 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart in 2009.
Anberlin formed in Winter Haven, Florida, in 2002. Singer Stephen Christian and bassist Deon Rexroat met in high school and played in a punk band called SaGoh 24/7 with guitarist Joseph Milligan. SaGoh made two albums for Rescue Records, but together they sold only about 1,300 copies. After drummer Nathan Young joined, a side project with a bigger rock sound turned into Anberlin. Christian once told stories about where the name came from, then admitted they were jokes. He's since pointed to a sound in the background of Radiohead's "Everything in Its Right Place."
Tooth & Nail
The band recorded five demos with producer Matt Goldman. Friends, Underoath's Timothy McTague among them, urged them to sign with Tooth & Nail. Their debut, Blueprints for the Black Market (2003), was produced by Aaron Sprinkle, who'd go on to make their first three albums. It didn't chart, but the single "Readyfuels" helped it sell more than 60,000 copies.
Never Take Friendship Personal (2005) got to No. 144 on the Billboard 200, and "Paperthin Hymn" reached No. 38 on the modern rock chart. Cities arrived in early 2007. It opened at No. 19 on 34,000 first-week sales. Guitarist Christian McAlhaney, who'd played in Acceptance, joined just before it came out. Christian said the lyrics had moved from "man vs. world" on the debut to "man vs. self" on Cities.
On a major label
Anberlin signed with Universal Republic in August 2007. New Surrender arrived on 30 September 2008 and opened at No. 13. Its first single was a new recording of "Feel Good Drag," a song they'd first put out on Never Take Friendship Personal. In April 2009, in its 29th week on the chart, it climbed to No. 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart, the radio chart now called Alternative Songs. At the time, no song had taken longer to reach the top since the chart started in 1988. By 2010 their album sales had passed a million. They made Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place (2010) with producer Brendan O'Brien in Nashville, and Vital (2012) put them back in the studio with Sprinkle.
In January 2014 the band said it was splitting up. Lowborn came out that year on Tooth & Nail. Anberlin said goodbye with a final show at the House of Blues in Orlando on 26 November 2014.
Back together
Anberlin got back together for shows in December 2018 on Underoath's Erase Me tour, and they didn't stop. They signed with Equal Vision for the Silverline EP in 2022. In October 2023 Christian stepped back from touring, and Memphis May Fire's Matty Mullins took over as live singer. In August 2026 the band announced Currency, its first album with Mullins, and confirmed that Christian had left.
Belief without the badge
Fans and critics often filed Anberlin under Christian rock, helped along by Tooth & Nail's reputation. Christian disagreed: "I definitely don't classify us as a Christian band." He also said his faith "affects every single aspect of my life, but I'm not a preacher, I'm an entertainer." Even so, the band played Christian festivals like Cornerstone and Parachute.
The radio band
Anberlin was the alternative rock side of Tooth & Nail. AllMusic heard alternative and pop rock with emo touches, and Kerrang! called them a MySpace band. "Feel Good Drag" began as a Tooth & Nail album track, and its major-label remake took them all the way to No. 1 on alternative radio.
