In Conversation with Andy Glass of We Came As Romans

It has been awesome. The last time we played Impericon was in 2017, so it is good to be back almost ten years later. Tomorrow is crazy: one set in the afternoon, another at night, then we pack up and drive to the airport. There has been a lot of movement and travel, but the tour has been amazing. We did Hellfest, Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, Nova Rock and Graspop. I love European festivals. They are so much fun.

Europe knows how to do festivals. The communities really camp out, and there is so much happening around the music. Hellfest has all these statues and tributes to people like Ozzy and Lemmy. They own the land and keep building on it every year, so it starts to feel like this heavy-metal Disneyland. I love the American festivals too, and Danny Wimmer Presents does a fantastic job. I have seen people from that world come over here, look at how European festivals are run and take ideas home. That is how the whole thing keeps getting better.

About an hour before the set, I meditate for ten or fifteen minutes. I start with gratitude. I think about my mind, my body, my soul, my girlfriend, my family and the people in my band. I think about every step it took to leave my house and arrive at that stage. It centers me and drops me into reality. The little things disappear, whether I missed a meal or something stupid is happening at home.

Then I think: what if I could not play a show tomorrow? I have to go nuts today. I am excited about our music, and writing more of it has made me feel even more connected to what we are playing. Other bands inspire me too. If I watch a younger band or friends of ours go hard, I think we have to go harder. The fans have worked, saved for a ticket and screamed these songs in their cars. If I do not show up and meet them at that level, I feel like I am letting them down and letting myself down.

It developed. I used to be really loud and wild, and I still am, but meditation helps me calm down, focus and think. My brain can be very ADHD. Learning to do one thing at a time, and to observe your thoughts instead of letting them control you, takes away a lot of anxiety. It lets you laugh at life and stop treating everything like a strategy. You are not perfect, and you are not supposed to be.

I started reading more and going down the rabbit hole of why we are here, what thoughts are and what purpose means. You develop a compass. You can feel whether you are moving warmer or colder toward where you are supposed to be. It is a muscle. Some days I think it is incredible, and other days I think, I am so lost. That is part of it.

Concepts come from reading, feeling or something that suddenly appears. I love the way Rick Rubin talks about ideas coming to people. There is a similar idea in the book Big Magic, where songs and ideas almost exist as entities of their own. When one enters your field, you make a contract with it by deciding to pursue it.

I remember sitting in a hotel in Nashville, reading with music in the background, when the phrase Culture Wound came to me. It had nothing to do with what I was reading. I wrote it down immediately, and it developed into a song. I have felt that moment when something comes over you and tells you to write.

We only want to talk about things that all of us have experienced. It might be something that happened on tour or something at home where another member can say, I have been through that too. I do not want to stand onstage and make the whole band sing a song that is only about me. I have seen how much more excited our vocalist and the other guys are to perform a song that belongs to all of us.

I can bring in a concept, relate it to how the band feels, cloak it in something less literal, then get everybody else’s viewpoint. That opens the idea up. There is still mystery, and a fan can bring their own experience into it, but the center is real for us.

Josh wrote most of the earlier material. I started moving into writing around our fourth record, after contributing smaller ideas before that. Following Kyle’s passing, a lot changed and I wanted to explore that area more. Sometimes I avoided it because it was hard. Writing comes more naturally to Josh. He can pick up a guitar and play something crazy. My strength is seeing the wider idea, the theory, the feeling or the full picture. We help each other, and that makes us a good team.

Honestly, yes. The band had awful merch in high school. They had one shirt with this little anteater eating the words We Came As Romans. It was not it. They needed a bass player and asked me to fill in, then I made them a logo and a MySpace layout. As the band grew, I kept doing merch and eventually started doing it full time. Now I design for us and have worked on things for Memphis May Fire, Sleeping With Sirens, Breaking Benjamin and other artists.

NASA collaborates with different clothing companies, and I was asked what I wanted to make for one of those lines. I thought we should connect it to the metal community. The designs have a death-metal influence, but not so much that you cannot read NASA anymore. That edge is heavily sought after now, so it was fun to bring it into a completely different space. It is also creative work I can do at home. Touring is intensely consistent until suddenly it stops, and then you have three months with all that silence. Design keeps me sane.

There is so much stimulation at a show that it can take hours to sleep afterwards. Then you get home and it is incredibly quiet. A lot of touring people struggle with that. On tour you are treated well, you are the star of the show and you have access to this exciting world. When you come home, your superhero cape is gone.

The best thing I have learned is that what you do is not who you are. It is what you are passionate about, but who you are exists in the moment. Right now, I am doing this interview and having a good time. That is who I am right now. Saying, my name is Andy and I am We Came As Romans, only gives you my name and my job. It does not tell you who I am.

At home, it is okay to sit on the porch, go for a walk and let the other things go. You do not need the noise to be yourself. After a concert, that dopamine hit can stay with you for a few days, then suddenly you feel low because it is gone. I have learned to enjoy the silence, the calm and the downtime. It is okay not to be loud. It is okay to hide for a bit and recharge.

Yoga, the gym and walking. I love Europe because you walk everywhere. At home, my girlfriend and I take the dogs to the park, go for walks and ride bikes. I used to have a motorcycle, but Michigan gives you such a short riding season and I was barely home, so I sold it. Sorry, Jake from August Burns Red. I know he loves bikes.

I also got into archery after trying it at a fair during a European tour. I hit a bullseye and then popped a moving balloon, and that planted the seed. My girlfriend later bought me a bow for Christmas. Her dad hunts with one, so that might be the next thing I learn.

Sometimes you make something and people suddenly react to it, and you had no idea it would do that. You write a lyric and then everybody is screaming it or getting it tattooed. I never sit down and think, I am going to make the thing everybody connects with. There are moments where I feel drawn to write something that reaches people, but it has to come from the heart of me and the rest of the band.

We have tried writing for radio. We would say, we are going to make this radio hit, then finish it and realize it did not feel like us. Our fans are smart. They see through it. The more genuine the experience behind the song is, the better chance it has of reaching somebody honestly.

Everybody has an opinion. Some people love your band, some do not, and some want attention or have a different personality online. There is no escaping it. I have pulled back from social media in a lot of ways. I like supporting friends, my girlfriend’s tattoo work and things happening on tour, but I have a one-hour limit on Instagram. When the hour is done, I am done. I am more at peace that way.

People have said things with no filter, even after our former vocalist passed, that I never thought someone would say. I do not hate them. People are human and prone to error. But if I make those comments my conditions, and give them my time and energy, then I am playing their game. Sometimes you need to stand your ground. Most of the time, life is too short. I would rather learn something, read a book, box at the gym or play a set and put that energy somewhere useful.

All Is Beautiful... Because We’re Doomed, Darkbloom and even Cold Like War shifted our audience. We have reached new listeners, found the right tours and played the biggest rooms we have ever headlined. Europe is bigger for us than it has ever been. It took a long time, which makes it feel even better.

The next chapter is to keep moving the needle with authentic music, while trying strange things because they are fun. I was talking with Johnny from Bilmuri, and he said, if you are not having fun, what are you doing? Our producer Will Carlson says the same thing: if it sounds ripping, enjoy it. I am learning to let go, trust the process and stop forcing every result.

The internet is more accessible now, but there are also more people competing. We had an advantage with MySpace because we could upload music without needing radio or a label to put it in front of people. I could also have looked at MySpace and thought, there are too many bands here, nobody will ever choose us. Then none of this would have happened.

Do not feel overwhelmed. Put yourself out there. You are going to fail more as you practice, and that is okay. I have failed so many times. That is what builds you. Keep doing it, and eventually something connects. Persistence is key.

I would want two odd worlds to collide. Something unexpected, maybe someone like Post Malone, where the result could genuinely be strange. I love how Ice Nine Kills push into film and build a whole world around what they do. Linkin Park is the easy answer because I would absolutely love that. After the metalcore ranking we did, I should add Bring Me The Horizon too. Our band loves collaborations, so there may be more in the future.

August Burns Red beat Parkway Drive, then Architects took it from August Burns Red and held on against Killswitch Engage. Bring Me The Horizon replaced Architects and then beat Trivium, Bullet For My Valentine, As I Lay Dying, The Devil Wears Prada, Knocked Loose, Counterparts, While She Sleeps, Underoath, Of Mice & Men, Asking Alexandria and A Day To Remember. Then you put Bring Me against We Came As Romans. Obviously, I picked us. That is the only right answer.