Miracle At St. Anna – The Highwire Daze Legacy Interviews

Miracle At St. Anna: The Mysteries of Shadow Country

Over the summer of 2011, Miracle At St. Anna participated on the Death Of Greeley Estates Tour, opening each and every show with a with sonic blast to the senses.  Their debut album for Tragic Hero Records is entitled Shadow Country, and it’s certainly an intriguing manifesto of hypersonic post hardcore.

Editor’s Note from 2020:  Miracle At St. Anna was truly an explosive band who nearly blew the roof off the Cobalt Cafe in an early opening slot.  They would only last for a single album cycle, but left quite an impression on all who encountered their supremely intensive metalcore reveries.  Miracle At St. Anna consisted of members Cody (vocals), Mitch (guitar), Jesse (guitar), Ryan (bass), and Spanky (drums).  Here is an interview I conducted with a member of the MASA brigade…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Miracle At St. Anna, and how long the band has been together.
My name is Jesse and I play guitar in Miracle At St. Anna. The band has been together for about 3 years but we’ve only been Miracle At St. Anna for about 1 year.

Where is the band based out of and what is your local music scene like? Any local bands you could recommend?
We are out of New Orleans, LA. The local scene there is starting to rebuild itself but New Orleans is a real Jazz oriented city. It was really hard for us as a Metal band to climb into the scene.

How did The Death Of Greeley Estates Tour go and what were some of the highlights? That was definitely a long one!
The Tour was great! Greeley is probably one of the nicest band I will ever tour with! A huge highlight of that tour had to be when we had an off date in New Orleans and we took all the bands alligator hunting. hahaha.

What could one expect from a live Miracle At St. Anna show?
A lot of energy. We try to put on the best show no matter what. Whether its 10 people of 10,000 people we will always give you what you paid for.

Is there any story or concept behind the CD title Shadow Country?
I wouldn’t say a concept but Shadow Country definitely reflects on where we are from. New Orleans is a real mysterious and creepy place so no better title than “Shadow Country.”

Select two songs from the new album and what inspired the lyrics.
My favorite song is Moses in Agony. My vocalist had a VERY abusive step father and this song is kind of one big fuck you to him. I hope other kids who are in this situation can turn to this song as inspiration to step up to an abusive family member and stand for what is right.

Shot at the Tiger means a lot lyrically as well. The song conveys a story of a person struggling to cope with his slightly abnormal individuality. Nonetheless, it sends out a message to stick to your different qualities, rather than trying to blend in with what is more socially acceptable.

Who did the cover art for the CD and how much input did you have on it?
The cover art was done by Aaron Marsh (Sons Of Nero). The overall art we had nothing to do with but, he kinda drew up the concept and we liked it a lot!

How did you wind up being signed to Tragic Hero Records?
We had a little manager before named DJQ. He sent me an email from this guy Drew Fulk who was really interested in recording our band. A few phone calls later and he somehow swindled me into going all the way up to North Carolina to record a song. We recorded about half of the song and Drew sent it over to Tommy at Tragic and he immediatly signed us after. It sounds like we didn’t do much to get signed but I promise we worked really hard on recording that half of song! hahaha

What’s up next touring wise for your band?
Well we just finished up The Circle of Friends Tour with Thick As Blood, The Plot In You, and The Air I Breathe. So now we’re kinda at home planning our next move. Hopefully something BIG pops up.

Any strange or unusual stories from the road you could share?
Where do I begin?! One night, one of my band mates thought he could party with Atilla and live to tell about it. 2 hours later we find him in the van full of piss and passed out in his throw up. The next morning he was completely confused as to what happened. hahahaha I’ve also witnessed a few BUM fights outside of gas stations! Those are always the best! hahaha

Why should someone run out right now and buy Shadow Country?
It’s easily one of the most diverse CD’s you will find in our genre. No two songs have the same structure or the same feel. We try our best to give each song its own identity and so far I think we do a pretty good job at it!

Did you see the movie Miracle At St Anna and are you a Spike Lee fan?
I did see the movie, and It’s pretty good. I do however believe our band is way more amusing than the movie! hahahaha Spike Lee is great guy! He was a huge part of the rebuilding process in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and that was a really rough time for us, so anybody who lent a helping hand is an amazing person to me!

Any final words of wisdom?
Don’t let anyone tell you your’re are going to burn in hell for being who you are. Be proud of yourself and don’t let some ignorant person tear you down.

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions! Hope to see your band back here in Los Angeles soon!
You’re welcome and hopefully we’re back in LA soon!

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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