Chris Daughtry, Delirious?, Audio Adrenaline, Mercy Me, Jeremy Camp & Sanctus Real

Every time we do an interview, I will post a blurb here, something that "sticks out" in my mind from the interview. I will start with the more recent stuff as it is more fresh in my mind.

"DELIRIOUS?" - Ok, so, believe it or not, I basically knew nothing about them going into the interview but wow, what great people. They had a lot of great things to say. One thing that really stuck out was their reaction to the term "Christian rock" they said they think "Christian" is a wonderful noun...but terrible adjective. I could not agree more. They talked about how they have walked the line between the Christian and general market and gone thru whatever doors came open at the time. They also talked about a great review of their last album where the reviewer said, "Without God, this band would be huge." They loved the irony of that statement.

"CHRIS DAUGHTRY" - Obviously I knew Chris from American Idol and had heard from his manager that he was a Christian with a unique perspective. I met with him in Tulsa and showed him the promo video and he said he was into doing an interview. We caught up with him in Joplin after a HARD couple days and he was beat and canceled all press but was kind enough to give me 30 minutes. He was terrific, lots of good things to say. He does not feel called to preach, wear a badge, etc. but he does speak of God and faith in his lyrics. He, like me, was raised in the church so we had less access to the "cool" Christian music from places like Tooth & Nail. He said he and his wife got convicted a few years back to throw away all their secular CDs and replace them with "Christian" music. His reaction "...this stuff sucks, I want my old CDs back." He made a point that I thought was very astute, poetic lyrics are up to interpretation, it is the LISTENER, not the writer that ultimately decides what they mean. Great take. He said he has found spiritual connections thru the music of bands like Live, etc. He did say he liked 3rd Day and Day of Fire, who might actually go out on tour with him. Also, just remembered that Delirious? said that when they wanted to enter a spirit of worship, they put on a Pink Floyd record...that would connect to what Daughtry was saying.

"MARK STEWART - Audio Adrenaline" - there was a big teen worship-palooza fest or something coming thru town so we caught up with Mark as well as Bart from Mercy Me, Jeremy Camp and the band Sanctus Real, more on them later. Mark was VERY open about many things. He talked about how there were times when some Christians would attack them for being too worldy. For those of you who dont know, Audio Adrenaline, is a very "safe" youth group type band. I actually love them and still jam to the oldies but to think people protested THEM??! Crazy... I mean, POD, another band I love, I can get some church people not understanding them but Audio Adrenaline? Mark also talked about how, when they first started, they were all but forced to write what he called "songs full of trite lyrics" and about the pressure from the CCM machine to actually meet a quota of "JPM's" or "Jesus Per Minute's" to make the radio happy and to get youth leaders to endorse the band. He said that "JPM" was an actual industry term. He said the band countered with an album (that I own) called, "Dont Censor Me" If you look closely at the lyrics from the title track, you can see where they reference the situation. After a verse talking about the general market not wanting to play songs about faith while having no problem playing songs about sex, the second verse seems to take on the Christian music biz:

We scream we shout
we just wanna let it out
No fuss and no cuss
you still try to censor us

Mark was great and will have some good moments in the doc.

"BART MILLARD - Mercy Me" - How does Mercy Me fit into Christian rock? Easy...they dont. However, Bart is a great guy who is a lifelong Christian and is very aware of the scene and culture. He had SO many things to add, from him going to CD burnings as a kid, being shocked by Cornerstone, etc. But his best stuff was in defense of POD and Switchfoot and their role and path for their careers. He loves both those bands and is a bit put-off about how they sometimes are treated by the Christian industry. They were not embraced when they were IN it and now that they have had success OUTSIDE the Christian scene, too many people are in the "we are sure proud of our boys" camp and wondering why those bands have not endorsed the scene more. It was great to have someone like Bart make these points.

"JEREMY CAMP" - How does Jeremy Camp fit in? Easy...the dude is a friggin hardcore music nut at heart. This interview went so much better than expected as he literally has an encyclopedic knowledge of Christian hard rock. He was so passionate and so well versed at any name you threw at him. The Crucified, "oh dude, when I was 10 I was in a mosh pit at Cornerstone watching The Crucified, they were totally legit man." Crazy! He has a great personal story and the dude is swole, we are talking shellfish allergy I just ate 10 shrimp cocktails swole. As buff as he was, he was a really great guy, lots of passion but uber-nice. I would not want to make him mad though, those guns could do some serious damage.

"SANCTUS REAL" - I didnt know much about them, other than my friend Logan had them on his talk show and that he really likes them. I did check out some of their tunes and dug what I heard. I showed them the promo video and they were pumped to talk. They had a lot to say but the best thing was a Cornerstone story about a band called "Lust Control" who sang a song called "The Big M" which was about masturbation. The Sanctus guys said the "M" stood for mortified in the eyes of the youth leaders who had brought them to the show. I actually loved these guys and they have made it into my daily vocab. I used to say, "hey man, I'm just trying to keep it real." Now I say, "hey man, I'm just trying to keep it real...sanctus real."

That's it for now, I have like 50 more to catch up on!