By Robert Ham

He refers to it as “the song” or even more vaguely as just “a song” that he wrote. But if you know the name John Mark McMillan, you know that “the song” he’s referring to – “How He Loves” – has quickly become one of the most revered worship songs in the world, and has been recorded by luminaries such as David Crowder, Todd Agnew, and Flyleaf.

 In spite of the song’s successes and his rabid fan base, McMillan has largely flown under the radar of the contemporary Christian music world. This will likely change for the 30-year-old singer/songwriter with the upcoming release of his third album The Medicine. It is his first album to be released by a major label (Integrity/Columbia), a move that will likely find him an even bigger audience for his potent blend of pop smarts and folk/blues grit.

 We caught up with McMillan before a tour stop in Seattle, Washington. Sitting in a local coffee house, nursing a cappuccino, he spoke about his still-young career, the move to a major, and the still-debated issue of David Crowder changing the lyrics of “the song”.

How did you get started playing music?

 My dad had a storefront church near Charlotte and they’d have musicians there, people coming in and out. Afterwards, I’d get them to show me some chords. I was terrible at sports. I was not very attractive to the girls. I thought I’ll learn some music and play some chords and maybe the girls will notice me. It didn’t really work but I started to fall in love with sounds. Later on, I really fell in love with songwriting. I came across Dylan and Springsteen and started to really enjoy the kind of things they had to say. More than what they said. It was what they did, the way they gave the average person a language. If you listen to Springsteen, he’s singing about regular people the things they go through and the things they do. I love that.

Did you always imagine you’d be a worship singer/songwriter or did you ever think, “Maybe I could be Springsteen”?

 I sing about Jesus because I like the story and I know what it’s about so writing worship music came naturally at first but we played other venues for a while. But the church thing started to take off, when I wrote a song that a lot of other people started singing. It came more naturally so we ended up doing a lot more of that kind of stuff.

How has that felt having people latch on to this song and watching your career grow from where you started from and where you are now?

 It’s been great. It’s been real interesting with the song. Because I grew up in church but I was never connected with any sort of mainstream Christian music. I probably couldn’t tell you four or five of the biggest artists even right now. It’s been really crazy how big that song’s become. A lot more conservative type folks listen to the music, which is cool. But people ask me questions about stuff that no one had really questioned before as far as how you do things. People have these super traditional mindsets in these areas where they might expect me to act a certain way and do certain things but I’ve never had that pressure before. It’s kind of a weird thing about the way I write songs. People feel like you have to write about certain things and do it a certain way or it’s wrong. I never wanted to be a Christian artist. I just wrote what I was thinking about and what I was feeling. People aren’t used to hearing different kinds of songs connected to the same things.

It’s interesting that you said that because I was chatting online with my sister today, and I told her who I was interviewing and sent her a link to your web site. I mentioned after the fact that you were a Christian artist and she said that she would never have guessed that based solely on your music. 

 I never thought the word “Christian” described the music really well. Maybe I’m crazy maybe I just think more of myself than who I really am. But I’m not sure my music fits with what you would consider Christian music. I have a real problem in the airport people ask what kind of music I play. I’m trying to figure out what to call it. I did an interview on TV and I told them I think I’ll call it gospel rather than Christian music.

How has it been now that you are transitioning to a major label from releasing things on your own? Do you feel any friction concerning not wanting to label yourself as a “Christian artist”?

 There’s definitely a little bit of that friction. Before when I was just independent, I didn’t have to label myself as anything. I’d just put the stuff up on iTunes and sell it at shows. I don’t really understand what world my music exists in. But I had an issue with being part of the Christian organization with the music. After a while, I realized the huge proportion of my market were believers. And it took me about a year to sign with Integrity maybe because of that I didn’t sort feel like I fit with the vibe of the company overall. But there are some really great people on the team. They spent a year to convince me they really wanted to try something different and they really do. They’re really taking a risk that a lot of other Christian companies would have taken.

How so?

 Christian music is heavily driven by Christian radio, and they have specific things like certain frequencies that they want you to mix your song. They want it this length. They want the chorus to come in within 30 seconds. They want it mixed a certain way they want certain frequencies within the mix and I just don’t like that sound at all. Many of the other labels said, “You can do what you want with the album, but let us mix two or three singles and produce them for the radio.” Integrity hasn’t asked me to do any of that. They’ve let me do the songs the way I want. They’ve been super cool and understanding of what I want to do. I’m really blown away at how much they’ve been willing to take risks in those areas.

Has anything from the record made its way on to Christian radio?

 They’ve serviced it to radio and some stations have picked it up, but none of the big ones. I think their view is that there’s not really a big radio home run on this album.  They’ve put a little energy into radio but they haven’t pushed it. I think they’ve known that I’m not super excited about radio.

Are you worried that you are going to get any pressure from them for the next record to move in that direction and cater it toward the bigger marketplace?

 There’ve been nights that I’ve laid awake thinking about that. They say that they’re not going to do that. I know the label is a business and they exist to make money. They want to make your audience bigger one way or another. But I’m cool with that. That’s part of the reason I came to the label. I want to grow our audience too. I don’t feel like they’re going to do it. I just won’t do it. I think they know that. I can do a lot of things but I just can’t do something that I don’t believe in. I don’t think I can hear my song mixed a certain way and be able to live with myself. I don’t need the money that bad. It’s not like we’re making that much money anyway. Most artists get into the business when they’re 18 or 19. I’m 30 and I just now signed a record deal. I took the long road and I’m willing to stick with it.

You posted something on your blog recently encouraging songwriters to make “dangerous music”. What did you mean by that?

 What I was talking about there was this idea that the church has become too safe in a lot of ways. You read the Psalms, which is based on musical worship and has become the model for what we do. There are issues that they deal with that most churches won’t even touch. 20% of the songs in there are the happy and joyful. Those are the only songs that the culture of church wants to have anything to do with. The other 80% of Psalms – the angry Psalms, the sad Psalms, the Psalms that question God – the church won’t deal with it. If you want to question the existence of God and the goodness of God, they don’t want to hear it. But it’s in the Bible. Some of the most revered people in the Bible had moments where they questioned God where they had to search out those kinds of things. They were angry or they cursed people. I feel like its time for worship people to explore some of those and feel comfortable exploring those things. To write music that isn’t so safe and it maybe not be dangerous for people outside of the church.

The reason I asked that is because of David Crowder’s version of “How He Loves” and his changing the lyrics of the song because it was bothering people in his church. That really goes against this idea of making “dangerous music.”

 It totally does. With Crowder, he called and asked to change the line. He said, “Can I change this one line?” And I said, “Why do you want to change it?” He said that a huge group of people that need to hear the song would never hear it because of this lyric. That’s the thing about Christian radio. There aren’t “rules” that say they won’t play it, but I know they won’t play it. So I assumed that’s a major reason that he changed it. And I got to the point that there was so much heat on the song and so many people doing it. And I know the label talked about other people doing that I wasn’t very excited about it. I thought it was just a matter of time before somebody changes that line. I like David and I thought if it’s going to be someone it might as well be him. I never knew it was going to be a single. I thought it was going to be on the back half of his album. But, lo and behold, it’s maybe the biggest single he’s ever had.

 We actually worked together a little bit on the song. He had a couple of things that didn’t really work. And he came up with the “unforeseen kiss” and I said, “Well, let me try this.” And he said, “Well, I’ve already recorded it.” [laughs]

 My community my small core audience was so fired up about it a lot of them got really angry saying bad things about David Crowder. I wrote a blog post because I didn’t want Crowder thinking that I supported the mean things they were saying about him. Truthfully, if I’d written that song now, I’d have written it totally different. Not just that line. I never thought that was an incredible line anyway, but I guess the fact that people said I couldn’t do it made me want to do it even more. I kind of want to put something in every worship song that makes someone uncomfortable. I want to make them a little bit nervous. I get excited about that. Because it makes them think about what’s going on instead of going through the motions.

The story behind “How He Loves” is a very emotional one [the song was inspired by the death of one of McMillan's close friends]. How does it feel to perform that song or to hear others play it? Is it hard to hear or play considering the emotions that are tied up with it? Or has enough time passed that you can just focus on the more positive side of the song?

 It’s been close to eight years now since my friend died, so you have moments where you’re back there in the beginning. But for the most part I’ve grown from that. It’s obviously a really painful experience. Over the years, you learn to grow and process it. So I don’t always feel that. Sometimes I still do. Sometimes it’s there. I get excited about the song when I hear other people sing it. When we’re at a show or a worship event and I hear people sing it back to me, it takes me back there and makes me feel that thing again. The good part of what I felt. It was a comforting thing to write that song. I don’t know why it is but whenever I’m feeling really far from God and really disconnected, something about me going back to that painful experience, I feel like a person again because I can hurt over that experience. That might sound kind of morbid, but something about pain that brings you into reality. I have to believe this is temporary and there’s more to life. I go back there sometimes on stage. Literally, the first year and a half that I sang the song, I couldn’t get through it. I got to the point that that was the song everybody wanted to hear, so I had to learn how to do it and disconnect myself a little bit. Every now and again, I go back to that place. It’s hard not to. I think that’s what people really want. They want to feel like we’re singing something that we’re really connected to. I know that’s what I want from the people that I listen to.

What inspired the song “Skeleton Bones’?

 I hadn’t written anything in along time when I wrote that song. I decided I’m going to sit on the porch tonight and I’m going to write something. My wife was pregnant with our first and only boy, and I was watching the process…that there was nothing there and then this person is there and is more there every day. And I saw that as a picture of resurrection: something coming out of nothing. And I feel like nothing a lot and I have this hope that something’s going to come from me. But seeing this thing come out of nothing, I started to contemplate on resurrection and the resurrection in me, and how if the same power that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, it gives life to our mortal bodies. I got this resurrection theme and I started to sing about the dead and the living, Ezekiel 37 with the dry bones. I saw me as one of the dry bones. Then I saw the people around me. I really believe there’s so much more for every single person then they even believe for themselves or want for themselves. And a lot of that is found in resurrection. I started singing about the dry bones in Ezekiel coming to life when the prophet speaks to them. It’s a really gross thing. These dead bodies stand and they come to life and become this mighty army. I saw that in me, singing to the skeleton as singing to myself, to the nothing, to the dead.  To become something and come alive. I saw this bones come together as something greater than themselves. I saw that as being in worship too, connecting with God to become more than a human, something bigger.

How have your wife and extended family felt watching you play music and become a popular artist?

 They love it. My wife is a singer. If she were more interested in it she’d probably be doing what I’m doing. We toured together for five years. She’s part of the band and still a huge part of what we do. She’s just more excited about being with the baby. She’s loves to write and loves music but she gets really burned on traveling. I think she’s starting to get a new wind on her music too. It’s been a challenge balancing family and the road. I’m still learning. If she ever told me – if things were getting weird or not working – “I wish you would just quit”, I would do it [snaps fingers] like that.

By : Robert Ham

 You won’t find too many rappers nowadays who cop to being influenced by politically minded singer/songwriter Billy Bragg or can boast that their new album features contributions by a members of indie superstars Broken Social Scene. But there are few rappers in the world like Shad.

The 28-year-old artist has distinguished himself from his peers through not only the frisky, Native Tongues-inspired production on his three full-lengths, but his bold lyrics that have tackled everything from the genocide in Rwanda to his own personal struggles with money and self-doubt. It’s a potent mix that has captured the attention of critics in his native Canada who helped get him nominated for a Juno Award and shortlisted for the Polaris Prize as well as by hip-hop icon Kanye West who counts himself as a fan.

Shad is gearing up for his next big step forward with his third album TSOL. The LP features some bright stuttering beats by cohorts like Ric Notes and Classified, and lets the rapper pontificate on the role of women in hip-hop (“Keep Shining”) and how music can stir up all manner of emotions (“At The Same Time”). Shad spoke with NXTLVL from his home in Vancouver about the progression of his career and his hope to make music that affects and inspires others.

What inspired you to want to make music? Were there particular artists that made you want to become a rapper?

I don’t think I can pinpoint it to any particular artists. Growing up, I just like music a lot, like a lot of kids did and still do. In high school, I was listening to Common, Outkast, Ras Kass. They were the artists that really impressed me a lot. I can’t say that they were the ones that made me want to make music. All the music inspired me. It started out as fun in high school, freestyling as a way to have fun. It evolved from that into a way to express deeper things, more meaningful things.

Were you hearing a lot of Canadian hip-hop when you were growing up?

Definitely. The town I grew up in [London, Ontario] was halfway between Detroit and Toronto. So whatever was going on musically there in Toronto and in American found its way to where I was growing up.

So, how then did you get from freestyling in high school to the point you are now with your third album about to hit the streets?

I think it was a steady progression and a lot of good fortune along the way. In high school, music wasn’t something that was very serious for me. Once I got into college, I started doing stuff with a group. It was a lot of fun and it was just something to do. From there, I started to write things that were more personal and I was looking for an outlet to do that. The opportunity came up not long after to record my first album and start doing shows on own. And from there it’s just been a progression with personal and professional growth happening side by side. I’ve been really fortunate to have a lot of breaks and a lot of people helping me out along the way.

Has it been good for you to be able to express these more personal things in music?

It’s been very helpful for me. It has helped me gain an awareness of where I am at and helped me to have the profound experience of translating some of these profound ideas that I might not be consciously aware of. And hopefully other people are connecting with it and benefitting from it as well. I don’t know how to sum it up. It’s been powerful in my life.

What is it like to hear that someone has been affected by one of your songs?

That’s always been cool to hear. Sometimes it’s been situations where people might interpret a song differently than what was my conscious intention, but it still hit them on a deep level. Music is not necessarily about the meaning that’s translated in the lyrics. It might be more profound than that.

Do you feel like you’ve progressed in some way from where you started to where you are at with your new album?

I think so. I hope to progress with every record. Hopefully I’m getting more clear and more concise in my songwriting and that there’s still a lot of depth there. I want people to be able to appreciate it on different levels. With the new record, the intention was that I’m a little bit older now and I wanted to make music that was less angst-y, but still have it be fun and positive.

The video for your song “Compromise” was posted not too long ago on Kanye West’s blog. How exciting was that?

That was super cool. The Internet is a funny thing. It’s cool when people that you are a fan of get a hold of your stuff. Hopefully that means new fans come along too.

It seems to me that when Christian rock acts find themselves getting some kind of mainstream success, they tend to downplay their faith, yet even the most mainstream of hip-hop artists is very upfront about their beliefs. Why do you think that is?

It might just be the nature of hip-hop lyrics. With rock lyrics, you can be more…I don’t know if poetic is the right word, but there are layers of meaning in what they are singing. With hip-hop the tone is pretty straightforward and like a conversation. You just say what you want to say and say what you mean right there on the surface. There’s less opportunity to downplay anything. It’s just right there.

If you weren’t making music, what do you think you would be doing?

I have no idea! Hopefully something that I could contribute some level of passion and meaning to. Not everyone gets to do that. I’m not sure that I get to do that. I’m lucky that I get to make music.

By: Josh Gloer

A crowded living room in Philadelphia once yielded the soulful sounds that only emanates from singing Gospel music. A woman sat behind the piano, and her friends egged a young boy to sing.

This living room became of one his first stages, where Japhia Life reluctantly agreed to sing, and his training to sing for the glory of God began.

Decades later, Japhia Life is about to drop his forth album, Nazareth, a collection of unreleased singles from his first three records. While some of the tracks have been posted on MySpace, this album boasts a truly unique compilation of this emcee’s work, including two never before heard tracks.

“This album is really an album of music that was made during a space and time where I was really trying to find a comfortable place musically, where I could express my talents with a good balance of quality music, balanced with faith expression,” he said.

It’s an eclectic mix, as these tracks span the course of his young career. Since he started writing rhymes, Japhia Life has been called a Christian artist, a hip hop artist, an emcee, and it’s safe to say, he’s had as many sounds.  He describes his first three albums in a range from 90’s classic to dark and emotional. His third album garnered criticism for being too “poppy.” (It was an album that ironically produced the biggest tracks of his career to date.)

“My style has always been an eclectic mix, just always trying to express myself and my growth and where I’m at, at that time in my life. I continue to grow, so each album is going to sound different.”

The projects were full, booming with passion and faith, and the tracks that didn’t fit with the final projects were too good to keep from his fans.

“It’s just a lot of different songs that I made when I was just really coming into my own and paving my own lane,” he said.  “A lot of Christians may hear that stuff and may want to work with them as an artist that’s actually in the Christian community. So that’s kind of what happened to me. Just kind of finding my way and saying, ‘Where can a person that’s a believer find a comfortable place that he can express faith, and what would that place look like?’”

And so the name, Nazareth was born.

“For me that place would be where Jesus would be from.”

But this isn’t just a slice of life from a budding career.

“I definitely want them to be impacted by my content, the things I’m saying on it,” he said. “Spiritually, I want them to be impacted by it. But also I just want them to have an alternative to the music that they listen to that’s secular, that they feel isn’t healthy for them spiritually. I def want them to have some songs that they can listen to that’s just good music, but at the same time, they can still be impacted by my content on a spiritual level.”

He claims this album represents his reinvention of faith, as it represents his own personal journey as an artist and as a Christian – two things, in his case, that go hand in hand.

“For me personally the balance is just having the freedom of expression as long as it doesn’t compromise my faith. Whether people label me as a Christian artist or just a hip-hop artist, to me, it really doesn’t matter, I am what I am. At the end of the day, you’re really not what people label you, as opposed to what you really are. For me that balance is just an expression of who I am as a person. A Christian is one of the things I am as a person. I don’t really have to label my music as Christian, but I don’t have a problem if people label me as Christian, because I am a Christian. People have the option to label me at their own discretion. I’m not concerned with the labels.”

Nazareth is set to drop in early March 2010, and his next project West Side Pharmacy is slated to follow shortly. For all the info, check out: http://www.myspace.com/japhialife.

———–

Josh Gloer is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles. He’s been a writer on six seasons of MSNBC’s Lockup: Extended stay. He has also written for MTV, TLC, TruTV, HGTV and Oxygen. Josh has been a journalist for about 12 years, doing celebrity interviews with actors such as Djimoun Hounsou, Dennis Farina and James Marsden; and bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Orgy and sax guru, Carl Grubbs. Josh’s work has appeared in Filter, Car Audio & Electronics, Zink!, ITEM and many other publications and websites. He was recently honored to have his fiction appear in an anthology of LA writers, including Charles Bukowski. www.joshgloer.com

By Robert Ham

 This latest album has one of the most direct album titles I’ve heard in a long time from a Christian artist. What was your thinking when you decided to call it Church Music?

I like language a lot. I think language is fluid. You couldn’t have put a record out like this 10 years ago and have people get the slightly ironic satire or at least understanding that we were aware of the strangeness of these words attached to what we’re doing. At the same time, it is what you’re saying. It’s very direct and stating the obvious. We’re writing congregational music even though it doesn’t fit universally in congregations. Nonetheless for us these are songs that we’re singing on Sunday morning together. If you’re coming from a more progressive setting you might think, “Ah this isn’t church music. Church music is more stodgy: choir robes, organs, that kind of thing.” If you’re coming from a more traditional setting you would hear what we’re doing and go, “Absolutely not. This is not church music.” I think what is beautiful about that is that there is critique available to all of us. We tend to think of everybody else like ourselves. And yet when you think of the global church, there are a lot of people coming from a lot of different cultures and the art and the expression coming from these cultures looks a lot different than our own. We like that two little words could play with expectation and hopefully in a positive sense could help people think about music in the church in a bigger way, including ourselves. That the Crowder Band could fall under that little moniker is fantastic. It’s cool that a couple of words could say that much.

Because you play these songs on Sunday mornings at your church in Waco, is that where you are trying things out and honing new material?

Most of the time, these things take shape there. We have the great fortune of having people that we live life with there that are kind to us. We get to see where things want to go. There’s a few on [the new album] that have their life just with the record. You stumble into things and things take you places that you wouldn’t have suspected so some of those pieces are new entities for our people as well.

This record is interesting in that all the songs flow into one another so it is this cohesive piece of work. How did you hit on that idea?

We did this world tour with Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman – folks we’ve been connected to for a long time. Knowing we’re going to do this Church Music record, we thought, “Oh, this is gonna be great. Maybe we can travel the globe and collect these songs and expressions from a lot of other cultures and have this album be a global church expression kind of thing.” Well, obviously it didn’t go there at all because what we found was apparently we as Americans have exported more than McDonald’s, we’ve exported our worship music. Because that’s all they were singing were these American worship songs! So then we started looking at the music coming out of these cultures. So we thought, “What if the Crowder Band was transplanted to Tokyo. What would our expressions look like trying to find an common authentic voice for the age group of people that we are giving expression for here in the States?”

So, we collected a lot of j-pop in Tokyo and in Korea collected k-pop thinking, “What would the local church sound like if they were to follow our model which is to throw your arms around whatever is happening in pop culture to find the common voice of the people that you’re in front of?” And when we get to Europe, the club thing is way way bigger than it is over here. What we started hearing were a lot of influences that were happening for the producers of pop music around here in the States, pinpointing the things in Europe that were influential on the charts in America. And one of the things we decided initially is that when you hear a DJs work, when they hit play, it a takes you on a journey from start to finish. The logistics of pulling off what they’re pulling off isn’t that difficult ’cause you’re talking about 5 to 10 BPMs one way or the other and keys are sort of irrelevant I don’t think they’re aware of music theory as much as we are. For us, we’re talking massive jumps in BPM and massive jumps in keys, so the actual pulling it off incredibly tedious. But we’re kind into that thing; the harder it is the more joy we have.

Do you think that you have been successful in attracting people to the faith through embracing popular music and culture?

That’s a little disingenuous. We don’t view at all what we’re doing as proselytizing. What we feel like we’re doing is providing people the ability to express or articulate a response to God in the sense of a corporate worship experience. We’re using music to say things back to God with. I turn to hymn writers and people who have written about the struggle how you do that. It seems like to [Isaac] Watts or to [John] Newton, any time they’re talking about what your role is and what you’re trying to accomplish, it is so much easier when you find the common language of the people that you’re in front of. And for us pop music is a no brainer. How do I on behalf of the people that I’m in front of articulate faith through music and it’s mostly through collecting sounds and finding out where we are as people. It’s pretty natural for us because it’s the environment you exist in you’re around all this music that shapes your sensibilities. Being on a college campus like we are, most of it is college radio and straight up pop music so it’s really natural for our expression to be what’s common among us. [W]hat we’re trying to do is to provoke response or allow response to happen in a way that’s authentic and not forced. That’s what’s been successful or at least the successful moments of music in the church have seemed to be, in my opinion, when the writers were throwing their arms around what was happening in popular culture and were in conversation with what was going on in popular culture rather than being cloistered and oblivious. So, it’s not an attempt to proselytize but what we have seen is that people from outside of the church, mostly in the mainstream media or even in the club environment, go “Wow, this is not what I would expect coming from a group of musicians playing music in the church.” I think that’s what we’ve seen interesting and surprising.

Would you ever conceive of making an album strictly for yourself and not for a corporate setting and what that would sound like?

I can’t even think of what that would look like. I don’t have a drive to do that in me. I just think about what we’re doing in such utilitarian terms. What we’re doing is useful and it just fell in my lap to be the guy that says something on our behalf in our community in Waco and so yeah I don’t even know. The stuff we’re making and the sound that we’ve got makes me grin and pulls at me in an emotional way, so I don’t think it would sound too terribly different. Granted the stuff that we are doing is so varied that I think if I were doing something, it would have as many twists and turns as this stuff because I get bored and need to find different ways to express things. I would suspect it would be similar journey.

Most people that I talked to when I told them I was interviewing you wanted to know about you changing the lyric of John Mark McMillan song “How He Loves.” Were you shocked at all about the response that happened to you changing part of the song?

No not at all. Getting the feedback immediately was unexpected. There was this division of people that felt like these are the greatest words that they’ve ever heard in a song in their entire life and there are people who are equally emotive in saying that these are the worst words I’ve ever heard in a song. I found myself all these bizarre conversation about two little words. Then I started to do some checking and some research on the Web and sure enough there’s all kinds of stuff about these two words preventing it from being in a lot of corporate settings and it causing as much of a ruckus as it had with us. There were two arguments that I felt were absolutely legitimate and worth visiting with John Mark about. One is that the imagery just doesn’t work. Again, to point back to hymn writers, one of the things they struggled with was imagery. To read Newton and Watts talk about the songs that they’ve written which have a lot of imagery in them they struggled with it because what you’re trying to do is find something that’s common. You’re trying to give expression to a group of people that brings them together rather than divides. Something that is common in our experience that would let us understand God in a way that’s fuller and that has more depth to it. And these two words seem to fail in that light.

Granted, John Mark didn’t write this thing for that purpose. It’s just his personal expression. And as a writer he’s successful because he stumbled on to two words that are probably one of the more provocative lines that have been in a song in a long long time and as a songwriter that’s a great success. But as a person whose trying to say something on behalf on a corporate entity it fails because it is not uniting, it’s dividing.

The second thing was a guy came and said, “I did some research and found this guy doing this deal on YouTube where he tells the story of the song. It’s pretty emotional, but knowing where the song comes from, I think the anthropomorphic language that exists in that line is unhealthy for our theology.” He said that if this is coming out of an experience of tragedy where this guy is trying to figure out what’s God’s role in this thing, our anthropomorphic language ends up with something sloppy and I think that this is a danger in a corporate expression. So, in talking with John Mark, I offered up both of these things, both of which he’s probably already dealt with. After some time, he came back and said, “Let’s go somewhere different with it and try to maintain the initial intent.”

I mean this song is about the love of God, and it’s not like we haven’t as a church explored the love of God before. But to find something that lets you rediscover and feel it and experience it in a way that’s similar to where you first were with it is unique and special I was determined that two words weren’t going to keep people from having a similar rediscovery. Because there’s something really, really special about the song. The only people who were going to be upset are going to be those who have already fallen in love with the song. They’re welcome to stay with the “sloppy wet” if that’s what they’d like. We’ll take the heat and allow the song to get a lot of places that it hasn’t gone before.

Did you ever consider just leaving the song as is no matter what people’s issues were with it?

No, not at all. I think of music in a different way than that. Maybe it’s because I come from a congregational setting where you’ve got a hymn like “Amazing Grace” that took 50 years to find its melody and the verses. Knowing that hymns are so fluid, it’s always going to take some time to find the right language for it. For most people it existed in a form that it was and people got to experience it and I hope that by letting it change and evolve, more people will get to know it.

Have you come up against issues like this considering the music that you play is so varied and is not your typical worship music?

From record one, people have said, “Hey this is a great record but these aren’t songs that you’ll find useful in your corporate settings.” Well, for you these aren’t congregational songs but for us these are all congregational songs. There’s an awareness that these don’t fit in a lot of places which is awesome because to point back to our world tour experience, it’s a disappointment to me that there aren’t more organic expressions of unique communities happening. That there’s this tendency to co-opt whatever’s happening elsewhere and stick it in to your unique setting rather than allowing the creators and creative types among your community and try to make something that’s your own. I understand and appreciate that it doesn’t fit everywhere and I would hate to think that we would feel any sort of need to be something other than just providing a voice for the people we’re in front of on a weekly basis.

Looking at your YouTube channel and your Twitter account, you guys put out a very goofy image of yourselves. Do you make sure that that sort of material gets out to balance out the depth of the message in your music?

You’re exactly right. You’re on to us. Early on, we felt like there was a tendency to ask too much of music. Talking about the fluidity of language, if I was to say the word “worship”, what would come to mind for most people is a setting of a lot of folks staring at a screen with words on it, singing and I don’t think that was always the case. That’s a recent phenomenon that that word would evoke that thought process. So it felt like we’re asking too much of music in the sense that you’re setting up the segmentation of our spiritual experience. When I think what we’re trying to do is involve the human in more holistic way and humor is a really easy way. People put their guard down. It just lets the human be more human and in the process you get people to be more human rather than posturing. If you can provide something that takes the legs out from under the initial pretense or posturing then you get to a more authentic place with a person. There’s an attempt to add irreverence in a thoughtful reverent way.

The other thing that my friends wanted to know is whether you would ever shave off your goatee?

I have! It was in the year 2000, just before midnight, and I’m in this little bathroom in the house that we had and I’m about to be the spiritual cleansing moment. And at the time I had hair down to my shoulders. So I got the Bic out and I went for it. Midnight happens and I come out of our bathroom and my wife sees me and…I had neglected to run this by here because this was a personal cleansing moment. But apparently if you make any massive changes to your facial follicles and any thing on your hair, this is something you’re going to need to run past your significant other because she said, “You put that back” and started feeding me all kinds of vitamin E and horse mane and tail and stuff. That’s the one and only time that that beard’s gonna go anywhere. I got in a lot of trouble over that.

By Josh Gloer

Poems is at a barbecue in Portland, Oregon when his phone rings. He steps away from friends to answer some questions – children’s laughter audible over his powerful drowning voice. It’s July 5th, the day after Americans everywhere celebrate their independence. The emcee spent his holiday weekend at a park with friends, watching fireworks, avoiding crowds.

Next week will be a different story.

Under the moniker Sareem Poems, the artist has announced his latest album, Black and Read All Over. The album doesn’t drop July 26th, but a promotional frenzy starts next week – kicking off with a new MySpace page for the album on Tuesday www.myspace.com/iampoems.

According to Poems, the title, Black and Read All Over, plays off stereotypes.

“It goes across the board with everyone,” Poems said. “It could be Black and Read all over, Brown and read all over. It’s just that people, at first glance, think they know who you are before they even get a chance to hear a word that comes out of your mouth.”

The album is also turning people’s perceptions of the former LA Symphony member’s on their heads. For this endeavor, Poems has united forces with producers Oddisee and Theory Hazit, and stylistically, the album isn’t run-of-the-mill Sharlok Poems.

“The emphasis on this record, for me personally, is giving people a little more up tempo stuff,” Poems said. “The last project was mid tempo, lot of poetry style writing which people know me for. Part of the reason I call this Black and Read All Over is because its not as typical. There’s a lot more guest spots on it. It’s a lot more forward as far as aggressive beats.”

Guest spots include LMNO, Pigeon John, Akil from Jurassic 5, Ragen Fykes and Georgia Anne Muldrow to name a few. According to Poems, the album strays from his typical story-telling depth and focuses on rhymes.

“I focus on being more of an emcee than being just a rapper or a poet. I want to make sure that there’s some substance and there’s some direction to everything that I give. I don’t want to give someone just some aimless music.”

The need to give direction is understandable. The fiery emcee has only met his father once, and his mother recently passed away due to a drug overdose. Avoiding the foster care system he was taken in by his grandmother, and Poems claims as a young man, he himself was searching for something – something he found through religion. Now, a strong Christian, the performer tries to incorporate good messages into his work.

“For a lot of people it’s a weird approach to life because they feel that its very judgmental,” Poems said. “[But] my message is love. I’m not trying to beat anybody over the head with my beliefs. I do my music and if you get something out of it, cool. And if it doesn’t touch you in that way, then cool.”

According to Poems, everyone is searching for something. While he’s found what he’s looking for, he knows not everyone else has.

“For me, at the end of the day, you’re going to hear who I am. That’s my heart. That’s the main thing for me, I’m not trying to water down who I am for anyone, but at the same time, I’m not trying to force feed what I believe or how I live my life down anyone’s throat.”

His music covers issues that he holds personal, from what he calls a sad but “common tale” of parentless children, drugs and even branching out into human trafficking. Poems now tries to help with benefits and events to bring these subjects to light.

“I talk about life issues,” Poems said, later adding that “I think as a Christian and just as a human being… you want to see people happy and enjoy the life that they have, because this is the only thing that we have that we can say is ours. Everything else that we have right now, when we’re gone, it doesn’t matter. This life is the only thing we have that we can say is ours.”

For Poems aficionados, Black and Read All Over, isn’t the only offering this year. Poems has teamed up with Atlanta based producer, Dust to form PND or Poems and Dust. The duo’s first offering Dirty Words (www.myspace.com/panddmusic) will be released sometime late 2009.

For now, Black and Read All Over hits shelves at the end of July.

“Do what you love. Period.” Poems said. “I’m doing what I love. This is what I’m putting all my energy into and everything you hear from me is inspired by life itself in general. You’re not going to hear any false tales from me. What you’re hearing is me.”

———–
Josh Gloer is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles. Currently he’s a writer on his sixth season of MSNBC’s Lockup: Extended stay. He has also written for MTV, TLC, TruTV, HGTV and Oxygen. Josh has been a journalist for about 12 years, doing celebrity interviews with actors such as Djimoun Hounsou, Dennis Farina and James Marsden; and bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Orgy and sax guru, Carl Grubbs. Josh’s work has appeared in Filter, Car Audio & Electronics, Zink!, Item and many other publications and websites. This fall, his fiction is scheduled to appear in an anthology of LA writers, including Charles Bukowski. www.joshgloer.com

By: Samantha Zavala

It is something special to find someone who is passionate about what they do. Someone who is unashamed to speak about life. Someone who perseveres to reach their goal. This person is Jade Harrell.

Jade comes from Middleburg, Florida. When I spoke with her, she reminisced about her country upbringing and loving every minute of it. Jade had said that she did grow up in a strict household and certain values were to be maintained. She was raised in church and always was singing in the church choir. Going to church was a major routine in Jade’s life. Church kept her grounded and would prepare her for her present music career.

As a teenager, Jade had been teased on a consistent basis. She attended a predominantly black school where there was a certain status quo. Jade was not a part of the status quo. According to her peers, she acted “white.” It also didn’t help that she was a frequent churchgoer and had a relationship with God. She was and still is a firm believer in abstinence, which just seemed to fan the flame. She was an outsider for sure. One of the names that she was called on a frequent basis was “Sister Mary.” Jade was a reject. It was from these experiences that Jade drew her inspiration from for her album Class Reject. Jade was a reject because of her Christian beliefs.

“Life is a classroom,” says Jade.

She explains that as Christians, we are like class rejects because we are rejected by the world. We uphold a higher standard and that is what separates us from the rest of the world. So being a reject is not a bad thing. It is actually good in this connotation.
I had also asked Jade if she had any other aspirations other than singing when she was younger.

“I always knew that I was going to be a recording artist,” she said.

She described how even though she knew she was destined to sing, she would have to be forced to do it. Fear would come over her. But she still did it. She knew that God have given her a talent and that it was her calling for her life. There was a Scripture that always came to mind when she would have difficulties in this particular area. It was Philippians 1:6, which tells us that God has begun a good work in us and that we will carry it to completion. That was her driving force to continue on.

As far as her musical influences, she had many. They ranged from Mary Mary and Kirk Franklin, to country legends like Johnny Cash and Rascal Flatts. There was a wide variety of music that she was exposed to that she came to love, with the exception of heavy metal. And the various styles that these artists are known for are some of the same styles that are present on her album. Jade has expressed that she has multiple interests in various types of music, so that would also be said of her albums. She may feel like doing a country album one day, or she may decide to do an R&B album. Wide audience appeal is one of the goals of her music. Reinventing her music allows for a widespread appreciation of good music and she feels if you meet people where they are at, they too will also have a greater appreciation of the music and the message. So Jade has created her own genre, in a sense, which is “Individual.”

This has not come easy for her though. The Christian music industry has its challenges too. Performing at the GMA’s almost made her reconsider her career. And she said that she has often had people ask her if she is a Christian artist because of the sound of her music. Some people think she is mainstream or that she is a secular artist.

“The lyrics are what make a song secular or Christian, not the music behind it,” explains Jade.
And she makes an important point. A lot of Christians think that secular music is the sound, when it is actually the lyrics. Mainstream artists get more radio play and don’t have to fight so hard. But mainstream artists are also told what to do and to make sacrifices that may go against what they want to do. And that is something that Jade refuses to do. Sure, it would be easier to go mainstream, but Jade has a message that she wants to get out to the world. And God has given her the means to do it. That is what one of the songs on her album talks about. The song is Unseen, and it talks about the alternatives and the compromises that we may choose to see if the grass is really greener on the other side. Jade wants to reach millions of people but wants to do it through the means of a Christian artist because she doesn’t want to compromise the call on her life.

Another thing that I asked of Jade was to sum up her character in one word.

After thinking for a moment, she said, “Water.”

And I was intrigued. She chose water because she said that during this time in her life she has found that she is able to adapt whenever she needs to. There were many times that she could have given up when things didn’t go her way. There were family hardships that took her by surprise. But she chose to adapt instead. Even in a hectic life, she has been able to keep a balance and stay focused on the things that truly matter.

Jade will soon start work on another album. I was curious to know how to keep up with her and what she is doing. Jade says that fans can keep up with her via MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, and at revolutionart.us. Be watching because Jade is on the move.

I specifically remember hearing POD.  It was 1998, and I was working at Tattoo Records.  We had just been bought by Zomba, and I was laid off on what became known as Black Monday.  I was out of work for five days until Benson/Zomba brought me back.  The label was being run by Jeff Moseley, who discovered Amy Grant.  He had an incredible ear. He just knew what was going to hit and what wasn’t.  We received a package (I think it was in a pizza box) from POD, who were independant and looking to get on with a major label.  Their package was amazing.  The VHS tape they included was of one their live shows, and it clearly showed how much their fans connected with them.  The band was reminiscent of Rage Against The Machine.  They had energy, they had power, they had … it.

While the sound was progressive, hard and moving, the lyrics were decidedly Christian.  The band started back in 1992 when two friends, Marcos Curiel (guitarist) and Wuv Bernardo (drummer) decided to get together and jam.  Wuv’s cousin Sonny Sandoval found Christ after seeing God in his dying mother’s eyes and joined the friends as a singer.  The recent conversion echoed in Sonny’s words.  After a couple of years in the garage they got a gig and set out looking for a bassist.  They found Traa Daniels and released three albums on their own label, Rescue Records, selling over 40,000 copies total. They were very focused on their goal, which was to expand their live performances outward from their home base in San Diego.

In 1998 they opted to look for mainstream distribution.  They were packing houses all around Southern California and beginning to generate a good deal of buzz. They sent out press kits to several labels. They were offered $100,000 by Essential Records, home to Jars of Clay who were having mainstream success with their latest record, but POD’s manager declined the offer.  He felt like his band could do better.  They eventually went with Atlantic, who released The Fundamental Elements of Southtown in 1999.

The Fundamental Elements of Southtown finally offered POD mainstream success.  Three singles blew up on that record: “Southtown”, “Rock The Party (Off The Hook)”, and eventually “School of Hard Knocks”.  It is a testament to the band’s ability to entertain that Atlantic didn’t change their Christ-centered lyrics at all, allowing phrases like “We came here to rock this jam/Spread His love is the master of plan” or “You kept me straight, When times got hard/So let me reminisce over you my God”. MTV played all three videos in heavy rotation, they joined the Ozzfest, made it on the “Little Nicky” soundtrack, all which helped the album to sell platinum.

Atlantic rushed to put out their next disc, Satellite, ironically on 9/11. The band was obviously on a roll, the nation was searching for something positive, and the CD generated “Alive” and “Youth of the Nation,” two enormous hits. Both songs spoke unabashedly of Christ’s love for humanity, and truly resonated with the listening audience weary of hate and anger. In fact, “Alive” was virtually a worship song, sung with heartfelt grace and mercy.

The band had always remained musically current, and they were a welcome alternative to fellow rockers Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Godsmack. “Alive” was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the Grammys in 2002. Three other singles released in short order (“Boom”, “Satellite”, and “Portrait”) shot sales beyond triple platinum. Atlantic’s machine was rolling, and POD wasn’t compromising their message a bit.

Guitarist and co-founder Curiel left the band in 2003, and POD released Payable on Death with a new guitarist. The cover was deemed too occultic-looking and wasn’t sold in 85% of Christian record stores.  Nevertheless, the disc spawned two more singles “Change the World” and “Will You”.  The fans were upset with Curiel’s absence from the record, however, and showed it with sales of only 520,000.

After satisfying their deal on Atlantic with their fourth album Testify in 2006, POD announced that they were leaving the label.  According to the band, “P.O.D. have left Atlantic Records. We’ve been proud to be Atlantic Recording Artists, but it’s not the same place anymore. For most of our stay, we were blessed by a staff that was gracious towards our vision, faith, and love of music…. resulting in more than 7-million records sold. It’s time to dream again with a new staff and we leave with grateful hearts. By the people, FOR the people.” 

They released a Greatest Hits CD with Rhino Records in 2006 and continued to tour, and announced to the delight of their ardent fans (aptly dubbed “The Warriors”) that original guitarist Curiel would again be joining the band. They began the process of searching for a new label while continuing to play around the world and on several TV shows, including Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Carlos Mencia’s show.

During POD’s tenure at Atlantic, Dan Michaels and Jeff Moseley had begun building a new, artist-driven Christian label, INO Records.  They had managed to pluck more than a few bands from other labels, and had strong mainstream distribution through Sony Records.  It all came full circle in February of 2007 when POD announced their deal with INO, a scant nine years after Jeff mentioned to Dan and myself that the band would be huge.  He wasn’t wrong.

POD released one album with Jeff and Dan, When Angels and Serpents Dance.  The first single, “Addicted,” did well but never hit the mainstream charts.  The band played primarily in festivals, and announced their current hiatus late in 2008.

After graduating with a degree in Music Business Marketing (yeah, I know – it’s useless outside of Nashville, LA, or NY…), I worked in the Christian music business for a number of years.  You can thank me for such WELL-KNOWN bands as Broomtree, Polarboy, Jesse’s Vineyard, Common Children, Christine Glass, etc, etc, etc.  All incredible artists and dear friends.  I had the…ummm…honor of marketing Katy Hudson in 2000, when she was a fresh faced teen out of CA and hadn’t kissed a girl yet.  We had a great sister group on there too called Aurora, and I jet-setted around with them on a big ole tour with someone that I can’t remember now.  Anyway, the list goes on and on, but no one’s ever heard of any of these bands, so now I write about bands people have heard of.  That’s for reading!

Kimberly Washington 
The Christian and Gospel music scene has made a dramatic change.  No longer are the days when the elders of the church started a song and the rest of the congregation joined in.  Young people have broken away from traditional praise and started praising in their own way.  Urban America has chosen to praise God through rap, r&b, pop, and other genres of music that were generally thought to be against any religious principles. 

One of our goals is to introduce new artists who are breaking the conventional mold of worship and praise and giving us “new” ways to uplift God.  Each issue we will feature a new artist who has taken a stand for Jesus in an urban nation. 

The first artist to be highlighted is Alex Suazo.  Upon first meeting Alex, he seemed a bit mild and boyish both in appearance and tone.  This is one instance when you should never judge a book by its cover.  Though only 18 years old, this artist is wise beyond his years and has the drive and determination to take his career to the next level.  Alex is extremely grounded and influenced by his Garifuna roots.  He speaks and records in three different languages (English, Spanish, and Garifuna).  For most recording artists, it would be hard enough to record an album in one language, but Suazo has recorded albums in all three of his languages.  He comes from a family of talented people.  He has been guided by his father but is very determined to make his own path in this world.

Alex considers his style as “a new generation in music.”  As I listened to his music,  in all three languages, his English music can be best described  as r&b with a hint of Garifuna flavor through the beats and instruments.  A listener can definitely tell that his music is influenced by his multiculturalism.  With his talent and drive, Alex could have taken his music in any direction, but he chose Christian music.  He says that “God is good” and has blessed him so much that he didn’t feel he should do any other type of music. 

Suazo has performed live and enjoys it very much.  He has even performed at several benefit concerts.  Alex writes, produces, sings, and records his own music.  He even plays some of his own instruments. His family is very supportive of his career and proud of the road that he has chosen.  His extreme faith is what motivates  him to continue on his journey with the knowledge that he will succeed.

Alex has already self-released a Christian R&B album and is working on another solo project as well as a project for Garifuna Nation, his cultural movement.   This artist stays busy with his work.  If he is not in the studio working on music, he is out in the streets promoting it.  He is very goal oriented and is not only working locally to have his music heard, but globally. He is committed to achieving the greater eye of the world through his music and artistic expression to whomever  listens and sees his vision. 

Alex is taking advantage of all media outlets to promote his music and get his name out there.  With the way that the internet has altered the music industry, he is taking this to his advantage with presence on almost all social networking sites as well as other sites.

To learn more about Alex Suazo and hear his music check him out on his myspace page at  www.myspace.com/alexsuazo.    To watch his road to releasing his single and take a glimpse into his world, visit  www.youtube.com/alexsuazotv.    Be on the lookout for Alex Suazo!  And remember, we are all BLESSED to be a BLESSING! 

About the Author:

Kimberly Washington owns a consulting firm and recording studio in Houston, Texas.  For more information visit www.kdconsulting.page.tl  or email kim.kdconsulting@gmail.com