Dietrech: When I started recording music, I wasn't doing Christian music. I was doing mainstream/pop kind of stuff. My best friend, Dena Carter, who is a country singer, has not only influenced me a lot, she's also helped me tremendously. She even helped on this record, getting it tightened up. I'm not trying to drop names, but Billy Bob Thornton was also another huge figure in my life. He understood me from the get go. He was the one who said "do it, you're on the right track. Just stay true to your heart". He kept on me that way. I think that is what helped me go forward. It wasn't a conscience decision to do it. I just had the right people at the right time underneath me saying "Keep chugging along. It doesn't matter if it works or not - it just matters that you put your heart into it and you keep going forward". That's pretty much how I did it. As far as going into the genre' of Christian music itself, it's very ironic. I have a friend who is the son of Jerry Lieber. When he first heard my music he said "you should look into Christian music". I didn't know about it because in the Church of Christ we didn't have that kind of music. We didn't even use a piano or organ. So I didn't even really know that this kind of music existed until Jedd said that I should check it out. When I started listening to it one of my great friends from church, who works at a Christian bookstore in LA, started helping me see who was doing what with what. Carman is who I connected with the most. I was like "wow". I started writing it from my heart. Sometimes I write songs and I don't know what they mean until later. That tells me that God is there inspiring me and helping me do that. I met Carman through Dena. She hooked me up so I could meet him. It was really cool to get to meet him after years of enjoying his music. He gets a lot of flack that I don't think he really deserves. He does a lot of tremendous good. That can't be overlooked. Getting to meet him was really a pinnacle in the whole process for me because it just gave me a validation that I really didn't need, but thought I needed.

Kim: Your first CD garnered some high praise from people that we wouldn't consider to be, I guess you'd say, normal for a Christian artist. You've already talked about being friends with Dena Carter and Billy Bob Thornton, but Peter Criss isn't someone that people would normally associate with Christian music. How did that happen?

Dietrech: Peter Criss and his wife have been friends of mine for years. When I first started doing this Peter wanted to hear it. It's funny because he would call me and say "you know, whenever I'm feeling bad or I'm in a bad mood I put your stuff on and it just lightens things up for me". So he just became a fan from the get-go. It was so unexpected. I would have never thought that my kind of music would be something that would soothe and relax him. Angelina Jolie is someone else that I've been friends with for years. I remember her calling me from London when she was filming "Tomb Raider" and telling me that they were listening to it on the set all day when they weren't actually filming. I don't know if that's because Angie liked it so much and she forced everyone else to listen to it or people actually enjoyed it. But either way, it was still nice to hear. Charlotte Church is someone that I've known since she was 11 or 12. She's 17 now, so I've watched her grow up. It's funny, because when her album went on the Christian charts, she didn't even know. I'm the one who told her.

Kim: In your bio, you talk about being a musician and holding a day job too. What type of work do you do during the day?

Dietrech: I'm a waiter. It's funny, because where I work, no one else has aspirations to be in the entertainment industry. It's in LA so it's very unusual.

Kim: I saw that your site is dedicated to Sean King. Would you be comfortable telling me who he is?

Dietrech: Most people don't know this, and I've had a lot of emails from people asking me who he is. I don't mind telling people, I just didn't want to exploit it, so I didn't put it on the site. Sean was my 7th or 8th grade teachers little brother, who was murdered by a serial killer named William Bonin, who was known as the Freeway Killer. The reason that meant a lot to me is because I was the same age as Sean and he was abducted two or three streets over from where I lived at the time. I was fully aware of the fear instilled by teachers and parents about what was going on. William Bonin actually approached me once, though I didn't know who he was until I saw a picture of him on TV, in a movie theater. It was scary, but I went to the manager and said "this guy's bothering me" and when they went to look he was already gone. When I saw his picture on TV I was horrified because I knew who he was. Sean being killed, it's strange because it's all come full circle at this point. William Bonin was put to death in 1996 and he was never prosecuted for Sean's murder because he told the family where they could find Sean's body. That's all they were interested in. "You can only be put to death once" is the way that they looked at it. He already had 14 other counts against him, although his numbers were much higher than that. I ended up meeting a woman who is writing a book about Bill Bonin and she read to me what had happened to Sean in Bill Bonin's words ... stuff that his family doesn't even know. It made it even that more sad to me. I just thought "oh God, he's my age". Not just that it could have been me. It's just sad that he had to go through what he went through. That's why I dedicated the site to him.

Kim: It is sad when people like that can just destroy lives at will. Evil is one of those things that none of us are isolated from. Let's move to a question that isn't so sad. If you could perform with any artist out there, who would it be?

Dietrech: Avalon. I haven't met them, but I do know Grant Cunningham, who basically created that group, writes most of their stuff and produces them. I'd love to step in for Michael Passons since he left.

Kim: Do you have a most embarrassing moment on stage?

Dietrech: On stage ... it was embarrassing to me, but the audience didn't know. The song wasn't on my CD, so they had never heard it. When the song started I completely forgot the lyrics. I made this whole new song up through the first verse and chorus before I got to the part that I remembered. No one had a clue. But that's not the worst thing that ever happened. The worst thing was when I opened for this friend of mine here in LA. They hadn't checked out how much electricity they needed. So I was on stage and some of my friends were there. Dena was there. I was doing my first song and before I even got to the end of the first song everything, all power, all sound all lights, went out. I'm still holding the microphone, continuing to sing, oblivious to the fact that no one could hear me. Everyone was scrambling to get the lights on and get the sound system working. It ended up taking 20 minutes. I'm not a comedian, so I asked if I should get off stage and the guy said "no, no, on ... just talk to the audience". I was like "oh no". So I didn't even think about it. I was just talking to those people, like "what's going on with you guys?". Dena said that I handled myself very professionally. It's nothing that I had ever even thought of being prepared to do. That was the worst performance night of my life. It took 20 minutes. 20 minutes for an audience is forever. When they finally got the sound system back on, they couldn't get my microphone on. They had to switch mic's for me. I had to do two more songs to get the audience back into it again. What's funny is that my friend asked me to do a 20 minute set and it turned into an hour or more. Those were the two worst times, but I've had some really awesome times too.

Kim: What do you do in your time off?

Dietrech: I constantly write and read a lot. I watch a lot of movies. I don't take much down time even though I should. My favorite movie is A Walk to Remember. I've seen it about 25 times. (laughs) I've shared it with a lot of people too. I belong to a men's Bible study group and I've gotten them to watch it. They always come back and is amazed at how much their kids got out of it and how great it is for kids. Of course, The Wizard of Oz is close behind. My favorite TV show was I Dream of Genie. I got to meet Barbara Eden a couple of years ago. She made me shake ... it was like "this is Genie". It was very cool. The only other person that has ever made me that nervous is Madonna. She is a super nice lady.

Kim: Madonna is a secular artist, which leads to the question, what do you think of Christian artists that cross over into secular venues?

Dietrech: I think it's great. I think that one of the problems that we have in Christianity period is that we don't cross over enough to get it to all of the areas that need it. We're already there, but it needs to be spread to those who aren't. I think that too many times we keep ourselves in our own little bottles of Christianity. We need to get it out. When you share it with others it helps your own spirit to grow. I think it's fantastic. It all comes down to the artist. I know that it does matter to a lot of people because there are different types of thinking. If God opens a door for a Christian band to play in a secular setting, I would say that God is doing what God does best. I think the more secular that Christian artists become is only better. Some good examples are Sixpence None the Richer, Jars of Clay and dc Talk. I know the guys from dc Talk and I think that they had an outreach that was good. I know that a lot of people in Nashville don't like to think outside of the box. But it takes artists like that, whether they fail or succeed, to think outside of the box, to broaden horizons and open things up to those people that don't have access to it. I think we learn about keeping God in the box in church. We're told that once a week. I even wrote a song about it. Live it For Life is about how you can't just pick one day a week to have your soul saved. I think that a lot of times we worship Christ more than we understand what he had to say. I think that His meaning gets lost a lot. That's something that needs to be addressed and it needs to keep coming out more and more. Hopefully I can do that in some small respect in my music. I think that I put more essence into what His overall being is about having peace within yourself, loving other people and not judging others or hurting them. It's funny to me that I meet Christians sometimes who say that they're Christians, but they will say that someone's life or lifestyle is right or wrong. I think that they miss the point. To judge or crucify someone is not very Christian. I understand that some people's life may not be comfortable for you, but it's their life and God is doing what He needs to at that time. I even say on the web site that I don't sit on His throne and judge or crucify. That's not my place.

Kim: What do you see in the future for your music?

Dietrech: I don't know how exactly, because you never know where God is going lead you, but I hope that whatever it is that God has me doing that it's about helping people in any way. That's what I really believe that I'm here on earth for. I'm not here for me. I'm not here to become famous or the wealthiest man. I think that the most important thing that you can do is help other people. I'm not sure how it will come about but I do know that that is my journey.

Kim: It's been great talking with you Dietrech. I wish you all of the best on your CD.

Dietrech: Thanks, it has been great.