Kim - Hi John. How are you?
John - Pretty good. We're almost done with this tour and we're going to go home on Saturday for the first time in three months. We're really looking forward to getting home.
Kim - Tell me about the deal with Lava Records.
John - Well, we've been working on the deal since last September I guess. Basically we've been looking for several years. I mean even when we first started actually. Our first record was out in '96. After our first record I remember thinking that I never really wanted my music to just be in Christian music. What I always had envisioned was doing my music in just a mainstream world. The Christian music thing just kind-of ended up falling into my lap. Between us and the label, there was always an understanding that we wanted to do more than just Christian music in terms of the Christian music industry, I guess you would say. So we've kind-of been pursuing that for many years and there's been several different labels that have come to the table since '98, but none of the doors really seemed to open right until this last little spell with Lava. So yeah, I mean, it's been a great experience so far. And I think that the cool thing was that we already had a record done and they liked the album like it was and it wasn't like they weren't into the lyrics. They weren't intimidated or upset that we're Christian. All the kind of things that you kind-of wonder might happen. People have kind-of wondered if that was the case. We've only been doing it for a few months so I'm sure there will be problems that come up, but we've not been doing it long enough with Lava to have the problems yet.
Kim - The press release that came out talked about how Ardent has been trying to shop you guys out to mainstream labels for six years and I know that is a long time to wait.
John - Yeah. In '98 was when it first really started. Back in '98 there wasn't a lot happening in terms of Christian music in the mainstream. It was pretty clear on a lot of different occasions that they didn't like ... they weren't comfortable with signing a Christian band. They didn't like how we talked about our faith and those kinds of issues. So that has definitely been the case. I think that maybe bands like P.O.D. has kind-of bridged that gap in such a way that people aren't as concerned about it. Of course, in the mainstream world they're just interested in selling records. You know? They're like, "oh, if it's going to sell good then it's OK".
Kim - That same press release had one of the Ardent people saying that the "Christian tag", in the past, "had seemed to be a hindrance where secular labels were concerned". Do you feel like you've had to "bend" in any way in order to get that nod from a mainstream label?
John - No, that's not been the case. The biggest problem had just been in the past that they'd not seen a Christian band come out and do well. Again, I think that P.O.D. was kind-of that bridge. They came out and my understanding was that they had a lot of issues with their label. People just thinking this isn't going to work because they're Christians. Their lyrics, this ... you know, those kinds of things. I think that was a bit of an issue for them. But I think they sort of saw that people were into it, and even since two of the biggest rock bands that there have been in recent years, with Creed and P.O.D., not that Creed is a Christian band, they are a very spiritual band, I think that labels started seeing that it was actually positive to sign a band with kind of spiritual lyrics and that kind of thing. You know what I'm trying to say? They started to see it as a positive thing rather than a negative thing. So I think that's really the only thing. It's not been like "you need to change your lyrics" or those kind of issues. Any of those kind of things that have happened have happened because of my own ideas and my own convictions rather than someone else telling me to do that.
