Exclusives Interviews "Even Now," Foolish Things is On Their Way: Interview with bassist Nate Phillips (2007)
| "Even Now," Foolish Things is On Their Way: Interview with bassist Nate Phillips (2007) |
| Written by Catherine | |||
| Tuesday, 11 March 2008 16:36 | |||
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The reason we chose a Saturday is because we are doing a huge CD release concert on that evening here in Denver, Colorado. So in terms of when people can come and celebrate with us, it’ll be on iTunes January 22nd. The other reason this won’t be release on a Tuesday is because it isn’t being distributed nationally through EMI or anything like that. It’s an independent release so it’ll be available on iTunes and our website, and then a couple real small distributors like Calvary, and we are talking with Vineyard Distribution. So it will be more through churches and on our own. That leads me right to my next question. Are you still with Inpop? We’re not with Inpop anymore. Basically when we were working on demos for this album, we were working with them and trying to figure out what was going to be best for songs, and since day one, the reason we started as a band was because we wanted to serve our youth group and people. And over the years, we’ve seen that we have to be obedient to God. We spent a lot of time praying and thinking through what God wants us to share with people. So when we were talking with Inpop about what songs we decided and what we were working on, they didn’t really have enough confidence in our decision and said that they didn’t want to release it. So we said ‘That’s fine.’ So we are releasing it independently. Are you in the process of searching for a label to sign you? Or are you just letting God do His thing with you? We’re not going to pursue that. We are definitely going to do this independently. Our youth pastor challenged us by saying ‘Don’t open doors yourself. Let the Lord open the doors and then you can explore them.’ So with Inpop, we never pursued a label, and over the years they have always been the one to approach us. We feel called to that – to stay focused on what we’re doing and to stay focused on what the Lord has put before us, and if that other stuff happens and if they open, then well explore them. But we aren’t going to spend too much energy worrying about that. Yeah, your Myspace blog is full of stories about random people and church members giving you random amounts of money for support. You know, that’s a confirmation for us. When God is continuing to provide and continuing to open doors for opportunities, it’s like well, obviously He is still in with us so we’ll keep walking through them, you know? It’s been a cool journey for sure. I’ll bet! Let’s talk about your album. Talk about the simple, sleek cover design. Is there any symbolism between that and the meaning of the album title? You know, I wouldn’t say so at all. We talked about that quite a bit – what we were going for, how it ties in to the title, but honestly, we just wanted something clean and simple. We were running out of time, but we like clean and simple more than crazy and scattered, so that’s what we went for. In regards to the title track, was there ever a time where you, or you and the band, were so far away from Christ that you had to realize your own message, that “Even Now” He’ll come to you? Hmm…that’s a really good question. Definitely as a band I think we’re on a journey together so there are definitely ups and downs, but yeah, personally, there’s a lot of times that our relationship with Christ that have ups and downs, too. A lot of dry times with Christ and just trying to figure out and claim that promise that He is still there, that even now, in the midst of the circumstances, that He’s still there among us. That song connected with all of us, and it’s connecting with people as we play it. I think the reason it’s connecting with a lot of people is because we all have that time when we doubt and we feel like, ‘How can God be here right now? Does He still love me?’ That kind of stuff is really relevant. I have to mention "Love Chained Me Here" because I absolutely love "Find Your Way Back" (from your debut album) and the second song seems like a follow up. Do you think writing a song from God’s point of view will sort of be your signature on your albums? You do so well at it. Well, Isaac wrote both of those songs and he is a gifted person. He cranks out these songs, a lot of them from God’s perspective, and they just blow us away. The Lord really does speak through him and I think he is good at capturing God’s heart for us in his songs. So I would say so. I think Isaac will continue to write songs like that. Isaac doesn’t force songwriting. A lot of people sit down and say they are going to write a song a day or something, but both Isaac and Mark don’t force writing. They wait until they feel inspired to write. So I think through the obedience of that, and just the desire to be inspired, what comes out a lot of times is really genuine and authentic. I think as long as they are waiting to hear from the Lord before they start writing, I think God will honor that and use them for that. Do you play those songs live at all? Or is it kind of weird to speak as God to your audience? Oh we definitely play those songs live. To be honest, our shows to me are really a chance to worship the Lord. That might be to our detriment a little bit because we aren’t there to entertain people, but I would hope, and from the feedback we get, our shows are powerful. I’m worshipping the Lord and I’m praying those songs, and I’m feeling and receiving what the Lord has for those songs as we play. I think people hear and feel our songs and are able to connect to God through them. At least that’s what I’ve heard, and that’s what we kind of shoot for. Is "Keep Us Together" sort of like the band’s prayer? Yeah definitely. That song is a band’s song not in terms of the band itself, but the friendships within the band. We’ve all been friends since third grade, and grew up together way before playing music, and these past few years, the band has become more of a job than an after school activity. So when that happens, I think there’s a lot more pressure and music and ministry becomes more of a pressure oriented thing than like, ‘Let’s serve together and love together and be one.’ We’ve definitely struggled with that as a group, you know, maintaining purity and maintaining unity. So it’s a prayer for our friendships within the group. And being able to play in churches all across the country, we’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff with pastors, church members, all kinds of things. And when Jesus prays in John Chapter 17, He prays for His people to be unified. And the reason He prayed is because it’s so hard to stay unified. It’s so hard to stick it out and love each other. So it’s kind of a prayer for the body from the situations we’ve seen. The song fits into a lot of different situations. "Fly" was also on 2003 EP and there’s a compilation CD from a few years ago on iTunes. How did you choose what songs to put on your new record? It’s actually a pretty interesting process. [Laughter] Going into the studio we knew we were going to do a ten song album and we had about 16 songs to choose from. So there were about five or six songs that the group said, hands down, these need to be on it. Well now there’s five open slots that we all have to talk about, argue about, pray about. It can be a process for sure. But the reason we re-recorded Fly is because everywhere we go, all the time, people say, ‘I want to hear Fly.’ So we just decided to revamp it a little bit and make people enjoy it more. Is there a song you play live that your fans seem to react to the most? Hmm…well other than "Fly," since we started playing new songs, there is tons and tons of reaction from "Love Chained Me Here." That’s such a good song. And "Who Can Compare," that song had a lot of radio success so I think people know that one more than any others. Yeah, and speaking of radio, is there a song from this album you are releasing to radio? Yeah we do! We’ll be releasing ‘Even Now’ as a single. There are several stations that have added it already and we are talking to more. Our add date was January 8th, so we are waiting to hear back from more. What about a touring schedule? Do you have anything lined up? Right now, on our Myspace page, all the dates are current. We are working right now to book more dates in the Spring and Winter, and we will be touring regionally and nationally this Spring. After that, we’ll see what the Lord has for us! That sounds great! Is there anything else you want to add or to tell your fans? Just that we recorded this album, and we do what we do because we want to bless people. We want people to be challenged and encouraged, we want the Lord to love on them, so we hope that the people will like the music and can connect with it. That's really great. Thank you very much for your time, Nate! Don't forget to download your copy of Even Now from iTunes on January 22nd! Check out our review of the album here, and say hello to the band on their Myspace page! www.FoolishThings.com |
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