Keeping the Faith with Third Day
...And God Said, "Let There Be Rock"
originally published March 19, 2008
Third Day
“We’re ready to share our music with people outside the church.” This is Christian rock’s most frequently voiced campaign promise. All contemporary evangelical bands talk about following in the steps of Jars of Clay, P.O.D. and Sufjan Stevens, artists who first became popular within Christian circles and then achieved mainstream success. And like political candidates, Christian bands seldom make good on their boldest ambitions. Sometimes, they fail for lack of trying; in most cases, though, their lack of talent keeps them trapped in their subculture.
Atlanta’s Third Day, one of the Christian market’s most acclaimed acts, has attempted to break into the mainstream a number of times during the last decade. “We’ve come to a place where we’re realizing that if you’re a person of faith,” says frontman Mac Powell, “you want to reach outside the walls of the church and share that faith. That’s where we’ve been at for the last 12 years.” What has held the group back?
Third Day lacks neither chops nor drive. Its blend of Southern rock and massive, Top 40-ready hooks isn’t innovative, but it is well executed. Third Day’s music is every bit as catchy as that of Lifehouse or Maroon 5, and it’s far more dynamic and skillfully played. And the group has certainly worked hard to build its fanbase, touring and recording regularly during its 15 years of existence. The fellas have three Grammys, a platinum record, and six gold albums to show for their efforts.
And maybe “held back” is the wrong way to look at Third Day’s position, anyway. When Powell formed the band as a high school student in Powder Springs, he aimed to encourage fellow believers. “That’s what we wanted to do from the beginning,” he responds when asked why Third Day entered the Christian market. “That’s where we felt comfortable, being able to be straightforward with our lyrics and not having to worry about watering down or hiding who we were. [Christian music] was really helping us, encouraging us, so that was what we wanted to do.” Powell readily accepts that others will pigeonhole Third Day in light of its past. “Because of the success we’ve had within our market,” he says, “people know who we are within [the music industry], and so I think there are eventually those people who assume what the music is like before they hear it. They hear about us, and know who we are, and go, 'Okay, that’s not for me.' And that’s fine for us, really. We’ve been successful at what we’ve done, and we’ll continue to try to make quality music for people of faith and people that listen to mainstream music. It’s a unique calling that we have and something that we’ll continue trying to do for the next few years.”
For Powell, all of Third Day’s music, regardless of whom it’s intended for, is an act of worship. “Modern worship music is probably defined as music that has a lyric that’s directly worshipping God and speaking to God,” he says, “but I think praise and worship music can go beyond that. If it’s a song that can make you think about life, and faith, and God, I think it can be considered a worship song.” But aren’t songs that actively affirm the attributes of an authoritative Yahweh an anathema to rock’s transgressive nature? Powell thinks not.
“I would look at the history of music,” he explains. “As you go through the years, and you think about rock and roll; it got its start in the church, in gospel music. Country music, it got its start from bluegrass music, which was an offshoot of church music and hymns. Faith has always been a part of contemporary music. Of course, there are great names through the years who were people of faith, whether it be Bob Dylan or Aretha Franklin, who made great music. Faith’s a part of life, and therefore it’s a part of music.”
WHO: Third Day, Decemberadio, Sanctus Real
WHERE: Classic Center
WHEN: Friday, March 21
HOW MUCH: $20–$35
Montreal's Stars Set to Shine in Athens
Bright Melodies and Dark Themes Inspire Stars' Latest Work
originally published March 19, 2008
Stars
"This is where the magic happens." That's what any celebrity on MTV's "Cribs" will tell you as their guided tour enters the bedroom. To these famous faces, the bedroom is all tongue-and-cheek insinuation, but ask Montreal's Stars, and they'll tell you about a real kind of magic that lies within such intimate quarters.
"To me [the bedroom] is a redemptive thing," says Stars singer Torquil Campbell, "because I think that the bedroom is one of the few things that every culture shares… It's somewhere we all go to heal. Even if it's a very humble place, it's the one place we go and at least try to achieve a sense of safety, and we let ourselves rest, and we hope that when we wake up the next day things will be different."
This is the symbolism behind Stars' latest record title In Our Bedroom After the War. The "war," Campbell explains, can represent any struggle, whether it's international conflict or personal strife.
"All wars are the same, ultimately," he says. "They're all a waste of time, whether it's a war with your lover or a war in the Middle East. They all leave you weaker, sadder, and with a lot of apologizing to do. Either way there are a lot of pieces to pick up and wounds to be healed."
The peace and solitude found within the bedroom, then, speaks to a sense of salvation that follows the resolution of such a conflict. It is a theme that runs through many of Stars' records - a feeling of hope amid darkness. This dichotomy has fascinated Campbell and the rest of the band throughout their collective career. It's something Stars have tried to capture for many years, and Campbell feels they finally got it just right.
"The goals were to make a record that was sort of a culmination of musical and production ideas that we'd had on previous records, but we were never able to execute the way we wanted to. For the first time [on In Our Bedroom], we had some money and we had some time."
They also had a very clear artistic vision.
"We were very inspired on a sonic level by bands like Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac and Hall and Oates … that kind of production style of the late-'70s and early-'80s - very dry and very closed and very smooth. But those bands, in terms of the content of what they were singing about, tended to be very dark, and I think we were interested in that combination of very digestible, slick music with imagery and lyrics that were a great deal darker than might be revealed immediately."
To that end, Stars have flawlessly succeeded. In Our Bedroom After the War manages to feel perfectly polished without losing any depth of emotion. As Campbell exchanges vocal duties with Amy Millan, their voices ring with crisp, clean beauty and eloquence. Their message seems simple because it's so precisely focused, yet it's an album that begs for analysis - for absorption. Within the packaging, the lyrics to each song are displayed on individual, loose sheets, like lullaby flash-cards to be studied, understood and shared.
Although Millan and Campbell's voices have always been the most prominent instruments in the Stars' sound, guitarist/bassist Evan Cranley and keyboardist Chris Seligman are the primary songwriters behind the tunes. On the DVD documentary that accompanies In Our Bedroom, the band discusses at length the perfectionism that obsesses Seligman and Cranley's creativity. It is that astute attention to detail that surely marks the record's seamless construction and clarity.
Also showcased on the DVD is the strength of Stars' live show. The cinematic tone of their music naturally lends itself to a moving, theatrical performance. Stars seem to cast the same spell of dark mysticism that Stevie Nicks once wielded. For Campbell, a sense of theatrics comes naturally given his background in acting.
"I am irresistibly drawn to theatricality," he says, "to action, to reaching out. Actors are, by virtue of the job they have, very open people, people-pleasers, and they want to connect very deeply with others. I think that instinct is still very much present in me. I still feel like I have to fight for people's attention."
Judging by Stars' rigorous tour schedule which takes them halfway around the world and back in just a couple months, it seems the whole band shares that commitment.
WHO: Stars WHEN: Saturday, March 22 WHERE: Georgia Theatre HOW MUCH: $15
Venice Is Sinking Begins Residency at Flicker
Going Against the Grain of Conventional Touring Wisdom.
originally published March 19, 2008
Daniel Lawson of Venice Is Sinking
If you thought Venice Is Sinking plays all the time in Athens, well, you were wrong, but, you'll soon be right.
“There was definitely a time when we were first starting that we were playing all the time, but you kinda have to do that when you’re starting out," explains singer and guitarist Daniel Lawson. However, the local favorites notable for Karolyn Troupe’s viola and Lawson’s hazy vocals actually had slowed down their performance schedule over the past several years since the release of the debut album Sorry About the Flowers.
That’s changing, though, as the band - Lawson, Troupe, drummer Lucas Jensen and keyboard player James Sewell - sets up shop at the Flicker Theatre & Bar for the next two months as part of a weekly residency of Wednesday shows. “It’s kinda funny that now we actually are playing every week,” says Lawson.
The deal is this: every Wednesday night, Venice Is Sinking will bring its well-regarded melodic tuneage to the stage as the house opening band. The shows kickoff somewhere around 9 p.m., give or take, and that’s indicative of Athens’ loose sense of schedule as much as it is the casual air the band is trying to create at these shows. Lawson stresses, though, that the shows should get going by 9:30 p.m., and he says he hopes that the earlier start time will draw out some potential show-goers not up for the usual late-night slog.
“It’s mostly about playing with friends and being comfortable than anything else,” he says. As to whether a weekly residency is viable, and if audiences won’t dwindle by the series’ end, Lawson says, plainly, “I don’t know. That’s part of the reason we chose Flicker, because it’s so comfortable there and easier to do shows. It’s not like the Caledonia, for instance, where people come to see a show and its primary function is as a venue… Flicker’s a bar first, so it’s a little more relaxed and there’s not as much pressure to get people in the door and make money.”
The residency started several weeks back when Venice Is Sinking paired with The Ginger Envelope to kick off the series. Lawson says the initial idea for the Flicker residency came from drummer Lucas Jensen, and evolved out of a long-held desire to break from the conventional wisdom of how, when and where a local band should play shows. “We’d always wanted to do a ‘tour of Athens,’ and play at venues that we wouldn’t normally play,” says Lawson, “all in one week. Like, Monday at Wild Wing, Tuesday at the Georgia Theatre, Wednesday at Last Call, or whatever that’s called now. We’ve talked about that for a couple years, but it hasn’t happened, so this is the next best thing.”
As for why Venice Is Sinking chose to set up shop now, Lawson says it was initially a way to force the band to practice for an upcoming tour of China, originally scheduled for May but postponed until October of this year. “The idea was to do this instead of having regular practice,” he says. “We just thought this would help us get ready better, because none of us have time to really play too many shows out of town or practice while we’re working and finishing the new record.”
If the first two installments of the residency are any indication of what’s to come, then audiences are in for older Venice Is Sinking tunes alongside tracks off the upcoming album AZAR. “We’re messing around with new arrangements for old songs. We’re playing some songs that maybe we haven’t played live before,” says Lawson, “or songs that maybe we shouldn’t play yet because they’re not ready.”
It’s a transitional time for the band, with songwriting duties shifting - Lawson says he’s been more open to collaboration recently, and that Jensen has been helping out on lyrics - and longtime bassist Stephen Miller is leaving the band to focus on his university studies and his other musical endeavors.
“Steve’s leaving the band, or has left the band, so we’re only going to do a few shows with him,” says Lawson. “Although he has had a few what we thought were ‘last shows,’ so he keeps popping up. But we’re pretty excited about trying to figure out how to play as a four-piece, or seeing if we need to bring someone into that slot.”
Guest musicians should factor into the residency shows as well. “We are planning on having a few guests join us on stage for some of the shows, people we've played with over the years,” says Lawson. “Jeremy Wheatley, Clint McElroy, etc. will probably turn up, as well as Colin Jones who played trumpet on the new record. Also, we plan on doing a song or two with Matias helping us out on guitar and vocals. The show we're playing with her is actually on her birthday, I think, which should be fun.”
As for that new album AZAR, Lawson warns that although the recording and mixing has wrapped, Athens shouldn’t expect to see a completed product for a while, as no record label or distribution decisions have been made. Lawson and Jensen have been trekking up to the North Carolina studios of producer Scott Solter, who has helmed the production of albums for artists like Mountain Goats, Pattern Is Movement and Spoon, among many others.
“Scott’s been awesome to work with. The sounds you hear in your head that you don’t know how to execute, he knows how to make it happen. Lucas and I keep thinking that it’s a much better album with much better songs and much better productions, but that people will like it much less,” says Lawson, and laughs. “I guess we’ll see.”
WHO: Venice Is Sinking Weekly Residency
WHERE: Flicker Theatre & Bar
WHEN: Wednesdays through April; 9 p.m.
HOW MUCH: $5
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