I
caught up to Jon Micah at the studio on the phone for
a few minutes in early September. Here's what he had
to say ...
Kim - So how are you guys doing?
JM - Pretty good.
Kim -I understand that you are getting ready
to co-headline Festival Con Dios.
JM - Yes, that's correct.
Kim - I saw you guys on Harvest not too long
ago, actually this weekend. You sounded really good.
ML - Thank you. We did day seven.
Kim - I also understand that you spent the
better part of last month in the studio.
JM - Yeah, we were in the studio pretty much
all month. We're back in here today and were here
yesterday as well.
Kim - So how's that coming?
JM - It's going really well. We're working
on a song today that we're really excited about. It's
been really neat.
Kim - What is the release date for the new
CD?
JM - Tentatively, February 24th.
Kim - What will the title be?
JM - Sea of Faces.
Kim - You guys released your first CD last
year and it sold well over 100,000 copies. You have
spent 52 straight weeks in the Top 50 in sales for
Christian retail and you're constantly in the charts.
For a relatively young band, formed in 1999, you've
come a really long way in a short time. How has it
affected you to going from a relatively unknown band
to a place where everyone knows who Kutless is?
JM - I would say, for my own life, some of
the biggest things that have changed have been mostly
just adapting to touring life. We're touring full
time. On the road full time, traveling all across the
country. I really spend most of my time on a tour bus.
That's been the biggest thing to adjust to. And also,
stuff like just going out to eat, or going places and
having people recognize me. It depends on where we're
at. Some places we get more recognized than others.
Sometimes it's hard to even go places every once in a
while. Really though, we're just having a good time.
Traveling around the country and playing music and
doing what we love.
Kim - I know that ya'll were all college
students, with the exception of James, who is your
newest member and that you left school so you could
focus on the music. What were you majoring in?
JM - I was a business major.
Kim - How far along did you get?
JM - I have about a year and a half left.
Kim - You know, no matter how much I read
about your band, I am not living your life and don't
know what is important to you personally. So Jon
Micah, what do you want to talk about today?
JM - (laughs) I guess our most important
thing is the message we're trying to convey through
our music. We really hope to convey how much God loves
people. We hope that, through our music, people will
understand that. God loves them and cares for them.
That love that we have in our own lives, through our
relationships with Christ, that we want to share with
other people. That's what drives our music. We write
about all sorts of things ... from things you go
through in daily life to even spiritual battles and
things you deal with in a walk with God. I guess
there's really two main goals of our band that we try
to pursue and go after. The first is to be evangelical
and be able to share our faith and share what we
believe in with people. The second is to be a positive
alternative for a lot of Christians and people looking
for more positive music. Because unfortunately, in the
genre' of music that we're in, most of the other bands
are very negative and have a lot of profanity and
things like that. We hope to offer an alternative to
that. It's been really neat to see our music impacting
people's lives. It's been really cool. I think that
the passion that is behind our music, because we
believe in it so firmly, and since it's suc
h a big part of our lives, it really gives a lot of
meaning to our music. Our music is more than just
singing about girls or whatever. It's really deep
passion that goes all the way to our souls. I think
that really is conveyed a lot of times. I think that's
why some of our fans have been drawn to our music.
Kim - I read that you all used to live
together and had a lot of parties where you would
share the music.
JM - Yeah, when we were back in college.
Since we've been on the road, and a couple of us have
gotten married now, we mostly just live on our bus!
But when we're home, like now, in the studio, my wife
and I rented a temporary apartment in Seattle.
Kim - What would you say is the most
difficult part of adjusting to life on the road?
JM - Probably being in such a tight space
with so many people. There's not a whole lot of
privacy and it's like having roommates all of the
time, but if you get frustrated with them you can't
really leave to get some space. That's definitely been
trying. I think we've learned a lot about dealing with
each other and things like that. I mean, we get along
pretty good, but like any roommates, there's times
when we don't get along the best. That's been one of
the harder things.
Kim - Do any of you have your wives travel
with you?
JM - Yes, all three of us that are married
bring our wives with us. With as much touring as we
do, we pretty much have to have them with us or we'd
never see them.
Kim - I see that ya'll average over 100
shows a year.
JM - Yeah, and this year we're doing over250
shows. Plus a month and a half in the studio. For us,
a vacation is staying in one place for a few days and
relaxing.
Kim - I can imagine. Well I'm excited to be
starting the countdown to Festival Con Dios and the
new CD. I appreciate you taking time out of your day
to talk with me.
JM - No problem. Look for us on Festival Con
Dios and for our new record on February 24th.
