What's at the root of the Newsboys' success? You'd have to go back to childhood mates and band mainstays Peter Furler and John James. Furler and James' unerring ear for a hook, flair for stage presentation and performance, and rock-solid belief that the Christian life is a joy that needs to be shared have set the 'Boys apart from a dozen copy-cat bands in the past five years alone. All of this from a band that's still unknown to the record-buying public at largeÉ but not to the religious music marketplace - or to other musicians. Steven Curtis Chapman, for instance, has asked them to open his ground-breaking Heaven in the Real World tour, and nationwide youth speaker Josh McDowell has asked Newsboys to join him on his 1995/96 tour. While contemporary music legend Steven Taylor asked to produce both their latest release (Not Ashamed) and their upcoming release (Going Public), for Star Song Records. Furler (who is again sharing production chores on Going Public with Taylor) says the Newsboys had a couple of things in mind with this release. "We have definitely really tried not to make Not Ashamed II !" he says. "We tried to make a stretch for the fans who enjoyed Not Ashamed - but not too much of a stretch. U2 is a good example. I wasn't crazy about the leap they made on Achtung Baby when it furst came out, but I grew into it and now its my favorite album of theirs." "Going Public seems to achieve that same end. The cornerstone foundations are the same. We have taken the best of Not Ashamed and left the worst behind." Not that there was all that much "worst" on what turned out to be one of the best-selling albums of 1993-4. But even a cursory listen to the tracks on Going Public reveal - even to the casual fan - that there is something different here. The band is tighter, stronger, more cohesive, the sound is more muscular, sinewy. Furler agreees: "The Newsboys have really always been John James and myself," he says, "the other players have come and gone. But for Going Public, the band musicians are the best players we've ever had."

"The other thing is, for the first time, we really are a band. We never wanted to be just two guys, we always wanted to be a band." It has only been recently that Furler finally got his wish. Bassist Kevin Mills joined the 'Boys' in October 1992, during the final stages of Not Ashamed - but too late for the jacket photo. Keyboardist Duncan Phillips, a long-time friend and fellow Aussie of both Furler and James, joined when Corey Pryor left the band in early 1993. While the most recent addition is lead guitarist Jody Davis. It was Davis' brilliant studio work - and upfront band mentality - that force Furler and James to finally think in terms of a full-time group. "Jody is the best player we've ever had and he fit in with the vibe," Furler says happily. "The amazing thing is that he can get on the stage and play the Dave Perkins stuff from the album, as well as his own thing. He's really come around on this album, writing songs, adding his own guitar stylings." As a result, Furler says that the Newsboys have grown significantly during the recording of Going Public with Taylor. "It's still a young sound - we haven't lost any of the innocence in our sound," he says. "And everything is still hook-oriented: every instrumental, every chorus, even some of the lyrics."

"But I think this album we've gone back to something like the attack of our very first release, Read All About It, when we first came over from Australia. In a lot of ways, it is linked back to those days. There are, for instance, less backing vocals, more single vocals when that's all that's called for and I've been digging that." "I [also] think there's more originality on Going Public that any of our previous releases and if I have to attribute that to something, I guess it has been to the fact we're finally a band. A band finding its sound." Going Public even sounds more like the 'Boys live, particularly in the sharp, provocative percussion and the deeper, more booming bass lines. "This is also the first time we've had the money and time to experiment a lot, to really mess around in the studio - searching for just the right sound," Furler says. "That, coupled with the input of the new members, gives Going Public that band-feel. And oi! I like it!"

If there's growth in music, there is even more change in lyrics on Going Public. Taylor wrote two-thirds of the lyrics, which are challenging, intriguing, sometimes funny, and always insightful. "And he hasn't just written Steve Taylor lyrics or songs," Furler says. "He has stepped in and kept the anthemic thing we do as well. That is one of the things I really dig about Steve: he stepped in as a band member. He didn't say, 'Here, let me fix you.' He runs each lyric by each band member, asking 'Are you comfortable with this?' And if one of us says, 'Well, we might not say something quite that way,' he'll come back with something even better!"

Consequently, from a lyric standpoint, Going Public is more in-your-face and upfront than even Not Ashamed. "Last One Turns the Lights Out" for instance features a particularly aggressive attack. It's still the basic Newsboys message, just said another way: "Don't go shuttin' down/'til the trumpet sounds/and the battle is won/don't go punchin' out/'til the final shout/and the Father says, 'Well done.'" "As song like 'Last One turns the Lights Out' is like therapy for us, " Furler says. "Some of these songs are directly about things that are in our hearts. We'll go for days thinking, 'Man, this is bugging me.' Then we'll sit around and talk about it on the bus for days. At some point I'll write down the idea and eventually give those ideas, those subjects, to Steve. He goes away and makes it sound good." Other songs are equally compelling. "Let It Rain" is the story of Peter in the days following the Crucifixion and Resurrection. "A Guy comes along, you follow him, and He's the Savior!" Furler says. "Then He is taken away from you. Peter must have looked back and thought 'What an idiot I was to have missed even a single second!' It is written along that context and turned out to be a very emotional song for us.." Other songs make equally pointed statements. Both "Going Pubilc" and "Shine" harken back to the words of "Not Ashamed" and (I cannot Get You) Out of My System." "They are both the 'going public' theme - what we're trying to do, what we're trying to say," Furler says. "Going Public is about making disciples of Christ." But through Going Public, another lyric thread emerges. The Newsboys have always been a heavily evangelical band, and songs like "Real Good Thing" speak out not just to the church but to another audience as well: "Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve and grace is when you get what you don't deserve. I don't think we realize how important this grace thing is. This album is something that'll always remind me of God's grace." What's ahead for the Newsboys? Furler is refreshingly frank. He simply doesn't know. Not a clue. "We don't really plan anything. When we think we have enough to say that has a strong message, then we know it is time to put out another album. "[But] what is being said on Not Ashamed or any of our earlier releases, is not out of date. Those were songs, those were messages we felt at the time. We just felt it was time to say more." And what makes it all worthwhile for the Newsboys? "Looking at the audience singing along on songs like 'Shine' or 'Going Public' or 'Not Ashamed' and knowing that the words are like a release for many of them," Furler says. "Sometimes in church you don't feel like singing, but just being there frees you. You can't help but feel that when you enter into church knowing that you can have something change in your life. "That's the feel of this release, that's what we're hoping - that's what we're praying - at least some of these songs do for people. Make a changeÉ for themÉ and for us."