BREATHEcast Were you at Creation East?
David Crowder We were actually, that was a crazy day actually, we mastered our record on that day so I was trying desperately, making some edits, and I was trying to get these files off in a Fed Ex box and the closest Fed Ex box was like 45 min away so It was a lot of car speeding across the greater I guess it was Pennsylvania, the middle of nowhere, trying to get back to any kind of civilization. Then we got to play for a little bit and then it was right back to work. It was kind of a quick trip for us but it was amazing.
BREATHEcast So is it the same kind of situation now, are you still working on your album?
David Crowder Well no we kind of got it wrapped up. We threw our hands up and walked away. It is what it is at this point we’re really excited about it though; we can’t wait for folks to hear it. That’s the crazy part about making music because you get done with it then it’s still not getting in to stores until September is when ours is coming out. It’s just a hard wait you know. You're done and you’ve walked away, then it’s just a wait. So we’re all patient.
BREATHEcast With your last record, there’s a very big story behind it. There was a conversation with a physics student. And this next album seems that it kind of has the same kind of background.
David Crowder Believe it or not, it’s the same dude, it’s his fault again. We were outside my barn just talking about some stuff. And then he made this statement he said "did you ever notice" now this isn’t necessarily something that would hold up in any physics room for sure he said "did you ever notice that the sky goes all the way to the ground." And I said what. And he said "no no, it’s like sky then ground. Our feet are on the ground but we’re walking around in the sky." Immediately I said that’s it, that’s our reality. That’s where we’re stuck as Christians. Redemption's found us. We’ve been rescued but we’re still in a desperate spot, you know. A lot of this had to do about the time he said this, you know it was very soon after the tsunami in South East Asia. For me it was you hear a lot about natural disasters growing up you learn a lot about them. And you know it’s part of our situation as well but then you see the images of that on television over and over and over. And it was really hard to reconcile and it was a visual of the depth of our fault. Even the ground and our feet aren’t right; the air that we breathe is not right. It’s like there’s this thing that comes from the middle of the sea and it’s tearing children from their parents you know. And it’s granted that rescue has found us but we’re still in this spot and there’s a greater rescue is coming. I think there are moments that happen in life that transcend everyday experiences and I think corporate worship is a lot like that. It seems like your feet leave the ground and you get a glimpse of what eternal life is like, but then you're right back into the grind. Monday comes and your feet come back to the ground. And here we are trying to figure out what it means to be alive and rescued and the same time. It’s an interesting thing. So it’s all this guys fault again. This CD is just trying to figure that out. It’s kind of a rendering of our mortality and our immortality, as well you know. That here’s this life but there’s more coming.
BREATHEcast Are we going to hear any of your new material tonight?
David Crowder I don’t know, we haven’t made the set list yet. I feel sure we probably, "Here’s our King" has been surfacing quite a bit. Just due to it being out on the Passion thing already. I’m pretty confident that one will make it. I don’t know. It depends on the amount of time we have and all that good stuff. We’ll be out doing a whole lot of this stuff in the fall following up the release on the tour, which will actually come.
BREATHEcast Speaking of the set list, how do you go about making a set list for an event?
David Crowder Well actually, we really lean on our guitar player Jason Solley. He is like, I don’t know... the guy is one of those dudes that, he always walks through the right door at the right time. It’s a bazaar thing and it seems like his finger up in the air and knows where the wind is coming from and knows where it’s going, but he would tell you. In a setting like this, some of it is mysterious where the wind is blowing but some of it is just the fact that you have a bunch of people that you probably don’t know that probably don’t know you, especially in a setting like this where they come for a lot of different bands so you want to find something that connects everybody at some point and gives them enough handles to just engage through music and express and articulate stuff about our faith. So you need some moments where you’re not really necessarily thinking about the band or the words or think about this or that. I know that will be present as well. There will be presented one of those moments where we’re able to use music as fully as we’re able to. Just due to art being an important part of what we want to communicate. Saying that art has a function in our living, for us it is music that is that so we want to have moments in our sets that are able to stretch musically for who we are. You’ll have that stuff and also when you have this many people together you just want to have a good time as well and enjoy God and what He’s given us. I think a lot of stuff like this and corporate worship is about looking at each other. You know, seeing this many people engaged to their creator, I think is even a larger statement then any notes we'll play or any we'll choose. I think it is a bigger statement to look at your peer and see them engaged with God. So that’s a lot of what we want to do is just give people space to engage God. That’s going to be very significant for everybody that’s here.
BREATHEcast You’ve written so many beautiful songs. Especially Open Skies. I know when I first read that song, a picture just like this really came to me. I wasn’t at Creation East so I don’t know if there were more people there than there was here, but this is everything breathing with the sound echoing off the gorge. Is there any song that you're particularly excited about playing?
David Crowder That one especially when you’re in festival settings, you have us nailed there. That song got its life from a concert in Texas. In a field with full of college kids and I stumbled onto this song and I said that’s it. The monument to God’s faithfulness is God’s people. And when you get His people together, you're able to look each other in the eye and say, it might not feel like I’m in victory right now but I pulled him through and he’s going to pull me through. When you get in a setting like this with that song, I can’t wait till it gets to that moment in the set list.
BREATHEcast Well we’re out of time but it was nice talking with you.
David Crowder Yeah I'm really glad we were able to talk.
