Smile, It's Hawk Nelson
04-14-2006
by Brenten Gilbert

Hawk Nelson has quickly become one of CCM's most popular acts, with music that's been impacting television, movies and radio. Their latest release, Smile, It's the End of the World finds the band with two new members and a more serious approach to music, while staying true to the fun-loving energy that fans have clearly identified with.

CMCentral.com got on the phone with Jason Dunn, lead singer for the group before the album hit the shelves. We talked about the musical growth of Hawk Nelson, life on the road, the taboo subject of suicide and much more. What follows is a complete transcript of that conversation.

CMCentral.com (brenten gilbert): First off, I wanted to congratulate you for being the favorite new artist of the CCM Magazine'sreaders' poll.

Jason Dunn: Thank you. We're not worthy.

(laughs)

That must be pretty encouraging.

Totally. That was something that we didn't expect at all. We thought they were joking, but it's awesome.

So you've obviously established a pretty good rapport with your fans. Why do you think that you've been able to connect so well?

Just being ourselves, you know? Not forgetting who we were when we first started. We started as four guys who played in our friend's basement or just anywhere we could get a gig.  We've held onto that basic memory. Working so hard to be successful shouldn't change the people you are and still trying to have relationships with kids instead of being like a typical "rockstar". We have to go about it a different way and just be ourselves. We have a lot of fun and build relationships. I think that goes a long way with fans.

It seems to be working pretty well.

Yeah, for sure.

So on the strength of your last album you got to cover The Who (for the television show, American Dream) and now you're on the cover of CCM Magazine in a pose that's a throw back to The Beatles.

I know it's funny right?

How do you feel to have the name Hawk Nelson tossed around with those legends of rock?

It's really an honor. You can ask anybody in the world and they'll know who The Beatles are. I think awesome, not to we're being compared to them, but to be in the same sentence as The Beatles. That is so awesome. It's truly amazing. I can't believe it.

So are there talks of an official Canadian Invasion in the vein of the British Invasion?

(laughs)

I've never thought of that. That's funny. Who knows? We are just so glad to be here in the beautiful country of America. You just can't take it for granted, you know?

The new album is coming out on April 4th. So what can you tell us about that?

The new record is called Smile, It's End of the World and April 4th is the release date. I'm really excited about it. It's a huge step up from the first record, Letters to the President. I think we've grown a lot as musicians and I think the songs are a lot better then the ones that were on the first record and I hope people feel the same way.

Well, from what I've listened to, it feels a lot more mature musically and lyrically.

Cool. Thank you.

So what has been going on in your lives that's helped you mature a little bit and grow as artists?

What did you guys do differently with this release?

A lot of it was the same, but the first record was a lot poppier than this one. We wanted to try to break away from the pop spectrum and go to more of a rock feel, so I talked to my producer [Aaron Sprinkle] a little about cutting back on harmonies. With a poppy band, there are a lot of harmonies in the vocals and I just wanted to keep the harmonies a little simpler and less prominent. I think that had a big effect on this record.

Cool. When is the end of the world?

(laughs)

That is a great question! Nobody knows. I love when people always put dates on it you know, and that is the whole meaning of this record. It's kind of a joke when people say that Jesus is coming back in 2008, or that the end of the world is coming with all of these disasters. Like in New Orleans and with all of these hurricanes, everyone automatically assumes the end of the world is coming. The truth of the matter is that nobody knows. So we are saying that no matter what happens in the world, we need to live life like it's our last day. Enjoy ourselves. Remain positive through all the negativity in the world today. That's the whole meaning of the record.

It's tough to convey that message.

Yeah, for sure.

So what would you like people to walk away with after they listen to the new album?

I want people to go away thinking, "Wow! What a really good record. They really stepped it up."

With the first record we really wanted people to be like, "Wow! That was a great band. They are fun and they are positive and all of that." And now that they have it in their heads we are a fun and positive band, we can show our musicianship on this next record without being too over the top. People would know that we're fun-loving and positive guys, but at the same time, when they think of Hawk Nelson, they would think, "These guys can actually play. They're really a decent band." I would like them to go away feeling that.

Besides the tongue and cheek "end of the world" thing, what would you say are the themes that pull the album together and make it a consistent piece?

I'm glad you asked that question. Without even realizing it, when we were recording and writing it and putting all of the songs together, they kind of all tied into the theme of suicide. Suicide is one of those topics that we tend to avoid - it's kind of a touchy subject. There is a song on there about a guy who committed suicide and it's from his friend's point of view. It talks about what his parents, his friends, and his girlfriend have to deal with now that he's gone and how suicide has a spiral effect. There are four things in life that are contagious and suicide is one of them. When one person commits suicide, their friends also contemplate committing suicide and it's just an ongoing cycle. There are a lot of kids in our own church that we tend to ignore, thinking that they're fine because they go to church or because their parents are pastors or whatever. We don't realize that they are in as much trouble as a lot of people. We are trying to show that kids need help. They are looking for answers and they don't know who to go to. They don't want or think they don't need to talk to their parents about the issues they are dealing with and they don't want to talk to their friends' parents. Sometimes they want to talk to their friends, but they need someone who can be a role model, someone to look up to. I really think that is where we come into play. We're not parents. We're not doctors. We're not psychologists. We are just guys in a band who they look up to, even though we don't know them. They'll open their hearts and tell us everything that is on their minds. They'll tell us things that they wouldn't even tell their best friends or parents because they can trust us. That's one of our goals as Hawk Nelson with this record and for this year. I've seen so many kids come up in the lines showing us the slashes in their wrist from cutting themselves, telling me that they are going to kill themselves and I don't know what to do. Kids in our own church are saying this to me. I feel bad that we ignore the kids in our own church. I didn't realize when we were writing it, but I think this record is going to help kids realize that they do have a meaning for life. People spend a lot of their time searching for what their meaning in life is and we want to help people find that meaning.

Definitely. People do ignore suicide a lot. "Zero" is the song that you are talking about right?

Yeah.

That is a touching song. I don't think a lot of people realize the full extent of what suicide entails.

For sure.

What would you tell someone who came to you and said they were dealing with that and asked you for advice?

For the last 6 months I've been faced with that a lot actually. I sit there and wonder what I should say. I've often felt like I didn't have any advice to give. I mean, we put a link to a helpline on our website, so I've been sending kids there. And I pray that they find help, but I've always wanted to go further than that. So, in the last month and a bit, I've been thinking of taking some psychology courses on how to counsel kids who are dealing with suicide. They need answers and I want to give them the answers, the right answers. I've been reading up a lot on psychology and how to counsel kids who are struggling with suicide. It's helped so much. If someone came up to me today I'd have lot more answers to give them than about three months ago, so I'm really excited about that.

It sounds like you've got yourself a little ministry going on there.

Yeah, it's just where my heart is at, you know? It just makes sense to me.

Wow, that's really cool. Shifting gears quite a bit. I have a question about another one of the songs on the album. What am I supposed to actually bring out?

(laughs)

Oh my gosh. We actually wrote that song for Yours Mine Ours, that movie we were in. They asked for a bunch of cliched party lines, like "Let's Party," so that's just the line we came up with. "All the girls and boys. . . " bring 'em out to the party, you know?

Actually, that's the tour right after Winter Jam with Thousand Foot Krutch and then we do Prom Tour after that. We're doing about 19 shows with TFK and Falling Up, and then we are jumping right into the prom tour. I'm excited about that. I don't really know what to expect. It's never really been attempted before but we are going to try it and I think it'll be a lot of fun.

You're actually going to be playing at proms . . . ?

Yeah, we are doing 13 or 14 different proms across the United States.

That should be fun. Since you are on the road a lot, how do you guys like that? Are you adjusting pretty well?

At first it was kind of weird. I've been on the road since I was nineteen-years-old - almost 4 years now. When we first hit the road we were so excited and couldn't wait to just get out and about. And for the first three months, it was amazing. Then it hits you and you start to miss being at home. It's just one of those things. You need to make that sacrifice. You have to decide if you want to keep doing this, if this is what you need to do. That's why a couple of the guys aren't with us anymore. Before being on the road for so long, they didn't realize how hard it is to be away from family and friends all the time. So we have two new guys.

Your passion changes on the road. You realize that it's not just fun and games anymore - being a band is work. It's a business and it's not always a lot of fun. There are times when you just want to quit, just like any job. They couldn't handle that, so they are back at home and they are both really happy, married and expecting babies. It's totally different than what you would expect as a kid. It involves a lot of sacrifice because you are not with your friends and family all the time. You don't lead a normal life, so to speak, but at the same time, all of your friends are missing out on what you do have. I think this is the best job in the world and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

How do you stay connected with you family and friends while you are out?

Phone calls on a regular basis. We talk on the phone almost every day. We were just in Cleveland, OH the other night and my family drove 8 hours to come visit. We hung out for the whole day and it was really nice to see them all. I hadn't seen them since Christmas, so it was good to see everybody again.

From a spiritual standpoint how do you remain accountable and focused on your relationship with God with all that's going on?

Our management team is super awesome. They are always praying for us, checking up on us and we actually have a pastor. He's never come on the road with us a whole lot, but every morning he sends a devotional to my email account. I'm not going to lie though, it is tough because you don't have a regular home church you can go to every Sunday. You're in a different town every day, right? So it's an ongoing struggle and there are times when you just keep going and going without even praying until you get to that point and you wonder what the heck is going on. Things are just falling apart. Nothing's working. And then you realize. You just know that you need to get back to square one where you started and be thankful.

I try to do Bible studies every night and things like that, too. And this tour has been really awesome because they've brought a couple of road pastors out with us. We do Bible studies at dinner every night. It's really, really awesome. I feel good the last few tour dates.

That's good. Now, I have a couple of light questions for you.

Okay

Which comic strip character do you most relate to?

(laughs)

That's a great question. . . . oh my gosh . . . oh wow . . . I'll have to pick Schroeder from Charlie Brown.

For the piano aspect?

I grew up in a really athletic family and they'd always be playing sports, but I'd be playing the piano. I kind of always had my nose in my music book, just kind of doing my own thing.

And you have the girls chasing you. . .

(laughs)

Totally

(laughs)

So what cds have you guys been listening to a lot while you've been traveling around?

I mostly listen to Move Along by All American Rejects and Palm Trees and Power Lines by Sugarcult. I've listen to that one for years and the last couple of weeks I started playing it again and I was like, "Yeah, that's a good record." And of course Stomping Ground by Goldfinger, my favorite record of all time.

Sounds good. So, do you have any closing thoughts, any plug for the album or parting shots, advice?

I think we covered it, but you can check out HawkNelson.com and then our MySpace is MySpace.com/HawkNelsonOnline. We are super excited about this whole next couple of months. Should be a good couple of months.