MercyMe Interview
04-27-2006
by Brenten Gilbert

MercyMe is easily one of the most recognizable names in the Christian music industry. As the group prepared to release the latest addition to their catalog, Coming Up to Breathe, CMCentral.com caught up with members Mike Scheuchzer and Nathan Cochran to discuss the new album, the new lanscape of Christian music and a lot more.

What follows is the transcript of that conversation for your reading pleasure.

CMCentral.com (brenten gilbert): So the new album comes out the 25th?

Mike Scheuchzer: Yes. April 25th. Coming Up To Breathe.

Can you tell us a little bit about it?

Definitely. We keep calling it our rock record, but it's not really a far cry from what MercyMe has done in the past. I think we've been known for "Imagine", "Word of God Speak", "Homesick". Those are the kind of songs that are definitely a part of who we are, but they are definitely not the whole of who we are. There is another side [to MercyMe] that is a little bit more adventurous and we are trying to let that shine on this record a little more. Again, it's not that far from what MercyMe has done in the past, but more than anything it captures how we sound live better than we have on past records. It really feels more natural to me when I listen to it. It feels like what I would play, not so over produced. Even the way it's mixed - it feels more like a live album to me than stuff we have done in the past. We are really excited about it.

Nathan Cochran: In some ways it was a whole different process going into it this time. We spent a lot more time writing ahead of time before we went to the studio. We spent a lot more time actually making the album itself. For once, actually blocking off a chunk of time to make the record instead of piecing it together. I think that made a difference.

So there is an overall theme then?

Not so much. With Undone there was kind of an underlying theme. This one has definitely been different. I think the theme is kind of us taking a breath of fresh air - no pun intended - just having a little more fun. We went through a lot in the season of Undone. Lyrically, it shows up all over the album. We lost eight people within four to six weeks. Everyone from Jim's father passing away, to Bart's brother-in-law and uncle passing away within weeks of each other, both very suddenly. Everybody knows those stories behind "Homesick" and "Keep Singing." For this album, we didn't have that stuff going on. It was just a good time for us. Our families were growing and we were getting to spend time with them. Right before we did the Christmas tour - when we tracked that album - we had a good summer. It was busy, but it wasn't crazy. We just had a nice balance and life was good. We really enjoyed the whole process of making this album. I think the album shows that we had fun making it. It shows some life that I don't think we've had in the past.

Yeah it certainly feels a little lighter. Not so much like, Undone, which was heavy.

Yeah, Undone was a pretty heavy listen.

It really was. There is a lot to that album. And I know there is a lot to the new one as well, but. . .

. . . It's a different kind of a lot.

Yeah. I think it's interesting that you said this is a rock album, because it's really not much different than your previous albums musically. It's not like you went hard core or anything. . .

We're not Pillar

(laughs)

. . . but certainly the songs that are forward facing are more upbeat, while in the past, it's mainly been the ballads. . .

I think there are only two ballads on this one and the first isn't until track seven or eight. It's not that we intentionally pushed them back, it's just that they felt natural in that order on the album. As we were working the playlist, we had all these other songs that felt like they needed to be at the front of the record. We played with the playlist for a week and a half of just trying to figure out where songs fit on the album and those just kept moving back. It wasn't because we didn't like them, I love them. The last song on the album, "I Would Die For You," is one of my favorite songs on the record and it's one of the two ballads. For us being a band that has been known for ballads in the past, it's exciting for us. I can listen to one of our records and not hit one for five or six songs and that's great. We aren't by any means alienating the people who like us for those ballads, but I think that people who have kind of been iffy about whether or not they like us because we aren't upbeat enough will be pleasantly surprised with this record. Hopefully, anyway.

Have you felt boxed in by the ballads?

I think that is kind of why we did this record.

Just to break out of the mold?

It's not that we ever felt trapped by "I Can Only Imagine" or bitter towards that song. It's a career song that people try to find over the span of their whole careers and we were blessed enough to have it very early. I think we just needed to make this record for us. Maybe it was just to prove to ourselves that we are more than that. I don't know, what do you think?

Yeah, there has always been this other side to us. Because of what "Imagine" has done and all these other songs, I guess we had a concern with it. It was more a question of how we can address this other side of us, without taking people off guard. Even if we had sat down and said, "We want to make a rock record" and then gone over the top, it wouldn't have worked. This record, Coming Up To Breathe is a really good interpretation of who we are. There have been times in the past on the last few records where we really had to rush through it so we may not have poured ourselves completely into those records, but this time, it's really us on the record.

That's cool. So there has been some talk going around about the demise of the AC genre marked by a definitive move towards rock. Do you agree with that assessment?

I don't know that I would say it's a definitive move, but the AC crowd is generally people our age now.

When we think of soccer moms. . . Our wives our soccer moms.

Yeah. . .

(laughs)

. . . you are talking about people who have grown up with rock music. And fans of Christian music - even ours - we are a little older and we grew up with Christian music having a big rock influence. I don't know if it is doing away with AC, though.

I think AC format has just changed it's definition a bit. [Nathan] was saying earlier that it's really exciting this year at GMA because there are so many new bands here. We are trying figure who everybody is because there are so many. Three years ago when it was our first big GMA it was us and Jeremy Camp, Sanctus Real - just a handful of new bands. Now, everywhere you look, everybody has ripped up Diesel jeans, shaggy black hair and eye make-up.

(laughs)

I'm not making fun of that. It's awesome that the industry is that wide open right now. I think the shift from AC is probably because when you are young, not that many people are willing or have enough talent to step out on their own like Bethany Dillion. They need to be in a band. That is our story. We aren't talented enough to be out on our own. The sum is much stronger than the parts when it comes to MercyMe as is probably the case with most bands. Bart is a great vocalist and a great songwriter, but he doesn't play an instrument. He needs us. Mac Powell could probably do it. Jeremy is strong enough, obviously, to be on his own - he plays guitar and sings - but he still has his band. That's why I think things have moved more to a band format. Musicians love being with musicians. I would have a hard time being a solo act just because you have to be out on your own. There are guys who can do it like Steven [Curtis Chapman] and Smitty.

A lot of the new bands are rock bands. I don't know if that is coincidence, or if you could nail it down to one thing.

They're all young.

Yeah, it could be.

You've got bands like Pocket Full of Rocks. They've been around for a while and they aren't necessarily the young, dying our hair black, rock band. But there are still levels of rock and I would consider them CHR with AC tendancies. It's still out there. The rock movement has grown, but I don't think that AC is necessarily shrinking, so much as the rock movement is growing. It may be shrinking some, but I think more than anything, the rock is taking over!

(laughs)

You sound happy about that.

You know what? I'm a rock music fan. I like a little bit of everything, but I always tend to go back to rock. Not necessarily the heavy stuff, but I like any music that has passion in it, whether it's Christian or secular. When someone is singing passionately about something and that carries through. I think that is what we are all drawn to. It's why Eminem sells millions of records. He's passionate about what he's talking about even though it's junk. Passion sells. I'm not speaking about Louie Giglio, but if you are passionate about something, people are drawn to that.

Well that sells too, but. . .

(laughs)

Yeah that does sell but that is because he is passionate about it. . .

So where do you see MercyMe going in 5 years?

We are getting old.

Five years, Ben will be six and William will be nine!

That's how we measure things now, by how old our kids will be.

Gosh, I'll be 35!

I didn't mean ages. We don't need to go there. . .

(laughs)

Barry will be almost 50!

Shhhhhh...

(laughs)

Where will you be in six years Barry? Um, starting Social Security.

(laughs)

You know, we've always said as long as we feel that this ministry of MercyMe is bearing fruit, we'll keep doing this. Hopefully, we'll keep making music that is relevant. I don't know if we'll ever actually just call it quits. We might just take on a different form, but we will probably always be doing something together.

We'll always be doing something in music, for sure. I enjoy the creative process of making an album. I've been working with some independent artists in Texas from around where we live, just trying to feel out producing. I really enjoy it. I don't know that I'm a producer just yet, but I think I would like to be. I enjoy that. Nathan will probably end up being a songwriter or a solo artist kind of guy - he's constantly writing stuff. I'm sure Bart will be doing that or he's got Simple Records which he's a partner in. He'll be in the industry somehow. We'll all be doing something.

So who are you guys listening to these days?

I'd have to say David Crowder's new record.

Yeah, A Collision. The David Crowder*Band is amazing.

Anberlin's new record keeps coming around in my playlist.

Never Take Friendship Personal?

Yeah.

I always go back to U2 at some point. Actually, their new album [How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb], I liked it when I first got it, but I didn't love it. I gave it some time, kind of put it away for a little bit, and brought it back recently. There are songs on the back half of it that I just absolutely have fallen in love with. "Original of the Species" was like that . Man that song is incredible, absolutely incredible. It didn't catch on at all the first month I was listening to it.

A lot of their albums are like that. You find them later and you're like, "How did I miss this?"

Yeah. I've also been listening to that and actually there is an album called For the Kids that is a complation of mainstream artists like Cake, Barenaked Ladies, Sarah McLaughlin and Toad the Wet Sprocket. They are all singing children's songs and my son loves it. The first one was Cake doing the Ma-Na-Ma-Na -Do Do Do Dodo song from the Muppets. [My son] loves singing along and dancing to that. So I got to put that on all the time.

My boys love The Muppet Show. I got season one on DVD. Anytime they see it they are like, "Ma-Na-Ma-Na!"

(laughs)

And actually The Swift's first record. I put that in the other day and I love that record. It's like happy rock. It's so seldom that rock and happy can float side-by-side, but they nail it. They are great. I love those guys.

Alright, for a fun question. . . If you guys were a vacation spot, a popular vacation spot as a band or individually which do you think you would be?

Jim would be Branson, MO or Panama City, Florida. I'm not sure. Redneck Riviera.

(laughs)

Let's see. . . Somewhere where I wouldn't have to listen to anyone. I really enjoyed Hawaii. We got to play there about two years ago. That place is amazing. It's just so beautiful. The weather, everything about it is just truly paradise. So I would be Hawaii.

Answer stealer.

Sorry.

He read your mind. He was looking through your ear.

(laughs)

I liked London. My wife and I went to London 2 summers ago.

So anything else you want to say about the album or anything else?

Go buy it! And then make up your own mind about it. Or legally download it.

(laughs)

We really are fans of this record. We've had good feedback from people so far who seem to like it and are willing to make the change with us. We are just happy that anyone is happy to go there with us.