A Conversation with Phil Wickham
04-30-2006
by Brenten Gilbert

As worship music has become a more prominent part of Christian music industry, it's been open to criticism for being unoriginal, lacking creativity and being simply a trend. Every now and then, however, an artist comes onto the scene with a fresh take that reminds us that all music began as worship to God.

Phil Wickham is one of those artists. His debut self-titled album, recently released on Simple Records, offers a worshipful tone shrouded in an artistic style of music. During GMA week, CMCentral.com caught up with Phil and discussed the different views of worship, his new album, and following after God. Below is that interview.

CMCentral.com (brenten gilbert): So how are you doing? Excited?

Phil Wickham: I'm good. I am excited. Have you heard the new record yet?

Yeah, I like it, too.

Thank you

I was actually pretty anxious to get it.

Oh really? Had you already heard it?

I had heard. . .

I had an indie record out. . .

Yeah, I heard some on your MySpace a year or so ago. I totally forget how I came across it, but. . .

Did it have new songs on old songs?

You didn't have "Grace" on there yet, I don't think.

Did I have "Mystery" up?

"Mystery." Yeah, I listened to it and I really liked the vocal. And then I heard you again on The Message: The Psalms project and that kind of reminded me of you and I started to wonder if you had an album out yet.

And then I was getting signed to INO records. The last four or five months, give or take a week, here and there, I've been in town recording with Pete Kipley - I don't know if that name sounds familiar.

yeah, MercyMe and. . .

Yeah, he actually started a label with Bart Millard from MercyMe called Simple Records, so that is who I signed with. I'm quickly loving the people there. I'm really, really proud of this record. I feel like every song adds and means a lot to me. I don't think I'm Mr. Avant-garde, like I'm trying something totally new, but I feel like it's honest and hopefully fresh. Kind of breath of worshipfulness. I'm really excited about it.

You should be.

Thank you

So how did you end up getting here from being an independent artist?

It was a long, drawn out process. I grew up in a Christian family. My parents were worship leaders as long as I've been alive and they've been involved with the old "Jesus Music" bands back in the day, really great musicians. My dad is a really great musician, so I grew up with music as part of my life. I started playing guitar and writing pretty early and leading worship. It just seemed right for me to put out my independent disc. Everything was in place. I had some insecurities about it, personally, because we were doing it ourselves and our budget was so small. I was worried about the quality and you can definitely tell that it's independent, but I think it hit home with a lot of people. It did pretty well for an independent record and kind of laid a cool foundation for this next record to come out.

Also, it just grabbed a ton of people's attention here and up at BEC Recordings, but I didn't really know what I wanted to do. Being my dad's son, I'd know a lot of musicians that had been "worked over" by the industry. I wasn't like some people are when they talk about labels. They say, "Yeah, I'm going to talk with labels" with stars in their eyes. They think they are going to become billionaires, you know what I mean?

(laughs)

I think I kind of knew the truth about it early on and just kind of understood it. It just makes life busier and crazy and it's not necessarily [going to make you wealthy]. But, it's also an amazing medium and way to minister to people. I can minister to much more people once I get the CD out there. I got to a place with the last record, where I was just booking myself, trying to keep my own books and all the records, getting back to all of my emails and it was just a lot of lot of work for me. It was time to make a decision about where I'm supposed to go and what I'm supposed to do. The whole time Sparrow, BEC and INO were asking me to come do showcases. Well Sparrow and BEC weren't, but INO was saying that they loved what I was doing. They encouraged me to keep sending stuff out and see where the Lord leads. I ended up sending a demo out and it got to Jeff Mosley at INO Records. He sent it to Bart Millard. Bart and Pete Kipley loved it and it was just a good match with Simple Records. I love the people at Sparrow and I love the people at BEC, but I ended up going with Simple because it's something new and they are running it differently. There are some really great things that they are thinking of doing for the album that I wouldn't have gotten from Sparrow. There was just a peace about it so I did it.

Cool.

And now, I'm talking to you at GMA.

Have you heard "Grace" on the radio yet?

Yeah

Is that weird to hear?

That's the thing about it. After having that record out for about three years, I was playing a lot of shows. It wasn't like I was playing in youth groups and all of a sudden, I had a record. It was very step by step. I think the Lord waited until I understood what he was teaching me at that one step. He would just keep me in a spot and teach me a little lesson, grow me up, and then take me to the next step and teach me the next lesssons.

A lot of people are asking if I feel overwhelmed or if I'm scared or nervous. There is temptation to be insecure about it because people have invested time, money and effort into the album. And I want it to do well, almost more for them than for myself, because I have just come to love the people at INO and Simple. I want it to be successful for their sake, you know what I mean? Even though that is not what you should be focused on and I realize that. But mostly I just feel like I'm as well equipped as I could be. I feel like this is the next step I'm supposed to take. And It's fun to get the MySpace messages about people in Columbus, OH telling me that they just heard "Grace." I love it.

It's everywhere.

So they are less motivated by trying to get on the radio, but moreso just trying to make good music.

Yeah, it's just a lot of talented people down there. I think the whole scene is unique. In the first place, it's so far away from Nashville geographically and there is no Christian radio. And not a lot of Christian bands come through San Diego and when they do, they don't normally fill up a place. It's still a new thing, so it doesn't really do that well. I kind of like being a part of that. There are parts of the country where I go and people tell me that they saw my cd in CCM [Magazine] which is awesome. I'm so honored. But in San Diego, it's like, "CCM? What's that?"

(laughs)

Keeps you pretty grounded.

That's for sure. You go home and say, "I had an interview with these people are not as impressed. It's nice to have that and it's nice to have a church family. . . Why am I talking about what I'm talking about?

(laughs)

I asked you about songs on the radio. I guess it kind of lead. . .

Oh, yeah. People are hearing it and hopefully getting into it.

Speaking of hearing your songs, Kutless just covered. . .

Kutless covered an older song of mine called "Jesus Lord of Heaven"

I'm sure I've sang that song at my church, but I was surprised to find out that you had written it. That's awesome.

Yeah. For some reason that song has gotten around like crazy

It must be a real good confirmation, that you're on the right track.

For sure. I remember writing that song and not thinking anything of it. I played it for my church and all of a sudden, everyone was singing it so loudly. The church just kind of grabbed on to it. Over the period of a couple of years, it's in churches all over the country and in the world. People have said they have translated it in all different languages. It's crazy.

That's cool

It's such a blessing. It's just been a step by step thing and I really feel like I've been in the back seat. There are a lot of guys and girls who I've known or talked to and they're clambering for success. They are really stuggling to maintain or attain it. I think the Lord can use that determination. He puts it into people's hearts and brings them to the place the need to be. Ultimately, they are a supposed to be with him. It's not really even about the music, but rather what is the Lord trying to do in their heart. I never chased after it. . . I always said that I didn't want to do a record, now I have a record. I said i didn't want to sign to a label, now I'm signed. . . I love that I'm here, it's just never seemed like reality, It's. . .

Surreal?

Yeah, it feels like yesterday was just the beginning and now the record is done and it's coming out soon.

Yeah that is pretty cool.

Things are happening so fast

And soon you'll be touring with MercyMe

Yeah, which is really, really exciting.

That's going to bring some pretty good crowds.

Yeah. I'm actually touring twice with them this year. It should be fun because our cds are coming out the same day (April 25th) so I'm doing a promo run with them - it's just going to be me and them for that. Then in the fall, it'll be a two-month thing. It'll be fun. I've never been involved with anything like that before.

Yeah, it was funny. I got the new MercyMe album a few weeks ago and when I opened it up, there was a flyer for your album that said "Now Available." I was confused for a second, until I realized that Coming Up to Breathe wasn't available either. By the time this album is available, yours will be too.

(laughs)

How did it look with the little flyer inside?

It's the cover of the album and it says something like "On tour with MercyMe. Album available now."

I think they did that on like 300,000 records. It's pretty cool. It was a lot of money though, but probably worth it. MercyMe just agreed to do it. We paid our costs, but that's a pretty cool promo. If you are going to spend money on marketing somewhere it's cool to do it there.

Yeah, sometimes the cost of marketing is just crazy. Like the bags we got when we checked in. It costs a lot of money to put a piece of paper in those bags to promote your event or whatever.

I didn't get a bag.

Oh, sorry

(laughs)

What are these bags you speak of?

I don't know what I'm talking about.

(laughs)

So do you consider yourself more of a worship leader or a performing artist?

I think a lot of people feel like there's a dichotomy between being a worship leader and an artist. Even when Michael W. Smith went through that period where everyone said that he "became" a worship leader instead of a pop artist. Why can't people be both?

Yeah that's what I feel like. With every record, I want it to be upfront and obviously pointing people to God. I want to show that my heart is for the Lord and I want people to come and join in, whether or not they're songs that people can play in church. I guess that is worship leading as well, it's just not singing "Shout to the Lord." I don't ever think I'm going to be like the onstage storyteller, performer, interaction kind of guy. I'll talk and stuff but I think it is more my style just to be like . . .

let the music speak

Yeah, just kind of play the songs and give people a chance to be with God instead of come and watch Phil. That's more what's on my heart. Every time there's a Phil Wickham concert, I want it to be a special time spiritually.

That's cool. So for a fun question, if I'm looking at a fruit bowl and I picked out the fruit that represents your life, what fruit is that and why?

Um, fruit that is my life? I wish that I had a bunch of fruit here so I could see it all.

(laughs)

I hate questions like that, my friend, but I'll answer it. I try to think of something so clever and witty, and then I can't do it.

I try to throw in something random every time.

It's funny. I like the question, it's a great question. I'm going to try to think about all the fruit that I know. Yeah, I'm over thinking it already. . . I guess I would be . . . The why part is the part that is confusing me because I have to think of a reason why.

(laughs)

Well, what fruit are you thinking of?

I'm just trying to think of the why first and see what fruits go along with it.

(laughs)

Well how about . . . a kiwi. It's kind of fuzzy on the outside, nice and green on the inside. My hair is kind of fuzzy. On the outside is the fuzzy exterior but in the inside it's edible, you can't really eat the outside but it's still nice and soft. I don't know what that means. It's hilarious.

(laughs)

So is there anything else you would like to share with our readers? Plug for the album? Website? Deep thoughts? Anything?

Yeah, PhilWickham.com, MySpace.com/PhilWickham. I love you all. Hope you like the record. I look forward to seeing you guys when I come through wherever you are.