Hyperstatic Union Brings the Funk
05-11-2006
by Brenten Gilbert

Hailing from the Northwest, it makes sense that the lead single from RKT Music's debut artist Hyperstatic Union is called "Praying for Sunny Days." However, the group has certainly found those sunny days in regards to their musical career, as they now have a national release under their belt, Third Day's seal of approval and a lot of buzz surrounding them.

CMCentral.com took some time during GMA Week to sit down with the new band the morning after they performed at a midnight showcase. We talked about some of their musical influences, their goals as a band, and oh, yeah, their new album, Lifegiver. Below is that conversation in its entirety.

CMCentral.com(brenten gilbert):How are you guys doing? Recovering well from last night?

Shawn Lewis (vocals/guitar): Well. Yeah, a little bit of whiplash, I just kind assume that I'm going to get sick.

Well, I have to at least mention how great it was to hear you end the show last night with a Stevie Wonder song.

Oh yeah man. We are all about Stevie Wonder.

Did you listen to him a lot growing up?

Not really, it was like college days. Let's explore the 70s thing. Something was happening in the 70's that no one really told me about. . .

Well, a lot of stuff happened. . .

(laughs)

No one told me that that was the best time in music, period. Yes had Fragile in 1972, Talking Book (Stevie Wonder) came out in '72. . .

Ray Burnham (drums): So much melody was going on. Everything was all about the groove.

Corporate rock was starting. The point was the album instead of the single. It was a weird time and really the only time that this existed: album rock. There was a concept and they built an album around it. It's just music for a greater attention span.

And then if you didn't like the whole album they'd make a song that was as long as an album, like "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" or something...

Bryan Albrechtson (guitar):I remember listening to that in Ray's bedroom on vinyl.

My dad bought it for me one day. He said, "I thought you needed this because you're a drummer." Everybody just thought that drum solo ruled back then and we were like, "This kind of sucks."

(laughs)

What is so cool about this?

We covered "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder, "Sign Sealed Delivered". . . We've taken our time learning his stuff.

His music is so refreshing. It all makes sense.

Mike Jackson (bass): The thing about Stevie, I've noticed this a lot. We were brought up with certain bands from the 90s and we like them. And then we find out that they were influenced by Stevie Wonder. Jamiroquai, for instance. I heard them before I ever really heard Stevie Wonder and now I realize the root of it all and how influential it was on us, indirectly.

Nothing new under the sun at all. It all goes back somewhere.

Yeah.

That song "Superstition" that we play sometimes. . . I'd first seen that video a long time ago - I must have been like 12 - and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. The whole shot of it. The one guy is just drumming and he's got a giant fro and the guitar players. And then of course there is Stevie doing his thing and I just thought that was the coolest video ever.

And it was just a bunch of dudes playing.

Yeah, exactly.

Now they find out all these weird things for videos, but in the end it's just all about personality and the song,

In that case the song spoke for itself and it still does. It just adds to his incredible songwriting.

so are you guys going to be doing a video for a single?

I didn't get into this business to not do videos.

Yeah.

We pretty much need to do a video, we've been talking about it. We've been talking about doing one for "Praying for Sunny Days." There is a lot of cool stuff that we could do for that concept. . .

You're going to do a concept? Not just focus on the song. . . ?

(laughs)

Well, we'll probably need to do a concept epic. A three part video, a trilogy if you will.

(laughs)

So, besides the 70s music and Stevie, is there anybody else that you listen to a lot that you are kind of emulating or helped influence the eclectic sound you have?

Red Hot Chili Peppers in the way that they don't overuse distortion and guitar work. They have a really aggressive drum and bass thing and not as much emphasis on the guitars. There is a lot of empty space in the music for the vocals. I feel like a lot rock bands right now divert to being as loud as possible on guitar all the time.

And the weird thing about them is that they're not Christians, but they have this philosophy that I think a lot of music groups would do well to embrace. Just be natural, be yourself, don't be a poser. They love this kind of music, this is the way they are and they just do it. You don't see that a lot.

I would stray away from saying emulating. There are some groups I really identify with. We really try not to emulate other people but you kind of have to. Every great musician has stolen something from someone else.

When I first got invited into this band, it was based on the concept of the bass and the drums being the foundation of the sound. If you ask, "where did they get that from," you can trace it all the way back to a lot of bands. Mainly, I can think of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stevie Wonder and Lenny Kravitz and that's a solid foundation for a band to begin with. And then you add these guitar solos that we like to do once in a while.

(laughs)

We definitely got classic rock elements where we are rift based instead of cord based so Led Zeppelin played a huge role in that.

We can't overlook the jazz.

And we were all in jazz choir.

Yeah we were jazz nerds.

The three of us (Mike, Ray, and Shawn) were all in jazz choir at the same time.

Plenty of do-wops back in the day.

We liked to talk about back in jazz choir the things kids would accidentally say while they were skatting. I can't repeat all of them. There were some that your jaw would drop and you'd be like, did he just say that?

(laughs)

What goals do you guys have for the band?

I think goals are tough to have some times. When I started the band, my mom asked me to write down some goals. I couldn't think of much, so i wrote down the goal to play the Gorge (Creation West). We got the chance to do that the very next year. So I thought that maybe goals work. It was just an encouragement and it's not so much that because of my sheer will and putting it on paper, it happens. I think God just wants to hear what we want. For our goals, we want to ultimately spread the gospel in any way possible and the best way for us is through music. As far as specific ministry goals, we are still searching for those. We are still praying to God and asking advice on how we can best serve the community with what we have. But musically, we want to get the funk back in songs - there is just an overwhelming lack of funk.

I think it's really important, especially when you are in a business like this where there is so much uncertainty and anything can happen, to have tangible goals. To say "I'm going to be honest" and "I'm going to be true to myself" and "I'm going to be true to what I believe." It's a good goal to stick to that and kind of let the chips fall where they may.

I think touring with U2 would be a good goal too.

There you go

Yeah and being on stage with Paul McCartney would be a good goal.

One of the goals that I think we've all felt really unified on is making sure that our Christianity and faith isn't encrypted. We keep it out in the open and we're just proud of who God is. As far as not boasting in ourselves, but boasting in the Lord and making sure that our faith is never something that we tuck behind us. That's what is great about being able to be a part of this community of Christian musicians. Even though we feel called to make music that's accessible to anybody, we still proclaim the Lord. We feel especially called the Christian community, encouraging them with music. That's a goal. To always keep that prospective. Just keeping our faith on the forefront of where we are setting our sights.

Do you guys plan on hitting the mainstream at all?

That's a door that God will had to open and if he does, we are going to be really careful when we walk through it. I feel like we have the potential to allow the listenership to grow into that realm. Personally, I've probably logged a thousand times more listen time to secular radio than to Christian radio, but I was always yearning for a message. I know that there is a giant audience out there wanting to be connected with the guy down the street, to say, "yeah, he's listening to that song, too." But at the same time, MercyMe having "I Can Only Imagine" on Z100 in our area. That was so cool and there was just this bond that happened. God allowed that to happen. I'm sure there were tons of industry people who had to come into play there, but God facilitated that. From my perspective, He wouldn't have let that happen if he didn't want it to. We are trying to just follow His will and maintain the relationships that we have and walk through the doors that He opens.

That has really always been the protocol. We'd love to play wherever God opens a door for us and wherever it feels like it's in line with God's will, but we don't have any aspirations to be mainstream musicians. We just want to be a good band that inspires people to continue their walk with God.

I'm trying desperately not to even let the industry define who we are. You have to have labels on things, but we fight it all the time because, what qualifies mainstream? and what qualifies Christian? I had an email come in one time that asked for our statement of faith as a band. As if to ask, "how do we know you are a Christian band?" As much as I'd like to give you something like that, there is no blanket statement of faith that is really going to make sure our music is safe for your kids. You are going to have to listen to what your kids are listening to and be an active part of what they are checking out. I don't want to make things too complicated, but I think it is just better where there aren't labels.

Definitely. And I think the album is the kind of album that you can just pop it in, regardless of the audience, and have everyone at least get into the vibe of it.

The groove is universal.

That's one of our goals, too. We've always had a real eclectic sound. We try to keep it semi-eclectic, but still have the vein of what Hyperstatic Union is, so you can hear it. It's a little diverse, but you can still hear that it sounds like Hyperstatic Union.

So, I keep hearing about how you guys worked a lot with Third Day, and they produced the album. . .

Yeah.

How did you end up meeting up with them in the beginning?

It was pretty much through Ray and some mutal friends.

Yeah just some friends that Shawn and I had who kept track of the band for quite a while. They like to share music when they are inspired and they are pretty good friends with Mac [Powell]. They shared our disc with him a few times and he just kind of became a fan from a distance. We would run into him once in a while through shows and he just started asking us what was going on with us. He had heard that we were ready to put out a new album on a more national level, but that we were still just doing shows around our hometown. He wanted to know why. We explained that we just didn't feel that it was God's time for us to go forward at that point, that we really felt called to spend time in the northwest and just fellowship with our state and our local area. And then everything fell into place. We had been doing this band for 6 years when we really started getting to know Mac. It was a time when we really felt spiritually healthy and we started to feel that God was calling us to be a band on more of a national level. And something that God has really shown us. . . we had the same aspirations as a lot of brand new bands - conquer the world, get your music to the biggest audience as possible, all of that - but God really pulled our reins in and said no. There is more to life than being musicians and more to a band than just being well known. Your personal walk and your daily witness to those who are in your close proximity is number one, that is your true ministry. If you can be healthy and do this band thing too, that's wonderful.

I kind of look at it the same way as when David was selected to be kind of Israel. He wasn't the most obvious of the brothers in stature or age or whatever to be selected as king of Israel, but God looked at his heart. It really didn't matter how big our band got. What is in our hearts and what is at the core of our band, that's what God really cares about. The definitions, by the world's terms, of success or whatever really can't affect what we do. We have to fight against it everyday, but we can't let it affect us.

Stage two began when Mac approached us wanting to make a record. We just kind of struck up this friendship and realized that we had a lot of musical common ground. Hyperstatic Union and Third Day are definitely a little bit different stylistically, but we both love to rock and we both love melodies. For Mac, it was really a way for him to branch out to some of his other musical aspirations and pour some of his energies into us. He has become a really great partner to us as far as being able to look at the big picture and help us with song arrangements and. . . .

He's funkier than you might think.

He is. He is a funky man.

(laughs)

So he's kind of been mentoring your guys to some extent?

Yeah, and he gives us a lot of encouragement. There have been times that we second guess ourselves or something, but Mac's always telling us that he's our biggest fan. And hearing that, coming from Mac, is very encouraging.

A mutual friend of ours, actually our old bass player, he had mentioned Third Day to me a long time ago. He told me that he had run into them and that they were such cool guys. That was years ago. Now that we are working with them, they have lived up to that and then some. I mean, I didn't even know who Third Day was until a little while ago, until we met them. So I didn't really understand this whole Third Day thing. . .

(laughs)

They've been around a little while.

But I mean, for [Mac] to be at that level and still be this encouraging and supportive to us and give us really good constructive critisim. . . It's unbelievable to me.

It's very humbling, too. To hear it coming from someone like that, and a group like that, it just makes you feel really humbled that you are getting that type of feedback.

And like Mike said, aside from that part of it. . . If I called him up tomorrow afternoon and asked him for advice, he would give great advice. He's a good friend and a man of God, highly respectable.

Sometimes you think about people in high position and you hope that are everything that they are supposed to be cracked up to be. Everybody in Third Day are truly men of integrity. They do not disappoint. The more you get to know them. They such fun guys, they are really intelligent, great sense of humor. They've come along side us and really loved us. It's blown us away.

So you going to tour with them soon?

In the fall.

As a matter of fact we are on their fall tour and you are the first to know. . .

We just found that out.

David Crowder*Band is still going to be on that tour?

Yeah.

That's cool

They figured out how to give us 15 minutes at the top of the show.

Sounds good. So how about a fun question?

Yeah.

Which character in the Bible do you most relate to?

Right now, and this might be heady to say, but I feel like David. God has just been blessing us and there are times that I haven't felt like it, but I think David couldn't do anything wrong. For the last year or so, it's kind of like God has just been giving us things for some reason. Maybe it's just the fact that we are finally conscious enough of God's involvement in our lives to give him credit for everything, but it's a really cool feeling to be there.

I've been reading Genesis and about Abraham and you can talk about several people in the Bible that have been blessed by God - that's what he does if you are faithful to him. But I feel like how Abraham had his name changed from Abram to Abraham, as Hyperstatic Union, all these things have been changing because of God. Definitely in the same line of what Shawn said about God blessing us.

We just moved to Franklin too. Over the last month, I'm sure we all kind of felt like Abraham in that way, too. Just to pick up and leave. It's not like Franklin is the promise land, but it's pretty decent.

(laughs)

And the drive here was just about as treacherous. I hit a big tumble weed. . .

(laughs)

Anything else you guys want to say before we wrap up?

Did we talk about our record at all?

Lifegiver. Coming atcha May 9th!

We're definitely excited about it. We're actually putting out our first national release. "Lifegiver" is the title track. It's coming out May 9th. "Praying for Sunny Days" is our first CHR single. "Overhead," one of the songs on the album, went to the rock format and is doing well there.

For more on Hyperstatic Union, visit HyperstaticUnion.com or MySpace.com/HyperstaticUnion