One Day With Everyday Sunday
05-22-2007
by Kevan Breitinger

Once we got through the usual confusion of a girl named Kevan, my conversation with Trey Pearson of Everyday Sunday covered transitions, the new album, and working with Ian Eskelin.

CMCentral (Kevan Breitinger): Hey Trey, thanks for taking the time.

Everyday Sunday (frontman Trey Pearson): Oh sure, thanks for being interested in hearing about us.

I’ve been listening to the album, and liking it a lot.

Oh thanks so much, we’re really excited. It’s by far the best thing we’ve ever done.

Yeah, I think so, it’s very fresh. I know you’ve been thru a lot of transitions in the band, member–wise. How hard is that?

In some ways it’s hard and in some ways it’s been really good, because it was very much needed and it gave us a chance to kind of start fresh in a lot of ways. This band has a lot of experience on our belts, but in the same time it gives us a new beginning, a fresh start. So it’s a new beginning from a really experienced band, I guess (laughing).

(Laughing) Hey, even the hard stuff always has an up side, right?

It’s cool because we’ve found the focus of who and what Everyday Sunday is now. There’s stuff we’re proud of on our first two records, but now we feel like we made a record that we’re absolutely in love with and it’s something we can really be proud of. Not to over talk your question, (laughing) but I’m trying to think how to say it. It feels like a new beginning, like we’re trying to do something out of the groove, and it’s bigger than we know we could do by ourselves individually, if that makes any sense?

That does make a lot of sense. Because I know you guys came together really from your youth group, and then to go through this series of transitions, which is always hard for believers, your expectations are so high, and then here you are the sole founding member left. And I thought, this guy must have really learned some serious lessons along the way.

Oh yeah, it’s interesting because some of the guys now have been with me for a long time, since we got signed. But it’s been interesting to see how God has moved in my life and where he’s taken me. The biggest thing is realizing that this is where God has us, in this ministry. Everyday Sunday is a ministry, to me and to the rest of the band. And we always try to keep that focus and remember this is what we’re doing. We’re here, like any Christian, trying to do things to the glory of God. For what we do as a band, that had to remain the focus of the dream for it to have survived and gotten where it’s gotten. With this new record, suddenly doors are opening and new people are finding out who Everyday Sunday is, we’re getting new opportunities to show who we are and what we’re doing.

That sounds good.

It’s been really fun, an exciting place to be.

Tell me about working with Ian Eskelin.

(Immediate laughter) Never a dull moment, it was a dream come true. I grew up listening to All Star United. They were a huge influence on me, as far as my stage show, my own position as a frontman, their music, and Ian’s pop sensibilities as a songwriter. All those things were huge in my own development, as you’ll see if you look back at any Everyday Sunday interview, we were always huge fans. And I still am.

To get to work with him on this record was absolutely a blast. We just had so much fun, I gained a lot of admiration for the guy and a neat friendship, which is pretty cool that God did that! (laughing)

Yeah, doesn’t he blow your mind? One of the songs that really stick outs to me is “Let’s Go Back.” I love the message of bringing the Lord into our relationships. How willing do you think audiences are to hear that message?

I don’t know, you always hope that what you write is gonna connect with people. It’s definitely one of my favorite songs on the record, for the idea. It’s written for a few of my best friends. Friendships and relationships take work, you know? And it doesn’t always means it’s gonna be easy, but we’re here to be on this journey together, to serve each other and encourage each other. That’s everything our song is about, to encourage each other to run the race strong, to be there for each other on the journey that God has for us. It’s hard to know how many lives God will touch or how people will respond to the message, or how He’ll use it. If it’s only for just my closest friends, that’s fine.

I dig it that you’re putting out that kind of message. And it seems to me like a lot of the songs dealt with surrender, another message we need.

"There are a lot of different ideas here, but prominent is probably the idea of our continuous need for God in our lives."

Yeah, definitely. I was able to express a lot of things on my heart. Some songs are to friends, and some are very worshipful, intimate, to God. I wrote my first story song ever for this album, a completely fictional song. I had never done anything like that before. So there are definitely a lot of different ideas here, but prominent is probably the idea of our continuous need for God in our lives. And not just a deed for him but to really passionately seek Him out, because we desire Him so much. I think you can really see that theme in songs like “Find Me Tonight” and “Tell Me You’ll be There.”

And “Take Me Out.”

Yeah, definitely. A lot of people don’t pick up right away that that’s a worship song, but it is saying ‘God, take me out of the picture and put me where you want me to be.’ It’s a very special song to me too.

Yeah, the lyrics are very strong, that ‘I don’t wanna leave without your scar.’

That was actually a lyric Ian and I were struggling with while writing. We all talked about it a lot, because people asked ‘are you sure that’s how you want to phrase it?’ We weren’t sure how people were going to react to it, but it’s been really positive. You look at Jacob wrestling with God and ending up with a permanent limp. It’s not that I want to wrestle with God or question Him on what he’s doing, but more that I want to be so close to him that I can’t help but have his mark on me. You know?

You get it across that it’s not always pretty. Sometimes Christians have the expectation that everything is supposed to be pretty.

Right, they think we’re supposed to pretend that everything is fine and we don’t go through tough times. (laughing) Then you question yourself and wonder, is that truly how God intended us to be? But all throughout the Bible you see so many hard things that God’s people go through, so that they will draw closer to him. It’s not always his will but its something He allows, whether it comes through decisions we make or just times that He wants to use for his purposes. Its definitely very important to have those times if we want to have any kind of intimate relationship with God, I think.

Yeah, I agree, Trey, and I appreciate you keeping it real like that. Thanks so much for your time.

This is for CMCentral right? I’ve been a reader myself for many years. Cool.