MercyMe will perform at Faith Family Church
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Christian music band MercyMe will be on tour in Victoria next week. From left are band members Mike Schuchzer, Bart Millard, Robby Shaffer, Jim Bryson, Nathan Cochran and Barry Graul.
IF YOU GO
What: MercyMe in concert
Where: Faith Family Church
When: Friday, Nov. 13
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., the show begins at 7 p.m.
Cost: $25, $20 and $15
Artists Tenth Avenue North ...
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IF YOU GO
What: MercyMe in concert
Where: Faith Family Church
When: Friday, Nov. 13
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., the show begins at 7 p.m.
Cost: $25, $20 and $15
Artists Tenth Avenue North and Johnny Diaz will open for MercyMe that evening. The event is sponsored by Man to Man Ministries in Victoria. All proceeds will go to the 2010 Family Outdoor Expo. For more information, visit ticketservant.com.
MercyMe will have a question-and-answer session in the middle of their concert Friday.
Barry Graul, guitarist for MercyMe began his music career playing for cover bands at high school dances. Years later he's playing for one of the Christian music industry's most popular contemporary bands.
Since 2001, the band has sold more than 5 million units in CD and DVD form. MercyMe is one of few contemporary Christian music groups to have had all of their recordings certified gold or platinum, as well as earn 21 No.1 multi-format Christian radio singles, and four consecutive mainstream radio hits with "I Can Only Imagine," "Here With Me," "Homesick," and "So Long Self."
The band will perform live on Friday, Nov. 13, at Faith Family Church in Victoria.
Q: You all are extremely popular in the Christian music world and in praise and worship bands. What is it like to know that people are playing, listening to and singing your songs in churches across the nation?
A: It's just comfortable to know that we're doing what we're called to do. We pretty much wear our faith on our sleeve. To be bold about it is what we're called to do. It's great that people get so much out of our music as far as worship. We're very comfortable in our own skin as a band collectively to do God's will.
Q: What does it mean to be a Christian praise and worship band for someone who has never listened to Christian music?
A: Basically it's music that points to God and points us to God and ultimately it's music that just allows us to corporately lift his name and worship our creator. Corporately as in the audience everyone together them and us. It's response from the audience. It's a oneness; we're all singing the lyrics at the same time. We're worshiping God together; that's basically what we're trying to get to in our concerts. We don't put God in a box, but through that I believe healing takes place, emotional healing, there's so many reasons people come to shows we just stand up and do what we do and let God take over.
Q: As a Christian artist with such a huge following, how do you stay humble and grounded?
A: Our families are a huge part of keeping us humble and grounded. When you have to come home and cut the grass and take out the trash, it keeps you on a normal human level. A lot of people think of us as stars, but when you do that kind of thing it settles you a little. We don't have crazed fans. I think people look at the mainstream world and see how nuts it is that people can't go to the grocery store or go to the movies. We don't do those kinds of things.
Q: What does it take for a Christian music artist to be successful in mainstream music?
A: I seriously think God opened all the doors for us and we had nothing to do with it. It just happened in such a freaky way. Mainstream - they're all about great songs and Christian radio as well. If it's a great song, I think they'll play it. "I Can Only Imagine" is such a great song, a tug at the heart strings. I don't think there's anyone out there that wouldn't find something in that song that would touch them in some way, and obviously the radio would love to play that and reach such a broad audience. In doing so we get our message across as well.
There're so many bad songs out there sometimes mainstream deejays look for something opposite. If it lights the phones up it's good for them. Once you get that one in they'll pretty much listen to anything else.
Q: How has being involved with the band affected your faith?
A: It's made it better. You can't have anything but faith when you're in this industry, especially by today's standards. Basically, being in the band is just an overflow of my faith. It's really hard to grow spiritually when you're on the road. We don't' look at the road as church. Basically, MercyMe is just an overflow of our personal lives, and basically we bring a huge amount of faith. There's just no other way to do what we do without amazing amounts of faith.
Q: What is it that keeps you inspired to keep creating music?
A: Just to know what we do helps people and gets people through tough times. That's our inspiration. We don't hear a lot of feedback just because not everything that's sent to MercyMe doesn't always get sent to us. When you meet people and they tell you the music you make is such a blessing. Because of what we do, it's comfortable to know that people come to our concerts and are touched in some ways. After a show one night a man proceeded to tell Bart that his wife had died but all four boys had accepted Christ that night. That kind of stuff keeps us going. That's why personally I got into Christian music. I didn't want to play music just for music's sake. I wanted God to use my talents in some way.
Q: What is the balance of music and message? How do you keep the message at the forefront of your music?
A: The balance weights on the side of how blatant we are in our music and what we're signing about. Once people latch onto an artist, they figure out who those artists are. We don't say Jesus in every song; we don't say God in every song, but the people who do listen to us know who we're speaking about. We're blatant about our lyrics, we're thoughtful about our lyrics. It's hard to say our songs aren't Christian.
Q: What is the next album you all are working on?
A: It's a new studio album, but we really don't know yet. We just started and we'll continue to work on it through the end of January or February. That's the way we work on records. It's always a continuing work in progress. We don't have the liberty to take off a year and work on a record. We work on the record as well as touring. During the holidays, we don't have too many shows, but it would be nice to take off a year to just write and write.
