Well, it's definitely different when you're travelling around with a huge band like Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones and opening up for them, because for the most part people are just tolerating you until the people that they really came to see come up to play (laughs)...but the experience of it was amazing, just playing in front of that many people was incredible, and meeting all those people and kind of getting to know them, it was great. And it really is this huge production, and "shock and awe," you know...So it's very different from the level I play on which are theatres, 2500 seat places, as opposed to 20,000 seat places. But I think I like them both.
How has the response been to this new record as opposed to your old ones?
I haven't read a whole lot of the comments online or anything like that, but the ones that I have read, it's pretty much the same: either they don't like it, or some people aren't comfortable with me mentioning the name of Jesus, which is to be expected; but some people are excited about it, some people are just like, "I don't care what you believe but I just like your music." So it's all different kinds of people, which is great, I hope for that. I hope that it can relate to and be a blessing to anybody, with the hope that someday they will find Jesus Christ to be the same God that I've found Him to be.
Have your thoughts on music in general if they've changed at all since you've become a believer?
Yeah. You know, music used to be my God and was something that I lived for and that my life revolved around. And since meeting the Lord, it's taken a back seat, to say the least, to Him. And I feel like I have a lot more perspective now - now when I perform a song or when I write a song or when I'm just thinking about the career I have as a musician, it all, at this point, needs to fall in line with serving Him first, instead of the other way around. So, with that said, I definitely view music differently. It's just like any gift anybody has - I feel like God gave me whatever gifts I have, and so those should be used to bring glory to Him and to bear fruit for His purposes. And I hope that it only increases from here to do both of those things.
I think what amazed me the most about your testimony is that you went through this rock n' roll lifestyle at such a young age - I think you described it as kind of like a "blur" from your first record and going through that process. And now you've been delivered and you're still at a young age, and you've got a lot of life to live and a lot of things to look forward to. I was wondering what your outlook is on your future career, and just your life in general since having gone through this kind of fast-forwarded experience that takes some people a lifetime to go through.
I'm sort of in the posture of somebody who really needs that connection with the Lord as often as possible - just to feel normal, to feel right, I guess, everyday. So I guess, I look at myself as more of a -this might sound cheesy- but I kind look at myself as more of a child, in the sense that I can understand how little I know about things, and how little control I actually have over my own life, except the decisions I make for or against God. And I realise that I'm just really nothing without Him, that I can't do anything aside from Him, and it's just taking it one step at a time. Where before it was load the gun, put the blindfold on, spin around and shoot, was my personal life before, I definitely feel like the Lord has given me a total direction and purpose now.
