Stereo Motion interview
09/03/03
by Robin Parrish
Robin: So who thought of the name "Stereo Motion"? Where did that come from?
Dallas Morgan: Justin had this list of names he was brainstorming. And me and Bryan were talking about names. Me and Bryan came up with this name, "Stereo Motion," and we told it to Justin. He pulls out this piece of paper, and he's got the same name on his brainstorming sheet. He had written it down days before and we didn't know it.
I remember hearing about several different names you guys were considering...
Justin Morgan: Oh yeah. There were a hundred different names.
Reading your bio, it sounds like Stereo Motion is a whole new band, not just a name change. Is that how you're approaching it?
Yeah, it's more like a new band. It's like Phat Chance quit and we started a new band. It's not that we're Phat Chance and just changed our name.
Bryan Nance: And it's not like we're being less real by "covering it up" or anything. It's like how you were yourself in sixth grade, but you don't want to always identify yourself as that. We're ready to start something new, we're excited. More than anything, it's just a great beginning -- a way to really start from a good, solid foundation.
So now you've moved over into a classic rock, almost a 1970s kind of sound. Was that intentional, or did you just start writing songs and end up there?
Well, all of us listen to 70s rock & roll, and when we write songs, it kind of comes out that way. Because we listen to it all the time, and we're so inspired by it. You do what you love, so yeah, it just came out like that.
The thing about that kind of music that draws us to it, is that we know that that music is something that still matters today. It's not so much that we like to copy that, but the mindset that artists had back then was much more, "Let's create music that is art." Some of them didn't -- some of them were just tripping out on drugs. But I guess we see that that music has lasted throughout the ages, and that's what turns us on about that. And you know, we also listen to Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Sinatra, too. Which doesn't always shine through our music, but maybe it will someday.
Well, we're kind of getting to that. There's some almost weird, jazzy kind of laid-back stuff in there.
Yeah, and that's what we like about the album. It's not just twelve songs that sound the same, and sound like we're trying to copy Lynyrd Skynyrd or something. It's got tastes of things that have lasted throughout the ages, yet we still play like Brent Lain, Bryan Nance, Dallas Morgan, and Justin Morgan. Our own flavor is on the album, too.
I heard the comment made a while back, before you entered the studio for this record, that you guys wanted to see to it that the next album sounded more like what you had in mind to begin with. Is that what's happened, or is this something else?
That's pretty much how it was, I think. It definitely felt like mistakes were made on the last record. But this time we really wanted it to come out like who we were, what we sound like live. No gimmicks, no tricks, just in the studio recording our music as it happens.
Brent Lain: It was designed to sound more like what we sound like live. We all got in the studio at the same time and played these songs together [instead of recording separate tracks] to give it that "live" feel.
Everyone that's heard us live, has liked that [better], so we just wanted to give them what they liked.
And you worked with Jason Burkum?
Yeah.
Was that your decision or did he approach you?
It was actually his idea, and we were like, "Yeah!"
What was it like, working with him?
Jason is really, really laid-back. You'd think he hates you when you first meet him, but then when you get to know him, you know that that's just Jason, man, and he's got his own flavor.
All the time, he's just straight across. Even line.
Half the time during recording, I'm thinking, "Is he excited about this? I hope he is. He doesn't sound like it..." (Laughs.) But he always told us he enjoyed working with us. It was good to have that. It's less of a, "Hey guys, here's all this hype! I'm going to make you guys sell a billion records!" Like what can happen when you first get signed. It was more, "This is for real. Let's just do it. We know it's good; we don't have to second-guess ourselves. Let's go for it."
We didn't spend a whole lot of time on it, either. We were only in the studio for thirteen days. We did one song a day. Actually, it could have taken a lot shorter than that, because it took forever trying to get the room to sound good. We were in a basement.
And we woke up about noon every day...
Yeah, every day started at about one o'clock. We'd get there, and they were like, "Okay, let's go to lunch." (Laughs.)
Seriously, the days didn't start until about five o'clock. It was crazy. And it took a day or two to get everything set up, because it was just a basement. There was no control room -- the board was over there, the drums are over here, I'm over there.
There were times when we'd do a take, and a fader on the mixing board -- because it was from the 70s -- would mess up.
So you used older equipment?
Yeah. It was actually a board that they made for Disney, back in '72 or '74, I think.
That's interesting, that you used something old to help create this old-fashioned rock & roll sound.
Actually, a lot of the better-sounding boards are old. The one in Flicker's studio -- I think it's from the 70s, too.
Everything in that studio was rigged, though.
To get the tv to work, you had to run it through a Radio Shack adapter, and then twist it around your leg, and point to the north...
(Everyone laughs.)
Seriously. It was like, all pieced together.
Let's talk about your lyrics. Because in listening to this album, it feels really different. It feels less like you're talking specifically to Christians, and maybe more open-ended, more accessible to any type of audience. Intentional?
Yeah, I think this time, I sat down and wrote what I wanted the world to hear. Not just Christians, not just teenagers. What I thought, what I was feeling. Hopefully, something that appeals to everyone.
Are you hoping to attract a broader audience now?
It wasn't a plan. The intent was never to "go mainstream" or anything like that. It was just writing songs about life.
Anybody can rephrase other Christian bands' songs. And I think that's something that we saw as a pattern. We hear so many records with true lyrics -- good, wholesome, godly, truthful lyrics -- but it isn't necessarily art. And that's what I see in your reviews that I like a lot, is that you judge a record more by the artistic factor, rather than, "It made me feel good when I listen to it. It mentioned Jesus three times per song."
I really feel like that's what God is calling us to do. I think it's in Philippians -- it talks about whatever is good, whatever's noble, whatever is worthy of praise: think on these things. One of those things is "whatever is excellent." We feel like that is also just as important as the truthful element of our music, is that it's something that also reflects God's excellence. Because Creation is something that you look at -- and that's one of the most beautiful canvases that you look at that you can picture in your head. That's why everyone and everything that's beautiful as an artist or art is somehow based on God's excellence.
Well, I think we need more of that kind of music written from an all-encompassing perspective because for one thing, we have a major over-abundance of praise & worship now. Another thing we have too much of is music written in "Christianese" -- lyrics that are written just to give the "soccer moms" a happy feeling. Written just that way, to intentionally make a buck off of those people. That's not art, that's pandering. It's a pathetic cliché.
I guess that is a way that we would like to see our music expand outside the Christian boundaries, because people that like our music sometimes like it because they don't know what else is out there. And it would be awesome to know that somebody who is familiar with all this great music, also sees that we fit somewhere in that spectrum.
Sometimes I'll ask people that like Christian Music, "Do you like this band?" And they'll say, "Yeah, they're nice guys." And I have to say further, "But do you like their music?" And they'll reply, "They're so nice, when we met them we hung out and stuff." And you just want to say, "Do they make good music?" "Do they do what they do well?" I hope that people don't like us just because we're nice guys, but because we make great music, too.
I see that pattern a lot, in Christian Music especially. It's like, "Yeah, we met them at a show, and they're nice. So I bought their record." And of course we always strive to be nice guys who love people, but...
That's so irritating. But you're right -- it is hard to separate that kind of stuff. If you're friends with someone, if you know someone, or if you just meet them one time -- often they'll reach out to you and form a connection. So now your feelings about their music are personal -- objectivity is gone. I struggle with that. After meeting an artist, I find it harder to openly, outright criticize their work. But... it comes with the job.
And you hope that they'll do something good.
Right, because you can't let your review become personal. As long as we're talking about industry stuff... do you ever get jaded by the industry? The politics, the business end of things? Because this is something that's been on my mind a lot lately.
Well, something you'll notice is that nobody ever gets "fired," they just get "moved around" in Nashville.
Well, if you go by the press releases, yeah.
So you're always going to be dealing with the same people. So it's easy to build a relationship with people. Which is good. I guess, in the mainstream world people are always coming and going and you don't know who your A&R guy is, or whatever. I guess the thing that frustrates us about the industry sometimes is that they're business people. Their goal is to make money. And their goal is not one and the same as our goal. Our goal as artists is to create something that is excellent, timeless, and pleasing to God. And that's okay, that that's not their goal. But I would hope that they would encourage us to do what we do, with excellence.
Well, you both have to work with each other as a means to an end, basically.
Yeah. And sometimes it will feel like, because the industry is our boss and we should serve them because we are at their mercy, we have to make our goal their goal too, and sacrifice an element of excellence about what we do. And this isn't blowing steam, because we've actually sat down with our record label and talked to them [about this]. Because they'll say, "You guys are trying to be this artistic, artsy band, and it seems like that's your goal." And what we had to say was, "We're not trying to be cooler or more artistic than anyone else -- we're trying to do what we do well. And our goal is different from your goal."
You actually said that to them?
Yeah.
I was pulling my hair out the whole time, like, (makes angry noises). (Laughs.)
And we didn't say it blowing steam or anything, but the way we addressed them on that, we felt was appropriate. I guess sometimes you just deal with that. People are different than you, and it's not always a bad thing that they have a different goal than you. But we would hope that not just because they're our business partners, but because they're our partners in Christ, that they should encourage us to do what we do well, just as we should encourage them the same way. And sometimes we fail at that. We might get preconceived ideas that they're not doing their job well, when we could just call them up and say, "Hey, I appreciate everything you do. How's everything looking?" There's ways that both of us can do better. So I guess that's the biggest frustration. We would hope that our music could expand past what it is. And we don't know how to do that ourselves, we don't know how to market ourselves well.
Which is why you need them. It's a strange marriage. No other industry in the world has to deal with these kinds of issues. I mean, mainstream artists deal with the battle over creative vision, but unique to Christian Music is the ministry aspect of it.
You talked about being artists. Do you see yourselves as ministers also?
Well, you don't have to be an artist to be a minister. If you're a Christian, you're a minister no matter what.
It's not our job as musicians to minister. It's our job as Christians to minister. I minister easier off-stage than on-stage, I think. I do my songs, and then I go talk to people personally after I play. I'd rather just talk to people than rely on them to find Jesus only through my songs. I'd rather they see my walk through life, and see something different about it.
And I think we do do that. Instead of letting our lyrics do all our ministering for us, I think we minister through our lives. Just yesterday we were in Texas, and we were doing this free concert. Anybody could come. Somebody came up to Justin and asked if he was a Christian, and he handled it well. It wasn't like, (televangelist voice) "Yeah, man. Jesus loves you. Do you want me to pray with you right now?" He was real with this guy, and he planted a seed. We get excited about that kind of stuff. So we're a lot more interested in leading Christian lives and demonstrating Christian lifestyles than anything we might say through our lyrics. Because there are a lot of artists that get great reviews by Christian reviewers, that we've met, who write Christian lyrics, but I want to smack 'em, because they don't live the life. Living the life is way more important than lyrics having a high "Jesus-Per-Minute" count.
The question I would usually ask at this point is, "Why do you do what you do?" In this case, is what you just said the reason you do this? Do you want to form those kinds of connections with people? Or do you just want to rock-out?
There's different things for all of us. We're a band interested in making music. We're also businessmen. We're also people who love God. There's different elements of what we are. So I guess there's different mission statements for different areas of our lives. And they all center around the fact that we want to glorify God, and continue to grow as people.
I think, in this world today, a band ultimately comes down to the music. People just want to hear the music. They don't really care about anything else, to start with. That ultimately comes first, for me. I can't reach people unless my music is good. So if you skip out on that stuff, there's no way you can reach out to your audience. I think it ultimately comes down to wanting to rock-out and do what I do well, just like a businessman would want to do his job well. And through that, you get a chance to plant seeds in making God real to people.
I don't have a problem with that. I know a lot of people that do. People that will say, "If you're a Christian band, you've got to get in those 'Jesus-Per-Minute's and you've got to be doing this for the right reasons." There are Christians in every other occupation in the world; why can't there be Christians who just play music? And are really good at it? For some reason this is considered different. Maybe it's because you have a platform, or you have a certain measure of celebrity status, so you're measured by how you use it. I'm not sure. But they expect a lot more from you.
Brent's dad is an accountant. He manages money for people. But he doesn't call himself a "Christian accountant." He's a Christian person. It's the same with us. We should focus on being good at what we do because it's our job, and then through that, people will see that we love God.
There are Christian Music fans who hinge everything on that terminology: "Are you a band, or are you a Christian band?"
Well, it's said four hundred thousand times, "We're a band made up of Christians." And some of those people who say that, go off and drop the f-bomb in magazines. That phrase is said a lot of times by people who don't mean it. So that phrase can get old to people. But we're trying to prove our love for people in a genuine way. We can't necessarily do that, playing the guitar. We love people by living it. Not by using enough JPMs, but by being genuine with people.
What is God teaching you lately?
This is something that I've never really thought about, but it just got revealed to me through the speaker at the show we did in Texas. I can't remember his name, but I was talking to him, because we were sitting with him, eating dinner. And he said, "A lot of people go through life thinking, 'I need to obey God, and then I'll be satisfied.' When really, if you get to know God, you're going to be satisfied with him in that. And then you'll be compelled to obey him." That really changed the way I thought about things. If you run your thoughts through that filter, it really has the potential to change everything.
I think one thing, over the last few months, that I've been in awe of is God's creation. For some reason, I've been noticing the skies. So big. Such amazing sunsets. Sunrises. The amazing beauty of trees. It confuses me that people think it's all the result of an explosion, and there's no purpose here. I don't understand how people can think that. Just look around. Look at the complexity of us. The human brain -- how amazing that is. People think we're just here for ourselves and our own pleasures, and there is no God. I've been thanking God lately for letting me see the wonder of creation, and how special that is.
I think one thing I've learned is how worthless things in this world are. I know this is almost going against what Justin said. And things in this world are amazing, but if every single person in this world were gone -- if every friend you have were gone -- would you be able to live? Is God enough? If you were in a black box and you couldn't see anything, would God still be real to you? I was just reading the passage in the Bible about how there's a time for harvest, there's a time for birth, there's a time for all these things -- but then it says at the end, all those things are meaningless unless we have Christ. Then, there's a purpose to everything. Then, it's worth your time to mow the lawn. Then, it's worth your time to... go pick berries in the field.
(Everyone laughs.)
Everything has a purpose in Christ, but before then, it's worthless.
There's a lot of times when you can look at the good things that you do, and feel complete. Sometimes you find your satisfaction in how much you have obeyed God, rather than forgetting how you were saved. Which means that you were saved from something. And that you needed that Savior and still do. I've realized in a real way, deep in my soul, that I, Bryan Nance, am inadequate. But Christ in me is what makes me adequate. That helps you become humble, that helps you realize that people are worth so much to God.
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