Are you All right, well, welcome to Hey, Are
You Listening? This is a podcast exploring the
past, present, and future of Christian music.
My name is Joel. I'm here with my good friend
Brandon. And we connected over mutual love of
some particular artists, but also have pretty
different tastes when it comes to things. And
so we get to experience new stuff from each other
while inviting some friends along for the ride
sometimes. Brandon, how's it going today? It's
going really well. I was just finishing up a
candy bar before we started recording. So it's
always good. We're getting into a habit of uh,
when I ask you that question, you're usually
finishing up a snack and you mention it on the
air. You know, I, I feel like I've really wanted
to have a drink sponsor, but maybe like a snack
sponsor is like better. I, to be honest, last
night I was um, looking through my Instagram
at a couple of different like, you know, like
energy drinks and I was thinking to myself like,
man i wonder what they would do if i sent some
like pitch to them saying like hey do you want
to sponsor me i've got nascar podcast as also
christian music and i was like i wonder well
who's the energy drink out there that matches
like man that's that's who we are nascar and
christian music you you're the one but i don't
know and also i feel like that sponsorship would
be pretty lost on me considering i don't consume
energy you just have to pretend You just, we
would add in a fake sip. So it's like, ah, that's
pretty refreshing. I feel like this is a sponsorship
that only benefits you. Um, if anything, I feel
like it should probably be Bojangles at this
point. Oh man. Yeah. So we just pivot to a restaurant
so we get drink and food. Yeah. It makes sense
to me. Makes sense to me for sure. All right.
Well, let's kind of get into where we're going.
Um, today let's kick off talking about what's
in the news. So what's been going on in the world
of Christian music? I feel like just from our
conversations, what we've noticed is there's
a lot of artists that haven't done anything in
a long time that all of a sudden are releasing
or announcing that they're releasing new music,
which is kind of a fun thing. And so I've got
a couple that I've been paying close attention
to. One, I've probably mentioned before, actually,
I don't know if I have on the podcast, but one
of my favorite bands. back from like high school
is a band called PFR, Pray for Rain. And they're
one of the biggies back in the time. You had
your DC Talks, you had your Jars of Clay, your
audio adrenaline, Third Day. And PFR was probably
like up there. um in with those bands but like
for whatever reason they were never like the
level of some of those some of those bands but
for me at the time they were they were it um
and so my love for pfr far exceeded my love for
all those other bands and so they haven't done
anything in years at this point but they just
finished tracking a brand new record called the
target in the arrow and uh i uh I crowdfunded
this thing and I'm so excited to hear it and
get it in my hands. One of my all time favorite
bands and so I'm really pumped. You ever listen
to any BFR? I'm going through and I don't, I
don't recognize but it looks like 2001 or so
was kind of like when they, everything else since
then has been live like recordings or best of.
Yeah. I saw they were on squint. I feel like
I need to go back and just do a deep dive on
What was going on at squint during this time?
Yeah, so weirdly enough their last record Disappear
came out on squint. So they broke up And then
got back together and put out disappear and Steve
Taylor at squint was like I think Martin Ash,
their drummer, was like the A &R guy at Squint.
So I don't know if that's kind of like a backdoor
deal or whatever, but apparently as the story
goes, he told Steve Taylor, hey, PFR. We're working
on this new record that we'd like to do and Steve
Taylor was like well does squints gonna put it
out And so that's what ended up happening. But
apparently like a week after the album came out
Squint folded as a label and so the record just
kind of got lost in the midst of all that stuff
happening Which is kind of a bummer. So they
actually just Did a crowdfunding, a Kickstarter
to re -release that record, remaster it and put
it out on vinyl for the first time. Because I
think it's been missing from streaming services
and like really hard to get on CD because they
only made a few of them. Um, and so it's, I mean,
it's called disappear, but it literally disappeared.
Um, so yeah. And then they haven't done anything
since then maybe because of what happened through
all that. Um, but it's fun that they've got something
new coming out. For sure, so I'm pumped about
that one. I know you've got one too, right? Yeah,
Family Force 5 they have on their social media
There's been a lot of teases lately. So people
don't really know if it's You know first people
were like, oh it's new music but someone else
was like maybe it's an anniversary tour of some
of their stuff and But it looks really cool because
it looks like it's all of the original people
getting back together And um, I feel like if
you move force five was definitely a band that
You know, um, I know that like a lot of people
really enjoyed. Um, like when crouton took over
Um, I feel if you don't know the band you start
hearing stuff like solo crouton. You're like,
are you just making up names? Um But I feel like
with a lot of bands it just it's hard to capture
the magic of the original lineup And so I think
that as a Family Force V fan, if that's the case,
it's really cool to see even if it's just coming
back and celebrating some of the older stuff.
So yeah, it's pretty cool seeing all that stuff
kind of get teased. So are we unclear still as
to what the thing is that's being teased or do
we have clarity about it? no it's still um it's
kind of just from what i've seen it's just kind
of people saying oh is it gonna be a like a reunion
thing or whatever um i think for me that's what
i'm kind of assuming because i think two people
make this they make this um this mistake of expecting
the the moon or something and um you know i remember
years ago whenever um Like people wanted DC talk
to return and then they released that um Was
a song um, love feels like on toby mack's album
and people were like, oh this is terrible And
i'm like you guys don't understand if they came
out today. That's what they would sound like
You know, they're not gonna release like 90s,
you know sounding or whatever and um So yeah
for me it'd be cool just uh, just to see them
like live again because I feel like they're live
shows was so cool was there's a lot of production
with like Family Force 5 and stuff going on and
so it was really cool to see them in like a you
know, like a Arena or whatever but also just
one of my favorite shows was they did acoustic
show and It was just so cool because it was all
of their antics and it was crazy and all this
stuff But it was still just such a good like
show and I feel like at their shows you felt
like you were part of them whether it was a thousand
people or whether it was 10 000 people you felt
like you you were in the like a part of the show
and you were seen by them so yeah i'm definitely
interested i've been following this on social
media and seeing a lot about it but especially
i feel like with my way less knowledge about
the band than you have I've just kind of been
like, I'm not sure what's going on right now.
I don't know what's happening. As a fan of the
bait, I don't know what's going on. Good. I'm
glad I'm not the only one that, uh, that feels
that way. Um, one more for me, that's been kind
of cool. Um, one of my, um, probably even earlier
than my love for PFR, um, um, there's a guy named
Wes King, um, who, um, Hasn't put out any music
for like the last 25 years and he's kind of in
that like a singer -songwriter CCM like in the
earlier days of CCM in your like Michael B Smith
Amy Grant like Steven Curtis Chapman time frame
guy who's putting putting out records and I always
felt like for West King His albums were a little
more like thoughtful than some of the others
Um, plus he's one of the best guitar players
that, um, that I have ever heard. And so, um,
his, it's actually like a lot of his music that
made me want to play guitar to begin with is
I really love some of his stuff and great singer
and great songwriter. And so, and he's He is,
um, working on his first record in 25 years.
Um, and he's walked through a lot, uh, a cancer
diagnosis that's kind of like held him back from
making music for the last, who knows how long,
but, uh, it's cool to see, um, I follow him on
social media and it's cool to see like pieces
of this kind of come back together. So it'll
be really interesting to see, see what happens
with that. So. Cool. Well, they got some fun
stuff coming out. So that's gonna be really fun
to dig into Brandon What what have you been listening
to lately? Oh, man this I'd say this week whenever
this came out recently It was a really cool day.
So colony house they released their 77 part two
and It's something that I feel with their music
you have to give it a couple of lessons, too
So it's not something you listen to and you're
like this is bad or good But I I enjoyed it with
my first like listen listen through I enjoyed
it I'm really interested to see how like other
people like look at it because like I said their
first part one was pretty like Like mixed with
some people saying like oh this was not this
is a step back and other people being like man
This is a good album. So I'm interested to see
and then Gable price and friends they came out
a song too good and it is really really good
It's really good though. It's kind of about um,
like the commercialization of the like church
and all so I feel like it is um It's a really
good song and when you start like listening to
the lyrics, it's a very like convicting song
as well Yeah, and um, I just I think that Think
right now like those are two bands that You didn't
for anyone who says like man there. There's no
good music out nowadays I feel like those are
two bands that I would direct people to to say
no these people are releasing stuff That is you
know, really really good. So that's cool. I'm
glad you got two things from two your favorite
artists I've been wanting to hear your take on
the colony house thing So I knew it was coming
and I'm like can't wait to hear what Miranda
thinks about it. So Yeah, that's cool. For me,
a band that I got into just like a year and a
half ago, I saw them at the last Furnace Fest
that I went to and listened to them a little
bit leading up to it is a band called Idle Threat
and they're a tooth and nail band, like a now
tooth and nail band. So they only have one record
out and it's on Tooth and Nail, Blurred Visions.
And they have announced a new record that they've
been working on for a while. and just this past
week released the first single from that record
called ever mind and I Absolutely love it. I
Don't listen to like a ton of like heavy music
anymore. Mm -hmm But they are a heavy band that
I love and I'm into you and I think part of it
is just the the forward -facingness about their
faith that they bring to it, but you just don't
get a lot out of artists. But there's a lot of
textures to their music and I really, really,
really like it. And so this new album, I feel
like is gonna be a big one, a really big one.
And so I'm excited for where it's gonna take
them and really excited to be able to spend some
time listening to it too, but. Um ever mind by
idle threat. I uh, I highly recommend you checking
out so it's cool. All right, let's play a game
Yeah, so joel so this week um We are sitting
down with brian olson from vota And uh, they
recently had an album that came out that was
titled I've got to pull up because for some reason
I keep on wanting to Change it to back to the
beginning but it's back to the start to the start
So I've got to make sure that I say the right
thing so people don't pull up like can't find
this beginning album So in honor of that one,
I want to take a look back and play a game where
i'm going to give you two bands and you're going
to tell me which one like released their album
first. So we're not going back when they started
because I feel like it's kind of you know they
might say well we started playing music in 1995
or whatever. So what we're doing is when they
released their first album and this is like whatever
so if it's independent it's independent. So I'll
let you know some of these bands did release
stuff where it was Independent and then four
years later they got picked up by a label or
whatever. Gotcha So I'm gonna give you two bands
and you tell me which one Released their first
album first. I feel pretty good about this, but
we'll see how it goes I'm I will say I'm glad
that I'm on this side of the computer because
some of these did surprise me I don't have their
album pulled up either. So I had the year here
Okay, so if you are wanting to dispute anything,
we'll have to dive into that Okay, first off,
which one released their debut album first skillet
or casting crowns? Oh Man So I remember when
the first skillet record came out at least what
I think is their first record on forefront. Mm
-hmm Self -titled had a skillet on the cover.
That was probably 95 If I had to make a guess
off the top of my head, maybe we're celebrating
30 years of Skillet right now. I was about to
say I can confirm the year, but I was like, that's
going to completely throw it off if I say, I'll
give you the two years, then you decide. I'll
be honest. Casting Crowns, I don't know as much
about, but let's just say Skillet. You're right.
Skillets was 1996. So close. So we're really
close. Casting crowns was 2001. Yeah, I feel
like if you asked me who was the older band I
wouldn't have gotten that right Maybe because
skill it still sounds more youthful than casting.
I think it might be that it might also might
just be that like That's kind of crazy to think
that casting crowns like Release an album and
then skyrocketed. Yeah, like usually, you know,
it makes more sense with skillet where I was
like, oh, that's weird to think that they were
around for, you know, they had a following, but
I feel like comatose was when it really took
off. Cause that was the winter jams and all that
stuff. All right. Next up is MXPX or jars of
clay. This one's probably close. Definitely closer
than the last one. It's a year difference. Yeah.
I was about to say. So I was probably, man, I
was probably early high school when I got my
first MXPX record. You want to go MXPX? You're
right. 1994 versus 1995 with Jarza Kalei. Yeah.
So. You're doing pretty good so far. All right.
All right. Uh next up we go mercy me Versus our
guest this week voda Um Can I ask a clarifying
question? Yeah, or when we talk about voda are
we going back to who voda was previously known
as yes I I counted them as casting pearls since
it was the same band members. Okay Um, man I'm
still gonna go mercy me. I think you got it.
Mercy me 1995 which was another one that that
was kind of crazy that they were Doing this stuff
and then took off and yeah Voda It was 2000 as
Casting Pearls when they released their first
album gotcha Next up is switch foot versus thousand
foot crutch Switch foot Just a wild, throwing
it out there. What do you think is the time difference
between the two albums? I don't know. I don't
know. So this one was the closest one on here.
Switchfoot released, I think it's like Legend
of Chin. June 17th, 1997. Thousand Foot Crutch
released their debut album, July 29th 1997 so
little over a month about a six weeks or so.
All right I'm still on top of this thing. Yeah
House of Heroes or Hawk Nelson? Oh, man So I
know there's a House of Heroes I think independent
record Mm -hmm And I know Hawk Nelson's First
record letters to the president. I think was
their first record I'll give you a hint. Okay,
Huck Nelson was not created in 1987 I Didn't
say it was a good hand Thanks for that one wasn't
imagining that they were Man house of heroes
You are correct as figure is 2003 Hawk Nelson's
2004. Okay Next up Starfire 59 versus bleach
Starfire you're right again 1994 and 1996. Okay.
Yeah, you got this. No pressure. How many do
we have left? Two more. I don't want to blow
it. Need to breathe versus building 429. Oh my
goodness. See, this one's gonna kill it for me.
Good grief. Really have a clue. It's a year difference
if that helps you at all. I'll say Need to breathe
ooh building 429 2000 and need to breathe 2001
Which honestly I feel like it's impressive you
made it this far because I the first one got
me went like skillet I was like man, I would
have guessed 2002 or something Well, I remember
when it came out. So our final one, two of the
younger people that are taking over radio and
youth groups, Josiah Queen versus Forrest Frank.
OK, so when we talk about Forrest Frank, do we
mean Forrest Frank as a solo artist or Forrest
Frank as in he was in a project with another
guy and they released some hit songs? Let me
pull up this one right here It is I'm struggling
to even remember the name of that right now,
but So this was an independent one It's saying
with this quick is that what you're thinking
of well he was he was It was a duo. They were
releasing records together, and I can't remember
what the artist's name was when they were together.
I think that might be the one you're talking
about, so I'll go with that one. I went on Wikipedia,
and it is under independent albums. So it is
not his Child of God album that came out in 2024.
Yeah, yeah. No, I know. For the fun of it, I'll
just go to Psyqueen. Josiah Queen, his was 2020,
Forrest Frank was 2018. But I mean, I don't know
if we're going with the other one, the Bisquick
one, if that's a duo, that's 2018. Effortless
is 2020, so. Yeah, so Forrest Frank was in a
band called Surfaces and starting in 2017. Surfaces
was the one that I was I was thinking about they
they had Yeah, I don't remember the big song
but But they had a pretty popular song Okay,
this does say that front Frank launched his solo
career under his name and he released July 1
of that year So okay, so that would be considered
2018 his like first one Cool Do you also know
how old Forrest Frank is? 30. Yeah, I'm seeing
that right now. I thought he was like 19 That's
funny I don't I feel like that makes it more
Like more impressive that he's connected with
the youth that much. I mean 30 is young I mean,
yeah, it's young but I just I feel like I'm 33
and I feel like if I walked into our youth group
at our church People wouldn't just turn around
and go. Hey Brandon's here Like i'm not the font
walking in Maybe you are brandon. Maybe you like
Maybe that's cool. I'll show up tonight and i'll
ask everyone. I'll just stand at the door. Do
you think i'm cool? You think that? That's funny,
that's funny All right. Well, thanks for walking
us through that. I feel like I did pretty good.
Yeah, I think that was really impressive. I'm
slightly proud of myself. So let's transition
and get into what we're talking about today.
Well today is an exciting one for us because
we have a special guest with us today You may
know him as the lead singer of the band Voda
or his stint on the voice Join us today in welcoming
Brian Olson Brian we're pumped to have you on
man So great to be here fellas. Thanks for having
me. Yeah, this is this really exciting for us
anytime that we're able to have a creator on
with us just to be able to talk through the history
and the process. And so I'm excited to kind of
dig into where you're at and all those kinds
of things. So let's jump into it. Yeah, let's
do it. It's definitely cool to have this. Before
we started recording, we were talking about bands
that meant a lot to y 'all when you were growing
up, and Voda was one of those. I don't say that
to make Brian feel old or whatever, but... Oh,
boy. Do you remember what we used to be called
before Voda? Casting Pearls. Oh, you are a true
fan. I'm in that... Was it the Facebook you get
the badge for top fan or whatever? Congratulations.
Well done. All right. So jumping into it. So
Brian, how did you first get into music? Like,
do you remember the first album or song or anything
that you heard that made you want to pick up
a guitar or stand behind a microphone? Oh, yeah.
Well, my mom had an insane album collection and.
just even as a kid when I was playing with toys
like matchbox cars and stuff I would like drive
them to the record player like I was going to
a concert and then I would just sift through
these albums and I I can still remember the album
covers are amazing and somehow I stumbled upon
a Queen album that had Bohemian Rhapsody on it
and this was like before like Wayne's World and
stuff or whoever. I know certain movies made
those songs even more popular, but I heard it
for the first time off this album, and I just
remember just being in awe of what I was hearing.
So that definitely did something in me, and I
remember going to a junior high variety show.
where this guy gets up there with electric guitar
and someone else is on the drums and they start
playing into a Van Halen song. There's no singer.
It's just full on rock and roll. And like grandparents
are getting up and walking out holding their
ears because the thing is so loud. And I'm like,
I am going to play guitar. It's decided. And
that did something in me that like I had to have
one. And sure enough, I got one for like my 14th
birthday was my first guitar. and I was off and
off and running. I loved Eddie Van Halen. I have
a really good ear for music, but his playing
was so incredible that because I couldn't copy
it perfectly, I just started, you know, wandering
and writing my own stuff, even at that at that
age. So the fact that I couldn't play guitar
as well as Eddie turned me into more of a songwriter.
That's cool. So how do you get from there? Um,
from being at the point where you're into music,
you start trying to figure out how to do it to
actually like, I'm putting a band together and
trying to like make this thing successful. Like,
what was that bridge like? Oh, well, let me tell
you the bridge I had to cross before that. So
I'm from Connecticut originally, Northeast, and
I did not grow up in a Christian home. I started,
I got invited to youth group, um, as a teenager.
and this small Baptist church basically rock
and roll was sin. So I turned in all my tapes
and CDs at the time and figured that that's what
God wanted only like classical music and nothing
with a drum beat. So there was this period of
time I went to Bible college in the middle of
nowhere in Wisconsin where you had to turn in
your music there too like they had a committee
that that would either hold your music if it
didn't get approved or they would uh you know
they would give you back what did approve and
and back then even groups like acapella they
would would not get approved because they considered
the voices too self -glorifying so um so it was
a really weird time as a young person just going
through like what is what do i feel god really
feels about this with music like it was always
in me i would have my electric guitar with me
at at Bible College, but I had headphones on,
so no one could hear the distortion and stuff,
my buddy and I, as we were writing songs. So
that turned into moving to Nebraska, because
he worked out here in Lincoln, and he invited
me for a summer, and I came out just to kind
of work on music with him. And we never played
live, we just worked on stuff forever, but my
first ever live band experience was this. Other
band was called helpless speech was the name
of the band and they actually all lived in Scotts
Bluff Nebraska Which is like light years away
from Lincoln. I mean, it's seriously like a seven
hour drive and I joined this band and I I drove
out seven hours to Scotts Bluff to be like to
practice and be a part of our first gig and that's
kind of where things started and I started to
sing and song right then the lead singer at the
time got a real job and everybody was mad at
him for getting a real job and so helpless speech
turned into casting pearls at that point I started
writing more music and all those guys moved to
Lincoln Nebraska and we just did stuff on the
weekends just really tried to you know make it
happen as much as we can and I think for me my
first big break I guess was I remember the first
time like someone from forefront Records heard
our demo and he called and left a voicemail and
I kept that voicemail for like a year just to
yeah Just just to give me inspiration and stuff,
you know And then newsboys at the time owned
a record label and they were interested in us
And so I started talking actually with Peter
furler the lead singer at the time which turned
into me getting an offer to actually play guitar
for Newsboys, which was insane. That was like
the first stamp of like, okay, maybe it was worth
it investing so much time and energy into music.
Some things were starting to pay off. Did that
answer your question? I know I kind of had a
few bunny trails there. I had to throw the Christian
part in where rock music was a sin. I don't know
how many times I threw away my Van Halen CD.
Rebought it and then felt guilty and threw it
away and then bought it again It's ice at Bible
College. I snuck out to go to a Petra show and
I Snuck out to go to see Petra and PFR was the
opener and I fell in love with that band pray
for rain So that was my first time where I heard
Christian music where I was like, oh this this
is really really great Like I and I dove in,
you know Secretly sinning and listening to rock
and roll on my headphones Listening to PFR. Yeah,
it's it's so funny. You mentioned that because
I feel like there's a whole conversation about
Baptist Church and secular music. I remember
as a teenager, my student ministry doing a night
where we all brought our secular CDs and the
whole night was just how do we destroy them in
the most fun way? So we were like burning them
and breaking them with baseball bats and golf
clubs. But I just remember seeing my Jen Blossom
CD get destroyed and then having heartbreak and
then even feeling way worse next week when I
went and bought it again. Dude, I thought I was
the only one. You're not the only one. We made
those artists rich. I had a conversation with
the guy that was my student pastor back then
the other day and he's like, why did we do that?
And I'm like, you were in charge, bro. I don't
know. Hopefully, you know, maybe every several
years, every five years, we look back at who
we were five years ago and hopefully we see growth.
You know, we see like, why was I doing things
that way? Why did I believe, you know, I don't
know. It's and the older I get, it seems like
the more questions I have, the less I know, the
less I'm sure of. I think that's a really good
and valid point too, because I think obviously
growth is being more introspective and more thoughtful
about things. And so it really is a cool thing.
There are a lot of things that I'm probably more
sure about than ever from when I was younger
today, but probably more things that that i'm
like i think there's probably a lot more like
room for grace um in the midst of all of this
than i thought there used to be so yeah um so
yeah so jumping ahead you you get on uh ino records
release your self -titled album and um and you
and you create what to this day is one of my
favorite music videos and it's the video for
hard to believe um can you tell us a little bit
about the i guess maybe the creative process
of like yeah coming up with the idea and like
creating that video yeah sure um first off i
want to say the album cover was not photoshopped
there's a helicopter hovering above the three
of us and the the blade of the helicopter is
like captured perfectly in parallel to the building
and i remember the label at the time because
they didn't have you know a lot of money for
marketing and i had this idea for a helicopter
to come in they're like you know what maybe after
Maybe your next album, when you sell a few records,
we could do that. And I just was like, no, I'm
going to check it out. And I called this guy.
He goes, yeah, I can just come there and hover
for 20 minutes and, you know, give me 400 bucks
and we'll call it good. So so he literally did
that. The photographer grabbed a whole bunch
of shots and that ended up being the album cover,
which is was pretty awesome. And that was Jeremy
Cowart, who was like. since became, and he's
an incredible photographer. But that music video,
oh gosh, the guy's name is escaping me at the
moment, but it was pretty groundbreaking at the
time. It was kind of like that Apple sort of
feel where, you know, you had this element moving
through. Each one of us filmed in front of like
a green screen that we put together and we filmed
it in Franklin, Tennessee and it was a lot of
fun. I mean, just as a band to finally get to
work on. I think that was our first music video
at all, so that was pretty fun. That's all I
can tell you about that. I remember, I think
we were mentioning this a few weeks ago, that
they had this channel, the Gospel Music Channel,
and it was just Christian Music 24 -7, and they
would have the rock block and the hip hop or
whatever, and I remember seeing it. i don't know
if it was like one morning before i think it
might have been before school like i'm waiting
from like my brother and my mom to to get ready
to leave and so i turn it on and i see that video
and i was just like man i'm used to you know
like people singing in front and maybe there's
a story with like this you know this guy and
this girl or whatever but i was just like this
is so cool and um so that's it's always stuck
with me i remember when we started our grade
school ministry here i showed that video to some
of the kids here and they're like What why this
laser is like what's the laser doing? What's
gonna happen? I was like the laser's not gonna
hurt anyone. That's not the point So so fun about
music videos is like especially during that time
the more it didn't make sense the the cooler
it was it's like, you know rando people in it
and stuff, but um, I remember we were just like
putting um, oh gosh Craigslist ads out to try
to find cheerleaders and dancers that wanted
to volunteer. So like all those people that came
in were just like, who knows somebody random
stuff that we just threw out there and people
just showed up. So it was definitely a grassroots
effort. That's cool. Brandon, was that your first
introduction to VOTA? Yeah, that was I. I saw
that video. I mean, back in that day, it's like
if you don't. I remember like I think I didn't
catch the. They would sometimes have the name
and you know song and all at the beginning and
end but sometimes they wouldn't have in the end
so sometimes you just have to wait because I
mean you can't Google like red laser and hard
-to -believe cheerleaders But I remember like
discovering them and like next trip we took to
like Lifeway or Family Christian or whatever
I went and I was like oh I've got to pick up
this album and um so I picked it up and I was
like man this is this is really cool um and I
just I feel like I connected pretty quickly with
the band that's really awesome That's awesome.
It would have been better if you were part of
a baptist church and you threw it away and you
bought it again I wish I had that story of oh,
yeah, they had to throw with the bota thankfully
We would have made tens of more dollars because
of just your sacrifice. I think my school they
only knew the like top artist And so I remember
one day someone being like you shouldn't listen
to tommy mac. That's like satanic And I remember
telling my friend, I was like, Oh, no, you must
have misheard me. His name's Toby Mac. You must
be thinking of someone else. That's so funny.
I mean, granted, in my student ministry, it was
we got to keep our Christian rock CDs. It was
just the secular stuff that we destroyed. That's
funny. Brian, tell us a little bit. You guys
have kind of been known over time for just Bringing
awareness to different causes that are out there
things like Human trafficking like how did you
guys decide? Hey, we want to use this platform
that we've been given To kind of invest in some
of these different areas. What kind of led you
guys towards that? We've always had this mission
that To use music to connect people that need
help with people that can help And we've tried
various ways to do that and usually link it to
albums And I don't I think part of that honestly
happened with me when I joined the newsboys as
their guitarist They they did a missions trip
like in Mexico and that was the first time I
really saw Extreme poverty and I was blown away.
I was like, oh my goodness. I mean we were in
a trash dump and people were making You know
makeshift housing out of the scraps there and
I I was just I Couldn't believe what I was seeing
was unlike anything I've seen before but but
also I was looking at like, you know What this
band is making a difference just by doing a couple
concerts here whatever it's raising awareness
and and that awareness and and eventually the
giving went a long way and I just I kind of fell
in love with that and adapted that and I love
creative marketing ideas and stuff too. And so
a big part of it for me was to try to come up
with unique, interesting campaigns that would
engage our fans. And the one we did with Love
Justice, they fight human trafficking globally.
At the time, I went on a trip to Nepal and there's
like 14 border points between Nepal and India.
And what was happening is traffickers were coming
into the... into Nepal posing as like employment
agents to give jobs for their kids and stuff
like that and then what would happen is these
kids would get sold to brothels and never seen
again and and our our Mission was to like at
the time when people were still buying albums.
We recorded two albums and we said hey For let's
see, what did I say? Oh the album's free but
before you get it you have to watch this video
from this girl named Nina who escaped one of
these brothels she told her story and it's just
it's heart -wrenching and it's so inspiring and
we said you know for a gift of any amount we
have another secret album that recorded that's
only gonna go to the givers on whatever they
choose to give and we at the time we've never
been a massive band you know we've never been
Casting Crowns or Mercy Me or whatever Toby Mac
and and I was working at a church doing worship
full -time and so we weren't touring a ton but
through that campaign alone our goal was to raise
a hundred and fifty thousand dollars to support
and staff five border stations for five years
and we ended up raising like close to a hundred
and eighty thousand it was amazing to see what
what God did through that and then we got reports
over the years like I think it's been close to
seven or eight hundred girls have been intercepted
just through the border stations that we helped
put together. So sometimes it's just hard to
even fathom what that means, but the fact that
we got to be a part of something that spared
hundreds of young children from a life of just
utter destruction, like, you know, it's good
for you to remind me of that. It's like, yeah,
we got to be a part of that. And so when you
get to do that once, We've done it again. We
partnered with another organization. We took
on an entire community in Nicaragua It had 300
some kids sponsored in this community and it
just was so cool We from start to finish we just
saw The hardest thing sometimes to do is to is
to break the poverty mindset in these communities
and to see that happen in real time Was just
it's just so wonderful. So um, yeah, we've we've
always um, we know that we can have a voice even
if it's a smaller one compared to a lot of bands,
but um love trying to make a difference with
some of that. So that Love Found Me album that
someone mentioned was an album that we did for
Love Justice. But they also helped us too. So
we were able to own our copyrights, like record
the album ourselves. So it's almost like we use
some of these organizations as a label to help
us, but then we were so free from the publishing
and restrictions that we could do these creative
things to help them. So it was a very win -win.
that's so fun and probably like a little bit
ahead of its time i mean obviously the music
industry is a very different animal today than
it was 15 years ago but i would imagine that
um some of what you guys were doing then like
we're gonna do this thing kind of on our own
not on this label but You know, um doing it to
support this cause that we really believe in
probably like mirrors a lot of what's happening
in music today And I feel like you guys are probably
on the front edge of a lot of that, which is
cool I'll take that sure We were just trying
to survive, you know, we're also trying to survive
and do what we do full -time we we are our strategy
is We ended up owning a tour bus and sound and
lighting and we would hire ourselves out to bigger
bands and run their tours So we worked really
really hard to do and we would open for their
audience, you know, so we would do like a 20
minute set, but we would be the the crew loading
all the gear in tearing it down, driving the
bus. And it was it was pretty insane. Yeah. What
were some of your this is an off topic question,
but going along with that, what were some of
your favorite like some of your favorite tours
or artists that you were able to hang out with
on the road that like just kind of impacted you?
Well. Alright, I'm gonna answer this in a few
different parts. One of my favorite tours was
My entrance into the newsboys was pretty crazy.
So I had been talking with Peter furler for some
time Because he was the head of the record label
that was looking to sign us Yeah, and so, you
know, we call it the label dating game like you
want things to move fast and they never do they
take like Months to a year and you're let's hear
more songs. This is great. What else you got
and like And one day I get this call from Peter,
and he's like, pretty much he said something
like, I was a worship pastor at the time, and
he's like, he calls me on a Thursday. He goes,
there's about 100 people I could call here in
Nashville, but I'm wondering if you're interested
in playing guitar for the Newsboys. And I remember
taking the phone and just like. Kind of doing
a silent scream because I'm like The answer was
already yes, but I was freaking out that the
offer was there Yeah, and and he's like, can
you fly out tomorrow to see at the time? Jody
needed to step down for his daughter just needed
like 24 -hour care and he just couldn't tour
so there was no guarantee for me like how long
this would be and He's like, can you fly out
tomorrow? And I'm like, I've got a show tomorrow
with casting Casting Pearls at the time. And
then I had the lead church on Sunday. He goes,
well, the tour starts next Friday. So I'm like,
bro, I've got a week. I've got a week here to
make all this decision. And of course I did.
And my very first show with the newsboys in this
tour bus in front of, you know, five, six thousand
people. by the next Friday. I mean, I had to
buy some CDs once I got the set list to like
work out my singing parts and what I was doing.
So that was pretty insane because I went from
slugging it out in a van to getting thrust right
into a major band that at the time was chartering
private jets and tour buses and massive shows.
And it was like the best experience ever and
also like a way to, let's see how a big band
does it, you know, to kind of see the behind
the scenes. So I guess that's probably one of,
for my own band, we started this thing called
the 180 Tour. And what it did is we went into
public high schools and we did like character
based assemblies. So. One of our main speakers
was this girl named Crystal Miller and she was
a survivor of Columbine. She was actually in
the library where most of the violence took place
where most people were killed and injured. She
was hiding under the only table where someone
wasn't killed or injured because they were right
above her loading their guns. So it's an amazing
story. And we would go into these high schools
and just do a character related type presentation
the band would play we'd do like a dance competition
with a student and a couple students and a teacher
just connect with the kids and then we invite
them out that night for an evening concert where
we could be more free and share the gospel with
them and we did like over 400 of these all across
the US and I'm pretty proud of that because it
was a lot of work sometimes we were doing two
assemblies a day so two different setups and
two different schools and then setting up for
an evening show we're doing like three concerts
a day and God really opened up a lot of doors.
It was pretty exciting sometimes to come into
a room with like 800 kids in there, and they
were just from the high school that day. So to
introduce God in that setting was exhilarating
for me, because like, oh, we aren't playing to
the church choir here. This is really cool. That's
awesome. I love that. Sorry if I'm giving you
too long of answers for your questions. Just
shut me down. Oh no, that's perfect. That's so
good, man. It's great stuff. So I know we mentioned
at the top that a lot of people maybe have come
across your music because of your time on The
Voice. What led to that? How did all that come
to be? Oh, bro. Okay. First off, I went through
the hardest season in my life when my marriage
ended. And it was just really devastating and
difficult for me. And I don't know what sparked
As I was coming out of that, my drummer sent
me this audition thing for the voice one day.
And I remember telling him, I'm like, dude, I'm
not going to some arena to sit outside in line
with a bunch of teenage girls for 14 hours waiting
for a chance to audition on a singing show. It
just wasn't on my radar. One, I wasn't just starting
out. I've been doing this a long time. He said
no, you don't have to do that. You can you can
schedule like a zoom call with them And so without
telling him I scheduled this zoom thing for like
a Thursday at 1 p .m And their instructions were
you need to have 90 seconds of a song that you're
gonna sing and that's it I got to cut you off
at 90 seconds. You don't see them I almost couldn't
get the laptop to work almost like what am I
doing? I almost just didn't do it And I sent
the song, I was in my bathroom playing guitar,
where it was nice and echoey, sang the song,
and like two hours later I got a response back,
this is great, now we want you to send us three
more songs this way, and then they wanted to
do an hour -long interview and a psych exam and
all this. It kept escalating to the point where
like, oh, they... they're sending me out to LA.
Here we go. And so it wasn't something I was
looking for at all, but it turned out to be one
of the most amazing experiences of my life. It
was incredible. That's really cool. And what
was the song that you used for that first audition?
So they give you a list of approved songs. Like
I can't remember, it might have been a thousand
or two thousand songs. And you're supposed to
pick I think 15 of them and put them in order
of preference. And so they chose one of the songs
I had on my list was One Republic's Love Runs
Out. And so they choose it and they give you
a 90 second clip of how they kind of think you
should do it. and I had a different idea for
that and I went into the studio and kind of recorded
what I wanted to do is that I really I think
it would be cool if we start this off a cappella
and then the band comes in and once they heard
the recording they were like okay we'll let you
do that and um and uh so it that worked out really
well for me but um that's how that worked that's
awesome and then beyond that the way the show
goes you don't really I had to sing a lot of
songs I'd never Song before never would have
sung even in karaoke like I I wish I could have
picked all the songs that I Really wanted to
do ones that I knew well, but it gets pretty
intense There's a lot of decision -making and
how they pick songs and what gets approved and
stuff like that So but it was a just a super
fun wild ride And then my daughter gets on the
show. I don't know if you guys know that So that
was like that's never even happened in the history
of the show to have like a a parent -child, you
know where they're both contestants and both
become finalists. It was, I was like, God surprised
me in ways that I just never saw coming. It was
really, really special time for me and affirming
to me too in a time that I needed it, that spending
my life pursuing music was kind of the right
choice. And I need to continue to do that until
I no longer can. It's kind of what I felt during
that whole season. Is it more nerve wracking
when you are on stage or when you are off stage
watching like your daughter perform? Oh, they're
both incredibly nerve wracking. And obviously
there's hidden cameras catching my responses
all the time. But which I'm sure my daughters
kept rolling her eyes like, oh, there's dad crying
again. But I have to tell you, like, my daughter
really didn't believe she had a gift her. She
sings in an 80s cover band. And she told me it's
like, you know, I just couldn't find a singer
that was like me. So I didn't know if I was really
good is kind of what she said. So to see her
kind of blossom during that show, I mean, I was
just and come out of her shell and just I was
just overjoyed. I was so cool. It was so awesome
that I got to be at every one of her performances.
And so that's a memory, you know, that I'll cherish
forever. So recently, y 'all released a new album,
Back to the Start. What can listeners expect
from that? Well, I'll set it up as to why it's
called Back to the Start. There's a lot of things.
One, my kids would say, Dad, we really love your
very first album, the one with the car on it,
the white one that was casting pearls and named
Boda. And they're like, more music like that
would be great. And as I pondered why I think
that album resonated with them, is it was done
before record labels and radio and trying to
do it for a living. It was like, just make the
music that you really want to make. And not like
we didn't do that after that, but this album
was really just my bandmate and I were like,
you know what, let's make something we're proud
of. If anybody else comes along for the ride,
great, but we just have to, we have to go back
to the start and do it for that reason, not thinking
about as a radio station or whoever gonna care
or pick this song up. And so, and I think that's
how we should always approach art, you know?
And maybe I lost my way a little bit, but I also
felt like I also worked for certain entities
that I had to be careful. I didn't realize it,
but you know, you work at a church and you're
a worship pastor, I have to, if this song is
gonna go out, can I have a line in the song that
says, where I'm talking to God and I feel like
your silence is violent, can I say a line like
that, even though that's what I feel in the moment.
And so I'm in more of a position now that I want
to be more authentic, you know, going through,
especially my divorce, I've really felt my life
was over and I lost everything that I worked
toward my entire life that that's the actual
just spirit and feeling I felt and and and to
see I knew but at the same time I knew God was
real even though I was I was upset at him during
that season he was patient and walked with me
through it and um so I feel like my faith is
more real and grounded than ever and I'm also
trying to figure out who am I really you know
what um And so all that's coming out in the album.
There's songs about letting go, trying to move
on from that relationship. There's love songs
about finding love again. There's everything
in between. And so that's why I'm most proud
of it, is it just feels like we did it the right
way, meaning make the best thing we can that
we just love first. I think that's so fun. And
it is a cool thing. I was... I was in a band
years ago of little consequence, but it was it.
It is so cool to think back on like kind of the
stages that a band or an artist goes through
and how they do kind of like mirror our lives
in a lot of unique ways, because your art is
is going to be a picture of of what you're walking
through at whatever period of time. And so it's
kind of a it's an it's a cool take to be able
to kind of look back and Obviously be stepping
into a new stage as you are But also find like
a lot of similarity With things that have kind
of stuck with you for a long time. So I think
that's neat I think too that's just you know,
we we've discussed on here before that I think
for me is my favorite albums are the ones that
you have to kind of work through like, okay What
are they saying here or like I'm a big believer
in like I you know back in the day whenever I'd
go buy that physical CD it was I want the lyrics
to it and I want to sit down and I want to like
look at the lyrics and like I love those albums
where it's like people are working through stuff
it's not just uh you listen through it one time
and you've got it it's stuff that you can listen
to you know there's albums that I feel like I've
listened to probably for 15 20 years and i'll
go through and i'll be like i've never stopped
to listen to this song but now it's like really
impacting me for what i'm walking through right
now and all so to me that's i always love whenever
a band's like yeah we're getting back to where
it was or we're you know like looking through
this or whatever i was like oh there we go he's
got to go let's go It's Googling lyrics, so And
it's less It's nice when there's mystery behind
it, you know when you're when the intended meaning
or what I meant Maybe I'm guarding for a reason
and someone else is going to pull their own meaning
out of it, you know and the not every song like
has a happy ending, you know, like and So I'm
definitely all for that That's awesome. You've
been able to have such cool experiences throughout
the course of your career from like your time
and experience with the newsboys, which I'm sure
gave you like interface with all different kinds
of artists, especially in the Christian world.
And then you've got this whole the voice thing,
which puts you in a whole other sphere of music
with like all those all those different things.
What if you could think of like One artist that
you would be able to collaborate with or do something
with Who do you who would you say man if I could
just create something with with this artist like
that would be a dream of mine Well since you're
saying artist There's certain songwriters that
I would love to get with but one that fits both
I guess would be Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic
because just an absolute amazing songwriter.
He's behind some massive hits. And I think our
vocal styles are similar. So it would just be
fun to kind of like write stuff, you know, with
him. So that's an easy one to say. That's fun.
Awesome. And to close up, you know, we've talked
a lot about the impact that Voda has had. When
you step back, you know, 10, 20, I don't know,
like 30 years now or whatever, what legacy do
you want Voda to leave behind? That we were authentic,
you know, that people would remember us as good
people doing the right thing, making great music.
Like, I feel like... in our art, we want to reach
as many people as possible, right? We would love
the world to be following our art and supporting
us in that way. And maybe that's still an opportunity
for us, but you have to enjoy, as they say, enjoy
the ride, enjoy the journey. And over the years,
we've had so many situations where people that
a song has meant something so special in their
life or even, I remember we did a show that took
us forever to get to and... I was so tired and
because we hung out with this girl at the merch
table after the show She was contemplating suicide
that night. She wrote us a five -page letter
of how that of how just those moments kind of
gave her the strength to To carry on in that
day. So like and I know there's some stories
like that. We don't even know so You know There's
an old old movie that robin williams was in a
dead poet society or whatever and it was some
he was reading a poem about Like this the life
is this poem and we get to contribute a verse
to it or something like that I don't i'm just
paraphrasing it, but that's what I feel in some
small way The art and what we've done as a band
and voted whether it's helping Fight human trafficking
to someone just being encouraged and happy in
a day with a song to um Anything in between doing
these high school? assemblies all of that has
had some sort of impact and matter to somebody
so I You sum that up in five words, I can't do
that but that's Just just to kind of keep doing
that and know that you but that we we We impacted
culture for for the better. Yeah that that that
would be a great way to end it That's awesome,
it's such a beautiful And I think, I mean, obviously,
I think the same just through my life, right?
That we always hope and pray that we end our
lives with the people around us a little better
off because we're able to be in their lives,
to have that kind of positive impact rather than
a negative one. And when you think about that
from a musical standpoint, the reach goes so
far and creates such an incredible opportunity
just to have beautiful impact in the lives of
people, as I know that you guys have already.
And I'm sure that there's going to be even more
great opportunities to be able to see that happen
in the future. So that's cool. Sometimes, you
know, you're a pastor. It's the small things
like I don't know how many times I've sung. at
my church for a funeral. And those are exciting
gigs, let's just be honest. But they're impactful
and they're meaningful to that family in that
moment. And they asked me to be a part of it
for whatever reason. The person that passed on
was a fan of my voice or whatever. And those
things, that's how we serve. That's how we wash
feet in the kingdom is to just use this gift
that God gave us to help impact. just even the
individuals in those moments, you know, not always
the bigger dreams that we have, so. Yeah, that's
great. Man, this has been such a good conversation.
It's so fun. It's like you hear music from a
band and you get one like image or picture. Um,
and it's so fun for us. Um, one of my favorite
things about being able to do this podcast is
just to be able to sit down with artists and
really get the heart that's going on behind what's
being created. And, uh, I just think you've like
put your heart on display so much in our conversation
today and I'm grateful for it and to be able
to see it. And, uh, I just appreciate you being
real and vulnerable, um, in a lot of different
ways. And I think that, um, I'm hoping that even
that is just an encouragement to people maybe
that listen to this that are walking through
hard situations or difficult things in their
life to know that there is hope on the other
side and that God is faithful and He's going
to continue to be there even when we're not sure
and we don't have it all figured out and we're
wondering how or why the things in our life happen.
I know for me, man, I've been encouraged by your
words today. And so really, I appreciate you
taking some time to hang out with us. Oh, absolutely.
Those are good words, friend. I appreciate you
having me on. Yeah. Well, we are super thankful
again to be able to have you on. And man, looking
forward to be able to maybe have some future
conversations as well. So thanks for hanging
out with us today. You got it, gents. Have a
good one. Thank you. All right. Well, that was
a fun conversation that we were able to have
with Brian Olson. Let's get into what is our
lyric of the week. All right, so the lyric of
the week this week since we're not covering an
album comes from a star flyer 59 song who is
a namesake for our podcast Hey, are you listening?
We get that from a star flyer 59 song called.
Hey, are you listening and this song? The lyric
for this song comes from one of my favorite star
flyer songs fell in love at 22 and This came
out as an EP Before the album, I think, Fashion
Focus came out. I heard the song on the Fell
in Love at 22 EP. And simple lyrics, but this.
Fell in love at 22, with a girl that's close
to you. Find a job and find a life. No more long
days, longer nights. With your girl and family
too, playing card games in the room. This is
our life, our old times. There's a lot of songs
out there about 22. This is one. Some random
artist named Taylor Swift has one. There's a
Switch Fit 22 song. And so yeah, I don't know
what it is, but I feel like my 22 was like a
big year for me. A lot happened. I actually met
my wife. That year of my life and so this song
just connects with me. Mm -hmm in a lot of different
ways. Mm -hmm. Yeah cool We're really grateful
for you guys for joining us today for this conversation
As always encourage you go find us on the internet
Facebook Harry listening You can email us. We'd
love your questions or comments, discussion topics.
Email us at heyareyoulisteningpod at gmail .com
and we'll look forward to seeing you back next
week.