Decyfer Down

If a late winter release date for Decyfer Down’s Crash seems a bit odd, it might be because you heard the same thing six months ago. The sophomore follow-up to band’s smashing debut, End of Grey, has been a long time coming. But when you’re in need of a new front man, well, you need a bit more time.

Yet drummer Josh Oliver insists that the line-up change had nothing to do with the push back, instead telling us that the label’s move actually allowed for God’s will to take place within the life of the band and former singer Caleb Oliver. Here, Josh tells us about working with producer Paul Ebersold (Three Doors Down, Skillet), choosing a new vocalist and touring with Skillet and Thousand Foot Krutch.

Soul-Audio: So many new things with the band that it’s hard to know where to start, but can you tell us about the line-up changes first? Can you tell us where Caleb’s at now and did that affect the record release date?

Josh: Back in September, people thought we moved the record because of the lead singer change, which wasn’t the case at all. The record was already moved and we were on our way to a show and Caleb came to us and said he needed to go and be with his family. He was dealing with some issues he needed to deal with in the context of that and we really respected that. But that obviously throws a monkey wrench into the whole deal. It was quite a change. We wanted to support Caleb with what he was going through but it also left us as a band – and with this being our career and ministry and livelihood – wondering what was the next step.

The obvious choice was T.J. Harris [formerly of Fighting Instinct]. It was one of those deals where we were all a big fan of his. We knew he was at home and not touring but was looking to get back out on the road, so we gave him a call. It just so happens that he just happens to live three hours from where we live, so we took that as a sign and a connection for us to explore. So we had him come out and he did a couple shows and it was a bit of a stretch for him, because he’s used to playing his music. This is a scenario where he’s just the front man rather than also playing guitar, but it also frees him up to be the fifth guy.

There were a few times during the show where it clicked so well that you wonder if there’s really something there. We pulled him aside and said, ‘Look, we’d love to bring you into this. Caleb’s not coming back to the band and we’d love to see if we could do this with you.’ That’s a big hurdle for T.J. to overcome because he’s married and has two kids and had another band at the time. So we told him not to give us an answer, but to sit on it for a week and talk to his family and his accountability and his band and pray about it. We wanted him to run it through all those channels and if it was meant to be, then God would work all that out. Through much discussion and some curveballs thrown our way, he said he was in 100%.

So we immediately went to the studio after getting the blessing from management and the label and decided to recut the vocals since the record wasn’t out yet. So it all worked out with the record not coming out yet and I think God already had it in His sovereign will that we would be going through this change. It was in God’s plan so it was really good to see his provision. I think it’s worked out really well all the way around. The new line-up just flat out rocks, so I’m pretty pumped about it right now.

SA: Can you speak to where you’re going thematically on the new album, Crash?

Josh: We’re trying to influence culture. I think that music being as powerful as it is to reach people, I think we don’t take that for granted. I think the songs we’ve chosen for this record will positively affect and impact the culture that listens to it. We take it seriously about writing music with a message and a theme and a thread of truth and hope that goes through each of the songs. For us, having this opportunity to reach people on such a broad scale, I think it’s awesome to be able to have that position and reach people that way.

We’re definitely wanting to hit on themes that we didn’t on the first record, but we are also hitting on some of the same. We wrote songs on things like addiction and about relationships with people that have wronged you or with people that you’ve loved or people who have influenced and challenged you. We’ve tried to touch on all these on the record and hopefully we’ll be able to influence people in a great way through the music.

SA: The chance to work with Paul Ebersold would be quite an experience. Was there one particular stretching moment in the studio that stands out?

Josh: The whole recording was stretching. All of us were really stretched in our writing and musicianship. It was one of those deals. A lot of the songs on the record I had never played before until we started tracking drums, because when you’re doing demo work, you use drum machines because you’re in hotel rooms or places like that. So I was learning the songs while figuring out parts for them. A lot of stuff was done on the fly like it normally is; you keep what you like and cut what you don’t like.

SA: As a drummer, how was it working with Paul?

Josh: It’s cool to work with a producer that is a drummer. He plays it off that he’s not that great, but he’s actually pretty good. It was a little less focused than the first record; I was wanting to keep it simple. I still have a real in-the-pocket kind of feel to my drumming, but it was just a fun experience because we have a lot of different variety on the record. We have different sounds; it’s got some rock and roll songs, more ballads, more mid-tempo poppy or hookier kind of songs. So as a drummer, I could experiment with some different feel.

It was a really fun time to jam and rock out in the studio with him. He’s so wide open and high-strung at times, it was a lot of fun. You’d say it’s time to track drums and so it’s “okay, let’s go.” Then you look up and Paul takes off down the road on his mountain bike and you’re thinking, “How’d he get so distracted so quickly?” [Laughs] But it’s a lot of fun because he got some great drum sounds out of the studio. We kept it raw and real rock and roll as far as the tones that we’re going for. Plus there’s nothing like a great Pearl kit in the studio.

SA: If you had to pull one tour highlight from the Comatose tour with Skillet and Thousand Foot Krutch…

Josh: Oh man, there are so many. But probably when we were playing in Longview, Texas on one of the dates, there was a sold out show at this big concert hall or theater with a couple thousand people there. There were three balconies and I remember being up there playing and you look out and see this sea of people singing along to each song and completely into the music. I remember thinking that normally I’m in the back playing drums, counting through the click and minding my own business, but there was a brief moment when I could sit back and realize, “Holy cow! This is intense and amazing!” Who would have thought that some dudes from some little beach town in North Carolina would be able to help reach people in such a broad way across the country and internationally. It was really cool.

Another quick tour moment would be seeing my brother play bass for Skillet every night. As much as Caleb and I have looked up to Skillet and have grown up listening to them, to be able to be mentored by them in the business has been a real blessing.

• www.decyferdown.com
• www.myspace.com/decyferdown

↓ 2 comments

#1 Everything Everything Everything is fine Wednesday News « Christian Music Zine on February 11th, 2009 at 6:01 pm

[...] Decyfer Down interview (anyone get their new CD, Crash?) [...]

#2 The Weekly Christian Music News | on February 13th, 2009 at 4:24 pm

[...] Soul-Audio.com featured an interview with Decyfer Down this week on their site. Read Decyfer Down interview. [...]

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