Downhere

They’re the best band in Christian music you’ve never heard of. Canadian quartet Down Home—excuse me, Downhere, has been touted by critics and music listeners alike as nothing short of “perfect inspirational pop.” Soul-Audio correspondent John Wofford recently sat down with band co-founder Jason Germain to discuss touring, writing, and of course—the occasional stage heckler.

Soul-Audio: So you guys are on the road now, touring, correct?

Jason Germain: Yeah, we started a week ago actually. Let me think…I guess it was in Pennsylvania. Honestly, I don’t even remember, dude. [laughs] We had a crazy week doing some radio promo stuff—so between that and the road shows, it’s been absolute craziness. We’ve been all over, but that’s a good thing.

SA: Ending is Beginning has gotten a lot of hype and great reviews thus far. I personally own every Downhere album, and each one is a winner. What makes this one seem like such a landmark, then?

Jason: I don’t know that this record is groundbreaking or anything—we just try to write what we know. Even so, we’re ready to address all the—what’s the word?—uncertainty in the world today. This record tackles much of that. We wanted to offer some genuine hope in pretty hopeless times. At the same time, we don’t want it to seem like a trite hope, like cheesy, you know?

Breaking the album down into individual songs makes each part easier to talk about since there are a lot of ideas all over it. Consistent throughout the whole process, though, was the writing. No matter what we were writing, we wanted it to be as good as possible: that meant writing a handful of great songs, instead of lots of mediocre songs. It’s hard, but we don’t like filler.

SA: It’s definitely a rich project, and while I could talk about my own favorite moments throughout the album, tell me about yours.

Jason: Now that the record is done, I’m really happy with the whole finished product; but early in the writing process, there was a song that we thought, “Hey, let’s surround this track with other great stuff that makes this one stand out.” The song is “Hope is Rising.” It was written a little early on, and it kind of sums up what we wanted the rest of Ending to be about—sort of a pillar for the project’s ideas to stand against.

SA: What personal significance does Ending is Beginning (both its substance and its title) have for Downhere? Obviously, just from your history—being initially signed with Word Records, dropped, then picked up by Centricity—have you found that it’s darkest before dawn?

Jason: We’re a band that have fallen under the radar for a long time. That is now factored into our writing, where we’re not striving toward some “formula for success.” For me personally—last year I turned 30, went through a lot of personal stress, y’know—and it has become a kind of catchphrase for Downhere, that once you’ve reached the end of yourself or your own plans, that’s when things really get started. When you’re spent, God is able to do life-work on you. We’re all a little broken, a little beat up, a little worse for wear.

We wanted Wide-Eyed and Mystified to connect with people on a joyful level, and I personally feel like it did. At the same time, we’ve struggled along the way, and we all came together and said, “Let’s write an album about what and how we feel, what it means to follow a calling, to be a Christian, to be a person in the time we live.”

There are always these paradoxes in scriptures, these elements that seem oppositional to each other. Case in point: “If you want to find your life, lose it” or “God uses the weak to shame the strong.” Ending is Beginning is meant to reflect those kinds of ideas, radical ideas that sound paradoxical and like nonsense at first, but are really important truths to live by. Moreover, salvation can only take place when God is given control. When our own endeavors cease, he can save us.

To sum up, it’s all of those things.

SA: I’m going to sample a quote from you, particularly where you said that this album is a reflection of what it means to live in this day. I ask this question a lot, but every artist has something different to say—how do you feel about the current state of the church? I see much of it as social, corporate, and sometimes dangerous. What’s your take on organized religion in the Americas?

Jason: I see a lot of the church, obviously, because we travel a lot. The biggest sin, to me, of the church is not its corporate nature—rather, it’s that we’ve become too secure in our present state. Take the war in Iraq for example, and that’s not to say that I know everything about it. I won’t presume that it’s wrong, but at the same time, if the church had sent in martyrs I wonder how much more effective that would have been than sending in troops.

We’re more concerned with countries and nations than we are the kingdom. By “kingdom,” of course, I mean kingdom of God. The only predominant historical group to make a large-scale impact has been the body of Christ, and sometimes that means by men and women of God making the ultimate sacrifice, showing the love of the savior in word and deed.

SA: I see. Sometimes I feel as if the church is staring at the rest of the world from behind a glass. As if the western definition of religion allows us to remain secure without ever making an impact—or a real one, at least.

Jason: We need a more global consciousness, to stop assuming that America or Canada or the Western whole is, I dunno, God’s promise-land or something. I think that ultimately it will be resolved when some of us make sacrifices that get society’s attention and change the way we think as a whole.

It’s a hard question to answer, to be honest—a slippery slope, and while I think that the Shepherd will always watch over his sheep, there’s always room for improvement. It’s a hard question you asked, man! I’m just a musician, dude…

[laughter]

SA: Okay, much easier question—if you’re just a musician, then can you tell me what “special sauce” makes a Downhere show so much fun?

Jason: There isn’t a divorce between music and lyricism, between art and message—or shouldn’t be. Our poetry and spirituality are one in the same: it reflects our worldview, but at the same time, we don’t want to emotionally manipulate people into making a life decision they’re not sure of. We just like telling our personal stories, and letting the music (which is a mirror image of everything we are as believers) help to do that. We like to talk about a God who knows us, who is interested in us, and who looks out for our well-being.

There are tricks of the trade, fun things we use to make the shows entertaining (such as a funny song we play called “Rockstars Need Money Too”), and we take advantage of those skills. But honesty is first and foremost. We have fun, so hopefully the crowds do too. People kind of see us for what we are: guys who have been together nine years, and form something of a community. We’re brothers, y’know?

SA: What’s your favorite tour memory?

Jason: It’s definitely the Friendship Festival in Morocco, which is a largely Islamic country. They brought us in with KJ-52, The Crabb Family, and Joy Williams. We played for 80,000 Muslims. “Great Are You” was the song we were playing at the time. The lyrics mention “planes,” and there we were, on an African plane! It was mind-blowing. I had no idea that God would take that little snippet from our old song and actually let it be heard in such a place; it was a real gift.

The memories go on and on, though. I was thinking about it this morning: the cool places we’ve been and all the awesome people we’ve met. It’s unexplainable, at least in a simple conversation, the enormity of these experiences.

SA: On the flipside, do you have a terrible memory you’d be willing to share? Come on, sacrifice your dignity for the sake of the website!

[laughter]

Jason: That’s the good stuff, man. Well, the other night, I had a heckler that totally threw me off. I was sharing about World Vision, about the global pandemic in Africa that has wiped out like 16 million children. Here I am stressing the enormity of the problem and how far it stretches, and this one guy shouts, “Your mom stretches out that far!!”

SA: Oh, no!

[laughter]

Jason: Yeah, man, it was pretty bad. It totally knocked me off, dude. I never want to call anybody out or anything, but I’ll be honest, I had very little love in my heart at that moment.

[laughter]

Then there was the time we were introduced as Canadian quartet, Down Home.

SA: Oh, man! Canadian southern gospel. Nice… If by any chance I slip up during my transcription of this interview, man, you’ll have to forgive me. I’ll have everyone thinking you guys are the biggest thing in southern gospel, with your distinctive stylings and so on…

[laughter]

Jason: Thanks a lot, man. I appreciate it.

• www.downhere.com
• www.myspace.com/downhere

↓ 2 comments

#1 grace s. cartwright on October 7th, 2008 at 5:39 am

GREAT interview!

#2 John Wofford on October 7th, 2008 at 6:31 pm

Why, thank you, madam.

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