The crowd is bouncing, bouncing, bouncing. Up and down, up and down at a dizzying pace. The rhythmic springing falls in sync with the cadence of a thunderous bass-line groove. Sweat pours off young faces, intermingling with the cool water being sprayed on standing-room only fans by stage-front security guards. Music pounds from the speakers, and dozens of high-tech, colored lights disappear into the starry sky above the Washington state amphitheater.
The sound is overwhelming; the smell is overwhelming. The enthusiasm, contagious. The masses scream their approval, dancing 'til they faint from the heat.
This is a rock 'n' roll show. And a rather good one, at that.
But it's rock 'n' roll provided with a polished pop sheen and a definite agenda: to make its hearers "...question themselves and seek out truth."
At least that's how the new promotional bio reads for dc Talk, a trio of three distinctive vocalists and perhaps even more distinctive personalities.
The Potential is Out There
It's been three years since the release of Jesus Freak, an album that took the former hip-hop trio to new heights of commercial success--a platinum-plus sales level, a second Grammy Award and media exposure everywhere from Rolling Stone to US magazine. Fourteen months in the making, the group's latest release, Supernatural, will be the first dc Talk project pushed from the start to a mass audience by a general market label, Virgin Records.
While ForeFront (dc Talk's longtime Christian label) has tried over the course of the band's career to make inroads in the mainstream, success has been limited to an occasional video airing on MTV and a No. 29 song on the Billboard Hot 100 ("Just Between You and Me"). Virgin's reputation, marketing dollars and established relationships may finally pull the trigger of potential on what many believe is a group destined--and deserving--of a larger hearing.
And dc Talk's signing with Virgin probably couldn't have come at a better time, at least not according to members Toby McKeehan, Michael Tait and Kevin Max (formerly Kevin Smith). For the first time in the group's history, all three members worked together on each and every new song, birthing a true dc Talk collaboration.
"It was great to know we could do a record together and not kill each other," says Tait. "It was all three guys working full-time in the kitchen to make this smorgasbord of a meal."
McKeehan adds, "We just had to blow off expectations and make a record that was real life, a record that flowed through us. It was not fabricated. It wasn't for Virgin, it wasn't for ForeFront. It was truly a record of who we are and where we are as people right now in our walks with Christ, in our relationships with each other."
And now that it's done, the album rests in the hands of a record label that boasts other acts like Janet Jackson, Spice Girls and The Smashing Pumpkins. But can the Virgin Powers That Be push dc Talk to the next level of popularity, expanding its audience and its platform?
"This is one of our top priorities for autumn," Piero Giramonti, senior vice president of marketing for Virgin, told The CCM Update [Aug. 3, 1998]. "We're ecstatic about the quality of the album."
"I think there is an excitement at Virgin to work with us," says Max. "They are a company that's really into creativity and coming up with the coolest possible art that you can put out. Honestly, I think Virgin is one of the few record companies in rock 'n' roll music that's as interested in the art as much as they are in the money."
The label, a subsidiary of EMI since 1992, is run by executives who believe in dc Talk--perhaps not the group's message, but certainly its power to communicate via authentic and talent-filled artistry.
Phil Fox, Virgin's director of product management, notes that the group was signed because, "We saw them as wonderfully gifted songwriters and musicians and felt there was the potential to take their message further... We don't want to dilute what they say. Marketing of a song and a band is done on a case-by-case basis. If it happens to have a very heavy spiritual message, so be it."
And if the Chicago Tribune is any example of how the general market may react, dc Talk's future looks exceedingly bright. Trib reporter Lou Carlozo (a frequent contributor to CCM Magazine) noted in a 1996 review, "In considering the group's artistic merits, it's time to bury the over-burdened label 'Christian band'... like Van Morrison or U2--bands with strong Christian themes running throughout their music--dc Talk deserves to be judged by a different standard."
That different standard translates into letting the music speak for itself rather than limiting it by any labels. Whether known as a group of Christians or as a Christian group, the members of dc Talk want their musical contributions to be seen as excellent on its own merits.
"You can only be the exciting person breaking stereotypes for so long," says McKeehan. "Then you've got to do what you've got to do. Either you make good art and you're passionate about it, or you don't."
Musically, the new album is, again, a bit of a departure. But a departure from what? One thing that remains constant about
dc Talk is change--stylistically, this threesome is impossible to pin down, a trait they attribute to their uniqueness as a group. Rather than players, they are three vocalists and writers with a variety of musical influences.
"On this record," says Max, "we really let our different musical backgrounds show in what we do and how we've written. It's like you run the gamut on every style in modern music... We're not a rock band, a pop band or a blues band. We're junk culture to a degree. We collect every bit of musical inertia out there and put it together."
"We will never appeal to the musical purist," adds McKeehan.
But maybe, just maybe, that very diversity will set them apart from the pack.
"Right now there is an oversaturation," explains Tait. "You've got 15 groups that sound like Matchbox 20. You've got 15 groups that sound like Fastball. They all sound just alike."
"That's why Bob Dylan won a Grammy this year," says Max, "because people are tired of the same old crappy alternative music."
Music and Message
But dc Talk leads off CCM Magazine's special section "Double Jeopardy: Music and Faith in Culture" for more reasons than being signed to Virgin and possessing a diverse sound. Many other artists allow the music they make in the general market to be influenced by their faith. For dc Talk, the message isn't as subtle. Though the group's musical style has evolved over the years, its bold, gospel-driven proclamations remain front and center. As Max notes, "dc Talk usually hits the message straight on, lights on high beam heading straight for it."
But will a general market audience be receptive to brazen spirituality? Can this Christian group's Supernatural music and message make a dent in a much larger pop arena?
"We'd like to see ourselves with that kind of opportunity," says Max, "because I feel that what we do is very real. We've always wanted to make music for the masses, from day one."
"We sell 90 percent of our records to people who understand the Christian market and buy from that marketplace," says Tait, "but I think this record has the legs, has the lyrical content, has the musical capabilities to venture into the general marketplace without a problem."
Tait's theory is now being put to the test as the first general market single, "My Friend (So Long)," released to college alternative radio on Sept. 1. While the music borders between modern pop and bouncy punk, the fictitious lyric considers a fantasy fourth member of dc Talk who leaves the band and becomes a successful Top 40 artist.
Meanwhile, other songs on the album stray into deeper areas, topics which listeners--Christians and non-Christians--may find compelling. "The album is introspective," says Tait. "It's like a book, and it just takes you on a journey. The first chapter, 'Killing Me,' talks about exhibiting strong love when you have people in your life that you know are pulling you down. We all have people we just need to cut off and say, 'Okay, who cares what they are to us physically, how do they affect us spiritually?' To pull away from them because ultimately they're killing you, that's a very tangible lyrical message. Not only can I relate to it, Toby and Kevin can, and the public can.
"Then there is a song, on the other end of the spectrum, called 'Red Letters,' meaning the New Testament, the words of Jesus. Peace, forgiveness, hope, love, all these things can be found in the red letters. What a song for a world today that needs hope."
Still other songs walk the fine line between music for the church and music for the culture. Consider "Consume Me," for example: "There's no place I'd rather be/Than here in heaven/Without you I'm incomplete/It's hopeless... Like a burning flame running through my veins/You consume me."
Though many Christians will immediately assume the song to reference God simply because it is offered by dc Talk, at least one member of the group admits different inspiration.
"When I write a song like 'Consume Me,' I'm probably thinking about my wife or at least I should be," says Max, who celebrated his one-year anniversary on Aug. 9. "If we're honest with ourselves, we don't think about God all day long, and I don't think God expects us to think about Him all day long. I think He expects us to give Him our first fruits of the day, or the main soul of the day. I feel God smiles when I think a lot about my wife. When I am thinking about her, I think He really loves that because God is a God of relationship. But a song like 'Consume Me' we did think spiritually on that level, too. It's part of who we are as people. [It's natural] to infuse that into what we do."
The Great Commission
The members of dc Talk can't help but have aspects of their faith seep into and throughout their music. It's who they are, what they believe, what they wrestle with, what gives them purpose and peace. But that doesn't mean that any member of this trio sees himself as a pastor or even an evangelist. Rather, they recognize that just as there are different parts of the church body, there are different gifts given to individuals. And none of the members of dc Talk feels called to the office of ministry... at least not yet.
"We are not ministers," says McKeehan. "dc Talk is a business, but in the midst of our business, we pray that God ministers to people through our lives."
Max adds, "dc Talk is an entertainment group. But when you dig deep into what we do or you dig into what we say, therein lies where the Holy Spirit interacts with the people. That becomes His ministry. Because really I would rather put it into the hands of my God to work with somebody on that level than me."
When it comes to sharing their beliefs, the three take different approaches.
"If I have a stage and I have a microphone in my hand," says McKeehan, "I'd like not only my life to portray Christ, but I'd like to speak Him also."
Max, on the other hand, would rather let his life do the talking. "Christians in the church always seem to want to condense what [evangelism] is, to put parameters on it and make you feel like if you're not asking people to come forward at a Christian show, then you're out of line. That's wrong. People are expecting something out of you that may not be your deal in life to do.
"When we were in London, Mike's dad went up to a punker and gave him a tract and asked him, 'Do you know where you're going when you die?' The guy said, 'I'm an agnostic,' and Mike's dad said, 'There's no agnostics in hell. They're all believers.' And he walked off. In a way I thought that was really cute, but I would never do it like that. I'd probably take the guy to a movie and hang out with him a couple of nights before I said anything to him about my faith.
"I agree as a Christian," continues Max, "I should be proclaiming my faith. Offstage, on-stage or in between. I just don't consider myself an evangelist. I consider myself an entertainer, a performer, a singer. Certain people are called to stand up in front of thousands of people and direct them to make a decision on the spot. Billy Graham is gifted where I am not. Or maybe I'm not now, but I will be in the future. You never know. Never say never."
Oil and Water
Personally, the members of dc Talk are like night and day: the diplomatic leader, the late bloomer with a zest for life, the self-proclaimed rebel and poet. They co-exist, and thrive, on that diversity even though at times it has threatened to tear them apart.
Max recently finished his second book of poetry, I am Alien, with friend and photographer Jimmy Abegg. While he notes his marriage last year has made him less selfish and more loyal, his tendencies edge toward the dangerous.
"To a degree I feel like I've tested the waters more than the other two guys have. I have struggled with rebellion quite a bit. It might be my Irish roots. I tampered with hanging out with fringe people and smoking marijuana and drinking large doses of alcohol. I've been through that, whereas Mike and Toby haven't as much.
"I usually bark off the top of my head what I think when I should keep my mouth shut. Sometimes I feel like I pose a bit, and I try to push things just because I want to push them. I want to be honest, I want to be exactly who I am. But the thing is, who I am isn't so great at times."
Max's nature, his innate need to be different, has caused its tensions in the past, and probably will in the future. But he has also changed quite a bit in the past two years. It's evident in his conversation, his intense eye contact, his confident poise. And the change has been a noticeable metamorphosis, especially to those who know him best.
"Kevin is very different," acknowledges McKeehan. "I think he understands who he is better, who Christ is in him. I think that he has a better understanding of who he wants to be."
And McKeehan should know. He's been undergoing a transformation of his own.
"I've learned that leaders have no one to follow. I've learned to wait in my leadership, sometimes too much. dc Talk is just going to have to go in a direction even if one of the guys disagrees. I want so desperately that we all three love each undertaking. I've learned to listen more and to follow more and to serve in my leadership. God has changed me in that area. I asked Him to and He's changed me."
For Tait, the past few years have brought more of an internal realization rather than an outward manifestation of change. Emotion bubbles just beneath the surface of his exuberant demeanor, always on the brink of overflow. Hardly the kind of guy you'd think of as cautious yet that's how he describes himself when the subject turns to marriage.
"I'm a late bloomer," he says. "Toby and Kevin have always known it. I'll get there. I come around slower. I'm a little more cautious, so I might be at a third grade daredevil level when I'm in fifth grade. I'm a senior in college now at 32."
But perhaps the biggest change in dc Talk has nothing to do with personality and everything to do with commitment. Through the past few years, rumors abounded of solo records that could lead to the break-up of the band or arguments that were forging distance between its members. At this point in time, nothing could be further from the truth.
"We have more respect for each other than we ever have," says McKeehan. "We hope for each other more than we ever have. I also think we're more proud of each other. We've gotten over a lot of insecurities about solo efforts. We're together whether we're doing our own records or not doing our own records. It is a family. We'll call on each other when we need each other, and we'll call on each other when the good times come. Sure, there's sometimes you want to kill the other guy, and you're embarrassed of the association. But there's way more times you're proud. The bottom line is, no matter what anybody says, we know ultimately we are called to each other in life."
