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With his heart on his sleeve, lead vocalist/principal
songwriter Mac Powell gives voice to the emotions all
believers feel as they attempt to reconcile everyday
struggles with the hope born of salvation. Songs like “Run
to You,” “Born Again,” “This
Is Who I Am,” and the first single, “Call
My Name” are like musical stepping stones on
the band’s personal journey.
“When you get older in your faith,
you don’t necessarily have fewer questions,” confesses
Powell. “I used to get mad at myself when I’d
have questions about my faith, but I’ve learned
through the years that God has answered so many of
those. Sometimes it’s not right away, sometimes
it is years before you get the answer, but He’s
proven himself. Now when I have questions, I get excited
about it, not angry at myself, but excited because
I know that God’s going to show me something
new."
In writing and recording the music on Revelation,
the men in Third Day came to terms with the fact they
don’t have all the answers, but they know the
One who does, and they can glean comfort and peace
in that knowledge. “Sharing God’s love
with people has always been core to us,” says
drummer David Carr. “We want to reiterate that
God loves us. That is a concept that should never get
old.”
During
the past 15 years, Third Day has built an impressive
career. The Georgia-based band has won 23 Gospel Music
Association Dove Awards, three GRAMMY Awards, earned
two consecutive American Music Award nods, and multiple
ASCAP honors for their songwriting skills. Their catalog
of hits has helped define the Christian radio landscape
for more than a decade while the band scored 24 No.
1 singles and sold more than six million albums.
Success has also earned them respect and admiration
from other artists, and Revelation, the band’s
11th studio album, features some intriguing collaborations.
Pedal steel guitar phenomenon Robert Randolph adds
his distinctive flair to the raucous Southern-fried
anthem “Otherside.” Chris Daughtry, a longtime
Third Day fan, adds his unique voice on “Slow
Down,” and Flyleaf’s Lacey Mosely lends
her beautiful vocal the poignant ballad “Born
Again.”
Its last studio album, Wherever You Are,
produced the instant classic “Cry Out to Jesus” and
further added to the band’s creative legacy. “It
will have been almost three years between studio albums,
between Wherever You Are and this new album,” says
bassist Tai Anderson. “That’s a long time
for us. We put out Chronology, Volumes I and
II, as well as a Christmas album. Chronology kind
of put an end cap on an era for us, and it’s
given us time to really get excited about reinventing
ourselves a little bit and moving forward into the
next wave.”
 As they entered a studio in Charlottesville, Virginia
last spring to begin writing songs for the new album,
the band was armed with the seasoned vision that comes
from years of experience, yet there was a creative
restlessness in their spirit that signaled something
different was stirring.
“That initial session in Charlottesville really
did set the tone for this album,” says Anderson. “We’ve
done most of our albums in Atlanta. We’re all
from Atlanta and our families are there and we’re
kind of home. Even though we travel and we like to
go places, we like to be home as much as we can. Sometimes
with that comes this sort of comfort level that I think
could be good, but it can also hinder the creativity
because you are thinking ‘I can be out of here
in an hour and be home.’ By not really being
able to look at our watches, it was just a productive
time for us to be focused and I really feel like we
got the results we needed. This is a new statement
of who Third Day is.”
Once out of their comfort zone, the band continued
to stretch creatively by heading to Los Angeles to
work with producer Howard Benson. “We chose to
work with Howard because of his incredible history
and current resume,” says Powell of Benson’s
track record working with Daughtry, Hoobastank, P.O.D.
and Flyleaf. “We loved those records and the
vision he had for those albums. We really wanted to
shake things up. We needed something fresh. We
needed to do something different and going with a different
producer and then working different places than we’d
ever worked before, did get us out of our comfort zone.
They weren’t easy decisions but in hindsight,
I’m so glad that we did.”
The band credits Benson with teaching
them that less is more. “It almost sounds too
cliché to keep it simple,” says guitarist
Mark Lee, “but it really does work well with
music, with any sort of creative thing. If you’re
having to really think hard, then you’re probably
thinking too hard. If it’s a great song, it just
comes naturally and that’s how music should be. It
should be a natural expression of what’s inside
and the emotion. I feel we captured that on this album
better than we have in a while.”
Anderson admits to being initially a little nervous
about working with Benson. “It’s the most
I’ve ever been intimidated working with a producer,” he
admits candidly. “I feel like we started more
insecure than ever and we left more confident than
ever.”
Carr compares it to a team suddenly getting a new
coach, a tougher coach. “A new coach comes in,
and he’s not a nice guy, so everyone is intimidated,” he
says. “Howard came in and made us work hard.
He made us think about our process and what really
matters to us. It was hard, but he brought the best
out of us and we’re really happy with the result.”
The songs on the album explore the complexities of living out
one’s faith in today’s world. “Looking over the lyrics, there
are different processes in life: there’s faith and there’s prayer
and there’s salvation. I think within those, you have this place of brokenness.
There’s a place of coming before God in prayer and saying I need some
help and then there’s the process after that of being changed and moving
forward with what God has shown you and is teaching you and I think that is
throughout this record. There are songs with questions. There are
songs about prayer, coming before God and saying ‘I need to be changed,
I want you to change me because I can’t do it on my own,’ and then
there’s songs about being ready to move forward in the direction that
God is wanting me to go.”
Adds Lee, “Our goal for the album is for
these songs to hold out hope for people. Our desire
is that people do relate to a lot of struggles that
are in some of these songs, but at the same time on
this album find strength and find hope and encouragement.”
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