Jeremy Koering of Music Faith: How’s the tour going for you so far?
Phil Wickham: The tour has been amazing so far. I think it’s a collation between how fun… well I’m on a bus with The Myriad guys and the crew guys, and they have been awesome people to get to know. Super rad guys, really believe in what they are doing. I think it’s a combination of that, just having great guys to hang out with, and the most amazing venues in every city. The Crystal Ballroom is awesome! The Wiltern in L.A., and The House of Blues in New Orleans. It’s just been a rad experience and it’s been really fun!
Jeremy Koering: Can you tell me about your current radio single “After Your Heart”?
Phil Wickham: Yeah. “After Your Heart” came about as… well there was a review of my last record, that I had read, I read some of them, most of them are good, really nice, but this one guy had an interesting critique about it. He had said he really liked how the record was sounding and what it was doing, and kind of bringing maybe something a little bit new in my own, to the worship genre, I guess. He had mentioned that he’s excited when I finally learn how to write a hook in a song. And I took that to heart a little bit. Well in the next record, I’m going to have some songs with some hooks in it. And I think that in accumulation with traveling around so much over the last year and a half, and kind of understanding that kind of what I want to do is not just have people sing songs with me to God, but to challenge people and encourage people, to speak into their lives. “After You Heart” is kind of the merger of those two lessons. Like I wanted there to be strong hooks something people can sing after hearing it once. It has that… (Phil then began singing) After your heart, after your heart… and everybody remembers it. It’s also more of a song that is kind of a get up and fight, and get up and stand for what you believe in, so it’s kind of the accumulation of those two thoughts.
Jeremy Koering: Cool… Can you explain a little about how the song “Beautiful” came to about?
Phil Wickham: “Beautiful” that was actually written at a youth camp. What the guy had talked about that night was about… he used all these props, PowerPoint, video, and pictures, this really cool set up to show the enormity of space. He was going off the verse that is God’s love reaches beyond the heavens, so with that in mind, and the youth camp vibe, at night just kind of jammin’ with the band. Nobody was in the room it was just us playing. And I started playing these chords, just the same four chords over and over. I just kind of started thinking about different lines and stuff, then I pretty much wrote it all on stage that night and then took it back and wrote all the words down and filled in the spaces and gaps. So that’s how that song came about.
Jeremy Koering: My personal favorite from Cannons is “True Love” can you tell me what this song means to you?
Phil Wickham: That song has been my favorite to sing live. I have been ending with that one every night on this tour. It pretty much… if there’s ever a song that envelops and capsulate everything that I believe and stand for and that kind of makes me tick it’s that song. The fact that there’s this story of forgiveness and passion and love that God has written since the beginning of time. He was kind of the main actor in it, Y’know. And He just wrote out this incredible story of love and sacrifice and choosing to obey. All the while, I love that the story has no end! Y’know in the beginning it says, “Come close, listen to the story.” but it was never just, Jesus died and He was on the cross and that’s the end. And I love that. Because it goes to the bridge, and I always say live, before I singing it [the bridge], “But it doesn’t end there.” Y’know? And I start singing “He is alive, because Jesus is alive, He is alive” and I have to sing it over and over almost to get the point across that He will be forever. So it means very, very much to me. It’s my favorite one to sing, because it’s the gospel in a song.
Jeremy Koering: How would you describe the difference between your debut and your current project?
Phil Wickham: Umm... Musically I would say, like what I was talking about before, the experience I had on the road was unlike any I had before. And I realized I just wanted to get up with the band and rock with a little bit, it was all kind of mid-tempo last record mid-to-slow. And I wanted there to be some upbeat stuff and be able to go to any club, any church, or any place that I could kind of sing out and rock with. And also I wanted there to be some solid, on the other end of the spectrum, I wanted there to be some songs that were really singable, that people could join in, and that I could teach. Like there’s “Cannons” and “Jesus Lord of Heaven” and “Shining” and “Spirit Fall.” All these song I wrote so people could join in and sing. While the last record was kind in the middle, didn’t get to rocking, but also wasn’t too singable either, just kind of right there. So I wanted there to be a cool… well the best I could do of both worlds.
Jeremy Koering: Do you have a favorite scripture or something that you’ve read recently that stuck out to you?
Phil Wickham: Yeah… I’ve been reading the gospels in The Message Bible. And uh… kind of getting a different look on things, and a different take on some things. I love… what’s really been in my mind… like everyday al the time, is how, in the translation of Jesus referring to the Kingdom coming, He refers to it as the great reversal. Because He’s talking about all these parables, about how the Kingdom of God is different than the kingdom of man, the first shall be last and last shall be first. And the servant is the greatest of all. He’s talking about all these parables… Forgive, be lowly and be selfless, forget your pride and your haughtiness, and forget religiosity and self-righteousness. Remember it’s love and it’s forgiveness and it’s mercy and it’s kindness. It’s just a reversal of what the world tells us to be. I’ve been trying to apply that phrase to my life lately. What is the opposite of what my first reaction is to things and try to completely think the “Jesus way.”
Jeremy Koering: What’s are some things you enjoy doing outside of music and leading worship?
Phil Wickham: Man… just to be home and to be able to call some friends and have some food and see a movie and go to the beach… I live in San Diego so… that may sound so simple, but to be able to do that is a rare occasion. I’m out on the road so much, and to just be able to hang with friends and family. And people you really don’t have to be anything, or no expectations, but it’s we love Phil, and who he is, he’s a buddy and vice-versa. So that’s what I love.
Jeremy Koering: Any last comments?
Phil Wickham: Umm… Cannons is the title of the new record. It was named that because there’s a song named “Cannons” on the record. And that song came about… as cheesy as it sounds, me sitting out under the stars one night. Thinking about the universe itself is like a worship leader for the human race. How it leads me, and I think so many people from David to Moses to Adam ‘til today. Because it shows bits of His brightness in the stars, there’s pictures of his strength in the mountains and the depths of the ocean. It’s such… something that leads me into a place of worship and a place of God-focussness. That’s what the songs about and that’s why it’s called “Cannons” it talks about how His glory is ringing in the sky like cannons in the night. Just like… the universe does that… I wanted my record to do that. So it’s called Cannons it came out a couple weeks go out buy it if you want.
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