I recently sat down with the band members, Michael Tait, Jeff Frankenstein, Jody Davis and Duncan Phillips, at Kings Island during the Spirit Song Festival to find out their secret for a long-lasting career in the tumultuous music business.
We met backstage in a small, cozy trailer and Michael Tait, lead vocalist for Newsboys and former band member of DC Talk, was first to say that their enduring success is due to two things: their ability to stay relevant in an ever-changing culture, and their willingness to be used by God.
“It’s in some ways better than I could have ever thought of or dreamt, God is still using us,” Tait said. “We’re blessed and along for the ride.”
Duncan, the band’s drummer and only Aussie, says, “None of us take it for granted. We all feel incredibly privileged to still be doing what we do.”
When I ask the band about the state of the Christian music industry, they tell me it’s much different from the booming years in the 1990s. Due to the Internet, digital downloads and the changing ways we interact with music, you could label the recent times as the “lean” years for the music biz.
The Newsboys have found a way to adapt, says Jeff Frankenstein, the band’s keyboardist.
“In many ways, we’re going back to how we started. We’re basically selling CDs out of our trunk.”
He also says that there are a lot of bands who come onto the scene with preconceived ideas about making it big, but when it gets hard they quit. If anything, Frankenstein says, the Newsboys are still around because they work harder than everyone else. And it’s hard to argue with them when I find out they’ve performed over a hundred shows since November.
It’s not that the industry is necessarily better or worse, it’s just very different says Duncan Phillips, the band’s drummer. “Change is the only certainty in this business — and it’s changing really fast.”
However, the Newsboys plan to stick around. They’re preparing to record a new worship album, keep touring and do what it takes to survive in this ever-changing music economy. “There’s no shame in our game,” Tait says with a big smile.
Brian Orme is the general editor of ChurchLeaders.com, which aims to provide the best resources, trends and practices to equip the church to lead better every day. He lives in Troy with his wife, Jenna, and four boys.
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