Third Day
Third Day Bio
War. Floods. Devastation. Paranoia. Political upheaval. Through
it all, there is hope.
Troubling times to be sure, nonetheless the current backdrop
for Third Day's steely-eyed eighth album, Wherever You Are.
Berthed amid a storm of personal crises, as well as the troubling
events beamed nonstop through the media, it may just be the
band's most galvanizing moment. It's certainly its most personal.
"We lost three family members last year and had a pastor
who lost a father," explains guitarist/songwriter Brad
Avery. "We have friends who endured divorce and others
who have fought financial problems. Those difficult sorts
of loss and triumph fueled what we wanted to talk about and
made the message a little more tangible to our listeners this
time."
But at the core of even the darkest moment, there is hope.
And it's that nugget of light that forms the very marrow of
Wherever You Are. "When you're lonely and it feels like
the whole world is falling on you," Mac Powell sings
on the high impact first single, "Cry Out to Jesus."
"You just reach out; you just cry out to Jesus."
"On the last record we tried to reach people's heads,"
says Powell. "The songs on this album, however, speak
to their hearts." And the band has landed a bulls-eye.
Further honing their ever-sharpening song writing skills,
Third Day, who's stood atop the Christian rock world for the
better part of a decade, continue the work they started in
earnest on the Grammy-winning, gold-selling Wire. With a keen
eye for introspection, the Atlanta-based rockers leave over-arching
testaments of faith behind, instead choosing to dig deep and
dirty into the travails of everyday life. There is turmoil.
There is celebration. There is heartbreak. There is happiness.
There are tears and plenty of what Powell calls the "major
catastrophes in our everyday lives." But fighting through
the swirling clouds of doubt, there is hope. And God is present
in the midst of it all.
"There are times in your life when hope is the only
thing you have to hold on to," says Avery. "That's
where this record really came from and we wanted to write
songs that met people in whatever situation they were in."
While the inspiration for tangling with such familiar demons
was admittedly a result of the hardships among friends and
family of the band, it also came from responding to Third
Day fans.
Citing its audiences' gut-wrenching reaction to songs like
"It's A Shame" from Wire, an album which guitarist
and songwriter Mark Lee says was a "little more lyrically
vague overall," Third Day committed to offering up more
of that kind of emotionally precise material.
"You could tell that song hit home when we were on tour,"
Lee says about "It's A Shame." "We felt a sense
in the audience that they wanted that kind of realness from
us. I mean, you come to a show and you put your best face
on, but people are always going through heavy stuff. We're
not pretending we have all the answers, but God is bigger
than the problems."
Powell says being able to make art out of life's common struggles
is a sign that the band is maturing. When Powell and Lee started
Third Day back in 1991 (Tai Anderson and David Carr joined
in 93; Avery in 95) they were fresh of out college and still
holding down day jobs. Fourteen years later, the group is
all grown up with marriages, babies, and mortgages to deal
with.
"Life is different now," he points out. "It's
a wonderful thing, but there are plenty of ups and downs.
There's always something to write about: changing circumstances,
new challenges, even revelations of older things. You're constantly
having to rethink and readjust the things you've learned."
One thing that hasn't changed for the band, however, is its
mission: to convey the hope and salvation in the eternity
of Christ through their music. "Good times or bad,"
Avery says, "people always need a reason to hope. God
has given us this message and I think the time is right for
Third Day to deliver it. We're seeing tremendous response
to these new songs in our live shows." From the hopeful,
"Rise Up" to the inspiring, "Mountain of God"
(featuring guest/friend Ashley Cleveland)—each of these
songs offer a message of hope. It's a message that meets you
Wherever You Are. Courtesy Essential Records
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