I think musically, it's a brand new sound for the Christian market, period. Period. There's nothing like it out there. None of it. I could go listen to every one on a bookstore wall and there's nothing like that. And I think that's what's cool. I mean, some of those songs are a little bit more traditional, like "Be." I could hear a lot of bands singing that. But the song like "Return of the Singer" or "Existence," I just don't hear a lot like that. I think it sounds like a record Sting would have made if he was making the kind of music he's making now, 20 years ago. Instead, Sting was with the Police doing reggae-rock. But if Sting was 30 years old, he'd want to make Kevin's record and he had the musical mindset that he has today. You know what I mean?

dctalksolo.com: Good description. How would you describe Tait's album?

tobyMac: Tait's record is long overdue, good, solid rock and roll. It's not as quirky as like an Audio Adrenaline. It's not as hard as, say, a Stavesacre. But I think it lands in a great area because it's purely rock and roll. No production tricks. Just men and their instruments and their voices performing melodic rock songs that move you and that ask the tough questions in life and comfort the hurting person in life and deal with tough issues like losing your father or someone wanting to give up. Michael's record came out of about a two year stint where he was bombarded with pain and it's obvious that his resolve is falling in the arms of Jesus and that's his resolve. Mike's in a great place right now in his life and his album is a reflection of the place he's in.

dctalksolo.com: Of course, in addition to your family and dc talk and your solo work, you also have your responsibilities at Gotee and 40. So I wanted to give you the opportunity to make any shameless plugs that you want to make.

tobyMac: First of all, don't even breathe again until you get Jennifer Knapp's new record. It's amazing. It's a landmark record in contemporary Christian music, period. That's the truth. I'm just blessed all the way around. I look at the last two artists I've signed at Gotee, and it's John Reuben and Relient K. I don't even need to say anything else. They're just stellar. I love them and I'm proud to be associated with them and the art that they make and the integrity and what they're about.

dctalksolo.com: What's your involvement with 40 Records?

tobyMac: Limited. I've never made any bones about my priority is Gotee Records, outside of dc talk and tobyMac.

40 is like a learning experience. I didn't grow up in worship music. I grew up at a Baptist church where worship music wasn't played, performed, sang. It was hymns out of a hymnbook. So the whole 40 thing is constantly opening my mind to that community and learning about it. I'm very passionate about Sammy Ward, very passionate about Circadian Rhythm and Jason Upton. I think that it's harder for me to fully comprehend those records but we get so many letters where people are deeply affected. And a lot of times, [they're] even more deeply affected than [by listening to] a CCM record because it's just a different connection that you make with a worship song.

I can't explain it. I know that when I go downstairs every morning, my wife is sitting there reading the Word and listening to Rita Springer. And it was Sammy Ward before that and before that it was Sonicflood. I pray that she finds the next thing that can get her to the place she needs to be. Clearly, my wife is not drawn to those artists for their image or for the musical sound. She's drawn to a heart.

dctalksolo.com: That's very interesting because the Christian music industry has become mainstream in that sense-the image and marketing have become almost as important as the message. Then the question becomes how do you position someone who's message is not about them.

tobyMac: I don't think you can. I just go, "I don't even know how to approach marketing this record." We got a Rita Springer demo because we were thinking about signing her to 40 and my wife found the demo and every morning I go downstairs and she's listening to it. So I'm saying it wasn't a marketing plan. It wasn't anybody's imaging. It wasn't the fact that my friend brought her that. It was because that record put her in a vertical mindset.

dctalksolo.com: It reminds me of books like Josh Harris' I Kissed Dating Goodbye. There wasn't a lot of marketing behind that initially. It was word of mouth that got the buzz going and all the sudden it's a bestseller.

tobyMac: Those things happen sometimes. And I think that's ultimately what my calling is. It's to move people, to connect with people and move them to thinking about where they are before God, where they are in their love affair with God. What is the Christian worldview? What do we look like to the world? What should we look like? I don't have all the answers but my thoughts can be spilled into my songs and hopefully people will find the answers because I don't offer them. Not all the time. Sometimes I definitely land on something that I think is just right because it resounds in my heart and in God's Word.

dctalksolo.com: So are you reading anything right now?

tobyMac: Yeah. I'm reading John Grisham's, A Painted House. I never stop reading Oswald Chambers. I just got a new copy of Mere Christianity and I'm looking forward to diving in it. I kind of want to get into that again.

dctalksolo.com: Last time we talked, Truett was just starting to talk and run the Dirtdevil. What's he up to now?

tobyMac: Well, two nights ago I brought him on stage. We had like a three hour trip to where we were going and I said, "Truett, last time you didn't say anything when I gave you the mic. If I bring you up there, are you going to say something or do you want me to just hold you?" He goes, "Say something, Daddy." So I said, "When I say, 'We're livin', we're livin', we're livin,' you're going to say, 'in extreme days.'" I got on the mic at King's Dominion at KingFest. I'm like, "We're livin', we're livin', we're livin'." I hand Truett the mic and he goes, "We're livin', we're livin', we're livin'." So I said, "We're livin', we're livin', we're livin'" and he goes, "We're livin', we're livin', we're livin'" [both laugh]. So then I said, "In extreme day days" and I put him down on the stage and he danced around for just a minute. Then my guitar player ran into him and he fell down. I don't think "Extreme Days" is the right song to bring a kid up on.

dctalksolo.com: He's still in development.

tobyMac: Yeah, he's not quite into stage dives yet.

dctalksolo.com: As you've gone through this time of transition with dc talk and prepare for the release of your solo album, what has God teaching been teaching you?

tobyMac: I've probably told you this before but God never stops beating me up about depending on Him rather than using my mind. It's really hard for me because I think I can figure things out. I think I can be patient enough to find the right answer on my own. Patience, that's a fruit of the Spirit. I'll have patience and figure this out versus just falling at His feet going, "What do I do?" I am at that place right now. I can say that. I've never asked for prayer as much in my life as I have like the last month or so. I really need it right now.

dctalksolo.com: How can people pray for you?

tobyMac: It's pretty vulnerable but I feel like my prayers have been answered because for awhile there I felt a slight lull in creativity but that was about six months ago and I really feel like God was faithful. Right now, for some reason, I'm starting to not be able to see things as clearly as I usually do. You know what I mean? It's like when you get this busy, you start to lose a little bit of clarity. I'm not talking about the world and what's important or not important in life. I'm talking about day-to-day clarity, like I need to get this done. I need to make it clear. I get a little overwhelmed and it just becomes a big fog.

dctalksolo.com: And then not only do you have things to do but you don't have the focus to get it done.

tobyMac: Exactly. I've never really been that. I've always known what I wanted. God has always made it real clear to me what the goal is. Making records and jumping up and down on stage and fixing my hair properly and smiling at the cameras, that's just in between me and my goal. I do not get caught in that. God has definitely been there for me. I'm the reluctant artist, period. I don't really like it all. I'd much rather skip the photo shoots and the videos and just make records that have a positive effect on a community, a body of people. That's more important to me than playing the artistic role. At the end of the day, that's just all for naught, or as Tait would put it, empty.

dctalksolo.com: What is the most important thing you want people to know about you?

tobyMac: Well, it's weird because I think we've been going through a slightly tough time. I think there are a lot of naysayers out there about the solo thing. I think people have the wrong idea of what we're trying to do. I think they feel like it's a self-indulgent move. And that's kind of weird to me.

dctalksolo.com: How many people have held the same job for twelve years like the three of you have, especially in our industry?

tobyMac: They act like that because we're doing individual records, it's self-indulgent. Is Steven Curtis Chapman self-indulgent because he made a record on his own and his band's not called the Chapman Brothers? It's not self-indulgent to make solo records. It's just not. It's called evolving and stretching. It's way more difficult than it would be to just sit on our dc talk laurels, on our dc talk booties. It would be much easier to just do dc talk. But we feel like evolving. They're probably not the most palatable examples, but Madonna, U2. They're constantly evolving as artists. It's because if you sit still as an artist, you die. The people won't buy into you. You won't be able to connect anymore if you're just doing the same songs, same flavor. And we've evolved and evolved and evolved and if the evolve has turned into a three-headed monster for a little while and comes back later, then that's just what we're supposed to do right now.

I think for me, I want people to know that I'm just a guy that's trying to pursue Christ and make responsible art, use the platform God's given me in a responsible manner, not take it and consume it like it's mine. I know it's God and I know He can give and He can take. I think people just forget that. They just think, "Those guys are just out to this or that" or "they're taking liberties with their platform" or "they're not thinking through what they're doing. They're just being self-indulgent or being irresponsible" with the way we live or the way we speak and that just isn't the case. It's not what I want. I want to be responsible with every action. I want to be responsible with every song. I know I've been blessed with a platform and I know there are people watching and I know that I am in a position where I need to take that responsibility seriously and act appropriately and write appropriately. That's really what you want to tell people. You get this crazy stuff on the Internet, you're like, "Why would you think that we would put some underlying, devilish message in our music?" Our whole lives have been spent trying to make music that points people to Christ and all the sudden we just decided to include "Satan rules" in the back of one of our songs? I mean, come on! Give me a break!

dctalksolo.com: Message boards can be interesting places.

tobyMac: I try to stay away but you definitely want to know what people are thinking, what they're feeling, what's moving them. I just want to be responsible with the job and the life and the platform God's given me just like an accountant, a lawyer, whether you're working at 7-Eleven or a student. All I want is to serve God, love Him with all my heart to make music that hopefully points people toward Jesus.

Jen Abbas, a writer in Grand Rapids, MI, conducted this interview for dctalksolo.com. Reproduction of any portion of this interview without written permission is strictly prohibited.