Interview: Luke Wareham
UK Worship Leader and songwriter Luke Wareham is back with his new worship song 'Honour You Lord'. Louder Than The Music chatted with Luke to find out how the song was written, what it was like having Lou Fellingham adding her vocals to the song, and his thoughts on leading worship.
Hi Luke, tell us about your new single 'Honour You Lord' and where the inspiration came from?
I wrote the song with my friend Matt Caddick whilst reflecting on Psalm 29 as we had a worship jam together! We feel that Psalm 29 is a prophetic Bible verse for this season we are living in and coming out of lockdown. The Psalm says:- ‘Honour the Lord, you heavenly beings ; honour the Lord for his glory and strength. Honour the Lord for the glory of his name. Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness’. Our prayer is that the song would help people to focus on the holiness of God whilst speaking into people’s everyday life situations. Our real prayer is that this song helps the church to sing out praise to God again and focus on his holiness as we come out of lockdown. 2021 might not have delivered the fresh new start that many of us had hoped for, but we can walk through the rest of this year knowing that we have a God who loves us, is for us and will never leave us. I believe we need to be proclaiming this good news and telling others about the eternal hope and joy we have even as we come out of a pandemic. Ultimately our inspiration is that this song would be a song of hope and draw people to Jesus.
It's fantastic to hear Lou Fellingham singing on this track with you - how did that collaboration come about?
Dan Stirling produced the song and I went up to Manchester with my friend Ollie. Whilst we were recording Dan had the idea of asking someone to feature on the song and I messaged Lou straight away to ask if she would be up for singing on the song with me and she said yes. This is really kind of her and obviously she brings so much to the song!
What in particular does Lou's contribution add to the song?
Lou brings so much to the song, I remember going to one of her worship nights with Phatfish back when I was 13 years old (15 years ago!!!) and worshipping my heart out that night. Lou has an amazing singing voice and is a renowned songwriter and worship leader and it has been so good to sing on this song with her.
Which other singers would you love to duet with in the future?
I love co-writing and getting to sing with great people! It would be great to sing with Lou again on another song at some point and others. I love championing the UK Christian music and gospel scene and getting to work with these amazing songwriters and worship leaders.
Last time we spoke to you, you mentioned plans to record a new EP or live album - how are those plans coming along?
Yes that is the plan. I would love to do a live worship recording of the songs I have already released and some new songs I am currently writing.
Aside from your own music, which other songs are you currently using when you lead worship on a Sunday?
At the moment I have introduced a few newer songs including:-
- Christ be magnified - Cody Carnes
- Rest on us - Upperoom
- King of Kings - Hillsong
- Battle Belongs - Phil Wickham
What's the most important lesson you've learned about being a worship leader?
I love what A.W. Towzer says when he writes “If you’re not worshiping God on Monday, the way you did the day before, perhaps you’re not worshiping him at all.” I would say don’t just sing, give your whole life as worship to God.
