Louder Than The Music

GRAMMY-nominated band Building 429 released their highly anticipated new studio album, 'Unashamed', last month. LTTM chatted with the band about making the album, measuring success, and writing songs for their kids!

Tell us about your new album and the inspiration behind it?

The core of the idea Unashamed is based off in Romans where it says, “For I am unashamed of the Gospel in Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God in salvation for anyone who would believe.” One of the things we have dug into in making this record is the reality that you can’t be unashamed in the Gospel if you are not also unashamed of who you have been and how the Gospel has intersected your failings in giving you hope. I think for us is that we have really challenged people with, even right now, it is not us against the world mentality but Jesus for the world through us mentality. I think when we can wrap our minds around the idea that what we have been given is great hope to share with the world, but not some great law or rules for the world to follow.

I think we can find great courage in standing up and saying we are unashamed of the Gospel. Also it is very important for us to remember that if we stand before the world and proclaim Jesus Christ than when we stand before God according to scripture, which is where our foundation is, then Jesus will claim us in return. I think that for us, we have been here on the earth for such a time as this with the idea being that if we could overcome, if we could just realize that we have this amazing gift, sometimes it is kind of hidden to us, we don’t know it is a gift, but we have this amazing blessing, it is called our testimony. People want to hear about who we really are and they want to hear about finding hope in the midst of doubt and fear. And I think as Christians our testimony of being unashamed of the Gospel is definitely hindered by us not admitting that we actually need the Gospel to set us free. For us, that is really the idea to be able to say, “I am unashamed not only of the gospel but I am also unashamed of who I was, how the Gospel has changed me, and also unashamed of my current struggles, but I know that I am forever being changed and born into the likeness of God.” That is idea behind Unashamed.

What is your favorite track on the album and why?

Honestly my favorite track on the record would either be “Ocean Deep” or “Stronger.” I like “Stronger” because I think as a musician it’s emotional--the track itself is pretty awesome and the lyrics are pretty powerful. Though it may not ever find a home at radio, I think it is a very honest song. And as I remember this record, that will be the one song I will remember tracking, the four of us and having so much fun like spontaneously tracking all of the changes. In the studio while we were recording that song we were kind of yelling out changes across the room, everybody was in their element, doing their thing and it was really, really fun.

If you could work with any songwriter who would it be and why?

There are a lot of great songwriters out there. Today I would say I would really love to write with Don Henley. People may say “Who is Don Henley? Well he was one of the guys from the Eagles and his solo music is just incredible and I think it would be fun to write with somebody who has that kind of world perspective that’d be cool.

Do you prefer playing live or working in the studio?

Currently I prefer playing live because I am not worn out playing the songs live and I am excited about taking music to the masses. But you know what, we will get worn out playing the live show and we will be ready to get back in the studio and throw down again. But, everything seems so fast these days, where as when we used to work in the studio, we used to work for like ten weeks and now what we used to do in ten weeks we probably do in two or three weeks. I do wish we could take more time, so I will look forward to the record where we slow down and just kind of enjoy the studio next time.

How would you describe your style of music?

I think it is a blend of elements. Most people would probably call us a pop band; there are definitely some tinges of singer songwriter, some tinges of rock and roll, but right now I would say we are a groove-driven emotional, pop band.

How would you define the success in your career as a band?

I would say we are a highly successful band. We’ve had some amazing highs and I know that our music has impacted people’s lives all around the world. I think that if you can keep the blinders on and see the blessings of your own life then you can see how far you have come. Often times we take the blinders off and start looking left and right and we start to think our career isn’t a success. I know for a fact I am thankful to have been a part of what God has done with Building 429 in the past fifteen years.