The Official Monthly Jars of Clay Email News Digest
8/26/97
5,500 Subscribers
web site: http://www.jarsofclay.com
CONTENTS:
*The New, Improved Official Jars of Clay Website
*Concert Review: 6/22/97 Roberts Wesleyan Benefit Show
*Much Afraid Album Content
*Lyrics Revealed
*Fast Look at Stephen Mason
*Prayer Requests
*Article: Jars of Clay "Much Afraid" of what?
*Article: Backstage with Jars of Clay
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*The New, Improved Official Jars of Clay Website
Stop by soon and check out some improvements at our website! We have put up a new "Much Afraid" intro page which includes exclusive audio clips from the new songs (now in realaudio, mpeg2, and wav files), information about release dates, and an upcoming contest to win rare Jars of Clay items!
Much Afraid is packed with metaphors - these have been used to create a very different site than the previous one. Much of the same information will be left (old photos have been cropped slightly, but everything else will remain) but the whole organization and general vibe of the site will be much different and very much improved! Our target date for this is within the next week or two, but you may see a few gradual changes as well, especially with the surprises on the intro page!
In addition, we let you know in EV #25 that the Crazy Times single would be released to the public on August 12. It was, but because of problems with UPS, many of the stores have not yet received their copies. We called two different places and found copies by the 13th. Again, we would encourage you to find this single, as it contains many unreleased bonus items on it, including songs, photos, video, etc. One of the highlights is the Jars of Clay guest appearance on a video of the lounge mix of "Flood" by an Essential artist named John Jonethis.
Also, we hope that everyone will remember to purchase their copy of Much Afraid on September 16th. We will issue a reminder!
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*Concert Review: 6/22/97 Roberts Wesleyan Benefit Show
From: sensounds@juno.com
I was privileged to see Jars live in concert for the first time at my college alma mater, Roberts Wesleyan College, located in Rochester, NY. The concert was a benefit for Rochester Christian School, where Matt Odmark attended High School. The proceeds from the benefit show were donated by the band to the school. Charlie Lowell is also a native of Rochester and Dan Haseltine joked during the performance that those in attendance consisted primarily of friends and family of Matt and Charlie.
Following an introduction which included a reading of lyrics from Matt & Charlie's high school garage band "simple truth", Jars took the stage and the capacity crowd of better than 2,500 (the majority of which were teenagers) came to its feet and remained there for nearly the entire show. I must mention that the temperature in the arena was extremely high and I'm sure several pounds of water were unintentionally shed by both the band and the audience.
They opened with what was for me their most entertaining song of the evening. It was their remake of Petra's Rose Colored Stained Glass Windows. When I was growing up, Petra was just about the only contemporary Christian band with any popularity and probably was my favorite then, so seeing a musically well-done version of the song was very satisfying. The song ended featuring Charlie with an outstanding effort on the keyboard.
Next came Like A Child, which had a great acoustic guitar duet before the band slid neatly right into Boy On A String. They followed with two new songs, Truce and Overjoyed. All four of the new tunes which were performed during the concert did not seem to receive the ovations and excited response that practically all the rest of the well-known songs did during the rest of the evening.
Blind followed. It opened in a slow style similar to the album recording but suddenly exploded into a heavy rock sound that included such driving bass that it pounded in my chest! I very much enjoyed this rendition. There seemed to be several neat additions to most of the songs from the debut album throughout the evening.
Four stools were then brought out for Good Coffee, Strong Coffee which I had read about in nearly every concert review in Earthen Vessels but now heard for the first time. Another new one, a slow song called Fly Farther, was next and had a real nice piano feature that bridged the verses of the song.
Dan's testimony consisted of explaining the significance of the cross and what a great thing it truly represents. Because of Christ's sacrifice, we do not have to earn God's forgiveness or love or our salvation. Praise the Lord for the sharing of this Truth.
A worshipful version of Worlds Apart followed and Dan lead the auditorium in singing hallelujahs. Liquid, Crazy Times, Fade To Grey, and the playing of Flood, which practically brought down the roof, rounded out the performance. Deafening applause returned the band to the stage for an encore including Love Song and Four Seven.
All in all it was a pretty good concert that the band genuinely seemed to enjoy performing. Please begin to or continue to pray for these guys as they serve the Lord all over the place. The demands on their time as everyone hopes to meet with them has got to be taxing and perhaps overwhelming at such a young age. May God give them strength to continue in a faithful walk and seek Him in all they do. All the glory to Him who is preached, not to the preachers. Thanks for your efforts, guys. Keep it up.
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*Much Afraid Album Content
Overjoyed: A song about allowing God's name for us to be the calling to which we respond.
Crazy Times: God is the last place we look in order to find the peace and joy that is readily ours.
Fade to Grey: Song about the doubt and insecurity we wade through
Tea & Sympathy: How often miscommunication plants a seed that grows to form the weeds that choke and kill true love
Five Candles: The wish of a child to capture the affection and commitment of his father
Frail: Our inability to live in weakness truly makes us weak
Weighed Down: Can the church do its' job when it is shackled by the rules and traditions we mindlessly entrap it with?
Portrait of an Apology: Forgiveness is always most difficult when we have to forgive ourselves...
Truce: Peace and blessings without reason
Much Afraid: A prayer to remove the walls and demons we've created - Jesus never lets us go.
Hymn: Self-explanatory!
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*Lyrics Revealed:
"Much Afraid"
Empty again
Sunken down so far
So scared to fall
I might not get up again
So I lay at your feet
All my brokenness
I carry all of my burdens to you
All of these things
I've held up in vain
No reason nor rhyme
Just the scars that remain
Of all of these things
I'm so much afraid
Scared out of my mind
By the demons I've made
Sweet Jesus, you never ever let me go
Oh, sweet Jesus, never ever let me go
So happy to love
Yet so far to go
You lead me on to where I've never been before
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*Fast Look at Stephen Mason
Editor's Note: We will feature each of the guys throughout the year and list their "fast look" biographies here. They will also be posted at the website as always.
FAST LOOK ---------- Stephen Mason (Jars of Clay)
FULL NAME: Stephen Daniel Mason
ALIAS/NICKNAME: "Jerry Lewis Jar"
BORN WHERE AND WHEN: Joliet, IL; July 8, 1975
FAMILY STATS: Mom, Dad, Stepmom, older brother and sister, younger sister
PETS: Border Collie named "Chianti"
FAVORITE LYRIC FROM A SONG: "In the desert, you can't remember your name and there ain't no one for to give you no pain..." (from America's "Horse with No Name")
WORD OR PHRASE THAT YOU MOST OFTEN OVERUSE: "Shave Your Back"
FIRST JOB: Walking beans (pulling weeds in miles of soybean fields)
HIDDEN TALENT: Saying a lot of words but not making sense, for hours on end
MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT: After lots of "cashier/drive-thru" experience at McDonald's, I tried "grill" once and sent up about six Big Macs with no meat.
GUILTY PLEASURE: Chocolate
CURRENTLY IN THE CD PLAYER: Counting Crows' Recovering the Satellites
YOU'VE BEEN HANDED THE KEYS TO A TIME MACHINE, WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO GO FIRST? 1966-1969 Abbey Road Studios
BEST GROSS-OUT STORY: Riding my bike, swallowing a bug
WEDDING DAY MEMORY: Leaving the reception in a gauntlet of people blowing bubbles
MOST ANNOYING HABIT: Biting my nails
FIRST ALBUM: Let It BE by the Beatles
FIRST CHRISTIAN ALBUM: The Choir's Circle Slide
MOST INCREDIBLE DATE: A day at the lake, walking and talking
GOOFIEST THING YOU BELIEVED AS A CHILD: It didn't get better than Peanut Butter Captain Crunch.
WORST TROUBLE YOU GOT IN AS A CHILD: I (with the help of my younger sister) busted a glass case display at a "fine department store."
IF YOU WERE AN ANIMAL, WHAT WOULD YOU BE? A grizzly bear
NUMBER OF MILES ON YOUR ODOMETER: 45,000
BEST ADVICE EVER GIVEN: "Be yourself"
YOU'VE BEEN MADE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE DAY. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? Fly around the world on the taxpayers' money in Air Force One
WRITE YOUR OWN EPITAPH: He lived, he loved, he died. He's now in Heaven not because of his good works, but because of God's grace and unconditional love.
BEST PRACTICAL JOKE PLAYED ON YOU: My bachelor party. Enough said.
WHAT PRODUCT WOULD YOU DEFINITELY ENDORSE IF ASKED? Starbucks Coffee
CARTOON CHARACTER THAT REMINDS YOU OF YOU: Ren and Stimpy
FOOD YOU REFUSE TO EAT: Brussel Sprouts
DREAM ROLE IN A MOVIE: Harrison Ford in Patriot Games
MOST MEMORABLE MEETING: Carol King at a writer's forum
IF YOU COULD SWAP LIVES WITH SOMEONE FOR ONE DAY, WHO'D YOU LIKE TO SWAP WITH? Sting
MOST MEMORABLE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: Peter, Paul and Mary
IF MUSIC WASN'T YOUR CAREER, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'D BE DOING? Loiterer or professional student
SCAR STORY: Under my chin, one-inch scar (slipped in the bathtub at age 3)
FIRST CAR: '81 Plymouth Champ "The Amazing Plastic Car"
DREAM CAR: A car that runs on trash, requires no maintenance
NO. OF FAN LETTERS (OR E-MAILS) ANSWERED MONTHLY: Probably between 50 and 100
BEST GIFT EVER RECEIVED: Homemade chocolate cake with homemade chocolate icing
BEST PRACTICAL JOKE YOU'VE PLAYED ON SOMEONE: Kidnapping Charlie and throwing a surprise birthday party for him
QUESTION NO ONE HAS EVER ASKED YOU BEFORE: "Hey Stephen, stuffing or mashed potatoes?"
ANSWER: Stuffing
"FAVES AND RAVES":
VACATION SPOT: St. Maarten
BOOK: Hungry for Heaven: Rock and Roll and the Search for Redemption by Steve Turner
ALBUM: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles
MOVIES: The Court Jester; In the Name of the Father
HYMN: "Be Thou My Vision"
FOOD: Creamed corn, crab, mussels
TV SHOW: Seinfeld
BREAKFAST CEREAL: Cinnamon Life
ICE CREAM FLAVOR: Peanut Butter & Chocolate (in a sugar cone)
SEASON: Fall
'70's SITCOM: Chips
SPORTS TEAM: Da BULLS, da BEARS, da CUBS
SALAD DRESSING: Caesar
CITY: Chicago, IL
SOAP: Lever 2000
PIZZA: Pineapple and Bacon
FAST FOOD ORDER: Two hard-shell Taco Supremes and one Burrito Supreme
PASTIME: Going to baseball games
HOBBIES: Internet, walks, YMCA, music, travel
BOARD GAME: Scrabble
TOOTHPASTE: Aquafresh
CHILDHOOD TOY: Remote-controlled tank
SCRIPTURE: Romans 5
SHAMPOO: Pantene Pro-V
COMIC STRIP: Dilbert
SONG: "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel
HANGOUT: Barnes & Noble
Fast Look is from August/September 1997 Release Magazine
For New Subscription Information Call 1-800-545-6264
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*Prayer Requests:
From: tomball@ix.netcom.com
I would like some prayer for God's direction in my life. I have been taking dance for the last five years and have competed for the last three. This past weekend our team attended an annual national competition which closed out my time with that school. I am now 19 and would like to pursue dance professionally, but I don't know where to start. A ballet company or dancing in college doesn't seem to be where the Lord wants me so I'm at a loss as to what else to do. I do have one semi-open door, but I'm afraid to jump into something to have it turn out to be the wrong choice. Please pray that the Lord will show me exactly where He wants me and give me the strength and confidence I will need. I am shy and insecure about myself and dancing ability which is probably what is holding me back. Could you also pray that if now is not the right time for Him to reveal His plan to me, that He will give me peace and patience. Thank you in advance for your prayers. If anyone has any advice or words of encouragement, feel free to send them to me. God bless. -Megan
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From: kalyb@hotmail.com
Lately we've had quite a few deaths affecting my family. a few weeks ago our neighbor across the street died, she was 92. And we also had some good friends from our church die. I ask you to pray for my family and the families of these people. Although there is comfort in the fact that they are now in heaven and with our Father, we do miss them terribly. Thank you. Stay always in His Love! Karleen W.
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From: whittaker@mulberry.com
Please pray for the Whalen family...the second oldest son, Jonathon, has been diagnosed with cancer. He is only 17!
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From: earthpots@aol.com
Please pray for my cousin, Cori Williams, as she ventures to Taiwan for a year to teach and minister in a school there. She needs prayer for safe travels, finding an apartment there, and her ministry. Thanks!
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From: fwood@skn.net
I would like to request prayer for myself and my family. We are in the process of making some big decisions that would really change our life as we know it. We are trying to discern what God's will is, too. I am struggling with this, because I am very reluctant to agree with my parents in the decision they are leaning towards. If we go that way, it will bring a lot of changes that I am not sure I will welcome, and that I am not sure I am ready for. I am trying to remain open-minded about this, but it is difficult. I feel very selfish about not staying open-minded and flexible. (Sorry this is so vague; it's the best I can do right now.) Thanks in advance for your prayers, I really, really appreciate them and I'll try to keep you posted.
The Love of God and the Peace of Jesus Christ be with you always! :-)
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From: weirdo_aka.ericj@juno.com
Hello,
I have a prayer request for you. My best friends aunt, Robin, was diagnosed with stomach cancer this week. Her and her husband, Jon have three young girls, under the age of 10. I ask you to pray for Robin, that God would give her stamina to continue, her husband strength through the ordeal and her children the ability to understand and cope with what their mother is going through. I remind you of James 5:15 "and the prayer of the faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. . ." Thank you for your prayers, they are much needed.
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*Jars of Clay "Much Afraid" of what?
New Music Magazine Summer 1997
By Jerry Williams
Never before in the 25-year history of Contemporary Christian music has an unknown act emerged with such immediate fury and success as has Jars of Clay. Two years, five Christian CHR top singles, one Top 25 mainstream pop single, and 1.5 million units later, the group which takes its name and mission from II Corinthians 4:7 is now recognized as perhaps Christian music's hottest band.
Meanwhile, "Jars" members Dan Haseltine (lead vocals), Steve Mason (guitar, bass, vocals), Matt Odmark (guitar, vocals), and Charlie Lowell (keyboards, vocals) seem to be taking their newfound success in stride as they prepare for the launch of their sophomore Essential project, Much Afraid, in September.
What do you consider to be the most remarkable or surprising aspect of your overnight success?
Dan: The overnightness.
Steve: This was a dream, to do music, maybe professionally. The fact that those expectations have been blown out of the water has been the most amazing thing.
It's been two years since the record came out and you took the world by storm. How has this changed your lives?
Matt: Well, I'm not home nearly as much as I used to be. How else has it changed our lives? We live on a bus more than we probably ever would have doing any other job.
Dan: We get to travel a lot, see a lot of different places, meet a lot of different people.
Matt: Go through lots of luggage.
How about internally? Has it affected the core of who you guys are?
Charlie: It has definitely challenged us in our friendships with each other. And going from college life to kind of jumping into this business and all of the aspects of what we do has forced us to grow up really quick. It's forced us to look at how we love each other, how we want to love each other, what that means for issues of forgiveness and grace, compassion, sensitivity - probably a lot of things that maybe a young marriage would go through.
Yeah, except you have four guys in this, so you have three other persons' quirks to
Dan: That's where the marriage thing breaks down. [laughter]
How about spiritually? How has it changed you or challenged you?
Steve: I've never enjoyed accountability like this before. With these friendships, I've gone through more than I have with any of my relationships growing up. And maybe it's the fact that I'm getting older, but our relationships have pushed me to examine my walk with the Lord more often than I had ever expected.
Matt: I think it's really challenged us, just in the midst of what we get to do, to continually take in stock what is really important.
I would imagine your schedule has gotten a bit more hectic in the two years since you left Greenville College. Is it harder for you to find time to do the kinds of things that you had done before - like having quiet time, time to spend in the Scriptures, time for prayer, time for group sharing?
Charlie: It's a lot more difficult, definitely, and it has to be a lot more intentional. Our days are kind of consistently inconsistent in that we don't really know what the next day is going to be like or what the time frame is going to be like to spend alone or to relax or sleep or whatever. So we just have to purposefully seek out time alone and time of fellowship. And we can't get to church much, so we try to get tapes from out home church in Nashville sent out to us on the road, and we listen to them on the bus and try to keep in touch with what's going on with the church so we feel like when we come home we can kind of pick up where we left off.
Let's talk about the new record. Was writing for it more difficult than writing for your first record?
Steve: There's this element to your first record that you've been writing it your entire life up until that point. You have these life experiences to look back on and kind of sum you up to that point. But the second record is a little more difficult because you're writing it in the span of maybe a year or two versus 19 or 20 years. Well, of course I don't think any of us were playing guitar at two, but you know. So it was definitely a little different writing for this record.
Where did you do the writing?
Dan: Anywhere and everywhere.
Steve: We did a lot of it at my house. I got married in December and we have a little loft upstairs and the four of us would gather
Dan: and yeah, we'd work on songs there. We also wrote a few on the road the last couple of years, and a few were written before we started to go out on the road.
I heard you did some writing at Sting's French chateau.
Charlie: It was actually the chateau of Sting's manager, Miles Copeland. It was a songwriter's thing, which was a great experience.
Where did you do the recording?
Matt: We did about half of it in Nashville and half of it in London, England.
Because of your success, have you felt a lot of pressure to match or exceed what you accomplished with your first record?
Dan: Yes, and I think a lot of the reason why it's taken us so long to do a record is really because we've tried to distance ourselves from a lot of the pressures that have been kind of plaguing us in the past couple of years.
Steve: And we've had a lot of changed happen, a lot of struggles that we walked through before starting to work on the record, so it was a very healthy opportunity to kind of figure out still why we do what we do.
Struggles as a band, or individually?
Steve: Individually, and then that kind of filtered into us as a band. And that was a good check going into it because we needed that, you know, just like we need to hear the same simple truths from the Bible again and again because we forget. So it was good.
As you're listening to this record, are you happy with it?
Dan: We're really excited about it.
Charlie: Yeah.
Matt: I think we're all very pleased.
Steve: This may sound contrived, but I don't think it matters how successful it is commercially, because we feel like we've made a good record, and it's been honest and there's a lot of truth in it that I think will affect a lot of people, Lord willing.
What's the story behind the album title?
Steve: There's a book called Hind's Feet On High Places by Hannah Hurnard. And the lead character is called Much Afraid. It's not a very bright and happy title, but we think that conceptually fits with the songs and that it speaks well of the journey from fear to faith, which the lead character experiences in the book.
What are the differences musically between this record and your first record?
Charlie: We used a lot more live drums on this record. There are still a couple of loops, but more elements of a live band. I think that's because we've been playing with a live band for the last couple of years and that's kind of what we're most comfortable with now. Another difference is how we decided to arrange a lot of the songs. Other than that, instrumentations aren't too different.
Dan: There's a lot of kazoo playing on this record.
Matt: Lots of kazoo. We even brought in some wah-wah kazoos.
Oh yeah? I've been waiting for someone to showcase the kazoo. I think it's a much overlooked instrument.
Dan: We have to please our public, so we knew everybody would want that
Lyrically, how are the songs different on this record?
Dan: I think the songs came from a very different place than the first album. I think in some ways we've taken a risk. Some of the lyrics are really vulnerable, more so than they were on the first record. And we've just taken a real honest approach to a lot of the struggles involved with being a Christian and being a human being. So it's a very honest look at our walk. We deal with a lot of those struggles in a very real way.
Do you think there will always be a Christian emphasis in your music and in what you're doing?
Charlie: Yeah, I think there will be, because that's who we are and that's pretty much what all of our identity is, hopefully. I think that as long as we're struggling and learning and walking and growing, that'll be a really big influence in our music and in the lyrics. I think we would love to continue doing what we're doing. We're having a blast. You know, we'd like to be home a little more than we are, but there's a tension there, I suppose.
Steve: There'll be plenty of time for being home when we're has-beens.
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*Backstage with Jars of Clay
by Kirsten Parker
ReAL Magazine Special Music Issue May 1997
They've topped the Christian and mainstream music charts. They've come in like a "Flood," and given us a "Love Song for a Savior." You may know this band as Jars of Clay. After one of their concerts, I caught up with the guys and had a chance to talk about their lives.
"You guys have gone really mainstream, was that intentionally, was it something you wanted?" I asked, thinking of all their secular radio attention. "It's not that we didn't want it," said Charlie Lowell, the back-up singer and piano/organ player, "it just wasn't anything we planned on, expected, or even said let's try to work this. We were all good friends in college, so we wrote the songs for ourselves and friends. We didn't even know a larger group of people would soon be exposed to our music, it's all really been a surprise to us."
"All of you guys went to Europe to spend some time in a castle. Can you tell us what that was about and what you did?" "Steve and I committed some crimes in Europe, so we had to spend some time in a dungeon for our punishment," said Dan Haseltine (lead singer) jokingly.
"We were at a song writing convention," says Steve Mason, back up vocal and guitarist, "with a few other artists and writers like Carole King, Mike and the Mechanics, and a lot of very talented people. It was a wonderful time, and we look forward to traveling over there more."
"They knew you guys were a Christian band. What did they think about you writing Godly songs?" "I think the coolest thing about being over there," says Dan, "was that it's a very creative process. You're writing with all these different people, and when somebody initially knows we're a Christian band, they don't really know how to take us. They don't know how we're going to react to them, and I think a lot of peoples' experience with Christianity has been very judgmental. For us, it was really exciting - not just when we were writing songs about God, but to be able to write songs with the other writers so they could see that we're not pious and untouchable. That was probably more beneficial than us just writing stuff about God, it was really just living how we live, and having them experience us." "When people razz you for being involved with 'mainstream' stuff, what do you want to say to them?" "We've learned in the past year, as our audience has broadened to the non-Christian spectrum, we can't really control what people are going to think. According to the book, this is radical thinking because we're diving into the cultural, meeting non-Christians in their environment, which is the world. I think some people need to be in the church ministering because Christians need to be fed, but in the same way, others need direct contact with the world."
"One last question, give us your individual prayer requests."
Dan - "Rest. I think rest would be a good prayer request."
Matt - "For me it would be clarity of personal vision."
Steve - "My prayer request would be the desire to stay consistently in God's Word, and just have that hunger to know more, because we go through dry seasons and I just want to continue to be close to Jesus."
Charlie - "I would ask for personal discipline." "Yeah, he's having some discipline problems, with me actually," says Steve (obviously the joker of the group). "They keep locking me on the bus for hours." Charlie says going along with the joke. "We had to put him in the corner," says Steve, "he was just terrible." "He keeps stealing things like Port-o-Pots and bringing them back to the bus, and we ask him what he's going to do with them," says Dan, trying to look serious.
After some more talking and joking it was time for me to say my good bye's and let the guys get back to work. As I was leaving, I thought of the challenges they are put through every day. To always be in the spotlight, and have to deal with their sudden fame, yet always keep their eyes focused on Christ, and take everything in a humble way. That I think, is a great challenge for all of us. Let's pray for them!
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