Brandon:  So [when] you guys started … when did you decide it was the right time to move to the U.S.?

Dave:  Before we moved, we did two trips to America as a band. The first was business, meeting with all the record execs in Nashville … that kind of stuff. At the end of the trip, we hung out with the Third Day guys more. We went home, and we kind of gleaned from each other that we decided to work together. So we went home, and we started writing songs and started sending them to Mac [Powell, lead vocalist of Third Day]. We wrote about 50 songs and e-mailed them, and he would go, “I like it; I don’t like it; needs work.” Then when we had a whole bunch together, he said, “OK, let’s do songwriting. Why don’t you boys come over to my place for a couple weeks?” We did that, and halfway through the time together he said, “Hey, we’re doing a show tomorrow in Charlottesville, Va. Do you guys want to open for us?” And we were like “OK.” We were pretty nervous. We jump on the bus, head to Charlottesville; and we do our very first show in the U.S. in front of 4,000 people. I’m talking no café, no nothing. This is our first show. We are really nervous and little did we know. … We talked about working together with Third Day, but this show was an audition. They wanted to see how we got on in front of fans. We got on stage, and I remember all the boys standing side stage with their arms folded and just watching us play. And I get out there, [and] I think as soon as they heard the Aussie accent and we said, “Thanks for having us. Thanks for being so good to us because this is our first time playing in the U.S,” there was no going back from there. They loved it. We got off stage, and we went home; and then we waited for about a month to hear back from Third Day. You know … would we be on their next tour? Would they be involved in our album? We got a call from Mac, and he said, “Let’s do it. We’d love for you guys to move over here. Can you be here in 10 weeks?” And I was like, “Yeah, no worries!” And then I hung up the phone and said, “Wow. Ten weeks is not that long.”

Brandon:  Did you ship a lot of your stuff?

Dave:  It’s expensive to ship stuff. You might as well sell it and buy something else. We really brought one guitar each and one suitcase. We sold everything else, sold our cars. Our wives resigned from their jobs. … Mike was not married when I hung up that phone with Mac. He had a serious girlfriend. The three other boys were married, but Mike was not. And he had to get engaged and married in 10 weeks. They honeymooned, and two days later were on a plane to the U.S.

Brandon:  Wow!

Dave:  So it was pretty crazy.