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Sanctus Real Answers Your Questions

  • Lindsay Williams CMCentral.com
  • Updated Jul 24, 2008
Sanctus Real Answers Your Questions

Sanctus Real was one of 11 artists that chatted with YOU during GMA Week this year.  Here’s the full transcript of the questions and answers. …

MyGodIsEnough:  I really love your new album [We Need Each Other]. Every song on it is awesome! My favorite is “Eternal.” I was wondering what your inspiration behind this song was?

Sanctus Real:  Chris started playing the riff. It inspired a feeling in the room. As we began to write, it turned into a love song for God. As the lyrics progressed, it really turned into a song that was about the infinite, eternal love of God for His church and, in return, the love that we should have for Him. We were looking around at the physical world we live in, the love that we portray and the messed up ideas of what love is and what relationships should never be. God will never fail us in a relationship like someone else can fail us in a relationship.

Sammy_S:  Hey Sanctus Real, may I ask you what it is you hope to achieve with your music? And who are your favorite artists?

Sanctus Real:  

Tom Petty and Jon Foreman

Deathcab for Cutie and House of Heroes

NEEDTOBREATHE

Keane, Sigur Ros, Five Iron Frenzy

We want to make really true music with good texture and artistic value that’s still able to be accessible to a wide audience. The hope beyond that is if we accomplish that goal, that people would hear the message that we invest just as much time into [and] that they’d be encouraged by those songs and that they’d be introduced to Christ first and foremost.

LJ17:  What band/artist would you love to tour with? Is there a band/artist you would like to sing a song with?

Sanctus Real:

Amy Grant, Delirious, dcTalk

We did a tour song with Third Day, DecembeRadio, Revive and us. We did the song "Handle with Care." That was amazing. The energy that we felt on stage with Third Day was really unique. I love our energy, but it’s kind of interesting to step into another atmosphere on stage with a band that’s been doing it that long. With Mac Powell—he’s such a master communicator on stage. To sing with him was like, “Wow, I want to do that again. I want to collaborate. That was awesome.”

Rocker4christ123:  What is the weirdest and/or most random thing that ever happened to y’all on tour?

Sanctus Real:  One weird thing is becoming common. Our drummer just flew home to have a baby with his wife. That happened to Matt with his wife. That seems to be a popular thing.

_Katie_:  Do you guys like playing outdoor concerts or indoor concerts better? What has God been teaching you lately? Did you start out as a church youth group band?

Sanctus Real:  Outdoor in the evenings, if there are good lights and a smoke machine and it’s not in Florida in August or in Texas in July-September ... or back as far as March.

Matt and Chris went to a Christian high school, and we started the band because we led worship for a weekly chapel service. We started to write music on our own. That was a long time ago.

What's God's teaching us? Wow. Where do you start? He's always teaching [us] something. [Matt] Right now, it's surrender. Everyday kind of stuff—whatever decision we have to make in any given day, thinking first to give everything to God before reacting. You’ve got to bring everything before Him in a moment, getting past all your own expectations of what things should be and following what God has for you instead. It might not be what seems obvious to you. When you follow what is obvious to you, you miss it a lot of times.

leelandlover:  What was your favorite part in recording the new album?

Chris:  The song “Half Our Lives”—having Katie Herzig come in and sing.

Pete:  Across the street from the studio is a great place to eat fish tacos. We spent more time there. ... It’s going to become a new goal of our band to make fish tacos more and more popular. Taco Express was our second studio.

Matt:  Working with Chris Stevens, our producer; he's an awesome guy. He’s also a storm chaser, ha ha. He’s one of those wonderfully, quirky, creative people.

ThisMoment:  I really like your latest album. My favorite songs on it are “Turn on the Lights” and “Legacy.” I was wondering what your favorite song to perform live is?

Sanctus Real:  Right now, it’s “Sing.” It’s the closest thing we’ve done that you could consider a corporate worship song. It’s really cool to feel that people are being led in that sort of worship. A lot of our songs are topical, [with] a worship verse or line. That song is mostly vertical in nature, lyrically. It’s really cool to sense the presence of God moving, and to hear people sing with us in that way is really refreshing.


For more on Sanctus Real, visit sanctusreal.com.


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**This interview first published on July 23, 2008.