Causecast

The David Crowder*Band is an award-winning six-piece electronic rock and worship band from Waco, Texas.

Causecast Music’s Brandon Deroche sat down with David to discuss the mechanics of social change, Mission Waco, and Twitter.

Causecast: What do you think of the idea that we are in a time of transition, that we are a part of a major shift of some kind taking place?

David Crowder: I agree with that, one hundred percent. Us coming from a position of faith-oriented stuff, you know, we… A little history – our music’s coming out of a little church that we started after being in school for a while, we were all in undergrad at the time. It’s a collection of people that had, maybe issues with their church’s past, more institutional church experience rather than rejection. It’s really a collection of people who didn’t necessarily reject what you read about in Scripture, which I think when you’re talking about the terms of social causes, it’s really difficult to have many issues with the stuff that [Jesus] would say that you read about in Scripture. So the Church really should be at the forefront of that stuff, right? Yet we found that most of the time, conversations about faith and religion were limited to just ethereal, otherworldly discussions, and it rarely had tangible material effect. Our church is located in a very impoverished area of Waco, yet the people that were attached to what we were doing were all Baylor students – private university, very affluent. So it didn’t make any sense to us to attach internally to these propositions that you would read in Scripture, coming from this person of Christ, without it somehow having some sort of real life effect on the people that we were living among. It should change not just the way you feel and think emotionally and intellectually, it should change the way you act physically towards each other as humans.

“This is a global shift. And I think there’s a lot of room for a lot of creative art to either push it further or just be a reflection of what’s already in the social consciousness.”
- David Crowder

So, we’re in this discussion, while meanwhile, there’s something afoot nationally. When you have these national corporations wanting to posture themselves as very concerned with social situations – like the whole Red movement. Big, massive entities, thinking that the way that we can sell products to somebody better, is if they feel like we’re socially conscious. That’s a unique movement within history, for sure. When you have American Idol, and I risk saying this, but maybe the lowest common denominator of what’s going on within popular culture, artistically speaking – when you have them doing an entire night on ‘how can we as affluent Americans impact those that are in need?’ And that’s on national television, that to me says yeah, something’s afoot. It’s not just limited to different segments of our population, it feels like all segments of our population have been infiltrated with this. Wow, we’ve got a lot of responsibility, as Americans. This is not just something that’s just located in the States. You know, we went around the world on a world tour, this past summer, and it’s the same. The West is really feeling like we owe, here. How can we give back? That’s exciting and unique. For me, coming from a place of belief and faith, it feels like, ‘Wow, there’s this moment for the church to recapture some of the stuff that we’ve botched along the way.’ Because this is supposed to be the stuff that makes faith mean anything at all – how does it make a real difference in somebody’s life, not just how does it save your eternal soul. ‘Cause the soul – what is the soul? You know? It should change the way your life is, because of what I believe should affect you, and it should affect the people that I call my neighbor. And now our neighbors are so much closer than they used to be. What’s our responsibility to that?

CC: What would you say is music‘s role in that?

David: Well, this is what I think is amazing. Anytime you’ve had a shift, a historic, cultural shift, music has always been a part of it. In sociology, they talk about it in terms of cognitive praxis – like, is music of this, social shift, or does music actually push this social shift, you know? And so, a lot of times, I think it’s been both, and sometimes it’s one, sometimes it’s the other. You look at unions, the workmen, there were all these folk songs that erupted to try to explain the plight of the worker. Every shift is accompanied by a soundtrack. I think that there’s a lot of room for this shift that we’re looking at, in your terms. And this is like a global shift, rather than just a segment of our American population. This is a global shift. And I think there’s a lot of room for a lot of creative art to either push it further or just be a reflection of what’s already in the social consciousness. And I think it’s both necessary and unavoidable, you know? Because as artists, you’re shaped and moved by the culture you’re breathing in and out, so it naturally pops into your art you’re making, but at the same time, if we could think critically about where we are, and about the platforms that we’ve been given, then there’s an opportunity to say a whole lot to people who listen to you and who care about what you think about, what you believe in. We, in fact, saw that on the last tour we did, each night, I would do research for each city that we’re going to – me and some folks that are surrounding and helping us do what we’re doing. We would look and see what’s going on in each city, socially speaking – organizations that were really having an impact, that were making a difference. Pulling people up out of where they were and helping them have some forward sight, you know? And then I’d write out this big sheet of paper that we’d hand everybody and say, ‘Look, these are the things that are going on right among you; we have a responsibility.’

“Problems still exist, and it’s a rare person that finds the courage and bravery to head up and give their life to try to keep the initial [problem] from happening.”
- David Crowder

I’d tell this, right before we headed on this tour, I was talking to a good friend of mine, who’s written a lot of books on a lot of really difficult issues that are globally speaking – poverty, AIDS, and… He’d give me this analogy and it was beautiful, and it has helped me recover some stuff that I had maybe gotten upset – you know, when you talk about the corporations posturing stuff – I tend to get really suspicious and condemn stuff that probably isn’t that… It’s good, you know? Motive is a strange thing. So this guy, we’re talking, and he says, ‘Listen. It’s like this. It’s like we’re standing alongside a river and there’s people that are drowning and we start pulling people out of the river, you know? We’re pulling people out, we’re pulling people out. And then somebody, at some point, pops up and says, ‘You know? Somebody should head upstream and see who’s throwing everybody in the river.’ You know? So we need somebody in the moment to pull people out, but there’s really very difficult issues that are at the root of this thing, and for those things we need people that would give their entire lives to help fix it. ‘Cause it’s not something that’s just gonna make us… This part [demonstrates pulling] feels really good. As an American, you feel guilt, this part’s easy, ‘cause it relieves a lot of the guilt that we have. But there’s this constant stream that… Problems still exist, and it’s a rare person that finds the courage and bravery to head up and give their life to try to keep the initial push from happening.

CC: That’s a really great analogy.

David: Yeah, I was blown away. So it helped me like crazy on that tour to feel like… I feel like a lot of times, what we are doing is trying to find some sense of guilt relief. And the thing that frightens me about this moment, is that Americans are incredibly good consumers, and that this altruism or philanthropy can easily turn into another thing to consume and then be done with. That’s why a lot of what we’re trying to do is not just give somebody a way out for guilt, but to push them to go upstream and figure out how – I’m a smart, intelligent person, and I’m feeling stuff turning in me when you’re talking about this stuff. So I want to head out. And it’s been fun to get feedback.

“How can I approach you in a way that honors you as a human being? … Peace is that, in my mind.”
- David Crowder

CC: Are there any specific organizations that you‘re passionate about?

David: Well, like where I live, we’re right down the street from Habitat for Humanity, there’s an office. I think that they’re doing just, they’re doing crazy good stuff. And then, granted, it’s a local thing, but Mission Waco is right by us, too. So those are two of my immediate, where I latch on. Habitat, of course, we’re able to push that anywhere we were, out and about. But we would really find out, like this place in Mission Waco, in every city, there’s pockets of things that are going on, people living with those that are in incredible need for a long time, and be getting to some of the local issues that national entities have a little more difficult time trying to figure out. It’s a real organic thing, that we’ve found seems to be more successful, because each city has different approaches to how they handle those that are poor and in need. That would be one that we would see that there was some success. And a lot of recovery places, too, we were thrilled to connect with on our tour. Because mental illness and addiction are two of the things that really drive a lot of that stuff. And to get to the bottom of those is a pretty difficult task, and usually it’s somebody that’s been in a local setting for a long time that knows the folks that are calling the street their home and all of that good stuff.

CC: Everyone talks about Peace. But what is Peace? What is your idea of Peace?

David: Wow. That’s a great question. It’s a difficult thing, too, when you have leaders of countries that aren’t as rational as you’d like them to be. Because, to me, most of it is based on how do we treat each other as humans? You know, do we view each other as similar, and if we do, what does that mean? How can I approach you in a way that honors you as a human being? To me, Peace is that, in my mind. At times that means, it’s a difficult interaction that we have. Because I think in interacting with you, I’m helping you be responsible with the people that you’re interacting with, and that’s where the conflict occurs. And, yeah, we want love and happiness, but when you have great irrational people driving economies and… It’s a hard thing. But to me, it’s, ‘How do we love each other properly?’ Is what it boils down to. And how I would probably talk about Peace, would be, ‘How do I love you properly?’ And Love looks difficult, a lot of times. It does look very nice with flowers and happy and rainbows, but sometimes, it looks really difficult.

CC: In today’s music industry, musicians, especially unsigned, don’t seem to know where to direct their energy. What do you find are some of the biggest troubles that you have to face as an artist of your level today?

David: Well, I feel like the thing that will either allow you to do this, and pay bills and stuff, or not, is having somebody among you that’s, in some sense, market savvy. The music is almost – especially now that it’s shifted, from like you were saying, now that it’s out of the labels’ hands, to do all the stuff, it’s all in the artist’s hands to do all that stuff, and most of the time, artists aren’t that great at it. So for us, that meant, there’s a big learning curve. Like, ‘Okay, what do we need to do to pull this stuff off?’ And the great part about it though, nobody will ever care about your stuff like you care about your stuff. And I think that’s what is beneficial about this change, and how the industry functions and works, is because you have people who are really passionate about what they’re creating, being a mouthpiece for what they’ve created. And that helps fans and people who are attached to your stuff understand. I think you’re able to unload a little more of what you’re attempting to do, what’s driving you, what’s creating this stuff to begin with. So there’s that initial connectivity; it’s just a lot of work. And musicians tend to not like the work-side of it. That’s why we wound up being musicians, right? You know, trying to avoid the real job. And it’s definitely turned into a real job. You’re working hard to make that connection mean something and be more than just a… You want the stuff you’re creating to be more than something that is just consumed and disposed of, really quickly. You hate being that disposable thing, and I think the way to avoid that is to establish any type of relationship you can. You luckily have the ability to do nowadays, with technology.

CC: Absolutely, you seem to be utilizing it well. I saw your Twitter video.

David: Oh dude! It’ll kill you. Stay away from – stay off of it. No, actually if you’re doing music stuff, Twitter’s a goldmine. Just because there’s that immediate connectivity with people, where you know, you’ve had a number of different shifts in social networking happen that… You know, one thing will be great for about three or four months, and you know, who knows how long Twitter’ll live, but something will come along that’ll continue to create… I think that’s what we’re always trying to find, is how do we connect as humans in a way that is at all meaningful. And it’s difficult to do that with technology, but we keep trying to find a way that brings immediacy to the interaction.

Read more Causecast musician interviews at www.causecast.org/music.

Find more on The David Crowder*Band at The David Crowder*Band

Transcription by NICHOLAS CHUNG, Causecast Writer

Photo 1 by f_shield, flickr.

Photo 2 by ninetwentysevenphotography, flickr.

Photo 3 by f_shield, flickr.