interesting. Matt Crocker posted a thing from is that at the last minute he will fall in love with with the chaos. I could see how other people
when you guys were doing Empires, with just a guitar part. Whereas with me, I get to a point wouldn’t enjoy the process. A lot of the time,
this kind of blank slate as you were at the where I think the three that I’ve got are good, we’ll spend two weeks working and not have
recording studio. And basically, the songs just but I’ve had them for a while and I’m not sure gotten a song. Some people would go crazy
kind of happened, courtesy of the Holy Spirit, which one is the best. But he can usually pull doing it that way. But then usually after that
and you just sat there and worked things out stuff out and make it the main thing, and it point, if you push on through, that’s when the
and it just happened in the studio. That being usually ends up really good. good stuff happens. You’ve really got to like
said, quite often your guitar parts will exist
the people you’re working with and respect the
before these amazing lyrics that these guys are So, my job is really to facilitate a situation where process to be able to work that way, which I
writing are layered on top of them. Do you find he’s going to be able to do that. Mix wise, we’ve think these guys do.
yourself, as the lyrics evolve, needing to change done the last four albums the same way. We your parts? Or is it that the parts were the bed try to give enough space where we can start We spent four months on this last album, which
upon which those lyrics rested? with an acoustic guitar, or a piano, or an electric is a lot faster than Empires, which we spent
guitar, there’s really quite a few options that we about nine months on. And I would say that
[Michael] It’s easily both ways because a can do. It really does start to take shape once quality wise, it’s not any different. It was just the
lot of the time the music inspires the lyrics. we’ve got the lyrics. That’s the part that people journey of trying to catch the songs that was
There’s been situations where we’ve tried to remember five years from now, not necessarily different. If I was to work with another band, I
create a soundscape that is like a bright, sunny the guitar part. would try to figure out who the main songwriter
afternoon, and then once you get the lyrics it’s
was and then try to figure out the best way to
darker and colder. I would say that, guitar-wise, [WM] Unless you’re a guitar player! As a get the best out of that writer. Some people
maybe thirty or forty percent of what we record producer, does that kind of feel like working in work really well nine to five. Other people want
actually gets heard, so we really go to town insanity? Does that organic approach work the to go away and work for twenty hours in a
and try to explore every avenue. A lot of the same way you would work with another band, cabin in the woods. It really depends.
time, in the mix, Joel will say, “I wish we had or are you just flexible as a producer and you’re a brighter guitar part here,” and I’ll say, “Well, willing to just let the music evolve naturally?
you’re in luck because we’ve got three of them
[WM] In terms of success, you guys have had
a bunch. How do you keep yourselves humble?
just sitting there doing nothing.” And then we’ll [Michael] Working with Joel, I feel like the sift through and find one that fits. This is what chaos usually brings a lot of really good vibes. [Michael] We travel all the time, and everyone
makes Joel Houston really good to work with, We usually get good songs while working asks who we are because we have so many
guitar cases and equipment and stuff. And
Photo: Hillsong United Instagram
we say, “Hillsong United”, and most people
don’t really know who that is. There’s been
situations where we’ve won awards and stuff,
but it doesn’t really stick in the forefront of what
we do. It’s very easy to stay humble. I feel like
at church especially, there are a lot of people
who are very talented musicians and great
songwriters. Legitimately, there are at least five
other guitar players who are as good as I am,
if not better, so it’s easy to stay humble in the
situation that we’re in.
[WM] Let’s talk guitars for a second. If
you were to describe the sonic identity of a
Telecaster, a Jazzmaster, and a Gretsch, and
you think of a certain sound that you’re going
for, describe the psychology of why you reach
for a certain instrument, whether it’s tone, feel,
or texture. Describe how you think of them in
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August 2017
WorshipMusician.com