guests : newsboys

Recently, Peter Furler and his bandmates found themselves in a far off place, countless miles away from all they knew and the comforts of home. They were in Israel, near the Sea of Galilee, just miles from the spot where bombs would be falling only months later. The newsboys were making their very first visit to play their very first show there, for five thousand people who had never heard of them. The crowd was a mixture of cultures, races and creeds, from Buddhists to Muslims to Jews - anything but the typical newsboys audience. One might think that a band in this position would feel intimidated to the point of faltering...

But they found themselves right at home.

"The Israeli festival changed us, to say the least. It was one of the most powerful moments I have ever experienced," says newsboys frontman Peter Furler. "Not only was it a mixture of many different backgrounds, but a mixture of beliefs as well. I didn't preach or even share, but I began quoting a passage from memory - more in a spoken word style than anything else - during the middle section of one song. This ‘jam' went on for awhile, and as it did, I knew something was happening. The crowd's entire countenance shifted from skepticism to sort of a biblical worship dance, and this wave - I don't know what else to call it - swept over the crowd."

As Furler speaks of the event, you can't help but believe that something holy is behind this story. Beyond Grammys, gold records or merchandise sales. Beyond the comfort of domestic market success. The newsboys have developed a genuine love for those abroad. Say what you will, but this is a unit of men who have pushed past mere industry accolades to an international fulfillment of the Great Commission.

This is who they are, at this moment in time.

On Go, their new release (and first pop record in four years), the band has committed to continuing outward on this journey, completing the circle they began etching across the nations two decades ago.

Fourteen albums ago, long before a separate culture was established to house the bands which would follow in their wake, the newsboys began with a singular motivation. They sought to play music infused with life and hope for all who would listen, for all those who most needed to hear it. It was dimly-lit bars and seedy night clubs where they first performed for open ears in their native Australia. And it was in this environment that a vision began which would carry newsboys across international barriers of language, culture and race.

"We played a show in Morocco not long ago for about 15,000 Muslims, and it was like something out of Indiana Jones," recalls Furler. "Snake charmers, people eating eyeballs, etc. This is a place where the name of Jesus will get you killed! Nevertheless, His name went out subtly through our songs, and when it did it was probably the loudest His name had been spoken there in ages. It's a dark place, for certain. But we were able to love these people by just living with them for a few days. That's what it's about."

For inspiration when writing Go, Furler didn't turn to his record collection, the radio or even MTV. Instead, he just wrote music, alone, in his own headspace. And if you ask him about this unique approach, he will tell you that his biggest influence after fourteen albums is himself: his experiences, the journey he has traveled. According to Furler, there can be nothing more stimulating than this. The aforementioned stories have provided more than enough backdrop.

"If you aren't making music from the right place, then it won't be authentic, people will not connect with it, and your record will be sitting on a shelf. On the other hand, if you write from that place of true passion, without trying to make something commercial or forced, then the result will be natural. People will be drawn to it," Furler explains.

Go, though pop in structure and sensibility, is a very rhythmic approach to the newsboys sound. Beat, bass and melody drive these songs. There are subtleties of urban influence, with the memorable choruses you have come to expect from this quintet. This is the band at their most confident; the record sounds like guys who are as excited as they have ever been to play, to sing. It is as if they have just begun...

On "Something Beautiful," Furler makes this mantra clear: I wanna start it over. I wanna start again. There's a new beginning, one without an end. I feel it inside calling out to me. And on the title track, he speaks of being sent from above to befriend the distant: GO...From the top of the world, to the bottom rung. 'Til the work is done, I wanna send you. GO...From the break of the dawn, to the age's end. Somebody's needing a friend. I wanna send you. They have found a brand new peace, a joy in touching the wounded. Just listen to the words of "Wherever We Go" for evidence.

Wherever we're led, all the living and the dead wannna leave their zombie mob. It's a touching scene when they all come clean. God help us, we just love our job.

You might just as easily catch the newsboys opening for REO Speedwagon, James Brown or John Fogerty these days as find them at a Christian market event. They have even shared the stage with Styx since releasing their previous effort. With willing hearts, there seem to be more open doors on the near horizon. Though they are CCM staples - and will most likely continue to be - their focus will remain in branching out as far as this music takes them.

Go. And they will...

"It seems to me there are three types of believers in this world," Furler concludes.

"There is the judgmental guy who spends most of his energy pointing out what is wrong around him and doing very little about it. There is the backslidden guy, who wallows in his own failures. Then there is the real guy, who just tries to love other people and be about the kingdom more than anything else. I want to be the third guy. I want to be known for loving others of different backgrounds and different beliefs no matter the cost."

mateship

THEIR music has taken them from Australia to Africa but it's the mate-ship that makes newsboys one of the most enduring success stories of rock music.

When they first started the dream was simple - to make a living creating music together. and two decades later, they still count it a privilege to do just that. As lead singer Peter Furler recently revealed, there is a lot more to newsboys than just the music - it's the relationships built on time together, trials, triumphs and sometimes tragedy. For example, there are few outfits in rock music that can boast having the same manager and tour manager since the beginning.

"Like family, it has not always been perfect" Furler says - ''but what other bands see more than the music backstage is the strong commitment we have to each other''. "How we treat those closest to us... these seem to be the things that matter."

Even newcomer Paul Colman feels part of the family, especially after watching newsboys for so long and touring with them over recent years. "I have been a fan of this band for a long time,'' the Aussie guitarist, singer and songwriter said. "I watched every band across America for five years and newsboys is the best band. I told them that even before I joined them,'' he said. "I've been a fan of the song-writing, stageshow, performance and everything. "I think the vision of the band is truly international.''

While Paul has had his own success as a solo artist, he loves no longer being out on his own - or as he puts it - "having some mates around''. And that's what been so special about the boys. Watching them as they burn across the Mexican desert together on dirt bikes or playing practical jokes on each other in their dressing rooms, the camaraderie is obvious.

Musically, newsboys are difficult to pigeonhole, blending melody and rhythm, making you think to the beat with a truly international sound. Despite selling more than six million records and being nominated for three Grammy awards, newsboys has never been a band to rest on its success. From the killer hooks of the music to the thoughtprovoking lyrics, they have strived to make the next album their best - and by all accounts their latest offering will be just that.

On stage, their performances are simply the best in the business - as voted on numerous occasions by the critics that really matter - the fans. The shows have gone through their own evolution, from the days of gold suits, lunar surface stages, flying spacecraft, inflatable concert venues and the huge Festival Con Dios festivals complete with motocross stunts. Much to the delight of fans, it's gone full circle with the return of the drum riser machine which sees drummer Duncan Phillips strapped in as he plays his kit while rotating upside down through the air. Twenty years on the crowd is still pulsing to hit after hit, being dazzled by spectacular light shows and Cryo blasts of ice cold air, and watching millions of pieces of confetti tumble to the ground as their own cares fall away.

The boys remain on an incredible ride which has taken them right across North America to Muslims in Morocco and to a new age festival in Israel. They've played in the front of 400,000 people and the Pope; in Paris, Holland, Germany, and then built homes for the poor with a teenage army in Baja, Mexico.

On a recent tour to Australia, lead singer Peter Furler fondly remembered the early days of driving the family crazy as they jammed in a garage in Mooloolaba on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Who could forget the time when an irate neighbor dumped sugar in his family car's fuel tank, wrecking the motor?

Playing pubs in Australia, the crowds did not care whether the music was gospel, pop, reggae or blues - only if it was good. And if it wasn't, beer bottle missiles would soon get the message across. Those early days saw the band selling lamingtons (Aussie cakes) and macadamia nuts to buy petrol to get to the next gig or perhaps splurge on a new drum kit.

Their arrival in the US was equally humble. After securing a record deal, they came to New York on New Year's Eve, 1987, only to find the recording studio closed for the holidays. Then to make matters worse, they were detained by suspicious police for loitering before being allowed to stay in the studio over the weekend, only because they had nowhere else to go.

Newsboys' manager Wes Campbell and brother Steve, the tour manager, discovered the band while Wes was a youth pastor in Surfer's Paradise on the Gold Coast. The Campbell's ran a club called Genesis, a local hangout for people hungry for new musical talent. A band that was scheduled to play one weekend could not make it but they suggested Steve give this new band newsboys a try, but cautioned they could not guarantee they were any good.

In those days, Genesis offered bands $200 to play - or the use of a decent sound system followed by dinner at Hungry Jacks (Burger King) afterwards. The boys were the only ones who opted for the sound system rather than the money. "That was their spirit," Campbell says, explaining how the guys have always been more interested in investing in a good show for fans than building big bank balances. It's a pity they didn't invest in better vehicles though. On their way to the gig, their van broke down and had to be towed in. They still managed to make a dramatic entrance, jumping through the windows of the club to launch a show like no other. Campbell soon saw the potential in newsboys, their passion not just for the music but also for the message. "They just stole our hearts," he says.

Thirteen albums and thousands of shows later, newsboys still reach deeper for a closer relationship with their Creator, their family, friends and each other. "It is really about respect for one another, friendship and our families - and that seems to make the music better,'' Peter said. "We feel the band's the best it has ever been and after 20 years it feels like we are just starting.''

If history is any signpost, the best is yet to come.