Daniel's Window -Strange Reality

With a new album out recently, the band Daniel's Window is gearing up for the touring season. A part of that preparation is a new "reality" web site known as The Christian Music Makeover. In the following interview I spoke with Daniel's Window lead singer Heather King about the Makeover, and the new album Strangely Looking Forward.

Is the band getting ready to head out soon on tour?

Right now we have a week off, and then we hit the road again on the first weekend of April. Then we’ll be busy the whole month. We just came off a three week tour in Texas and our local area, so we could definitely use this break.

Are you still working closely with Life Promotions?

We’re going out on the road with Bob Lenz at the end of this month. We’ll be out for a week with him on the East coast.

With the last album, “Strangely Looking Forward”, there seems to be a mix of styles from through out the bands career. Style-wise, was that intentional?

The sameness would be that we’re still incorporating hip-hop into it. Using [hip-hop] in non-traditional ways. There is definitely that influence that is coming out in this album again.
It’s all original except for our cover of the hymn “Solid Rock”, but even in that we’ve thrown in a rap to give it our own twist. I find that is what makes it interesting and accessible to high school students on up; it’s that element of rap.

Could you give me a little background on the Christian Music Makeover?

This is the first season so we’re still exploring all the different things that are going on with it. I think the intention of it is too really capture people with the idea of “reality” because it’s such a prevalent medium in our society right now, and to kind of capture them and to get them to take a look at the bands, and to expose them to our music.

What were doing is taking this makeover from a couple of different approaches. The first one which a lot of people are interested in is the physical approach. Caleb and I are on Jenny Craig for six months losing some weight, eating better, and everybody in the band has access to a personal trainer who is giving us advice on the best way to lift weights. We’re all making a conscious effort to eat better on the road because it’s easy for a band to get fast food all the time. So we’re trying to make better choices that way.

There is a musical aspect to it – in that we’re getting some new instruments and new gear that we’re using live. All of the guys in the band, with the exception of the drummer, got new guitars from Daisy Rock. I got a guitar and I don’t know how to play it, but I’m learning how. In fact, I had my third guitar lesson today. The idea is for me to eventually be able to play this guitar on stage. We’re also working with a performance coach to streamline the live show to make it more interesting. Additionally we are giving away a Daisy Rock guitar, and people who are following this can sign up to get a free guitar.

The third aspect which makes this unique is the spiritual aspect. We are making efforts to be consistent in our daily walk with God, and also journal that on the Christian Music Makeover web site so that people can get an insight into what we’re learning everyday. So people can see that we don’t claim to be super-Christians. I think so many Christian musicians are put on a pedestal and we want to break that down and say that we struggle with the same issues that everybody else does and this is what we are learning.

I’ve read some message boards and the band has taken some grief over this issue.

A very little bit, I think there is only one person that I’ve seen so far on the chat room that has posted an objection to it. He actually has been very kind in his words and has been open to our feedback. I have seen a couple of negative things here and there, but overall the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Everyone is going to have an opinion and that’s fine, we’re willing to listen to it and give them our answer.

Do you feel pressure yourself or as a band to perform better, or change your physical appearance?

No, I don’t feel like we’re under a lot of pressure; this is really more fun for us than anything.

Is Alby playing a Daisy Rock?

He is believe it or not. If you see any pictures of him playing a white guitar, that’s the one that he has.

I thought they just made ladies guitars honestly.

They are a bit smaller, but they do make some regular looking guitars. Bill chose a more normal looking bass guitar that’s red and black. I kind of tease them because I’m like “are you sure you don’t want to play the heart shaped guitar”.

The pink one too!

Exactly!

You have done well to cover every aspect of the Christian Music Makeover. Do you know who is in line for the second season? Will it be Daniel's Window or is Brian planning on a different band?

My guess is that he’s going to choose a different band for every season. I’m as interested as you are to find out who it is next. I don’t think he’s announced that yet.

When is the season finale?

I guess if you want to put a date on it – probably June 30th is the end date.

Of course that’s just with this phase and you’ll go on with your healthy eating?

Well one would hope!. I keep telling Caleb we can’t just go off and binge on whatever we want after June 30th.

– You can follow along with the bands transformation at http://www.christianmusicmakeover.com.