Friday the 13th on a tour bus bound for Rockford, Illinois finds DC Talk opening the door on 'the movie,' music, racism and the Christian walk.

Thursday, October 12, 1995.

God answers prayer.
Finally, he notices me. Kevin Smith acknowledges me waiting by the giant garage door backstage as the tireless roadies load out light tressels looking like barren winter trees, miles of heavy audio cable and enough duct tape to save any Apollo mission. And while Kevin's glance could be every woman's dream (forgive the generalization), my single desire is to be assured that I won't be left behind in Carbondale, Illinois. It's a legitimate fear I have when traveling on the road with a band. With my own transportation, I am the king of the road.

But the only kings here are DC Talk, the Jesus Freaks who finished their latest release around two o'clock in the morning on October the second or third (they were too tired to remember), then flew to California's City of Angels the next day to shoot the "Jesus Freak" video with Grammy Award-winning producer Simon Maxwell (who has shot, oh, Nine Inch Nails, for example) for 14 hours, only to head back out to LAX, catching a plane to Colorado to embark on the fall warm-up leg of the Jesus Freak tour-with no rehearsal time with the band. They are either professionals, or really lucky live artists.

That was five days ago. Today I hook up with the guys at the Southern Illinois University Arena. And while there are no SIU Salukis guarding the entrance to the sporty blue house on wheels, I am not about to set foot on the bus without being accompanied by an adult. Kevin is real close to the latter.

Stepping onto a tour bus is like stepping into your grandmother's mobile home, only cooler. The paneling is still fake, the couches are tasteful and comfy. The audio/video equipment is better. Like the gracious host he is, Kevin shows me to my three by six foot bunk, a top one of course. The lower sleeping bunks, more suitable for countering the perpetual motion of the bus during slumber, are already wisely claimed by the regulars. Now traveling down the road, settled with a can of Pepsi in the front lounge/dining area, the trio of Kevin Smith, Michael Tait and Toby McKeehan share what it used to be like for DC Talk on the road.

"When we started out, we toured in a shuttle bus, much like the ones you see at the airport, taking you from the main terminal to the parking lot," Michael recalls. "We slept in the back of that thing. Meanwhile, a guy named Greg Jackson, a tall thin African-American male...," "Who blew his nose constantly," interrupts Toby, "drove the bus." The guys are tripping merrily down memory lane. Kevin laughs, pointing to Toby, "When we were asleep at night we would hear the gravel hitting the sides of the bus. Toby and I would wake up. Mike could sleep through it." "No, Mike would wake up," Michael defends. Debating who was too lazy to get up, Kevin continues providing convincing sound effects, "We would hear the gravel hitting the sides of the bus, like in the middle of the night, at four in the morning. We'd get up to the front and this guy was listening to praise music! He'd be like, clappin' his hands together all the time." "No hands on the wheel," deadpans Toby. Kevin continues, "And I'd look at Toby and go, 'Toby how can he clap his hands and drive us?'"

How times have changed. Now two shiny white semi trucks and three tour buses cart the DC Talk entourage of roadies, tour/management personnel, a six-piece band, equipment and the guys across the country.

"But the demands are much different now," explains Michael. "After a show we're usually thrust into a room full of people, and we sit and talk sometimes for an hour or two after a full night of a headlining show, which is about two hours." "Two and a half," yells Toby from the phone booth-esque bathroom. "Thank you Toby. And there's a lot more demands even than that, you do interviews during the day, in bookstores, so obviously the pressures are greater. You used to come out on stage, and do 15 minutes of music, and you'd walk back in your little bus and travel home, or travel on." "Or you work the merchandise tables so you can afford to get to the next show," adds Toby emerging from the water closet.

And while the demands are different, so are the rewards. A platinum album, a Grammy, two gold records, Billboard accolades and appearances on "Entertainment Tonight," "Arsenio Hall" and the "Tonight Show" have their privileges. Still, the mission remains the same. "DC Talk's purpose is to do one thing, to share our faith with people through our music," says Toby. "At the same time, we obviously entertain. That's part of who we are, and we enjoy it. Our goal is to use our music to ultimately point people to Christ. But we are not called DC Talk ministries, we're called DC Talk Inc. We are not ordained ministers. We entertain and encourage."

The hour is late. Dinner--spaghetti served in carry-out tin foil containers--rests comfortably in our stomachs. There's no fear about getting to the next show this time. There's a bear listening to Gloria Estefan in the driver's seat.

Friday, October 13, 1995.
Huh? I say for the third time. "Bear. B-E-A-R. Bear." Ohhhh. Why, of course! And I am supposed to be college educated. It all makes sense that this really quite charming, robust, bearded man who meticulously cleans his bus with a red mini Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner would actually carry the moniker "Bear." I don't know what his Christian name might be, but some things are best left unquestioned.

So begins my day. Waking at 11:30 a.m., it is still early. Breakfast won't be served until 1 p.m. with lunch around 6 p.m. and that dinner thing again close to midnight. Our nocturnal travels have lead us to Rockford, Ill, the second largest city in the state, northeast of Chi-town. We are parked outside of the less-than-glamorous backstage door of the Coronado Theatre at 312 North Main Street.

Time on the road is generally spent waiting, if you are an artist--waiting for the next appointment, the next rehearsal or the next available runner (road ease for gopher/taxi driver) to take you to the hotel for a hot shower. The latter became the goal of Michael Tait, manager Dan Pitts and myself. Waiting in the lounge of the Best Western Inn a couple of hours and change of clothes later, Michael muses over the new project.

"More happens from Kevin and myself on this album than any other album. That's why we think [new album] Jesus Freak is that much more interesting. The quiet personalities, if you will, have finally spoken up. I wasn't into rap; I'm still not into rap. I've always sang. I've always been interested in doing passion, through the meeting of vocal emotions. Nothing really in our past lent itself to that as much as Free at Last did and now Jesus Freak. So it gave me more of a drive to want to write for this album and to want to be more involved."

A news flash appears on the nearby television, commenting on a story related to the recent O.J. Simpson trial. Dan, like a responsible manager, is pacing to and fro debating whether to make yet another call to the Coronado. Same waiting game, different place. The time provides an opportunity for Michael and I to discuss racism, a topic that has been a common thread throughout DC Talk's history.

"We've always planned it that way. Toby and I were best friends back in college before we met Kevin. We grew up in the same high schools and in the same area. We've always been very concerned and very aware and sensitive to the black and white issue. It's such an obvious problem with our society today. You look around us and you see people--I guess my dad's 73, my mom's 69, and Toby's parents are older--so I think that generation went through a lot of stuff and even paved the way for our generation to look back and say 'Wow, we have a choice now. Do we want to believe like they believed, do we want to be deceived as they were deceived or do we want to step out, make a statement about racial equality and go on as best friends?'

"On the new album there's a song called 'Colored People' and that continues the thread of the whole thing of what we've done, 'Walls' on one album, 'Colored People' on this album, 'Free at Last' on the last album--all that just goes to say, we live in a world together where we're all different colors, we all have our problems, but it's not a race thing, it's not a skin thing, it's a human problem. It's called learning to love your brother."

With the runner AWOL, a chain-smoking cabby finally arrives to take us back to the theatre. After a brief sound check, the guys and I gather on the bus for a balanced chicken and vegetable dinner. The "new" sound of Jesus Freak is at the center of our conversation.

"All of our music we describe as DC Talk music," explains Michael. "You really can't put a label on it--that it is just rock, or pop or R&B and soul. You have three individuals working together and what comes out is what comes out.

"We all agree on [the direction] definitely more on this album than on the other albums. Jesus Freak, as far as its direction, wasn't influenced more by anything in particular other than we just all enjoy this style of music right now."

Toby adds, "I think we have different things we want to say, and we try to say them in different ways musically. I don't think we felt any type of a confinement as far as the way we chose to say things. I don't think there are any rules."

"People see many portraits of DC Talk on this record," Kevin explains. "[The song] 'Jesus Freak' is an aggressive portrait. DC Talk has always been very up-in-your-face about what we believe in and how we position ourselves as people. But I think that musically when people hear the rest of the record, they will understand more where we lie right now. We have not gone down the road to alternative grunge as much as they think we have.

"We are trying to face who we are. We're a strange band, let's just face it. We're three different individuals. We come from three different backgrounds musically. We've all kind of latched on to the alternative thing in the last two years. But none of us are [exclusively] alternative grunge listeners. That is not what we'd want this band to be."

Explains Toby, "The bottom line is that we have matured artistically, and we have matured mentally. With that maturing comes change. Therefore our musical tastes and our musical desires and aspirations change with that. I think this is who we are in 1995-96."

Toby continues. "From a writing standpoint, I think we came into this thing bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, kind of like, 'Here we are.' I think we have learned a lot in life's experiences from being on the road to having our expectations smashed sometimes, to kids putting us upon a pedestal at times, to relationships we have had in the past-business and personal. I think we have been through some things that make us write a little more introspectively. Spiritually, we have grown. We have been going through a metamorphosis for several years.

"We are looking at our hearts: Are we truly trusting in God? Does my faith lie in Him, or in my confidence to do the right thing, or my ability to sway the people, or my looks or all those things that we used to count on? Suddenly, we are looking at our hearts. We have a long way to go at being Christ-like, but it is all those things that have truly shifted our writing to a more introspective state."

But is it a personal reflection from Toby, Mike and Kevin?

Toby cuts to the core of their desire for the project. "We are talking on this album of the real struggle in a pursuit of holiness. All of us share in that struggle. The pursuit of holiness is the struggle with every believer. Yeah, I wrote the lyric to 'What If I Stumble?,' but it doesn't matter that Charlie Peacock wrote the lyric to 'In the Light.' It is my struggle, too. It is all of ours'. The album is not so much personal as it is introspective."

Mike shares a story about a woman accusing the group of selling out with the alleged new sound, which raises a key characteristic of DC Talk: They seem willing to challenge and question the culture yet they haven't withdrawn from the culture. I ask them if that is a conscious decision.

"We can't help it because the culture is in us. We are the culture," explains Michael.

Toby excitedly jumps in. "That's a great statement! That is exactly what we want to be. We want to be missionaries to a generation so we have to understand the culture and live in the culture on a day to day basis before the people are even going to listen to us. It is absolutely conscious because that is the only way it will work."

Michael isn't finished. "To me, that is the Great Commission: To go into the world and not be of the world but in the world because you physically are. You have no choice. And so when we do music, it is great if Christians enjoy it. It is great if it encourages them along in their walk, and it changes their lives. But Jesus didn't hang out in the churches all the time. He hung out in the weird places, and He hung out with people who were ostracized by society and the freaks because they were the ones that needed to hear. He tried His best to understand their culture, to walk in their culture but to shed light on all they were missing out on."

Leaning away from the window to check the rapidly approaching performance time, Kevin explains his feelings. "I think it is unnatural to my spirit to want to segregate what we have. Why segregate something that is almost like food to the hungry? I was just sitting in a laundromat today talking to a street guy that is totally unhappy, living underneath the bridge every night. He has no money in his pocket, has been divorced several times. I am sitting there going, 'I am a happy guy compared to others.' Even if I wasn't a traveling singer, I would be happy because I have the joy of knowing that when I die that I am going somewhere-that eternity is built on hope and faith. I wanted to give that to him. I wanted to pass it right into his blood. To me it is unnatural to want to segregate that. It is unnatural to want to put faith in a box and make it a club."

Toby agrees. "Yeah, that doesn't make sense from our stand point. It never made sense to us. We have always wanted to go out and tell the world. If you find something good that works in your life, you want to share it with people that don't know about it. Why are you sharing it with people that do know about it?

"We know that Christians will be entertained, and we hope that they will be encouraged. Hopefully they will be challenged and edified, but at the same time that is not our focus. What dictates what we do is the call of Christ to go into the world and share our faith. That is what we have a desire to do as long as we don't cross a moral line."

Toby adds, "That's not to say that if Mike and Kevin do something [solo] someday they might change lyrically. But I don't care what you do, you can't take Christ away from them. I think there has got to be a middle ground. I think there is a way to still continue to live in a Christian music world, but also to be salt in the world. I don't know that that has been done properly yet. I think Amy [Grant] has toyed with it. I think Michael [W. Smith] has toyed in it. I think The Choir has toyed in it. There is a way to do it without really getting either side frustrated with you, or maybe you just get both sides frustrated! What's important is that we walk in love.

"I hope that people will listen to our record with an open mind because there will be some stereotyping going on. Listen for depth, see if it's there. Don't automatically assume that you know we're the same guys that we were three to six years ago. Give us room to grow."

Reflections from the Green Room
The show is over. I watched from stage left as Grits, Christafari and DC Talk entertained, encouraged--whatever it is that they do--to another packed house. DC Talk offered most of the new songs to the crowds in Carbondale and Rockford, with plenty of enthusiasm offered back. It's time to move on to Green Bay. As the road crew bangs on the wooden floors above packing equipment, Toby and I sit in the bowels of the Coronado for one final discussion.

"When you begin investigating your own heart, and you start seeing the dirt, the selfishness and the greedy side of things--I am not talking about money, but like the spotlight. I guess what is hard to realize is that a lot of times we didn't put the other guy first. I think that was some of the growing pains, to learn how to truly put the other guys first. I learn that every day in my leadership role, how to be a leader but yet not necessarily be the spotlight.

"The timing is right for all three of us to step to the front of the stage. Mike and Kevin are such great vocalists. I don't have anymore time for them to be singing choruses. I want to hear some of their passionate vocals in the verse. That is how I feel. I think that to truly become a group, that is what it takes. Besides, we are a pop band. We are affected by trends. We will never deny that we are a pop band.

"We are still concerned with social issues. But the social issues come from a corrupt heart in each individual. Rather than focus on the issues, we are trying to focus on the heart of people on this record. And it came about because we started focusing on our own hearts. Suddenly, what we write about is different than what it used to be.

"This record is more the three of us than anything we have ever done together. This sounds like Michael, Kevin and Toby. Free at Last touched on it. This is it, or at least as much as there ever has been. It is nice. I feel very comfortable in it. "We trust each other. I think that is why we have stayed together so long. There have been hard times. I mean, people come to us all the time to do our own thing. But at the inside, the core of it is trust. We might have our problems, but we trust each other and that God is going to take care of us ultimately. That has been the key."