Synconation

Nobody’s Hipster – An Interview With John Mark McMillan

JULY 17, 2011

By Jude Kahle

Well, I think it’s a little silly, in that, I don’t think they understand the concept of a hipster. I always thought a hipster was a trust fund baby who lives in Brooklyn and is trying to pursue a career in art or music. We really, highly value the craft of the art, y’know.

I was delighted with the opportunity to meet John Mark McMillan for an interview before his show at the legendary Crocodile Cafe, in Seattle. He’s a musical performer with a commanding presence, but a distinctly welcoming and gentle personality off stage. Regarding transparency on my part, I need to add, I did not try to score this interview because friend of mine now works for the studio John Mark recorded with, or because members of his band, Jon and James Duke, have roots in my home town. The truth is I haven’t heard their music at all until recently. I’m leading music at a church right now so I intentionally consumed myself in Contemporary Christian music, and discovering JMM in that way was both fortunate and unfortunate. It drives me crazy but most ‘Christian’ songs sound straight off of Disney Radio’s top 40 Hit List, and I think that adds to why the genre is so marginalized. So I was interested to hear John Mark is curating a style palatable for those weary of today’s Religious/ Gospel music hype. (Of course, you can’t spend time at a church function without singing the song “How He Loves” at least once, if not repeatedly, but few know John Mark wrote that song. David Crowder made it more well known). -Side note, I’m not sure if Jesus digs the whole Mega-Pop vibe, anyway. I mean, He’s from Nazareth, not far from the West Bank in Israel, I expect he might be into something more acoustic and melismatic with an oud and darbuka instead of big production pop music. Then again, the Bible isn’t specific on whether or not auto-tuned vocals are acceptable for worship, it’s up for debate. Either way, I welcome groups like John Mark McMillan’s (andGungor), music that gives you more organic sounds and songs about the real love and wonder of God, and that topic that should make great lyrical content no matter what your interests are, spirituality, history, archeology, poetry, life, love, broken heartedness… For the sinister critic looking for something more edgy and compelling, I’d say you’ve found it here, in the essence (and if you’re still reading this, I commend you for staying open minded and adventurous in your musical explorations). For the minister critic wanting only the wholesome, I have good news for you too- the gospel is hard at work and touring live music venues in major cities across the country. Be good stewards and tip well when you pay your bar tab.

Here’s the interview.

Synco: It seems most Christian Music song writers try to write a song that is very big and sing-able. Personally, I find your writing style refreshing and honest, but do you feel the pressure to produce a full-on ‘worship’ album?

JMM: Not really, no, there’s so many people trying to do the same thing. I think doing something different creates a space for me. It’s different for me too because I’m not very intentional, I just sit down and write whatever I’m thinking about, y’know, and sometimes those songs are more worshipful than others. Also, I like to challenge people with what they will sing and won’t sing. People will do more than they get credit for. I like the idea of having them listen to a verse, then sing the chorus, it’s like a call and response type thing. Plus I move toward what is more interesting than sing-able.

Synco: Tell me about your chemistry with guitarist James Duke.

JMM: James and I are good friends, I’ve known him for over ten years, we were friends even before we played music together. I write all the lyrics and I write the vocal melodies and he brings something really unique to the music. It’s interesting, I don’t know how much he thinks about things beforehand, he’s really great in the moment, like sometimes I show him something and he’s like ‘ok, that could be something cool’ then when we hit the record button, something happens. He is the greatest in-the-moment guy. I don’t know what it is, something just clicks with him. I think we pull from similar places, with my writing I’m not overly intentional about it, I really try to sing what I’m feeling in the moment, then I edit it afterward, I think he plays guitar similarly. He doesn’t try to think too much about it, his first idea is usually the best one.

Synco: What is the Medicine?

JMM: Originally I wrote the song ‘The Medicine’ for people I loved, who I saw going in a really bad direction, and I just wanted to fix them… but I can’t, y’know. If I had the medicine, I would give them the medicine. I also saw this as a father watching his sons run off in different directions and I saw how maybe he would want to fix their situation. But the idea of ‘I’m wide awake and there’s blood on the promenade’ is like, I’m here and there’s an opportunity if you want to take it but you have to make a decision y’know. The medicine is originally that but it represents a lot of things, especially the whole album being about the resurrection, and the idea of the resurrection almost being the medicine just sort of represented that to me. The idea of, y’know, the intention of God trying to right the wrongs, and to basically make things right, and Jesus being the beginning of that plan to right the wrongs, to make the world the way it ought to be. I don’t know if you call it justice…

Synco: How easily did this album come together for you?

JMM: We recorded it in about a year’s time. I had half the songs written, but I just wanted to get into the studio and start working, it’s been several years since I’ve done an album and I felt like I just needed to get started. And being independent, you don’t have to show the songs to a label, you just go in and record what you have. Then we kinda took a break and I wrote the rest of the songs, I think it helped me get in the mind frame to finish. Some of the songs were really hard to write, they just didn’t come easy. An album has never been easy for me. I told the producer, “I will freak out in the middle of this album.” “Be proud,” he said “this is a hard one.” I said “They’re all hard ones for me.” And I don’t know if it’s ’cause I have an ideal I’m expecting the music to live up to but an album never sounds the way you think it’s going to sound when you start. It could be better, it could be worse but it’s never the way you envisioned it. You get with other people and they take [the songs] in different directions and if you try to micro-manage them, you don’t get their best, the best they have to offer.

Synco: Do you lead music at a church?

JMM: Yeah, I do actually. I started a church with my Dad and my brothers back home in Charlotte, so we have a little church, it’s about a year old. So I do occasionally at that church.

Synco: You have been labeled as music for the ‘Hipster Christian’- and I noticed the lengthy thread on youtube, for ‘Death In His Grave’, commenting negatively on your personal style. How do you feel about the labeling of the ‘Hipster Christian’ movement?

JMM: Well, I think it’s a little silly, in that, I don’t think they understand the concept of a hipster. I always thought a hipster was a trust fund baby who lives in Brooklyn and is trying to pursue a career in art or music. We really, highly value the craft of the art, y’know. Music is a continual conversation and a lot of people think it happens out of the blue and don’t realize that music, like a spoken language, is built on top of something. So if you want to push for innovation, one way or another, you have to be connected to the conversation, whether it’s music, or the video, or the way people dress. I didn’t tell people how to dress. We’re actually so more laid back than other groups. Reading that, I was a little offended because we don’t judge or criticize people for the way they dress and (raising his voice a bit) I just don’t understand why people are so petty, y’know! When I read those comments, I basically laughed because I found it ironic. What they’re saying is people want to be better cause they’re dressing that way, and they’re judging the content on how people dress. Those are my friends in the video, and it’s funny, I don’t think they look like hipsters at all, this is the way they dress. At the same time there are groups of people we want to reach, and I imagine their churches want to reach certain groups of people as well. Real hipster music is not popular because once it becomes popular, it’s not hipster anymore.

Synco: What album gets the most play in the tour van?

JMM: For the most part everyone has their own ears in, so we haven’t listened to a lot over the speakers but the new Bon Iver album is sick, and we’ve been listening to that in the van.

I recommend the tracks ‘Death In His Grave’ or the more rockin ‘Skeleton Bones’. You can find the full length album ‘The Medicine’ on itunes for $7.99, and it comes with some great extras, 14 tracks in all. I also highly recommend you check out the more layered and guitar driven sound of All The Bright Lights, they are the supporting band on the tour and also the rhythmic and tasteful band behind John Mark McMillan’s sound.