SCREAM THE PRAYER Interview with FOR TODAY Promotional Sat 7-2... - OutlawVideo.tV Music Video's MySpace Blog

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Last Updated: 11/25/2009

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Gender: Male
Status: Married
Age: 44
Sign: Leo

City: MANSFIELD
State: Texas
Country: US
Signup Date: 6/16/2008

Sunday, July 19, 2009

SCREAM THE PRAYER Interview with FOR TODAY Promotional Sat 7-25 The DOOR DALLAS
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Scream The Prayer Saturday July 25 The DOOR DALLAS

The DALLAS DOOR SATURDAY JULY 25 HASTE THE DAY The Chariot Sleeping Giant Project 86 Oh Sleeper Gwen Stacy Agraceful A Plea For Purging For Today Corpus Christi Evidence to Ashes TICKETS $20 all ages 5pm Door Opens FOR TODAY New CD PORTRAITS

FOR TODAY INTERVIEW about New CD PORTRAITS and SCREAM THE PRAYER Tour. Q: The new CD sounds a bit more polished and authoritative than the first one. Describe the differences between Ekklesia to the new CD Portraits? FOR TODAY First CD EKKLESIA

A: The first album, "Ekklesia", was almost more along the lines of a collaboration of all of the newer For Today songs that we wrote with the current lineup over a time span of 2 years. The new album, "Portraits", had a lyrical theme behind it that our singer, Mattie, wrote and it was also written in 2 and a half months. There was a lot of focus and work put into writing the musical content in the album. We had such little time that we were meeting anywhere from 3 - 7 times a week for hours at a time compiling ideas, song structure, odd time signatures and patterns. We have also played about 600 shows in a few countries since we recorded "Ekklesia" so we have all matured immensely in how we play our instruments!

Q: Is there a central theme to Portraits? A: Yes! Mattie, our singer, wrote all of the lyrics from a biblical characters standpoint. You could call it a concept album if you want to. There are songs about Jesus/Immanuel, Elijah, Nicodemus, Isaiah, and more.

Q: What has been your fan reactions to the new CD Portraits? A: We have been so blown away by the crowd response of new fans and the response from our current fans. It was really weird going into the writing process for this record because the last record did well and being a younger band, you always hear that "The 2nd album is the killer! It will make or break you!". That is true. I could make an endless list of bands that I liked on their first record and then hated their 2nd album or just didn't think it was good enough to keep supporting them. Know what I mean? After we wrote the songs, we felt like we had created 10 songs that all fit together without sounding too similar. About 9 of 10 of our fans reactions have been that they like "Portraits" more than our previous release! Making steps in the right direction.

Q: Dave Quiggle did the artwork for the cover of Portraits, what does his art on the cover of Portraits mean to you personally. What is your interpretation of the art? A: Dave Quiggle is an amazing artist and he did not sell him short on the layout for "Portraits". When he sent over the cover art image and explained how he wanted to layout the album, we were all ecstatic! The cover shows a man in a suit, but his head is not a human head, it is in the layout of a human heart organ with an eye in the middle. The rest of the album layout has different guys wearing suits and other outfits and their heads are also something different. Since the album is spoken from different biblical characters from history, the images help paint the visual picture of the different people. FOR TODAY Saul of Tarsus (The Messenger)

Q; What songs get the biggest response at live on the Scream The Prayer tour? Is Saul of Tarsus ( The Messenger) which is full of delicious breakdowns getting ridiculous during the shows. A: Haha, delicious breakdowns! Very nice. We have been playing Saul of Tarsus (The Messenger) on the Scream The Prayer tour, and yes, it has been pretty ridiculous just about every night! Before we even released the new album, Youtube videos of the song had started surfacing online and kids were already singing along to it before we ever released the song! The part in "Joel (The Watchman)" where Mattie screams "AMERICA!" is always really loud, as well as the ending chant in "Agape" from the last record. FOR TODAY Joel (The Watchman)

Q: What can fans look forward to when seeing For Today on the Scream The Prayer tour? A: Truth! We don't sugarcoat anything, and we are seeking God constantly for words of encouragement and challenging conviction to bring to you guys. Pick up the new album and learn the songs, and you will have more fun, guaranteed :-)

Q: What are some of the things that you most like to see fans doing during For Today live performances? A: Worshipping, praying, and singing along!! Headbanging, push pitting, and moshing are awesome as well! I don't sing along as much to bands now that we tour so frequently, but some of my favorite memories are from going to see some of my favorite bands live and piling over 100's of kids to get the mic for a second! Q: What are some personal favorite highlights of the band on the Scream The Prayer Tour? A: After the show in Tulsa, Oklahoma last week, the guys in Sleeping Giant introduced this dance move to everyone on the tour called "The Jerk"!! It basically consists of one leg in front of the other, and slowly swirling your legs/knees inwards and outwards while dancing with the rest of your body. That night turned into about an hour of us making our "Jerk crew" bigger by surrounding innocent victims, showing them "The jerk", chanting "Do the jerk! do the jerk!" and then watching them "do the jerk"! Some nights on the tour we have a "tour jerk", where one band gets to call it during their set and everyone from the tour comes on stage and does the dance move or does it in the pit. It's been really hilarious every night! How To Do The Jerk Dance Video

Q: What do you enjoy the most about some of the other bands on the Scream The Prayer Tour? A: Plain and simple, hang out times! There's 10 bands on this tour, so watching everyone play for 7 hours each day is just not realistic. Hanging out with them all day IS realistic! There's a lot of really great guys on this tour, and some long time tour buds as well. We have all become a family of support as well. When someone needs prayer, we conquer it, when someone needs a fill in member, we fill it! Q: What one prayer would you like to see answered the most? A: Wow, what a great question! I've got all sorts of things running through my head right now!! Unfortunately, we live in a corrupt world, so only having one prayer to be answered is hard to pick! I would love to see every single person come to know God's forgiving grace. For Today wouldn't be here without that! Q: Tell us about any unknown bands you like and recommend we check out? A: There's a band from St. Louis, MO called In The Midst of Lions - www.myspace.com/inthemidstoflions They have that kind of Whitechapel meets tech metal breakdown type sound, and they glorify God in the midst of it all. Awesome. We played with them in Southern Missouri last fall on a headlining tour and I remember thinking "man, this band is really good!". Then they signed to Facedown's little brother label, Strikefirst Records earlier this year and released their new CD. I hadn't seen them in months and then I just saw them play at Cornerstone Festival 2 weeks ago and they destroyed the place. Q: Is there anything else interesting that you want to share with the readers of this interview, fun stuff, music, ministry or anything else? A: To anyone reading this that wants to help us out. Please pray for us. I think that a lot of people wonder what they can do for bands or for God, and feel worthless sometimes. Embrace the power of prayer and pray for those of us on the ministry front lines. Thanks for the questions. God bless.