Christian band Kutless Christian Music

Christian band Kutless

July 7, 2009 – 8:02 pm

Kutless guitarist Nick DePartee said his band doesn’t look back on its four previous albums as if the band did something wrong. And with more than 1.5 million albums sold in that span — the vast majority within the Christian music scene — Kutless has obviously done a lot right so far in its career.

Nevertheless, DePartee said Kutless, in Oshkosh Wednesday as the headliner on the opening night of Lifest, went into its fifth CD, “To Know That You’re Alive,” feeling it was time to change virtually every aspect of the way the band had made its albums.

“I think a lot of bands kind of go through this where you do quite a few records kind of with the same system, kind of with the same repetitive motions, almost, not that that’s even a bad thing,” DePartee said. “We just kind of felt like we needed something fresh.”

One factor that figured into this way of thinking was the amount of change that had occurred within the band in recent years.

Before its fourth CD, “Hearts of the Innocent,” Kutless brought in a new rhythm section of drummer Jeffrey Gilbert and bassist Dave Leutkenhoelter. Then in April 2007, DePartee filled the vacancy created by the departure of Ryan Shrout. This meant the group now included only two founding members, singer Jon Micah Sumrall and guitarist James Mead.

Even though Sumrall and Mead had been primary songwriters on the first four albums, they pushed to turn the songwriting into more of a full-band collaborative process than it had been before.

“We went into the album with about, I think it was a little more than 70 demos between all of us, of ideas for songs, full songs,” DiPartee said. “We were all writing on our own, and then we’d bring it to the band and we’d all work together and create songs. Then half of the album almost really ended up being written in the studio. It was just a creative process. I think we all needed to kind of get refreshed and kind of feel like we were doing something new.”

The collaborative writing, DePartee said, had another major benefit for Kutless. It helped to add cohesion to the group’s latest lineup.

“You definitely kind of reach a point where we were at, which was just like let’s just take a breath and really be grateful for even having a career still and let’s really dial it in and be each other’s band mates,” he said. “Whether you’re an original member or not, let’s be a unit. Let’s write and let’s become truly a band. I feel like that was what happened with this record.”

Another big change involved the production on “To Know That You’re Alive.” The first four Kutless CDs were produced by Aaron Sprinkle, a leading producer in the Christian music genre. But for the new CD, the band decided to work with Pete Kipley. Also well known within the Christian scene, Kipley’s work with artists such as Mercy Me and Phil Wickman earned him a reputation as a pop music producer — a style seemingly at odds with Kutless’ harder rocking sound.

Still, Kutless felt Kipley could help strip away some studio polish and give the band a more aggressive sound. And “To Know That You’re Alive” has been widely seen as the group’s hardest-hitting album, although it also features a few acoustic-oriented ballads such as “Complete” and “Guiding Me Home.”

“I think the guys have kind of been back and forth in the past on albums as far as just sonically, what they’ve gone for,” DePartee said. “I think as we went into this album, we wanted more of the rock feel for sure. We didn’t want it to be too overly produced.”

The various changes within Kutless have done nothing to slow the group’s momentum, which started fast with a 2001 self-titled debut that sold more than 150,000 copies and became Tooth & Nail Record’s biggest-selling debut ever.

The band is on tour through the summer, the Lifest stop being the latest in which they’ve headlined notable Christian music festivals.

But even on a tour that’s overtly Christian in its theme, DePartee said Kutless tries not to be preachy about its faith during its shows.

“Our band, personally, we’re not about just trying to go play a show and hammer a Bible down anybody’s throat,” he said. “That’s not how we go about our calling. We feel it’s just as effective, if not more effective, to just really be an example of God’s love to people rather than just cramming scriptures down their throat.

“I think people these days, especially Christians to be honest, spend far too much time talking and preaching rather than just living what the Bible calls us to do, which is just be examples of God’s love and just love people,” DePartee said. “Come out, hang out with people and just show them we’re all human and we just want to hang out with these kids that are coming out, whether they’re Christians or not and just show them God’s love through our actions more than our words.”

The collaborative writing, DePartee said, had another major benefit for Kutless. It helped to add cohesion to the group’s latest lineup.

The band is on tour through the summer, the Lifest stop being the latest in which they’ve headlined notable Christian music festivals.

But even on a tour that’s overtly Christian in its theme, DePartee said Kutless tries not to be preachy about its faith during its shows.

Christian Music Online