Christian Music Online

Jars of Clay

June 21, 2008 – 7:25 pm

“Christian” can be a loaded word of sorts in the world of rock music.

When Jars of Clay hit with the single “Flood” a dozen years ago, some secular fans didn’t realize that the band was made up of religious rockers. There was some backlash. On the other hand, some of Jars of Clay’s Christian fans didn’t appreciate the group touring with secular alternative acts during its tour.

But unlike many bands from that period, the Grammy-winning Jars of Clay, which performs Saturday at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem, has persevered and prospered. Vocalist-guitarist Dan Haseltine talks about what it’s like to live with the Christian-rock band tag.

Labels in rock are often misnomers. “Alternative” is a perfect example. Even if you’re making Christian rock, “Christian” somehow doesn’t seem to cover it.

The reality is that Christian means so many things to so many different people that it sometimes doesn’t describe whatever it is you’re trying to describe. If you say some band is a Christian rocker, they might put you in with a televangelist. Others might think, “Christian rocker like (U2’s) Bono.” But what band wants to be labeled anyway? We don’t want to be boxed in. We don’t want to be put into a category. But today, everyone is slotted in somewhere. We always wanted to get beyond that.

But a lot of your songs aren’t overtly Christian. They’re just rock songs.

It’s interesting that when we hit with “Flood,” some people had no idea we were Christian. They just heard the song and didn’t dig into it any deeper.

Your last studio album, “Good Monsters,” is your boldest, most surprising album since it’s your most rocking effort.

We always had that rock element in our music. With “Good Monsters” we were looking for a new challenge. The prior albums were more soulful and contemplative. We needed to move into a new direction. We did that and it felt good. We stepped up the tempo and it really worked out incredibly well. We didn’t care whether there was a ballad or not. We just went right at it and the songs came to us remarkably fast.

What is perhaps most appealing about “Good Monsters” is that the songs sounded as if you don’t have all the answers, just more questions.

We’ve been at this for a long time (15 years) and we’re maturing, and the reality is that we don’t have all of the answers. We’re Christians but we don’t know it all.

“Oh My God” is one of your deepest songs. What inspired that track?

People have very different reasons for crying out to God. That’s fascinating when you look at it.

But one of the lyrics seems to question the existence of God.

One of the questions in the third verse does ask whether Jesus is real or not. Growing up in the church, I was scared to death of ever asking that question. I found that it’s normal to wrestle with that issue. It’s a question that needs to be asked, but I believe.

Jars of Clay spends considerable time in the studio, but the group has become a very good live band.

We want to be known as a live band. That’s huge for a band. We’re about playing live and we’re about playing music. When you break it down though, we’re a band, plain and simple. We don’t want to be known as a particular kind of band. We just play music.”

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