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Songwriter and guitarist Matt Slocum first heard Leigh Nash (then Bingham) sing at a Texas church event in the late '80s. He was 17. She was 13. Before she was even old enough to graduate high school, the two formed Sixpence None the Richer, a group now popular in both the Christian and mainstream industries. Known for insightful lyrics and melodic modern rock, the group is currently riding the radio success of its critically acclaimed 2002 album, Divine Discontent.

But the road has not been easy for the band, which has released consistently strong albums but suffered from bad business luck. After forming the group, Sixpence signed with Nashville independent label R.E.X in 1993. The band released three recordings before the company went bankrupt—just as Sixpence members moved to Nashville.

The label's financial woes left Sixpence tied up in a legal mess that meant they couldn't record for more than a year. Eventually, the band was freed of its contract and allowed to sign with Steve Taylor's Squint Entertainment.

While Sixpence was a longtime cult favorite in the Christian music scene, Taylor released the band's third full-length album into both Christian and mainstream markets. The self-titled 1998 album, and its runaway hit "Kiss Me," exploded in pop radio. Suddenly, the band was huge. Sixpence got a slot on mega-tour Lilith Fair and recorded a cover of the song "There She Goes" for the She's All That movie soundtrack. In 2000, they returned to the studio to record their next album.

But old frustrations returned in early 2001 when Squint's parent company, Word Records, put Taylor's label up for sale. Again in legal limbo, Sixpence was eventually picked up by Reprise Records in 2002 and soon after released the long-in-progress Divine Discontent.

Christianity Today Associate Editor Todd Hertz interviewed Slocum and Nash about the album, "Christian bands" in the mainstream, and the frustrations of being hampered by music's business side.

What was the creative vision you originally had for Sixpence?

Slocum: We were so young when we started—I was 19 and Leigh was 16—that we didn't have a huge vision other than just making good music together and using the talents that God had given us. That has never changed.

However, with the huge commercial success and being on a large major label, we found ourselves within certain parameters. We've become a pop band with a Christian underside. The creative vision has become a little bit more linked with the success of "Kiss Me" and people wanting us to repeat that.

When people look at you for large radio hits and large pop success, it can be a little bit limiting. But the flip side is that a lot of bands don't get this kind of large platform and resources to work with. So even after 10 years, we're still working through how to best use what we've been given.

Does commercial success change the way an artist approaches writing music?

Slocum: It does. You're not just writing whatever you want. You tend to think a lot more about what people want to hear. There's a lot of people [commenting] from all sides saying, "This is what we need to sell records" or "This is what we need to appeal to this fan base that you've created," or "This is what radio wants to hear."

You have to strike a balance between what's inside you with how it's going to connect with what you've done previously and with what the audience wants to hear.

These factors can constrain you artistically. I have a lot of different musical itches that need scratching. When you find yourself limited and hemmed in by new parameters, I think you start looking at other ways to scratch those musical itches.

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August (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47