Clockwise from upper right: Mike Weaver (lead vocals, guitar), Jay Weaver (bass, vocals), Jeff Jones (drums, percussion), Joe Shirk (saxophones, keyboards, vocals), Jeremy Redmon (guitars, vocals)

The success enjoyed by Big Daddy Weave since the debut of their first national release in 2002 has been overwhelming. Together for five years, the acoustic pop/rock band shares their thoughts on performing for an audience that has steadily grown from "One" to thousands.

Your first album, One and Only, has been out for a little while now. Where is the band now as far as preparing for the next project?

Mike: We've already begun creating a new record, and Jeremy and I get to produce it, which is pretty cool. A tentative title is, Everything.

So far, the concept comes out of what we've learned over the last year—to really trust in the Lord with all of our hearts and not to lean on our own understanding. In all of our ways, we're learning to acknowledge him, and he's been making our paths straight and will continue to do so.

God wants to interact in our lives in so many ways. There's a song on the new album called, "Let Me Be Your Everything." It's a reverse-vertical song with God speaking to us. We have to let him do that. We stay in his way so much, but he doesn't force his way into our lives. That's the direction of the project so far.

We're excited to be able to produce the album. The process is a little different this time, because on the last album we went in the studio and put everything down in a three-to-five week period. This time, we went in and put down some bass and drums and were able to live with it a little longer so we could develop other ideas. It'll be very interesting to see how that element will make this project different.

Are the songs on the upcoming project all new songs?

Mike: We've only included three songs from the indie record. Some people basically rehash their indie record, but we wanted to put new music on this CD. We thought that was important. There are seven new songs to go along with the three indie ones. One is a cover of a Darrell Evans song called, "Fields of Grace."

What has surprised you since your first major label release came out?

Jeff: One of the greatest surprises has been when we show up at a venue far from home and realize people know the lyrics of our songs. It's amazing to know that God can use us in some way to have an impact on someone's life. People come up to each of us after concerts telling us how a particular song touched them or helped them through a certain time in their lives.

As an independent band, we played mostly regional shows and didn't get a lot of radio airplay. The reach was much smaller. But now the songs are being played on the radio and the reach is much larger. It's both overwhelming and very, very humbling.

Mike: Also, because the album is in stores and on the Internet, a lot of people have already heard us, so they don't have to spend time deciding if they trust us as musicians or not. When the songs have already connected with them, they're more ready to receive something from God from the start of the event. It definitely makes it easier for us, and it's a better experience for them as well.

Has the fans' expectation of hearing certain songs ever backfired on you?

Mike: I know what you're saying, and yes it has. We normally close with the song, "In Christ." It's a great song of encouragement, and we like to close with it. But because it was the last song in the set, people were like, "Are they gonna play it?!" When we heard that, our response was, "Man, we didn't know it was that big a deal."

There was one time when we didn't play "Audience of One." I simply thought it was best for that particular set. And, wow, some people got mad about it. I apologized over and over and felt so bad. None of us expected that or was aware of the audience's desire to hear it.

That's probably one of the main differences between the indie arena of music and being on a label where you gain a lot more radio airplay. It's easy to see how you could be caught off guard by the fact that people know your music so well.

Mike: Completely. Honestly, I felt no reason to assume those people even knew we had a song called "Audience of One." And then to find out they wanted to hear it so much—it blew me away! I think some day we'll just have to have a really, really long set so we can play all the songs people want to hear. "And now, if you don't mind, we'd really like to play a new song or two for you. Is that okay?" Who knows, that might be the scene someday.

Tell me about a struggle the band has gone through and how you overcame it.

Mike: This has been a year of "firsts" for us. We really didn't realize the whole business side of things would scream quite as loudly as it does. There are a lot of things that need to be attended to.

The voice of the Lord is a still small voice, and it's easy to get distracted by the loud voices of the newest Soundscan charts and the positioning each week. All of a sudden it dawns on us that the peace of God is completely gone because of these distractions. The Lord has had to teach and bring us to a good place of balance with all of these "firsts." We've each learned how to put him first in everything, including the business.

The other issue is dealing with success. If a crowd goes nuts over our music, there's a thing inside that can make us feel like that kind of response makes us a success.

The Lord really dropped heavily on me a picture about this issue of success. This might sound strange, but in my mind I saw a blackboard. The Lord wiped it clean and wrote, "Success =," and left the other end of the equation open. I put various answers on the other side of the equation, but the Lord kept telling me I didn't have the correct answer.

So I gave up and asked what he wanted success to equal. His answer was, "Success = Obedience." It's not about the people's excitement or anything else. It's about being faithful to him and doing what he wants. Have we been faithful to what God called us to do at the end of any given day? If we have been, then we're successful in his eyes. That really takes a load off of each of us knowing that.

It's humbling to realize how little true success has to do with you alone, isn't it?

Mike: I can't agree with you more. There are concerts when we're just "on" musically and everything feels great, except we can't figure out why God isn't moving.

Then there are concerts when we feel like crying and giving up on music because we sound so bad. And, wouldn't you know, that's when the Spirit of God shows up and moves. He really loves to work through our weaknesses and show up when we least expect it. That's when God receives the glory for it all.

At the same time, you know that God created you to get a very natural excitement or a rush from playing a tight set and sounding good. But it goes back to that balance you mentioned before. You don't have to feel guilty about enjoying a great night of music, but that can't be the sole focus.

Mike: Absolutely. It's so cool that we can just dig stuff as musicians. We're wonderfully made.

What's the best thing about living and making music with these guys?

Jeff: It can't easily be put into words. When Mike starts off with an acoustic guitar part, and I add something on the high-hat to get the tempo going, and Jay jumps in with the bass part, and Jeremy lays down an electric guitar part, with Joe coming in to top it off with the sax, it's almost like magic.

We all come from different places musically, but then this one sound comes together out of each of our personal freedoms of expression, and it's just amazing. Our sound is probably best described as acoustic pop/rock with a twist. And that twist is what I just described—the way we all come together musically with all our different musical backgrounds. We're honored that God chooses to do that through each of us.

Jay: For me, the coolest thing isn't even getting to play together with these guys. It's being able to travel with them and see how they react in the good times and in the bad times too.

It's an honor to be a part of something like this, because everyone sacrifices so much to be out here. We spent 25 days on the road in the last month alone. That leaves five days for home and for the wives. It's a rough thing. We know we're called to do this, and everyone from wives to my fiance to the rest of our families understand. We all get to go out and have fun with our other four college buddies while our wives stay home. It's been an inspiration to me as the engaged one in the group. They're showing me how to handle things.

Learn more about Big Daddy Weave at our artist page for the band, which includes past interviews and a review of One and Only. You can listen to song clips and pick up your own copy of their album at Musicforce.com. Their second nationally distributed album is currently slated for an October 2003 release.

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