Hawking Their Message
You won't find any mentions of Jesus on their new album, but the guys in Hawk Nelson are serious about their faith and reaching out to hurting teens in their fanbase.
by Andy Argyrakis | posted 5/08/2006
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In just two years, Hawk Nelson has experienced more than most bands do in a lifetime. They've scored soundtrack slots on The WB's Smallville and Summerland, the feature film Yours, Mine & Ours, an appearance on CBS's reality styled American Dreams (where they covered The Who's "My Generation") plus ink in Billboard, Tiger Beat, Alternative Press and a recent "Best Band" ranking with Ignite Your Faith. Oh, and concerts; the band has toured for all but two weeks in those two years. But now they've run into a bit of backlash over their latest CD, Smile, It's the End of the World. The response has been mostly favorable, but some listeners are disappointed with the lack of overt Christian content. We sat down with singer Jason Dunn, bassist Daniel Biro, guitarist Jonathan Steingard, and drummer Aaron Tosti to hear all about the travels, debates, lyrical direction and an untainted glimpse at Hawk Nelson's heart.
The members of Hawk Nelson—Jonathan Steingard (left), Daniel Biro, Jason Dunn, and Aaron Tosti—are committed to reaching out to hurting teens in their fanbase.
Are you guys getting tired at all, or is it still fun and fresh running around so much?
Jason Dunn Like anything, it's your life, career and job, but at the same time, it's been our dream since we were kids and we're all super passionate. There are days when you want to bite each other's heads off, but for the most part it's amazing. I got tired of looking out our van window seeing highways, which can really make you loopy, but now that we have a bus, that's calmed us down a bit, and I could do this full on for another 10 years. You do get tired, but doing this as a job is a dream come true.
How did you find time to write being gone so much on the road?
Dunn A lot of writing on this record came from hearing kids' stories on the road. Kids come up and share their problems—dealing with suicide, depression, parents that aren't together, a boyfriend who dumped them, a girlfriend they've broken up with. One girl was showing me the cuts in her wrist and had me look at the scars, but what do I do with something like that? What should I say? It leaves you speechless because you don't want to say the wrong thing.
So how do you respond in that kind of stressful situation?
Dunn I've been reading books and checking websites on the issue of suicide, looking for information that can be helpful to people. For some reason, kids aren't going to parents, teachers and even best friends, because they feel mistrust. But for some reason they'll go to a guy in a band they don't know and pour their heart out.
In Cleveland a girl came out, grabbed me and wouldn't let go. She told me that a week ago her best friend was in a car accident, and the passenger was killed instantly. Now she's a wreck and so she's suicidal. This girl said, "If [her friend] kills herself, I know I will next." It's so scary because we know kids have such a calling on their lives, and they don't realize it. They need to know their passion could be the next biggest thing in the world; their passion to help people could cure cancer. If they leave the world today, they are missing their purpose and reason to be here.
Do you feel your lyrics on Smile point people to that hope even if they don't overtly address spiritual themes?
Dunn Secular kids are way more open to it. Christian audiences are looking for certain things in songs, like the name of Jesus repeated, and when they don't hear that, they think we're giving a bad impression: "I thought these guys were a Christian band!" That really hurts, and I've heard it more times than not, even with the way we look.
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