In 1996, a relatively unknown Southern rock band from Georgia made their debut on Reunion Records. Ten years later, Third Day remains one of the most enduringly popular acts in all of Christian music. Commemorating the anniversary is a two-part Chronology series—Volume 1 (1996-2000) and Volume 2 (2001-2006)—collecting music, video footage, home movies, bootleg performances and a 60-minute in-depth documentary. In this interview with Christian Music Today, drummer David Carr reflects on how the early years shaped who Third Day is today and where the band is headed tomorrow.

What's your take on Chronology's stroll down memory lane?

David Carr: Very eye opening. Until recently, the only way to look through the past was through memories, stories, and interviews. When you're on the inside, you can forget and not fully appreciate everything that's happened. As we look back with family and friends, they're a bit in awe of how big things have progressed for five goofy guys from Atlanta. It's been fun to see how far we've come.

Who collected the old photos and footage?

Carr: Several of the guys went digging through boxes and found a bunch of old footage that their dads had recorded. I personally didn't contribute a lot. Really all I had were pictures that I didn't want people to see. [Laughs] [Bassist Tai Anderson] contributed most of it. He's been the driving force behind this band all along.

Interesting since the documentary on Chronology Volume Two mentions that Tai was never officially asked to be in the band.

Carr: Yes! That adds to the flavor of the story. We invited him as an afterthought to just come record bass on some songs; fifteen years later and he runs the band.

How much input did you have?

Carr: A lot. We sat on a bus for six hours to decide what would go on both volumes. We had a lot of fan favorites [from live shows] as well as radio hits to include, and we wanted to put some of our personal favorites on there too.

Do you hear any significant musical differences between Chronology 1 and 2?

Carr: I definitely think (and hope) that Chronology 2 is musically superior to Chronology 1. Maybe not by leaps and bounds, but you would expect things to only get better as we go, though I do think there has been consistency throughout our music tying it all together. Disc 2 is a little more easy for me to listen to personally, but that would just be due to the more recent material. As an artist, you are usually more into your latest material and a little more shy about your beginnings.

Along the way, what have been the high and low points?

Carr: One of the high points was when Reunion Records first came out to Murfreesboro, Tennessee [outside Nashville] to see us play a show at a youth camp. It was winter and 20 degrees outside. We played in a small room, right in front of the fireplace. It was not a great show, and we [sarcastically] thought, "Oh boy, we're sure they love this." They came up afterwards and said, "We want to sign you. What do we have to do?"

The other high point would be the Dove Awards in 2001 when we won Artist and Group of the Year, after like five or six years of being nominated. Not because of the awards themselves, but it felt like the industry as a whole was recognizing our work. That was a special time for us.

The low point was when Wire released in 2004. We knew within six months it wasn't going well. The audience didn't understand the direction [aiming toward a broader, mainstream audience] and the response wasn't what we had hoped for, though we had put so much thought and prayer into it and thought it would be something massive, but it didn't happen. We felt a slump, though we've thankfully never hit any rock bottom points.

You mentioned finally feeling recognized by the industry for your Group and Artist of the Year Dove Awards. Why was that important to you?

Carr: It really didn't have anything to do with winning awards, but was more of a chip on our shoulder. We're not artsy artists; we're just guys that love music. But you become very vulnerable in creative expression. At the slightest hint of dislike or people not saying anything at all about it, we start to think that people don't like it or that we're not doing well—you get defensive. All the questions of, "Man, I wonder if people care about us?" came to a halt with those awards and we're like, "OK, let's just shut our mouths." It was very humbling.

Since that lesson, when we don't win, it's honestly OK, because we've won before. I guess you get to a point that you want to celebrate this work with others. There are so many others now who are doing great things and we think it's great to let them have it. We don't want to sound cynical to a new artist, but we want to make the point, "Don't hang your hat on this. Enjoy it when it comes and don't fret when it doesn't."

Some people start bands nowadays with the intent of having a career. But you mention in the documentary that that wasn't the case for you guys.

Carr: Starting out, we were young enough to do this band thing and just have fun with it. None of us took it serious enough to hang our hats on. Still, we were motivated and wanted to see it flourish, and then suddenly it was like, "Oh wow, we have a career now."

So you rode the momentum?

Carr: Yeah, and I think that adds to the purity of the songs and message. This was just about a love for God and the music. But after you're out there long enough and made several records, you're married with kids, and it's your job and ministry, then you start to think a little more career-minded. As grown men, you have to look at it from that perspective. But you can never get rid of the faith element, even as the business side grows.

You try to balance the two.

Carr: Along the way, we've discovered that Christian music fans can be very finicky about the message their artists give. They are very into how artists classify what they do. Fans will say, "The thing we love about Third Day is that it's all about the ministry and music is secondary." We appreciate the heart behind that, and we mean what we say. But that idea is not entirely true because music is powerful and we still love making music. We've tried to make it clear that we wouldn't be doing this if music were merely a medium for which to share a message. Being career musicians does mean something to us.

Is there any one thing to which you can attribute your enduring popularity?

Carr: I'd say that we've worked hard, but not super hard to make things happen. It's never felt like grueling work that completely wears us out. God has opened up doors to us that other bands spend years to see happen.

We were a band early on that prayed together a lot. In the early days there was a real camaraderie, before we even tried to hit the stage. We're brothers. You spend about three percent of your time on stage and the rest riding together on a bus or in van, or hanging out in a basement practicing.

As a band of believers, we spend time sowing into each other and the band as a whole, so we don't feel like we've ever been spinning our wheels and being burned out making the band happen. That's not some super righteous behavior. It's just a calling to keep God as a thread running through whole thing. We attribute success to him as we feel this has really been God-ordained.

Anything you wish the band did more or less of? Or are you overall satisfied with the journey?

Carr: I think as we look to the future, we take from the past. We want to invest more of our time into each other in prayer and worship and speaking the will of God together. The business side can be alluring, earning money and all that. There's nothing wrong with that, unless we so obsess about that part that it deters the message or manipulates it. I don't think that's happened with Third Day. We pray that God would keep us centered and humbled rather than take the reins to steer it ourselves.

What's ahead?

Carr: We've always tried to capture on a record what we sound like live, so as we look to the future, our next record will be a studio record with more of a the feel of our show. It's easy to get clinical and nit-picky about the minute details in the studio, but we're going to work to capture the flavor of the live show. Our live show offers the cream of the crop of Third Day.

Do you feel Third Day has been an influence on this industry?

Carr: I think we have. Well, I know we have, because we get reports from other bands, which is worth more than any award that we could get. That's the icing on the cake, when others say they were influenced by this band. There's a normal sense to our life when not on stage or in the studio. I live life as a dad and a husband, and then think, "Oh yeah, I'm in a band." Someone out there is listening to our music, being rocked by it or worshipping to it or learning guitar by it. I'm glad we have that normal sense of life and don't always hear about the other stuff, or else we might get big heads.

How do you balance knowing your roots and your own weaknesses with saying, "Hey, we really are a good band"?

Carr: I think you have to let facts be facts and just be honest. Are we a good band? I think I can say yes with full humility and confidence. Humility does not mean wavering confidence. If anything, it means full of confidence, but it's confidence that our competency stems from an inner working and an unearned talent.

Click here to visit our artist page for Third Day, where you'll find our review of Chronology Volume One. Volume Two hits stores August 6. Check out Christianbook.com for song clips and the band's albums.

© Jackie A. Chapman, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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