Catching Up with ...Hawk Nelson
Bassist Daniel Biro talks about teaming up with Amy Grant, life on the road, and the challenges of being an entertainment-oriented band in Christian music.
by Christa Banister | posted 7/07/2008
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Vocalist Jason Dunn (left), drummer Justin Benner, guitarist Jonathan Steingard, and bassist Daniel Biro value the relationships they form through Hawk Nelson's music.
Rumor has it that you just performed with Amy Grant at Creation Festival's 30th anniversary. How did that come about?
Daniel Biro Jason [Dunn, the band's lead singer] was such a huge fan of hers growing up. I didn't listen to as much Christian music early on, but everyone knows Amy Grant, right? So when we rehearsed with her before playing Creation, I was definitely nervous.
But that's the funny thing about her and any other celebrity—she's really so normal once you hang out with her.
Biro Yeah, that's what was so cool about it. She was like "Guys, it's not my thing, it's our thing. Let's just go have fun." I guess when she first played Creation thirty years ago, they had their first candlelight service, a special tradition they've continued every year since. So she came back for the candlelight service, and we performed three of her songs together. And since she sang on "One Little Miracle" from our new album Hawk Nelson is My Friend, we all did that one together. It was so much fun that we actually filmed the whole experience. I think the songs are going to eventually end up on iTunes.
So does it surprise you that Amy is a Hawk Nelson fan?
Biro Oh, she's not a fan! (laughs) But she's really had such a cool attitude about working with us. Like Jason, our manager was a huge Amy Grant fan, so she coordinated Amy's guest appearance on "One Little Miracle." It's been so much fun working together whenever we've had the opportunity.
Talking about Hawk Nelson is My Friend, what did the band set out to accomplish with that record?
Biro In general, the idea is to top what you've done before, to improve. We worked with a ton of different writers this time to keep growing with our songcraft. We've always had the privilege of working with really talented people like Trevor McNevan (Thousand Foot Krutch). This time we got to work with even more people that we've really admired like Raine Maida from Our Lady Peace.
We really set out to have more diversity and an appreciation for different styles of music. While I [don't think] it's different enough for people [to confuse us with someone else], it's still got some different musical elements to it. Obviously we started in the whole pop/punk genre, and we really still like that. But as you progress, you want to try other things and consider how far you can stretch the boundaries without your core fan base getting too bent out of shape.
Right, because it can be the kiss of death when you change too much.
Biro I think if you're going to do that, you may as well start a side project to showcase that style, under a different name or something. I know Jason loves ballad-y piano stuff, and there is still room in this band to have that. We can't do a whole record of that, but it was still fun to experiment.
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