Beyond OK
Michael Olson grew up thinking that Christianity was little more than a list of do's and don'ts. Then he discovered this amazing thing called grace …
by Andy Argyrakis | posted 8/29/2005
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With their freshman effort I Wish We All Could Win, The Afters not only met with instant favor in the Christian music world thanks to their support from MercyMe—they also found unexpected success in the mainstream. The Texas-based pop/rock band's signing with Simple/INO Records didn't come with a plan to break the secular scene, but the company's general market distribution through Sony quickly led the single "Beautiful Love" to a sixteen week run in Hot AC Top 30, MTV airplay, and various radio and television appearances. Though The Afters could have opted for a quick and easy follow-up to strike while the iron is hot, frontman Josh Havens, guitarists Matt Fuqua and Brad Wigg, and drummer Marc Dodd made a conscious decision to take their time to retool their sound and get it right for their follow-up, Never Going Back to OK. And as Havens noted in a recent conversation with Christian Music Today, it became an album about never settling for mediocrity in any part of life, including spiritually.
Josh Havens (second from right) and his bandmates in The Afters have always pursued honesty over aspirations for mainstream success.
Was there any fear coming into this project, since it was the follow-up to your successful debut?
Josh Havens With this record, we were definitely conscious that it was our sophomore effort. The first record introduces a band, the second legitimizes them, and I'd say the third record eventually defines them. We had great support from our label. Even though INO Records wanted the album earlier on, they let us take more time because we didn't think it was ready yet. As a result, even though we were happy with our first record, we're even happier with this one.
What would you have done differently the first time out?
Havens In regards to any regrets over our last album, most of my complaints are things that might seem small and tedious—like the way a line was sung or a particular guitar part. We were still very happy with it, especially being our first album with INO. We worked with Dan Muckala and Brown Bannister on that album and learned a lot from them, but we were also still trying to figure out who we were [as a band] at that point. Making that record, touring, and living with the other guys for three years has really helped us discover who we are as a band.
So that was a huge hurdle that we had already crossed going into this new album.
The four of us are really great friends, almost like brothers, and work together better today than ever. We're also really close to Dan Muckala, [who worked with us again for the new album]. It's like the awkward first date was behind us and now we're all very comfortable with each other, which makes for better chemistry. Never Going Back to OK was really a collaborative effort and we had so much fun with the creative process.
How did Dan help steer these sessions and contribute to that process?
Havens Dan really pushed us and was the real driving force in directing us. He was giving us suggestions as to what was weak and what was strong. Ultimately I'd say he pushed us to make a much better record. In the end, we wanted to have a record where every song belonged and there were no filler tracks. So many times, you'll have a band put out a couple of great singles but fill up the rest of the record with other stuff just to round it out. The bands I love the most put out albums that you can listen to from beginning to end, like Keane, Coldplay, and The Beatles. It's very rare these days, but we wanted to take time to get all the songs together just right.
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