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24.05.02 - pc3 releases New Map Of The World... continued...
From Wes Jay, Woodlands
Media.
Continued from May
2002 Music News.
"People seemed to really enjoy the performances and the interaction with
the audience, and it just sort of exploded. Paul had a lot of gigs lined up
already, so we just started to play them as the Trio rather than just Paul
alone. We launched a CD in the middle of '99, and from there it's continued
to go up."
It was one of PC3's self-released CDs that made it into the hands of two
different people who would have an impact on the band's rapidly changing
future. Completely independent of each other, the music found its way to
both Third Day's Mac Powell, who invited the band to open for them on an
Australian tour, and veteran producer Monroe Jones, who immediately took up
the band's flag and arranged for PC3 to record its US debut.
"I got an e-mail from Monroe when I was in Africa, a message which had
nothing to do with either record companies or other bands, and he got the
music before he knew there was any connection," Colman recalls. "I think
the thing with Monroe is that it's another thing where God's timing was
there. Monroe was ready to do something different, and we were ready to
have a great producer and a great sounding record."
The music on New Map Of The World does, indeed, sound great: a no-nonsense
pop/rock, lean (and in appropriate cases, mean) and littered with sonic
hooks that only amplify the band's straightforward message. It's great art,
great storytelling and great fun-all wrapped up in one package.
"When you're looking at making music that wants to say something in
three-and-a-half minutes, but not to the point of ramming it down
somebody's throat, the goal is to have songs with not a lot of fat on the
bone," Colman explains. "There are other bands out there that are more arty
in their little finger than I am in my whole body, but do they really
connect with the audience? That's the question we ask ourselves all the
time...are we connecting?"
That question is easily answered by the album's standout track Turn, with
its timeless message to look inward before criticising outward, nestled
neatly within a driving musical track. "When I started writing the lyric,
it was directly at the church," Colman says. "I think a lot of people in
the church pray for revival in the land, but tend to forget the fact that
God has to do it in us first."
And although Turn wasn't necessarily intended to be an audience
participation song, it seems to have turned out that way.
"Kids in Australia have spontaneously started to do this thing when it gets
to the chorus where they put their hands up in the air, jump up and down,
and turn around as they do it," Norsworthy comments. "We never told them to
do it or asked them to do it, it started happening spontaneously. It's been
great."
While the Paul Colman Trio certainly has its share of rock moments, the
instrumental prowess and heart for God also combine to create some very
worshipful moments on New Map Of The World, such as the song Fill My Cup.
"That song's about somebody being so empty in life, they just surrender
themselves. It's a cry out; there's nothing more I can do in my own
strength but ask God to fill my cup." Gaudion says. "It's become more of a
worship song, and people kind of rejoice in the chorus. It's something
where they put their hands in the air and really invite God into their
hearts."
As Colman notes, "The verses and chorus are really a cry and a prayer; it's
more like a Psalm. I think a lot of contemporary worship songs focus so
much on the praise, praise, praise that it sometimes takes some confessing
and agony to get there. It's an interesting juxtaposition between the
verses and the chorus in that there's first this disconnection and then
this release, and the music does that as well."
As a songwriter, Colman sits unafraid to peel back the curtain on what
touches his heart, such as the origins of the song Africa. "That song was
written in Nairobi in February 2001 on a trip with a child development
organisation. My wife and I were in Kenya for 10 days, and my heart was
just broken. The first morning I got up to sing in front of these
beautiful, gorgeous African people who were singing old Baptist hymns that
we'd thrown out for being silly and old, they were singing with such
gusto," Colman reflects. "I stood up to sing, and I couldn't because I was
crying. I couldn't even speak because I was so moved.
"Africa is special for us because it's got a great feel around it. Monroe
did a great job on the strings in that they're very bizarrely wonderful. I
think you get that image of the old-school, patronising, western British
invasion feeling versus the chanting, droning, African indigenous music
feeling."
This year finds many challenges and opportunities on the Paul Colman Trio's
horizon. Along with the release of New Map Of The World the band has
opened on the 50-plus-date Third Day Come Together tour, a jaunt that has
put it in front of a brand new, yet very accepting audience. But while the
band members are poised on the verge of taking the States by storm, they
know that's not their ultimate goal.
"Coming to America is just the next phase for us. It's not necessarily just
our dream," Colman remarks. "Our main dream has always been to follow God
and to love others. America's just the next venue for us to keep doing what
we've always done.
"A lot of things Jesus said about working out your issues before the sun
goes down we take literally and seriously. Therefore, we don't consider our
music our ministry; we consider our lives our ministry," he continues. "The
tour bus, backstage, the day off, the sound check, the gig, we feel all
these things are just as important as the others in terms of what God's
saying and what we're saying with each other.
"When Jesus was asked in Matthew 22 what the most important thing was, He
said to love God and love one another. The day we realise that music isn't
the tool we want to use anymore, we'll do something else. But until then,
we feel very called to come to America. Everybody looks to America as the
leaders of the world in culture, in economics and everything else, and we
want to be here at a time of change and challenge and serve the people of
America."
New Map Of The World track listing...
Turn | Run | Sun, Stars, Moon | Filly My Cup | Your Sweet Voice | Africa |
Let Love Grow | Selfish Song | Love Me More | I Dream | The Killing Tree |
Lullaby | Save My Soul (Australian/NZ version only). |
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