Pillar Interview - 06.13.2004
Interview with Kalel Wittig (bass)Interview by Rob Todd | 06.13.2004 | Grand Rapids, MI | The Deltaplex
You guys have a new album coming out in June...what can you tell us about it? I can tell you that it’s called, Where Do We Go From Here, it comes out June, 15th and it’s gonna rock really hard. I’m gonna play you some stuff, I’m play you some songs before you leave so you’ll know exactly. Actually Rob [Beckley]’s singing a lot more, he’s got a real powerful voice. I mean that shows on Fireproof, the song “Further From Myself,” he just took that to a whole new level on this album. Some of the songs have parts and are harder than anything we’ve ever done. Where, on the other hand, we’ve got some stuff that’s more melodic and [more] musical than anything we’ve done. We took our best qualities and up-ed ‘em up by about 10.
You guys have a very ‘diverse’ group of songs lyrically on Fireproof. What are some influences or experiences you drew from when writing Where Do We Go From Here?
I think that because all of us have something to do with the writing it’s not just one guy, so it’s like I’ll bring a cool bass line to the table, Noel [Henson] will bring a bunch of guitar riffs, Rob will have ideas sometimes. Instead of all just comin’ from one guy, or I think sometimes songs sound the same is that we got four guys writing music. And we’re just real picky too, if a riff sounds like something else or we just think it sucks we won’t play it, we’ll say, ‘hey lets move on to something else.’ We try to keep everything the best we possibly can.
We understand that you are in talks with Columbia Records with possibly releasing the new album into both the mainstream and Christian markets. When do you think you would know what the situation is with that?
We’ll probably, hopefully, know soon. We’re on Flicker Records right now; we want to stay on Flicker ‘cause we just signed a killer contract with them. We had a bunch of stuff happen recently and it ended up working out totally in our favor, God had his hand on it and brought us to another level. We’ve got a great contract with Flicker, they really believe in us but their just working our CBA market, which is the Christian market. Columbia Records has been interested in Pillar for like two years now and we’re in a position now where we can work out something with them. We want to try to get them and Flicker to work out a deal together where Flicker’s working our stuff to Christian and Columbia will be working out mainstream. We’ve been up to New York and they’ve heard our stuff and he’s sold, he should have the whole album by tomorrow and some other stuff and they’re having a meeting on [March 23]. Sometimes that stuff takes months and we’re not gonna be counting on it but it looks really good so we’ll see.
Is your approach to shows different when playing with bands that don’t share your beliefs or playing to fans that don’t as well? Do you try and push the message of God out to them a little bit more?
We play the same show no matter if we’re at church or at a mainstream place and we feel like we’ve come a long way spiritually since we started the band and we feel we know how God wants us to do this. So we do it the same everywhere we go. I think our message is so strong in our lyrics and our lives and what we do on stage, it’s just apparent that Rob doesn’t need to pull a lot of Bible and preaching stuff. We feel called to be musicians so we let our music do our stuff, we’re totally down with talkin’ to people after the show. Someone needs to talk or pray with us we’re totally down with that all the time but when you’re in a mainstream place with Christians you do have to, not water down your message but you have to be tact with what you say because our language, just like any profession you know if you’re a scientist you go talk to a construction worker and talk about molecules and compounds, they won’t understand what you’re sayin’. So if we go up there and talk about the Holy Ghost and being ‘born again’ they don’t comprehend that talk, they don’t understand. Your approach has to be a little different. When Jesus went out and preached he used parables and talked in ways that may seem hard for us to understand now but back then any common person you talked to understood exactly what he was talking about. He didn’t talk above their heads; he talked where they could understand his words.
How has the See Spot Rock tour been?
It’s been goin’ great dude! All the bands are awesome! I like it just because it’s pretty much, except for Grits, pretty hard rock bands. People who come to the show, that’s what they’re expecting, it’s not such a variety like last year, you had Relient K and Supertones, some goofy bands and some hard bands, this time it’s all pretty serious rock bands and people know what they’re getting’ when they come.
You guys are filming a music video for “Bring Me Down” on March 31st. Do you know what the concept of the video will be yet?
I do up to a point because we got the treatment and I’ve got that on my computer and I’ve read it and stuff. And then when we found out where it’s gonna be, the location doesn’t really fit with the treatment but I think I know what they’re doin’. We’re actually filmin’ it in Tennessee at the prison where they did the movie The Last Castle but I don’t think the prison’s gonna have anything to do with the scene. It’s not gonna be like…I think we’re using a lot of the inner rooms that are real dark and dungeon-like versus actually having a prison video. The treatment that I’ve read is that it starts off outside, this nasty old warehouse, there’s a storm in the sky, the camera’s gonna be focused on the street I think and you just see a crack and the camera will follow this crack to the building. When you go inside the building, probably through broken glass or a broken part, and we’re in there rockin’ out. Real fast camera angles, real cool lookin’ and as were goin’ to the video plaster starts to fall off the wall and stuff and it goes to these other rooms within the same warehouse there’s these people in smaller rooms that are just really dirty lookin’. He didn’t give a bunch of examples but just like a kid who has a drug addiction in one room, you can just tell he’s real tormented and hurt. In another room there might be a lady getting’ abused by her husband. There’ll be other scenarios of people who have they obstacles in their life and are bringing ‘em down. And after a while we’re rockin’ the place down, the whole place starts to crumble and these little rooms with these people in ‘em start to fall apart at the end. People are free from these things that have overcome them and you see them walking off, the storm’s dissipated and we’re standing there in a pile of rubble. It should be really cool. I hope they get the special effects right but I think it’s gonna be tight. Our strong point is live stuff so it’s gonna look like we’re going ballistic. Noel will be beatin’ his head against the wall…
What do you think is the best aspect of your live show that everyone should come see?
What is it Clay?
Clay Allen: ME!
He’s our sound guy/tour manager; he makes us sound somethin’—that’s the one key factor that we sound consistent and really good every night. I think it’s just the whole thing. We’ve got one of the best drummers in the business, he’s bad, so he’s not just back there beatin’ on drums, he’s like a part of the show. Me and Noel goin’ ballistic—Noel does a cartwheel, I flip my bass around, and we just give our all ‘til the end until we’re about to pass out. Then Rob just sings his butt off and all just go as crazy as we can without messin’ up too much.
Is there anything you would like to say that we didn’t ask? Any last comments for your fans?
I don’t know, you covered a lot of good stuff. Everybody just go buy our album on June 15th, that’ll make me happy.
