Be sure to check out the "making of" Leeland's new video "Count Me In" (on the current Music Video Loop)
What attitudes are you noticing in your generation? Leeland: We’ve seen a huge hunger in our generation to live completely on fire for the Lord and to set our lives apart for God. Countless young guys come up to me and say, “You’re a role model to me. What can I do to draw closer to God? I look up to you and your ministry. Can you tell me something I can do to draw my talent closer to the Lord?” I think we’re seeing a huge hunger in our generation to do something big. Jeremiah: Our song “Let it Out Now” is about not being afraid to show others who you are in God. Especially at our age—some of us are 19 and most people our age are in college— it’s about not being afraid to talk to people about who you are in school and doing that even by talking to people that are not thought of as “cool”. It’s a call to be who you are, to step out and talk to your neighbor, even though most people don’t even know their neighbor’s name. Leeland: One of the big issues on this record is witnessing.
What did you learn doing this album, Opposite Way? Jack: You have your entire life to write your first record, and you have about a year and a half to write your second one. We have grown up in church; all of us are ministry kids, born under a pew. So our first record was very vertical, worship oriented with songs written directly to God. Our heart is always going to be in worship. That first record was really birthed out of our local church. The last year and a half we have been at festivals, big churches, South Dakota, Japan, and lots of random places like that. We got to see our generation and their hunger for God. What we have seen and what God has spoken to us through those experiences come out in this album.
How did the lyrics to Let It Out Now come about? Leeland: The lyrics for “Let It Out Now were written last-minute on a plane. We were headed to Nashville and our record label called us to ask if we were done with the lyrics of the song. We were like, “Oh no! We’re on the plane and we only have a chorus.” So I just said, “Please God, give me something” and it came really quickly, right on the plane.
Who is one of your musical influences and how have they affected you? Leeland: While I was writing I had been listening to a lot of Keith Green. His heart for ministry and the pureness of his relationship with God inspired me. So I started reading a lot about David and his relationship with the Lord. I was in a mode for a whole week where I was praying a lot more than I usually do. That’s when I wrote “Thief in the Night”. It’s about serving the Lord and about the coming of the Lord. God said that when He comes back it will be like a thief in the night to take us away. Hopefully this song inspires us to want to live more for the Lord. I think when we are standing before God that a lot of us, me included, will regret some of the time we wasted when we could have been spending it giving our whole lives to God.
