Comfortable with All That Is WithinBy Stan Friedmanposted 11/05/07
Consider this: ever since MercyMe made their debut in 2001 with Almost There and their runaway hit "I Can Only Imagine," they've somehow managed to release a new album every year except 2003. An impressive feat, though some would object by saying the band hasn't offered anything new over four albums (and one Christmas project). Bart Millard and his fellow band members see it differently—MercyMe is simply trying to be who they are, and with their sixth album, they feel more comfortable being themselves than ever before. Millard told us about the creative challenges that arose in putting together All That Is Within Me, and why they're so happy with the results.
Let's start with the title. How did you come up with All That Is Within Me?
Bart Millard: This is probably the first time we really sat down as a band and started asking questions like, "What is MercyMe good at? What is it we are called to do? Where is our place in the grand scheme of things?" We realized that for whatever reason, our call is to reach out to the hurting, to help people get through difficult times, and if possible, to be part of the healing process. We just decided this is who we are and what we are called to do. This is all of who we are and all of what we do. We want to give all of ourselves to God.
It's an interesting album cover. How does the photo mosaic relate to the theme?
Millard: It's not your typical MercyMe cover. With the album title in mind, we bought a bunch of disposable cameras, giving them to all the guys with instructions to take pictures of what consumed us—what meant something to us, either serious or lighthearted. Then we gave them to the graphic artist and he did his thing. [Millard's pictures include the grave of his father and a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap from the 1996 World Series given to him by Albert Pujols.]
Did you know what the theme was going to be when you started writing for the album?
Millard: Not really. I had the title for it even before Coming up to Breathe. Originally I first thought the album was going to be like a full-blown Third Day worship album, where part of it was cover tunes, and part of it stuff we've written ourselves. It definitely would have been a lot easier to do that way. Our biggest goal was to write songs that the church would be singing long after we're gone.
Two weeks before we went in, I was thinking if I can just get five songs done, then we can cover the other half. But then when we got in the studio, the songs started coming, and everybody got into the zone. It got to where I didn't want to do covers for the other half of the album. I just wanted to keep writing, and the next thing you know, we had a whole album. We even had to cut a couple of songs because we wanted to keep it at ten.
Lots of people these days download singles rather than buy entire albums. Is there a place for thematic albums anymore?
Millard: I don't think we know any other way, to be honest with you. I know everything is about the single, but writing these songs is the most important thing I do in MercyMe. I don't know how else I could get my thought across without trying to put together songs that aren't initially related.
Do you download singles?
Millard: I always do whole CDs—I never download singles. Sometimes I wish I would have, but I'd rather give the artist the benefit of the doubt. If I'm a fan of the artist, I can't get enough of them. Even if it's bad, I've got to hear the whole album.
When you're writing, do you ever feel trapped by "I Can Only Imagine"?
Millard: No pun intended, but I couldn't imagine not singing it in a show. You know, it's still special when you can see on people's faces that maybe they're hearing it live for the first time, or that they're being touched by it because of something that recently happened in their lives. I don't think we'll ever feel trapped [performing it].
Consider this: ever since MercyMe made their debut in 2001 with Almost There and their runaway hit "I Can Only Imagine," they've somehow managed to release a new album every year except 2003. An impressive feat, though some would object by saying the band hasn't offered anything new over four albums (and one Christmas project). Bart Millard and his fellow band members see it differently—MercyMe is simply trying to be who they are, and with their sixth album, they feel more comfortable being themselves than ever before. Millard told us about the creative challenges that arose in putting together All That Is Within Me, and why they're so happy with the results.
Let's start with the title. How did you come up with All That Is Within Me?
Bart Millard: This is probably the first time we really sat down as a band and started asking questions like, "What is MercyMe good at? What is it we are called to do? Where is our place in the grand scheme of things?" We realized that for whatever reason, our call is to reach out to the hurting, to help people get through difficult times, and if possible, to be part of the healing process. We just decided this is who we are and what we are called to do. This is all of who we are and all of what we do. We want to give all of ourselves to God.
It's an interesting album cover. How does the photo mosaic relate to the theme?
Millard: It's not your typical MercyMe cover. With the album title in mind, we bought a bunch of disposable cameras, giving them to all the guys with instructions to take pictures of what consumed us—what meant something to us, either serious or lighthearted. Then we gave them to the graphic artist and he did his thing. [Millard's pictures include the grave of his father and a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap from the 1996 World Series given to him by Albert Pujols.]
Did you know what the theme was going to be when you started writing for the album?
Millard: Not really. I had the title for it even before Coming up to Breathe. Originally I first thought the album was going to be like a full-blown Third Day worship album, where part of it was cover tunes, and part of it stuff we've written ourselves. It definitely would have been a lot easier to do that way. Our biggest goal was to write songs that the church would be singing long after we're gone.
Two weeks before we went in, I was thinking if I can just get five songs done, then we can cover the other half. But then when we got in the studio, the songs started coming, and everybody got into the zone. It got to where I didn't want to do covers for the other half of the album. I just wanted to keep writing, and the next thing you know, we had a whole album. We even had to cut a couple of songs because we wanted to keep it at ten.
Lots of people these days download singles rather than buy entire albums. Is there a place for thematic albums anymore?
Millard: I don't think we know any other way, to be honest with you. I know everything is about the single, but writing these songs is the most important thing I do in MercyMe. I don't know how else I could get my thought across without trying to put together songs that aren't initially related.
Do you download singles?
Millard: I always do whole CDs—I never download singles. Sometimes I wish I would have, but I'd rather give the artist the benefit of the doubt. If I'm a fan of the artist, I can't get enough of them. Even if it's bad, I've got to hear the whole album.
When you're writing, do you ever feel trapped by "I Can Only Imagine"?
Millard: No pun intended, but I couldn't imagine not singing it in a show. You know, it's still special when you can see on people's faces that maybe they're hearing it live for the first time, or that they're being touched by it because of something that recently happened in their lives. I don't think we'll ever feel trapped [performing it].
