Between the Liner Notes
Thousand Foot Krutch: Light the Flame
By Jennifer E. Jones
CBNmusic Producer
CBN.com
– Nashville, TN – I was introduced to Thousand Foot Krutch when I co-hosted a rock show for a Christian radio station in town a few years back. The rap-metal sounds of “Bounce” and “Rawkfist” blew my mind, and I knew this was the kind of band I wanted to listen to live. When I finally saw the trio in concert at an Acquire the Fire event in Richmond, VA, I realized I was not alone. Thousands of teens rushed the stage and banged their heads to his hardcore Canadian rock.
With their songs on the radio and in sports arenas, you’d think Trevor McNevan and his boys are only out to pump up the crowd. However, there is more to this band than hype, and tough times seem to bring out the best in them. It’s especially evident on their new album The Flame in All of Us.
“There’s a song on our new record called ‘What Do We Know,’ he tells CBNmusic. “It’s a person who wakes up on the morning of 9/11, and it’s talking about all the things that have happened over the years that have made us as a nation stand back and say, ‘Wow, we’re not in control.’ No matter what you believe, it’s caused everyone to open their minds. In retrospective, God’s taken something that was meant for tragedy and used it for the better. It’s brought a lot of people together. Communities [say], ‘We need to stick together and think about what’s really important to us.’”
The Flame in All of Us is the fourth time in the studio for TFK. By now, you’d think that the veterans would simply cook up a batch of fun anthems (“Rawkfist”, “Move”) along with a few of the sentimental ballads (“Breathe You In”, “This Is a Call”). But that’s not the way it works.
“As a writer, I don’t look at it like, ‘Let’s have our party songs.’ This record is a bigger, fresher version of who we are as a band,” McNevan explains. “It has something for everyone. I was writing according to the things that I was seeing and feeling.”
He further shares how this album is more of a “mixed tape”, switching it up from the drum thumping “InHuman” to the retrospective curtain call of “The Last Song”.
“It’s gone a step further where it definitely has the heaviest moments and the lightest, gentlest moments that we’ve ever been a part of.”
The lyrics certainly aren’t light. TFK has never been shy about taboo topics, and the band digs a little deeper this time around.
“All of our records lyrically have a real honesty to them,” he says. “It’s important to me to not sugar coat things and to talk about issues the way I would want to hear them. That’s what ‘Absolute’ was about. You get annoyed with people who have the truth, and they try to make it comfortable for you.”
For example, the ballad “Wish You Well” recounts the experience of two friends growing apart. He says, “You’re living for the same reasons, but someone close to you takes a 180 and decides to do something completely different. To each his own, but it’s very hard to watch someone that close to you make a lot of choices. The best thing and the only thing you can do as a friend is to be there and listen and pray for them. God’s the only one who can intervene and reach someone where they’re at.”
Don’t think that this band has gone soft. There are some good times on The Flame as well. It’s just that there is a more important message that must come across.
“I love party rock. There will always be that element to this band as well. It means a lot more to us to be able to communicate something to our generation and not just be like, ‘Sweet dude, glad you liked the hook.’
"At the end of the day, whether people follow you in what you do or you lose people to this or that, you’ve got to stay true to what you feel is honest to you. That integrity musically means more to us than trying to follow a trend.”
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