A Conversation with Mark Hall of Casting Crowns!

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96.9 KVMV’s Morning Show, Ann & James with Christian in the Morning, had the opportunity to speak with Mark Hall of Casting Crowns on their upcoming visit to the Rio Grande Valley.  Here’s a bit of our conversation:

Hi Mark, where has this amazing tour landed you today?

Well I am at home in Atlanta. Crazy things is that we were all in the basement last night….tornadoes everywhere! Crazy! So I had my 14 year old son with me and we had our “man” time explaining how we are supposed to do things…how to keep your family calm, this is what you need to think about.

And not showing him how scared you really were…

You know itʼs funny, my wife says as hyper and nutty as I am, when something like this happens, I shut down and become weirdly calm!

We are so excited for you to come back to the Valley! Your first trip was in Hidalgo Now this trip is going to be a little different…itʼs an acoustic tour.

Yes, we did our first weekend last weekend and I am not sure Iʼm going to want to go back to our regular set because it is soo cool!

What makes it so different?

They made this crazy cool set with mason jar lighting everywhere, and couches and chairs, doors with banjoʼs hanging. It looks an outdoor wedding. Half way through the curtain rises thereʼs a strings section. Itʼs just real intimate. All the words are on the screen. Band comes out into the crowd and asks questions. Itʼs so family oriented!

I am going to require a couch on every tour from now on. I feel like Gaither sitting and sayinʼ sing it!

We hear something about an owl on stage…the ice owl?
You know what? That is a mystery! There is an owl on stage and it keeps showing up in different places every night. I donʼt know the story and everytime I think about asking someone…what is this thing…it disappears! Ha!

You know I am following the owl on twitter @crownsiceowl

Are you serious?! Ha! What is he saying?! That is hilarious…I better start following him Thatʼs most likely one of our sound guys Snooch. and you are alerting me to a problem within my organization! Ha! Thatʼs awesome!

With this new Acoustic Album…what have you discovered making this album?
It all started on the last tour, the Come To The Well Tour, in the second half we would come down to the front, sit on stools and just sing acoustic versions of about four songs. It makes you rediscover a song to what’s being said. To hear, “If We Are The Body,” with a pianoand a cello or “Set Me Free” as a chilled song, where the strings are doing all the rock in stead of the guitars. Itʼs a whole new world! It gives us time to talk and tell more stories that were getting lost for each of the songs.

I always appreciate the lyrics to your songs, they are so great and sometimes you can get caught up in the music and lose the words.

Right, not many bands could launch with an acoustic album. You have to do the full version first to get the bang before the reverse…it has to be in this order.

Do you pass out kleenex?
HaHa thatʼs funny. The very first night I didnʼt make it through one of my songs. [awwww] It seems beautiful, but a guy crying to a song…its kinda pathetic [noooooo] I was all blubering trying to sing. Thereʼs some neat moments and other gut busting moments where we are laughing!

Thereʼs a video of when we first started and we look like weʼre 12 years old!

Well you were only 14-15 years old when you started…now youʼre what 25, 26…youʼre in your prime!
Yeeeeeaaaahh! thatʼs about right! [hahahaha] Hey you are guys are laughing a little too much after that joke!!!

Itʼs because people think we are in our prime and we are waaaaaay over the hilll!!

Thatʼs right! You know the funny thing, that prime thing, I donʼt think I had good old days…Iʼm in my good old days right now! I wouldnʼt go back to high school for anybody. Iʼm living it!

What do you listen to on your ipod? 

Well, anything that is pouring into my new life. That’s the bar that I raise. I don’t want to listen to anything that drags me back to my old life.  After that…I would probably amaze you with my styles.  I likeall styles.  Acoustic. Switchfoot is a more modern rock, Red, Lecrae.  I just don’t get stuck.  If all I listen to is one artist like Tomlin that helps me with my worship and my prayer but then I switch to LeCrae and he’s going all John the Baptist on me!! I don’t need all happy and puppies, I need someone to hit me hard once and awhile.  Other times, I will be challenged more socially by the Switchfoots of the world.  I really try and spread out and not get stuck.

How does you being involved with Youth affect your music?

I’ve been a youth pastor half my life. My first song came out of what we were teaching. So I think that the fact that I teach teenagers with their short attention spans,  you better say what you are going to say and say it quick.  A song is like a mini-contract and they know that it’ll be over in4 minutes.  It’s not going to go on for 30 minutes and have 4 more points. And seeing that transparency in people is so much better than pointing a finger.  So just telling my own story is how I started reaching teenagers.

One of the favorite things we like are the stories behind the songs, tell us about “Already There…”

Already there was a continuation of the song Storm. In Storm, you are dealing with a hard time in your life and you are trying to get through it and you are realizing that I have to let go and let God have it. Even in my bad times He is good. I can’t attach a moment to Him and make him bad because I’m feeling bad. Already there is the teaching moment behind it.  I was going through Phillipians with my students and we were grappling with the idea that the book of Joy was written from prison. Write it down and look at it each day. That might mean I need to redefine what Joy means. Life was happening just like it’s happening to us.  He had rest in something higher. Paul knows that he was stuck there in prison but God is already there.  He is already at the end of this.

I don’t have to rest inwhat I can see, understand and control. With guys, it’s all about control!!  Dealing with our little girl that we adopted from China a few years ago, multiple surgeries and a lot of issues. In the middle of those times when you stop seeing control on the surface, you start thinking it’s out of control. When you can’t see a purpose, you start thinking that there is no purpose. I’m notpreaching to the choir. This song is me.  This song came out of me having to rest in the fact that I don’t understand why this is happening but I’ve got to rest that He is already there.

Mark Hall along with Casting Crowns are scheduled to be in McAllen on Friday, April 5th.  For tickets, contact the McAllen Convention Center Ticket Office or ticketmaster.com.

  Ann & James with Christian in the morning of 96.9 kvmv