{"id":335,"date":"2011-07-29T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2011-07-29T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/?p=335"},"modified":"2011-07-28T17:51:35","modified_gmt":"2011-07-28T21:51:35","slug":"a-conversation-with-solo-artist-and-former-newsboys-lead-singer-peter-furler-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/07\/a-conversation-with-solo-artist-and-former-newsboys-lead-singer-peter-furler-part-2.html","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with solo artist and former Newsboys lead singer Peter Furler (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

In part two of this interview with Peter Furler, he talks about his brand new solo record On Fire<\/em>, and how he plans to balance a new approach to life with the demands that come with recording contracts and national tours<\/p>\n

Bonham: You relied on several of your close relationships for your new album. What were some of the special moments you enjoyed while recording these songs?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Furler: Those were things that I probably couldn\u2019t have done if I was still doing the Newsboys. I got to do whatever I wanted to do. I kind of dug that. One of them was bringing in Phil Joel. Phil and I are good mates. He\u2019s probably the most consistent guy I talk to out of all the guys. I feel like what we did together (in the Newsboys) was really special. He\u2019s one of the best singers around but he\u2019s also one of the best rock background singers. I knew I wanted to make the best record I could as a singer and songwriter and so I knew it would be better if Phil was there. We worked well together. You know when you watch the classic documentaries of different bands and there\u2019s those two guys in the band that didn\u2019t always see eye-to-eye but they worked well together? Phil and I were that. We haven\u2019t always gotten along but we love each other now and now that we\u2019re not in the band, we\u2019re probably closer. Bringing him in was great.<\/p>\n

Steve was obvious because he\u2019s the guy who, when I have a concept for a song\u2014I\u2019ve got the melody and I\u2019ve got ideas\u2014I usually hand it off to Steve because I know it\u2019s going to be better because he can fill in the gaps.<\/p>\n

Bonham: There\u2019s certainly an air of familiarity to this record, but it also seems like you enjoyed the freedom from some of those past restrictions. Was the outcome partly a product of that plus the realization that you had no expectations going into it?<\/p>\n

Furler: That\u2019s right. There weren\u2019t any rules. There was a bit of system before with the Newsboys and it was a good one. There wasn\u2019t anything wrong with it. But that infrastructure wasn\u2019t in play anymore. I just knew I could do what I wanted. That\u2019s not always a good thing. I don\u2019t think I just went and did what I wanted. I still had people like my wife who knows a good song when she hears it. I trust her in that. I still had people like Steve who knows a good song when he hears and he\u2019s not afraid to tell me, \u201cI think you missed it there\u201d or \u201cMan, you\u2019re on it.\u201d So I kept some systems in place but there was a new freedom.<\/p>\n

I think the other thing that was huge is that with the Newsboys I didn\u2019t have as much time to focus on a record. So usually there was half the record I was liked and the other half was just trying to get the record done. With this one, I could focus more because I had more time. I didn\u2019t have to do 50 shows in the middle of it. I was like, \u201cYou know, I\u2019m going to ditch that song because I don\u2019t think it\u2019s right. I\u2019ll save it for later.\u201d Before, it had to make (the record). I had a few luxuries there to enjoy.<\/p>\n

Bonham: You also worked with Andy Hunter on the album.<\/p>\n

Furler: Yeah, Andy\u2019s another guy who I\u2019d actually love to tour with. I love electronica. I love what Andy does. I was free to reach out to someone like Andy. Before it wasn\u2019t like I wouldn\u2019t have been free to do that. I just wouldn\u2019t have had time. I actually had the time to get on the phone and call him and talk to him and send him some tracks, whereas before it was like, \u201cMan, I\u2019ve got to get this done. I\u2019ve got three days to get this track finished. Who can I farm the programming out to?\u201d I\u2019d just find somebody in Nashville or do it myself.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Did you find a specific theme coming out through these new songs?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Summer and Peter Furler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Furler: It was really a lot of practical things. We wear ourselves out to get rich. We work all our lives saving up money so we can spend it when we\u2019re older and our lives are all used up. There was a freedom in looking at everything I owned and everything I had. My wife and I went from private jets and nice hotels and we bought an RV. I followed the band and did shows driving about 110,000 miles for a couple of years. It really changed us. We were living in a small space and we couldn\u2019t drive home sometimes it was too far. The band would back on a tour bus or on a plane and so we\u2019d stay out on the road, sleeping in Wal-Mart Supercenter parking lots and KOA campgrounds. When we\u2019d go back to Nashville after that tour, we\u2019d be like, \u201cMan, look at all this stuff we have.\u201d That was a big part of the theme. It\u2019s not just being on fire for God and saying Jesus is Lord and He\u2019s the most important thing. That\u2019s all true, but sometimes that can sadly just be how we feel emotionally. It was more about the practical message of not wearing ourselves out just to get rich and looking at what life is really about and enjoying each and every day as opposed to the opposite of that. The theme is talking about how you can have a fire shut up in your belly and it can burn away anxiety and guilt. An example would be if you\u2019re trying to live your life to please somebody else. What happens when you don\u2019t please them? Instead, it\u2019s about living your life in a freer sense and not being bound by what people think of you and looking forward to seeing the grander scheme of who God is, what He\u2019s done and what He\u2019s doing and what He\u2019d going to do.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What\u2019s your game plan for staying true to this philosophical change in your lifestyle and balancing that with the reality of recording music and touring?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Furler: I think I\u2019m still figuring that out. It\u2019s been great so far. I\u2019ve done a couple of radio tours now and loved every minute of it. They were simple. They were fun. I\u2019ve got about 20 shows coming up between now and the end of the year. It feels just right. I\u2019ve got three or four a month. I\u2019ve got a Canadian run. I think the difference is that with the Newsboys it was all connected. You were going to Canada and then after Canada you were going to Europe and then after Europe you come back and you jump off the plane and jump on the bus and do the American Spring leg. So it wasn\u2019t like we were doing just the \u201cGo Tour.\u201d It went from the \u201cGo Tour\u201d into the \u201cSummer Festival Tour\u201d into a fall tour with somebody else. I won\u2019t be connecting the dots as much. I think that\u2019s the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonham: So there\u2019s no pressure on your end to get caught back up into the machine?<\/p>\n

Furler: I watch it carefully. I\u2019m not na\u00efve to think it will never happen. There\u2019s going to be some moments where I get my fingers caught, but I\u2019ll have to get them out quickly before they get torn off.<\/p>\n

Bonham: That was a disturbing image, but I understand completely what you\u2019re saying. So I\u2019ve got to ask, is there\u2019s a scenario where you might find yourself on tour or sharing the stage with the Newsboys?<\/p>\n

Furler: You know what? You never say never. I don\u2019t know. Time will tell.<\/p>\n

Bonham: I have a better idea. You should go on tour with Tobymac and sing all of Michael Tait\u2019s parts on the dcTalk songs.<\/p>\n

Furler: I don\u2019t know if I can sing that good. He can still sing those dcTalk parts pretty good.<\/p>\n

Bonham: I\u2019ve seen Michael perform with dcTalk, Tait and the HERO rock opera tour and I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen him as energized as I did when I saw him perform with the Newsboys during the Winter Jam Tour.<\/p>\n

Furler: He\u2019s probably feeling energized in life. He\u2019s got another shot. He had a big peak with dcTalk, and the solo thing did alright. But now he has a chance to be with a group of guys and create music again. I think as a musician, you\u2019ve got to be thrilled with that. The Newsboys have a reputation and he\u2019s the one at the helm now. He\u2019s got to live up to it. We look at the past and what things were but in our industry you definitely get a second chance. In a few years time, there\u2019s going to be a lot of people that won\u2019t even know I was ever in the Newsboys. You\u2019ve got 14 and 15 year olds that will just know me as some bald dude who sings music.<\/p>\n

Check out part one of this interview by clicking HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And visit Peter Furler’s website by clicking HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends! In part two of this interview with Peter Furler, he talks about his brand new solo record On Fire, and how he plans to balance a new approach to life with the demands that come with recording contracts and national tours Bonham: You relied on several of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,70,131,120],"tags":[235,233,226,227,6,236,231,8],"class_list":["post-335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-music","category-music-feature","category-new-music-release","category-qa","tag-andy-hunter","tag-dctalk","tag-michael-tait","tag-newsboys","tag-peter-furler","tag-phil-joel","tag-steve-taylor","tag-tobymac"],"yoast_head":"\nA conversation with solo artist and former Newsboys lead singer Peter Furler (Part 2) - Whole Notes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/07\/a-conversation-with-solo-artist-and-former-newsboys-lead-singer-peter-furler-part-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A conversation with solo artist and former Newsboys lead singer Peter Furler (Part 2) - Whole Notes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click “Like” to share this with your friends! 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In part two of this interview with Peter Furler, he talks about his brand new solo record On Fire, and how he plans to balance a new approach to life with the demands that come with recording contracts and national tours Bonham: You relied on several of…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/07\/a-conversation-with-solo-artist-and-former-newsboys-lead-singer-peter-furler-part-2.html","og_site_name":"Whole Notes","article_published_time":"2011-07-29T12:00:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-07-28T21:51:35+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/07\/Peter-Furler-on-fire-cover-art-full-size-300x300.jpg"}],"author":"Chad Bonham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/07\/a-conversation-with-solo-artist-and-former-newsboys-lead-singer-peter-furler-part-2.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/07\/a-conversation-with-solo-artist-and-former-newsboys-lead-singer-peter-furler-part-2.html","name":"A conversation with solo artist and former Newsboys lead singer Peter Furler (Part 2) - Whole Notes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/07\/a-conversation-with-solo-artist-and-former-newsboys-lead-singer-peter-furler-part-2.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/07\/a-conversation-with-solo-artist-and-former-newsboys-lead-singer-peter-furler-part-2.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/07\/Peter-Furler-on-fire-cover-art-full-size-300x300.jpg","datePublished":"2011-07-29T12:00:25+00:00","dateModified":"2011-07-28T21:51:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/#\/schema\/person\/95c3e9443bb9bfa81645d8daef1193c1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/07\/a-conversation-with-solo-artist-and-former-newsboys-lead-singer-peter-furler-part-2.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/07\/a-conversation-with-solo-artist-and-former-newsboys-lead-singer-peter-furler-part-2.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/07\/a-conversation-with-solo-artist-and-former-newsboys-lead-singer-peter-furler-part-2.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/07\/Peter-Furler-on-fire-cover-art-full-size-300x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/07\/Peter-Furler-on-fire-cover-art-full-size-300x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/07\/a-conversation-with-solo-artist-and-former-newsboys-lead-singer-peter-furler-part-2.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A conversation with solo artist and former Newsboys lead singer Peter Furler (Part 2)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/","name":"Whole Notes","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/#\/schema\/person\/95c3e9443bb9bfa81645d8daef1193c1","name":"Chad Bonham","description":"Chad has been working in mass media for over 20 years. Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":344,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions\/344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}