Third Day’s latest offering to fans is simply titled
"Time."
It’s next CD, tentatively titled "Offering," has been years
in the making but it appears to be arriving at the right time.
"We just finished a worship record about three weeks ago,"
says Tai Anderson, the group’s 23-year-old bass player from Woodstock,
Ga. However, Anderson says the project is something more than merely
producing a praise and worship record at a time when that musical style’s
popularity is at an all-time high.
"It’s gonna be just a normal CD, but then we’re gonna put out
like a tab book," Anderson says in a recent telephone interview from
Kalamazoo, Mich., one stop on a 50-city tour. He explains that the band
receives "tons" of requests for "tabs." A
"tab," or tabulature, is a way of writing music for stringed
instruments and is helpful when bands – in this case, praise and worship
bands – are wanting to learn songs. "Offering," due to be
released July 11, would put all of the requested songs, plus new ones, in
one CD and a tab book.
"We’re sort of working on that now, but it’s something we are
determined to do," Anderson says. "We’ve always wanted to and
had some trouble with the record company side. So, we’re gonna make sure
it comes out at least from our Web site or at our concert. We get so many
requests for those songs on tab; I think that way we it kind of gets all
of them in one nice package."
"Your Love, Oh Lord," from Third Day’s newest release
"Time" and penned by frontman Mac Powell, is one of the songs to
be included on the worship project.
Anderson recalls that when Powell introduced the song "strumming
the acoustic," it left on the band the perception of being a routine
praise and worship song. "Like, every worship song you hear these
days is some guy on a Taylor starting off on acoustic, strumming.
"We’ve always had worshipful stuff as part of our CDs," he
said, and the band decided that "Your Love, Oh Lord" would have
to be "different" from the current market offerings.
"We kind of went with a more ethereal vibe, kind of starting with
the more tribal drums, and just built it that way," he says.
"The guitar solo is actually a backwards solo. He recorded it
backwards and they flipped the tape and so it gives it this really spacey
feel."
It was different, indeed, and it’s been a hit.
"It’s kind of neat for us, ’cause a lot of churches are doing
that song as part of their services now," Anderson says.
The other worship-style cuts from previous Third Day CDs include
"My Hope is You" and "Consuming Fire, from "Conspiracy
No. 5"; "Love Song," "Thief" and "Consuming
Fire," from their self-titled first album; and "Agnus Dei,"
from Rocketown’s "Exodus."
While the band had been discussing and actually working on the project
for about two years, Essential Records was hesitant to go along with a
worship record.
"In a way they sort of know it’s gonna be a big seller, because
it’s incredibly popular right now. But they don’t want it to be
perceived that we’re sort of jumping on a Delirious or Sonic Flood kind
of bandwagon by doing this," Anderson says. "Our sort of saving
grace is these are original songs; these are songs that we’ve been doing
for seven years. I think we have a good defense on that point."
Anderson describes the new songs included in "Offerings" as
"more mellow," "’60s-like Byrdish," with a
"laid-back kind of feel."
"We’re just sort of putting it out there and it does what it
does," he says, noting that there is a "core group of fans"
who are demanding such a work.
"I’ve Always Loved You," another popular track on
"Time," has that laid-back feel to it … and for good reason.
"Mac wrote that song and he wrote it on the acoustic, which is
kind of the base of the song," Anderson recalls. "He played it
for us and we were all just of like, ‘OK, that’s it. We’ve gotta
start the record with that; that’s the best we have.
"In taping with it, we tried to basically just not mess it up. You
know, we work things out with a lot of songs in pre-production. We didn’t
touch that song," he says.
When the band hit the studio, the song "kind of took flavor …
hinting at that just real American and that real southern edge."
The steel guitar was added for one more touch of flavor.
"Something a lot of people miss if they’re not listening for
it," Anderson notes. "But when you hear it, you’re just like,
‘Man, that’s really tasty.’"
For its fans, Third Day’s betting that "Offerings" will be
just as sweet.
