Christian band headlines festival
Newsboys deliver rock
By Cathalena E. Burch
cburch@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.29.2009
When Peter Furler stepped aside as lead singer of the Newsboys last spring, it was akin to U2 losing Bono.
And when the 24-year-old Australian-born Christian rock band tapped former DC Talk frontman Michael Tait as his replacement, it was like slipping Mick Jagger into Bono's role.
But it didn't take long for the fans to warm to Tait.
"What made it easy was that back in the day if you were a Newsboys fan, you were probably a DC Talk fan," Tait explained last week. "So we shared the same fan base."
He and the band — drummer Duncan Phillips, guitarist Jody Davis and keyboardist Jeff Frankenstein — hit the road this fall in a 30-city tour to introduce the Michael Tait era. "The Way We Roll" stops at Pima County Fairgrounds on Saturday as part of Global Tribe's Reach festival. Family Life Radio is co-presenting the event in Tucson.
"It could have very easily become a big karaoke show. Instead, we've . . . actually turned the corner and we're selling out shows based on my face being in front of the band," Tait said.
Part of the success has to do with incorporating the extensive Newsboys catalog with a little bit of DC Talk. And in between the familiar, Tait is slipping in new material that will be part of his first Newsboys album, expected out in late spring.
"It's become a my/our kind of thing. It's working," the 42-year-old said, describing the upcoming album as "spectacular."
"I know God's inspiring us. It's somewhere between DC Talk and Newsboys with a mix of rock and pop and some Euro in there. It's going to be fresh that's for sure," he said.
Joining Newsboys was not as big a stretch as some might have thought, given Tait's longtime history with Christian pop music. He started the hip-hop, Christian pop trio DC Talk in 1989 with buddies Toby McKeehan and Kevin Max Smith.
The trio immediately took off, releasing five major studio albums in a career that spanned the 1990s. Four of those albums snagged Grammys for Best Rock Gospel Album of the Year; three won album of the year honors from the Dove Awards. In all, the band garnered 18 Dove Awards and racked up record sales in the millions before splitting up in 2000.
Furler, a founding member of Newsboys and its lead singer for the past dozen years, announced he was leaving last March to spend more time with his family and his songwriting. Tait said Furler will continue working with the band in the studio.
This is the second annual Reach festival, which Global Tribe Christian ministry sponsors in cooperation with local radio stations.
Last year's festival brought 15,000 to Tucson Electric Park, said Family Life's Steve Wright. The audience donated 5 tons of nonperishable foods to Gospel Rescue Mission.
Wright said organizers expect more than 20,000 to attend on Saturday —Halloween — at Pima County Fairgrounds.
Tait said the show is a family-friendly, uplifting alternative to trick-or-treating. And it's a chance for longtime Newsboys fans to witness the band's evolution.
"The response has been mostly and sometimes overwhelmingly positive," he said of the tour. "We've turned the corner where Peter's gone, and we know this. There's a black guy with hair, not Australian, fronting the band. We know this. We've done shows and they're going quite well."
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