1. (keith from Indieheaven) For the music fans who aren't familiar with your music, how'd you get started?

Wow, that is quite a while ago-lol Long before singing, I was involved with alot of street outreach ministry. I actually got my start if you can believe it in rap music and did that for over 10 yrs. That was definitely the foundation behind what I do today. It was those years of touring here and there where I learned about the concert goer and music listener. During this time, I started leading worship at my home church. After several years of that, God put on my heart to start a worship band. Started the band Kerygma and have continued to write since then. First concert was October of '94...its been quite a journey up to this point chock full of changes:-)

2. (keith from Indieheaven) Before this, you sang in the band Kerygma. Now you have a new single of your own that was just released called Shielded. Tell us about that and how it came to be.

Singing in Kerygma was an awesome experience and very much opened the doors to what I am doing now with my music. Great band and Good times! Bill Willey is my writing partner and played guitar in Kerygma. After our album Enter In, I had the burn to start writing again and yrs before, had met producer Steve E. Williams at our church men's group. Steve and I kept in contact and hung out for coffee every now and then. I had a new direction I was being driven to musically and decided to share it with him one night over coffee.<.p>

At this point, I had no idea who would produce the song, but because of Steve's music background, I found a great place of accountability and mentoring that I was drawn to. We just got along really well and it was a great fit. Total God thing! I was looking at a few producers at the time and was actually planning on heading out to Nashville to do a radio single, but had in my head that I wanted Steve's team to mix and master because I really liked what I had heard from his recent projects. Bill and I both did.

After looking some things over and God just putting it together, it turned out that I would have Steve produce the song since he was already going to finish what I would record elsewhere. Again, total God thing:-) He encouraged me to talk with Bill and see if he wanted to continue to write for this new project which would be pretty much night and day from our band. Since Bill and I had a history of writing together, Steve felt it was a great start. Bill just loves to write and create. He loves to play and he loves to worship. He was really excited about Steve producing the song and also excited about the direction I wanted to go with my music, so done deal there.

We played at Spirit West Coast in Del Mar a few yrs back and caught Tenth Ave North on the Main after we played our set earlier with Kerygma. I really enjoyed the dynamic in their music and the space and intimacy it created for the listener. I am all about dynamics in music. I enjoy when something is soft and intimate and then it gets big and powerful when it needs to be. Then, it goes back to small and intimate...LOVE that! That's where the anointing moves on the bystander or listener. Bill looked over at me that day and said I could see you doing something similar to that with this new season we are writing for.

Many influences came after that, but that was kind of the start of brainstorming for the single. We started meeting once a week after work and putting ideas down. About this time I was just getting ideas, and we experimented alot. Put down alot of ideas and wrote about 10 songs to present. Steve heard some that he really liked and felt they would go good live when leading worship, etc. Others we tweaked notes around and changed up the melody and one of the last songs we showed him was Shielded. It did not even have a title yet and I just finished penning the verses the day before-lol Steve was immediately sold on the pre-production we came up with and said "That's your radio single". We all agreed and started to concentrate on getting it together to record. Now, its out and God is touching hearts with it. I am super Blessed by that and to me, is: mission complete!

3. (keith from Indieheaven) Your new single is called "Shielded", what is the significance of the title?

The significance of the title is the relevance of viewing God as a fortress, a covering to take shelter in...We are Shielded by His grace over our lives. Time and time again, I can think how many times in my life how the Lord was right beside me and covered me from harm. Saved me from death and all kinds of other things. Its a declaration for the listener to say "You are my God, You're my strength, and I can run to You" ..."I can hide in You"

4. Let's talk songwriting, because in my opinion, Shielded is a really good song. Tell us about the process getting there.

LONG process-lol Several re-writes, a key change, and alot of rework of the melody. Bill and I had our original pre-production and cut a scratch vocal as a guide for the final pre-production. Then it started getting really produced by adding drum programming and some key parts. We created a mock-up for the studio to draw from before even going in to record. That was just the music part of course. Separate from that, I made a huge change in the way I sing. I worked with my coach to find THE SOUND. For years I sang in a band and had a very different singing style. Lol, at first, I was very uncomfortable. I was really stretched. I now look back and totally thank God for the change. Got a long way to go, but Shielded is a nice start. Yeah, Bill and I really grew writing this song and learned a great deal from working with Steve, who has written songs for more than 25 yrs along with his wife Susie Williams. Long process...Great team:-)

5. (keith from Indieheaven) It's obvious you put a great deal of resources and effort into your music What are your expectations and goals for your music?

I saw the singles model has really become the norm, so I moved forward with the vision and the resources I had in front of me. In writing and producing the song, we produced it specifically for Christian radio and had hopes that a few stations would pick it up and that it would open doors to minister at more churches, etc. To create more opportunity to reach out to people in a live concert setting. Not sure what God's plans are for it, but it far surpassed any of our expectations...I cannot tell you how Blessed I am at the response from people touched at even its most preliminary stage, reaching just friends and family! It has been a HUGE Blessing.

It has gone beyond my expectations though in that it got picked up for 2 seperate radio campaigns. Dave Koch with CRW is servicing the song to radio and I am really excited to see what happens with it! In April or May, Mark Giles will pick up the 2nd tier of radio and promote it forward from there. Mark has broken alot of big songs at radio and it is a true Blessing that he will be representing Shielded later this Summer! Seperate from radio, we will be filming an awesome music video for the song in the coming months too. I am really excited about that also. I am just hoping to encourage people with the song and have more opportunities to get out and play live. The step of faith has proven fruitful, so we are now moving forward with recording a 5 song EP. Keith, thanks for connecting me to Mark!

6. (keith from Indieheaven) You mentioned that you have a TEAM…tell us about that TEAM God has Blessed you with.

Well first, I mentioned Bill Willey. Bill is my music director and works with all the live musicians that play out with me. We rotate alot of musicians and I am Blessed to have alot of great guys on my team. Bill is also my writing partner and we do all pre-production together. We bounce melody ideas off one another, but I am the lyrics guy, always have been. I have a great vocal coach and next is my producer Steve E Williams and his team of people. This team consists of studio musicians, engineer, and mastering engineer. It is a good time proven mix of people that works to create the sound that is where I am at right now...A great place to be:-)

Shielded has caught the ears of alot of new listeners...Family members, coworkers, and friends that are being encouraged by the song. To me, that means the world because it proves to me that it is something that is relevant to take hold of for their own lives. I wrote the song in a very blanket statement context so that the listener could say..."Hey, yeah, I can remember how God covered me here, and there" That IS taking place in the feedback, so that makes me happy to encourage not only the body of Christ, but anybody who hears the song.

Well, I go WAY back with Christian music which always patterned mainstream anyway as it model. It has changed alot. I remember years back, it was not a big deal to be signed to a label unless the label had distro. Now, distro does not mean a whole lot without marketing and a strong following. Meaning, distro means hard copy product in stores. If you do not have a big enough following, etc, that kind of distro will do you no good really. It used to do some good, because people would go into the book stores and listen to your cd and maybe buy it, Now everything is online. How many people go and buy physical cds anymore? Even a whole cd? People just buy the songs they want. Now, distro does not mean anything in my opinion...For the artist, it is alot harder.

No more signing bonuses and big recording budgets. Those days are pretty much gone. Artist's have to really get out there and do it all. No more label development of an artist. They are looking for someone that already had all their ducks in a row and then some. That's why I thank God for IndieHeaven because it gives us so much insight to how things are going in music. We can draw and glean from one another and encourage each other to make EXCELLENT ART. Also, no more GMA for the time being...be interesting to see how things go for the future.

9. (keith from Indieheaven) What music is in your car right now?

Ummm....New Phil Wickham, Klaus of Gateway, Steve Fee, and some new Coldplay my buddy burned me!

9. (keith from Indieheaven) Any final thoughts?

I want to thank everyone out there that has prayed for me over the years and encouraged me. Your prayers have kept me going! I also want to thank IndieHeaven for this interview and Keith for the times of sharpening and pushing my buttons over the yrs. It pushed me to reach deep within and put out the best I can. And lastly, to my fellow artists: Create as excellent as you can with the means that you have. In the studio, take ownership of what you put down...realize that what you are putting down on tape can move hearts and change lives. So give it your best and don't settle for any less. Always remain teachable and sponge, sponge, sponge. Glean from others and grow in who God created you to be. Don't get discouraged easily...God is building character in you and will build you up to something really special for Him if you persevere. Walk in that tenacity...that's what it takes my friend. Blessings, Eddie