WE ARE MESSENGERS:
TELLING A NEW STORY To AUSTRALIA

A: So Darren, we are looking forward to welcoming you and We Are Messengers back to Australia. What are you looking forward to see again?

D: Honestly, it's the people. As an artist who travels the world, Australia and New Zealand are really hard to get to. They don't make any sense from a business or a financial point of view whatsoever. But for us, there are things we do as a band that are real passion projects. Things that we love and we just take the hit from them. Australia is one of those hits we are willing to take because we have such a fondness for the Aussies. 

They are very similar to the Irish, you know. They're a little bit rough, a little bit rowdy and they're straightforward in that you're never guessing what they're thinking. So it's really good to be able to have hard conversations about Jesus. So yeah, I'm most looking forward to coming back and being with Aussie people again. 

Oh, and I'll tell you, that you also make really good coffee! There's a bunch of guys in the band from America and they're mad for Australian cortados for some reason. So they're all excited about that. But I just can't wait to be with the people. After all these years, I don't love places. I love people. 

A: Yes, we're very excited to have you. I've also heard that you've got some new songs you might be sharing with us before anyone else? 

D: Yes, we absolutely will. We just finished a new studio album with our record label releasing the first songs end of January, (although) it'll take nine months before the album comes out. We really wanted to push something through for Australia, and so at the end of December, Australian radio will be able to hear our very first single from the new album - before anyone else in the world!

So we're going to play a bunch of new songs at the Aussie shows. Because why not? You know what I mean? I think the Aussies deserve it!

A: Maybe we're a tough audience. It could be like, 'Let's hear if the Australians get it all right, and then can take it the rest of the world.'

D: On that, I just love new things, you know. Sometimes Christians get into the habit of telling old stories about themselves. But in my experience, God is continually doing something new in my life and in our lives. So I love telling new stories. I don't want to be one of those geezers who's always telling stories from his glory days. You know?

As far as I'm concerned the glory days are today and so we've got songs for today, and songs from yesterday - and we'll play them all.

A: Talking about the past, you've come from Ireland, then gone to Nashville. We've been talking how Ireland and Australia are similar in some ways. Like Ireland, Australia is also on the other side of the world, and you see many of our Christian artists, if they want to do something big, they often go to Nashville aka For King and Country, Taya, and many others. 

Having this similar background in going to the US from a small country,  can you share a little bit about that journey, and perhaps give some advice? How do you still relate back home in Ireland after going offshore? 

D: It's a strange thing because I never wanted to be a successful Christian artist. 

I've played music all my life, and when God rescued me, 18 or 19 years ago, I didn't want to play music ever again. I sold all my guitars because I had done a lot of terrible things in my life, but God kept open the doors to singing and communicating. We just said yes to those (doors), and eventually we got offered the record deal in 2014 out in Nashville with Warner Brothers.  We turned it down though, because I love my life, I love the local church, and I love living out in the country. I'm a bit of a hermit and so the idea of performing for thousands of people every night all over the world wasn't what I was after. 

But God made it clear that's what I was to do. So now we write songs to tell people that life is messy and hard and brutal, but that God is present in that with us. We try and communicate the truth of the gospel, and that's what led us to America. 

Then, a few years ago, we decided we wanted to move home to be with our families, to be a part of the local church, and to live really ordinary lives. So I kind of have this split life in that I travel the world, play these songs for thousands of people every night, millions and millions of people have heard and streamed and bought the records, and all, but at home I'm just the son of Frank and Carmel. I'm another guy that goes to church, I'm a daddy and a husband. That's where my real ministry takes place. 

I look through a very ordinary perspective at my life, because God is glorified not by what I do on stage, but by what I do off stage. The stage then becomes an extension of that. So our shows are joyful and rowdy, and challenging and comforting because that's what happens off stage too. 

I think that move (to the US) culturally can be really difficult. A lot of Aussies come over to Nashville and they stick it out, and they actually learned to love it, but I never did.  I'm an Irishman. My identity is found in that. 

On that, this is our second time coming to tour Down Under. Last time we had our friend Nathan Tasker open, and Nathan's going to do that again. This time I wanted to go a step further and invite local Aussie artists to open the show because I don't want to just be another foreign artist coming Down Under, playing shows and not caring about the Aussie Christian scene. 

So we're going to have guys like Ethan Beer and Tekoa and Tenielle Neda opening for us. I'm really excited about that because they're extremely talented, and they need platforms. They need an audience to hear their music and hopefully we can help provide it. I want to be part of building something Down Under for your local guys and girls too.

A: We really appreciate it and it's a big thing having those opening acts. Here in Australia, our Christian music scene essentially died maybe 10 or so years ago, but there's a few of us just pushing to bring it back. Now we're starting to see the grassroots appear, and I think international groups like yours coming helps keep that momentum alive. 

D: So truthfully there's been other guys who have come from America and they find that it's just too hard, so they just don't come back to Australia. 

But we have committed. We have said if we're going to come, we're going to do this every 18 months or every two years. We are going to really play a part in helping to build something and we're trying to keep our word. So I would encourage people to come buy tickets, because if you want to build something it has to be sustainable, but right now it is not sustainable for anyone to tour with Christian music in Australia, but we want to be a part of helping that to happen. 

So make no mistake about it. We Are Messengers are not coming Down Under to make money. We're losing a fortune. But we're coming Down Under because we love the people. There's a really sweet audience there who love our music, and we want to build something that helps Australians be self-sufficient in sharing their faith through music.