the starfield blog

Excited and nervous about the “make-up” concerts this weekend in Burnaby and Abbotsford.  It’s a strange thing to feel that a tour is done, and then pick it up again a few weeks later.  Yet these gigs of course carry special significance for us as a band, being the 2 that were post-poned due to the incident in Abbotsford. 

Should be a couple of emotionally charged evenings, especially Abbotsford which will include a few testimonies from people who attended the concert as well as a time of response and prayer. My hope and prayer is that all those who attend this weekend will come in expectation. Expectant that God will heal and restore his people, and encourage and unify the body of Christ. I am humbled that we get the chance to press on.  In unity and surrender before our Great God, who has our lives in the palm of his hand.  

I might add, it’s an extra perk for me, that I’ll be sleeping in my own bed after both concerts this weekend.  I wish all our concerts were this close to home.   - Jon.  

Finding balance in a line of work such as ours requires constant fine tuning of ones self.  Boarding a plane every weekend or living on a bus with 12 other people for months at a time requires some getting used to.  Having only been with Starfield for a few months, I am considered the rookie when it comes to life on the road.  Learning the ropes has been a challenge that I have welcomed with open arms.  The cons? 4:00 am lobby calls and 3 planes in one day. The Pros?  Traveling the world and playing music with 3 of my closest friends.

I had the amazing opportunity to visit Memphis TN, a few weeks ago.  This was something that I had been looking forward to for a some time.  The city of Memphis has within it two things very close to my heart:

The first - The Lorraine Motel

This was the motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.  He was shot outside room 603 on the second floor around 6:00 PM (Yes, Bono made a mistake) on April 4th 1968.  To stand and observe where this great man fell shook me to my core.  His death was only the beginning of his victory.

The second -  Sun Studios, the very birthplace of Rock n Roll. 

My excitement became more and more evident by the smile on my face as I entered the very room where some of my biggest musical influences created some of their greatest masterpieces.  Johnny Cash - Walk The Line, U2 - Rattle & Hum or Elvis Presley - That’s All Right, take your pic. 

If your travels ever lead you to the city of Memphis, make sure to check out these two very remarkable pieces of American history.

David

The Microphone Elvis Presley used at Sun Studios… 

Hello all. I have been absent from the ‘blog’ thing as it has been an interesting month - one filled with much thought and reflection. Since the accident in Abbotsford, I had someone close to me pass away and the combination of the 2 has left me asking some difficult questions. I am left re-evaluating life, relationships, priorities and where God is in all of these things. In this place I feel broken and humbled, which leaves me ever dependent on God and his promise of faithfulness. This last weeknd, I had the privilege to travel with my wife to Edmonton, AB to visit family and to play with worship leader Vicky Beeching. I really appreciate Vicky’s heart as a worship leader and her message about the faithfulness of a God the same yesterday and today. He is faithful when I am not and he is merciful when I am far from it. In a time when I feel like the waves have tossed me around a bit the unchanging, loving nature of my Father gives me a sense of peace. A quote by John Piper to think about - “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him”. Right now I’m continually asking myself if I can truly say I find my worth and satisfaction in who I am as a child of God. I guess I’m just realizing that without God at the centre of every part of my life, things lose meaning…  Gordie. 

So we’re finally home.  in Abbotsford, laying low… we’ve been home only about 3 weeks so far this year and we’re at the beginning of another 3 weeks off… glorious.  As fun as the road is (and don’t get me wrong - it’s alot of fun) NOTHING beats coming home… especially to the Northwest… I can’t begin to explain how therapeutic the smells are… how calming the site of Mount Baker is… how amazing ABC perogies and farmer sausage can taste… And how energizing a walk through the trails behind the house with the dog can be.  However, that said, coming home this time was different. The last time we were here was the day after the Abbotsford stop on the ‘I will go’ tour… The day after the floor gave way…. that day was alot of things for us - but mostly - it was a  re-alignment… or maybe better put, a reckoning… to the urgency of the moment. Of all the ways that we were trying to communicate the message behind ‘i will go’ …  speaking to our generation’s ‘indifference’ to the lost and poor… talking about the blinding nature of own privilege…  singing about the illusion of our safety in North America, and our general apathy towards the things of God… NOTHING could have spoken louder to these things than the floor falling out from under us in the thick of our worship.  God revealed to those in the room (and so many more)  in a matter of seconds just how sovereign He is…. and in turn how precious, and utterly gifted to us each breath we breathe really is.  I shed alot of tears and asked alot of hard questions in the weeks following… but ‘where were you God?’ was not one of them… I know we was right there… I felt him in that room as the floor gave way…  There was that peace that passes all understanding… that gut-feeling of security in the middle of calamity - that can only come from God…  and that’s the heart of it i think… not knowing, not understanding, but still trusting, still beleiving, still persevering and still ‘holding on’ .  These are the things that shape us into kind of people God is trying to make us… If we let him.  Back in Abby, almost exactly one month later, I’m still being shaped and changed by the events of April 25th… I kindof hope i never stop being shaped by what happened… Life is too short to get comfortable with our comfort… It’s such a facade… such a thin veil.  i think that’s all i wanted to say…  sorry it’s been so long      tim. 

Feels like we’ve been in the Toronto / Jersey area alot lately… I guess we have… I’m excited to get back… truth is, I’m excited to just get back on the road… as much as we pine for home when we’re gone there’s just something about being rested and reuniting with the guys, getting back on stage with a clear head and a rested body - that feels like me doing what I was created to do. I LOVE doing what I do by the way… I’m so fulfilled to have the creative outlet that I have. So blessed, so lucky, so grateful. It’s interesting to me too - in reading the comments - at how many of you that read the blog are also musicians (aspiring or otherwise) and are dealing with many of the same issues/challenges. I think it’s cool, I’m excited about the relationship that can come of our little internet relationship.   I’m off to soundcheck -   tim. 

This past week was release week…  the time in every signed musician’s life where their value as a recording artist is reduced to the exact number of CD’s/legal digital downloads they can sell in the first week of a new record’s release. Right down to the single digits, the scans are counted and the fate of the record (and in many cases - the artists career) is cast…. Okay, i’m being a little melo-dramatic - it can be a very exciting time - but it can also be a stressful, fearful, and insecure time as well… It’s always been difficult for me to separate MY worth from the success and momentum of the band… And this unhealthy pattern is only intensified when something like release week puts a big ole’ magnifying glass on the situation. As hard as we work to establish ourselves, to write music, and lead worship from a genuine place I’d be lying if I said it was always motivated from a place of humility and surrender. Most of the time I walk on stage insecure, fearful, and intimidated… The truth is that I’m constantly having to lay down my pride, and subsequently lay down my music career, the very thing I work so hard to control and see succeed. It’s just so interesting to me how far i HAVEN’T come… All it takes is a little industry ‘under-performance’ to make me second-guess the very thing I’ve been called to!… as if God CALLS me to sell records!? He doesn’t by the way… He calls me to service. Service that’s not dependent on how I feel or how I’M being validated. At the end of the day, I don’t believe God cares much about record sales, radio chart positions, or even how many people hear my music… He cares only about my heart. About my soul. And about my Spirit. My music isn’t important to the Kingdom, only my love is.  And that’s the lesson i guess. let us not find our identity or worth or value or hope in anything but Christ.  Because only in Christ can we truly find any of those things anyway. that’s all i got for now. tim. 

I’m sitting in the “Green Room” at Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship in between sessions this weekend at their yearly event called “Fresh Wind”.  This particular room is actually green.  That happens about 5% of the time, so it’s rare, and I’m soaking it in.  Well, at least a couple of the couches are green, and one wall, but green nonetheless.  Our bodies and minds are slowly adjusting to being off of tour for the first time in almost 2 months.  It was nice to fly in and spend a night in a hotel for a change instead of a loud moving bed that occasionally bounces you off the mattress.  But, that said, I do actually sleep well on a tour bus,  maybe it’s the drone of the engine or the small confined space that does it for me.  It’s definitely not for everyone, that’s for sure.  

Anyways, like i said we’re in Toronto and it’s good to be back in Canada.  It always feels like home no matter where we’re at in this great country.  I love the people, the passion and the energy of our crowds in Canada.  I’m sure it helps that so many of them have our music, and sing along whole-heartedly to every song.  Currently I haven’t been home for almost 2 months, and I still have over a week to go as we head into release week with gigs in Tennessee and then Oregon before heading home on the 30th.  I definitely miss the cool mountain air at home in Vancouver, but more than the actual place, I just miss the peace and calm of home.  Looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, showering in my own bathroom, eating popcorn and watching movies on my own TV.  There’s something in all of us that longs for home when we’re away from it for a long time.  Something God puts in us I’m sure…For me home is a place of rejuvination.  A place where I find energy and passion to “Go”.   So I’m excited for a break…even if it is just 10 days. 

The new record comes out in 5 days!!!  So excited to have the new songs out there finally.  I’m really anxious to see how people will respond to the new record….Okay, my disjointed babbling blog is finished, I will end it here.  Thanks for hangin’ in there.  - Jon.

The “Green Room” at TACF 

There is currently much taking place these days. We are wrapping up the Vision of You Tour with Shane & Shane, Bethany Dillon & David Nasser. It has been a really good 6 weeks, but 6 weeks that I have greatly missed my wife. Home smells so sweet right about now.   We have but a week left before a month “break” - which consists of a new record coming out. “I Will Go” comes out March 25th and we are genuinely excited about it. We have been working new songs into the setlist here and there and they have met great responses. “Remain” has been found itself stuck in our 35 minute set each night.   Along with a record coming out comes many other tasks that keep people busy and working hard. We are rehearsing our full set for the “I Will Go” tour, kicking off in Canada late April. We are getting our hands dirty with set design, live visuals, lighting and much more. I have been busy with the launch of our new website, myspace & this little blog. We all hope you are enjoying the facelift. Be sure to make this blog a regular stop, as we will be updating on an regular basis.. As well, we are working hard at developing our video blog/podcast - which can be downloaded via ITunes or found at our YouTube page. 
All told, a busy season and one that we are excited to experience with you… See you soon.
Gordie.

I’m sitting in the front lounge of the tour bus with the lights down low.  It’s 7:50 on a beautiful spring evening here in Kansas.  I’ve been amazed, as of late, at how quickly the time has gone by over the last few weeks.  Something about being on a tour bus, and having the same routine every day pretty much without exception makes time fly by.  A month can go by and feel like it was a week.  Anyways, all that to say, we’ve been having an amazing time on this tour with Shane & Shane so far.  Every night before we play, the boys and I have set aside an hour or so to meet and connect with each other.  It’s been so life giving to have a time and a place every day to create and promote unity between the 4 of us, and be able to support and pray for each other.  And beyond that just have a time set aside to talk and work through the deeper things in life. We walk away from these meetings every day feeling more unified and more equipped to walk up on stage every night and lead worship in honesty and hopefully humility…We’re more aware of our own shortcomings and imperfections, and we’re more dependent on God to breathe his life through us.  If there’s anything we need to be wise to as we lead others in worship every night, it’s the fact that we are a “clanging cymbal” or a “resounding gong” without the Holy Spirit sustaining us.  The more we are dependent and reliant on God, the more he can use us, and ultimately the more effective we are as worship leaders and carriers of the truth of God’s word.  Our humanity can cripple us if we aren’t able to acknowledge our need for God.

On a less serious note, we’ve had a lot of fun as well.  So much fun being on the road with so many people for such a long time…There’s some good relationships being built and a lot of fun times…For me personally it’s been so great having my wife Jesse along with me.  We’ve spent more time together in the last month or so than we ever have…  It’s been such a gift to have her by my side so much.    6 concerts left in this leg of the tour…Then in a month, Vive La Canada!  - Jon.

Well, things are in full force now on the “Vision of you” Tour with Shane & Shane. It always seems to take 2 or 3 nights on a tour to hit a rhythm and feel like things are together. So now after a week and a half of concerts it already feels like a big happy travelling family out on the road. It is a huge honor for us to be touring with Shane & Shane, as we have respected and looked up to them as fellow worship artists with a similar passion to love and serve the church. There’s something so special about teaming with like minded people…and feeling an instant camaraderie. Currently we’re on our way to West Palm Beach but we’re running about 7 hours late. We had not 1, not 2, but 3 blown tires on the trailer this morning and we’ve been scrambling to figure out how to get our gear there. We ended up emptying half the trailer and running on 1 axle instead of 2. So far It looks like it’s gonna work out…  

Living out of a suitcase on a tour bus can be fun and exciting for a while, but without discipline and routine, can be pretty tiring and ultimately un-inspiring. We met for an hour or so the other day about structure…Scheduling out our days better, finding time for the important things like time alone, exercise, time to just hang out with each other and not have to always be stressed out working on this or that. Granted, it always (like i said) takes a few days to get into the rhythm of things, but what I’m always struck with is how no matter what season you’re in, or what your life looks like, you can always mis-manage your time. It’s a discipline to set aside time to slow down and enjoy life. I can go weeks at a time without truly slowing down and finding time to slow down my busy mind for a while…Often my times of prayer and devotion during these times are little to none. Satan wants us to be apathetic, in fact I think it’s probably his greatest achievement amongst North American culture. That we’re so busy we don’t have time to think about spiritual things, or eternity. And as Christians we fill our time so much that we forget to pray, or read the word. Anyways, I guess I’ve just been a little more aware lately of the reality of Spiritual warfare going on in the unseen world. The bible reminds us to put on the full armor of God every day, without which we are vulnerable to temptation and apathy. So, all that said, I’m gonna try to be better at finding time during every day to stop and pray, and to slow down and reflect on the important things.  - Jon.