Click Here To Read More Interviews

A FamilyChristian.com Exclusive Interview
Watching Over Phil
Jen Abbas talks to Newsboys' Phil Joel about his new solo project—and his "couple's" project, a baby on the way.

Most albums take a matter of months to complete, at most a year or two. But for Phil Joel—best known as a member of the formidable pop band, Newsboys—Watching Over You has been 27 years in the making. The ideas and emotions contained in it are retrospective of Phil's life up to the present. The result is a solo album in the truest sense of the word because it's a story only Phil could tell. Here, Phil Joel takes some time out of his busy schedule to let us in on the making of such an album.

FamilyChristian.com: Most people know you from the Newsboys as "the one with the hair." Now that we've identified you, the big question is this: Does the release of your new album, Watching Over You, mean that you're leaving the Newsboys?

Phil: No. We all write our own music, and in the course of the last six years, I've written certain songs about circumstances in my life. They're a little too personal to be Newsboys songs. Melodically and stylistically, they could be on Newsboys records, but they're songs written from my heart about my life. Peter Furler, [Newsboys' lead singer] and I put them all together and realized that this was basically the story of my last 27 years. He produced the record, called Watching Over You. It's in some ways a retrospect on those years, right from birth up to getting married, and living on the "wrong" side of the world.

Being married and living on the wrong side of the world is an interesting mix, because you know you're in the middle of God's world, meeting the woman of your dreams, but at the same time sometimes you feel out of place because you're 10,000 miles from home. Home is nowhere on Earth. There is no earthly place that we should have huge ties to. Heaven is our home, and we need to be looking to that.

There are personal experiences on this record that in some ways have become an audio diary. That's not to say there aren't songs that I hope are smash hits, but it is in some ways a story. I like stories, and kids like to hear stories and learn from others' examples and experiences rather than [being told] how to think. It's good to see how other people react and how God works in other people's lives. There are things I've gone through that people can relate to; it's nice to have a real person you can connect that experience to.

FamilyChristian.com: How else are these songs different from the ones you've written for Newsboys?

Phil: Naturally, there's a link and a similarity in certain elements and in certain ways. But a lot of the songwriting on this record is born from an indigenous New Zealand sound and approach to songwriting. In New Zealand, you only have 3 million people. If you're going to write a song, you're going to write a song from your heart and from a place that you feel that God wants you to write. You write out of a pure motive, because there's no chance in a country of 3 million people for you to have a smash pop hit. So you write out of honesty and a need to connect with other human beings in a musical sense. That's the approach I've taken on this record.

FamilyChristian.com: What's your favorite song on the album?

Phil: Well, they're all my children. It would be like picking a favorite son or daughter. Each song is either about a landmark time or a defining moment in my life, or something that changed me. The title track, "God Is Watching Over You," is something of a summary of what the record's about. I look back and realize through the ups and the downs and the bumps and the hills and the craziness and the good times, God was watching over me and directing my path.

I made a commitment to Christ when I was 8 years old, and my identity comes from who I am in Christ and not from who I am in the Newsboys or who I am on stage. I couldn't have made this record until now. There are songs that I began to write seven years ago and was not able to finish until recently, because God didn't reveal what I needed to know. Sometimes He withholds knowledge and experiences and revelations from us for our own good.

There's one song, called "Fragile," about a time when someone near and dear to me told me of their terminal illness. I don't understand pain and suffering very well yet. I wrestle with that. But I do know that God has it under control, and He knows why we have to go through these things. My hope is in Jesus, not in my knowledge or in my finite ideas of how things function. There's vulnerability in that; it's important to be vulnerable with one another in our weaknesses. Not only do we need to share our strengths and our joys; we need to share our weaknesses and our sorrows. That's what the body is about: leaning on one another and understanding one another's pains and sorrows as much as we understand our joys.

FamilyChristian.com: What is God teaching you and your wife now?

Watching Over You by Phil Joel

Jen Abbas, a writer in Grand Rapids, Mich., originally conducted this interview for Family Christian Stores' All Access music catalog.

Back To Top

Click Here To Read More Interviews

Corporate Informations:
About Family Christian Stores® |  Jobs
Information / Official Logos For Business Partners / Suppliers

© 2008 Family Christian Stores®, Inc.