Jesus is for Losers?

Visitors to Coffeelink on the Ipswich waterfront last Monday were treated to a special evening of music, words, and artwork, courtesy of critically acclaimed singer-songwriter, Andrew Howie, and the Link team.

 

The team got in touch with Andrew after hearing his 2009 album, ‘Jesus is for Losers’ and he agreed to help out, as he thought the whole thing sounded great – “definitely the kind of group I'd like to be a part of if there was anything like that in my area!”

 

Currently based near Inverness in Scotland, Andrew has been recording music under the pseudonym ‘Calamateur’ since 2000 and has been likened to artists as diverse as Elliott Smith, Sparklehorse, Guided by Voices, and Damien Rice. Scott Huntly caught up with Andrew as he was getting ready to release his new album, ‘Every Dirty Letter’, to ask him a few questions about his musical influences and the part his own faith plays in the creative process.

 

(Details of how his last album – ‘Jesus is for Losers’ – can be downloaded for free can be found at the bottom of the page.)

 

Musically, I love everything – from mainstream stuff like Moby, U2 and Johnny Cash to less-well-known bands and artists like Sparklehorse, Juliana Hatfield, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab for Cutie, and Aereogramme. I'd say all of them have influenced me in some way or another.

 

As is probably obvious from the title and subject matter of my last album, 'Jesus is for Losers', my faith has played a huge part in influencing the music that I make as well.

When it comes to writing songs, one of the most important things to me (other than trying not to be rubbish or boring!) is to try and be as honest as I can be. And as someone who was brought up in a Christian home, and as someone who has decided themselves to try and follow Jesus, I would be lacking integrity if this didn't come out somehow in the songwriting process.

 

 

I'm not a big fan of what is commonly known as CCM – Contemporary Christian Music. I listened to my fair share of it in my youth and – while not all of it is bad – it doesn't, for the most part, really say anything to me about my life. If you read the teachings of Jesus they most definitely can, and do, relate to everyday life though and, having found songs about Jesus that did mean something to me (and having written some myself), I decided to gather them together and put them out as an album.

I'm not trying to preach or evangelise to anyone. It's more about me trying to make sense of my own life and the faith I was brought up with. I think it's important to question whatever belief system we've been taught, and writing and recording these songs was part of the process of me doing that with my own inherited beliefs.

 

 

'Jesus is for Losers' is a song written by Steve Taylor, a musician/songwriter from the States who put out a lot of good music as part of the CCM scene in the 80s and 90s. He was a bit of a loose cannon as far as I can tell, and he got into a lot of trouble from Christians with that song, and others he wrote. It seems some people have trouble not judging a song by its title alone.

It's one of those songs that I wish I had written. The lyrics are just incredible, touching on issues such as failure, pride, ambition and compromise. It also cuts through the crap to tell the Gospel as I think it truly should be.

 

I hope they just enjoy it as music in its own right for a start. If it becomes a part of the soundtrack to someone's life, then that's enough for me.

If I was to hope for more than that then it would be that it humanises Jesus in some way. The church often over-emphasises the divinity of Jesus which I don't think helps us to understand the ways in which he shared our broken-ness and weaknesses. The film 'The Last Temptation of Christ', which got such a hard time from Christians, did an amazing job of portraying Jesus as being as fragile as we are.

 

Christians believe in a God who is the most creative being there is. And we are supposed to believe that he has made each of us to be unique human beings, created in his image. So by default we are creative beings as well.

 

The problem I have with a lot of music in the CCM scene is that it is derivative, uncreative, and dull, which is wholly unrepresentative of the God we claim to worship. There are plenty of exceptions of course, and I think you'll find that there are huge numbers of musicians who would lay claim to having some kind of faith in God who are making incredible music too, but who would never in a million years call themselves 'Christian artists' or lump themselves in with the 'worship music' or 'Christian music' scene. It's these people who inspire me the most.

 

 

I have a brand new album all finished which I hope to put out in the next few months. I've written all the songs myself this time (no covers!) and I think it's the best music I've ever made. I feel I can say that with no hint of pride, as so many other amazingly talented musicians were involved in its making.

 

Anyone interested can keep up with me on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace etc.

 

With the release of my new album, I'm hoping to play live a lot more than I have been so you never know! It would be great to play there but it's pretty far away from where I am at the moment. Never say never though!