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Here is another Interview with Hawk Nelson!!! But as I was reading it I realized how much people judge these guys!! Goodness Jason was right about how God looks at the heart not weather you have piercings everywhere (although my parents would kill me if I had piercings anywhere, but my ears)!!! This is also for Christanity Today!!!

Are you guys getting tired at all, or is it still fun and fresh running around so much?
Jason Dunn: Like anything, it's your life, career and job, but at the same time, it's been our dream since we were kids and we're all super passionate. There are days when you want to bite each other's heads off, but for the most part it's amazing. I got tired of looking out our van window seeing highways, which can really make you loopy, but now that we have a bus, that's calmed us down a bit, and I could do this full on for another 10 years. You do get tired, but doing this as a job is a dream come true.

How did you find time to write being gone so much on the road?
Dunn: A lot of writing on this record came from hearing kids' stories on the road. Kids come up and share their problems—dealing with suicide, depression, parents that aren't together, a boyfriend who dumped them, a girlfriend they've broken up with. One girl was showing me the cuts in her wrist and had me look at the scars, but what do I do with something like that? What should I say? It leaves you speechless because you don't want to say the wrong thing.

So how do you respond in that kind of stressful situation?
Dunn: I've been reading books and checking websites on the issue of suicide, looking for information that can be helpful to people. For some reason, kids aren't going to parents, teachers and even best friends, because they feel mistrust. But for some reason they'll go to a guy in a band they don't know and pour their heart out.
In Cleveland a girl came out, grabbed me and wouldn't let go. She told me that a week ago her best friend was in a car accident, and the passenger was killed instantly. Now she's a wreck and so she's suicidal. This girl said, "If [her friend] kills herself, I know I will next." It's so scary because we know kids have such a calling on their lives, and they don't realize it. They need to know their passion could be the next biggest thing in the world; their passion to help people could cure cancer. If they leave the world today, they are missing their purpose and reason to be here.

Do you feel your lyrics on Smile point people to that hope even if they don't overtly address spiritual themes?
Dunn: Secular kids are way more open to it. Christian audiences are looking for certain things in songs, like the name of Jesus repeated, and when they don't hear that, they think we're giving a bad impression: "I thought these guys were a Christian band!" That really hurts, and I've heard it more times than not, even with the way we look.
A woman kind of freaked out a couple weeks ago and asked, "Have you been baptized by fire and the Holy Ghost?" as she's all shaking and staring at me. And I said, "Yes ma'am, I have." And she asked, "Why do you have that [piercing] in your mouth?" "Ma'am, are you offended by this?" "I'm not offended, but I think God is offended." So I was like, "No ma'am. I don't know what your Bible says, but my Jesus looks at my heart!"
A lot of people are offended by our music because it doesn't have "Jesus Christ is our savior" in the lyrics. But I think to a non-believer, our words are obviously reflected toward Christ, and they can go, "Oh, this is a Christian band."

But Christians have their doubts about that?
Dunn: I got four e-mails recently; three in a row were from Christians saying, "I thought you were Christian band, but I didn't hear one word about Jesus [on the new record]." The fourth kid, who had never heard of us before, saw us play in L.A. and said he knew there was something different about us. He wrote, "Your music and your song ["Zero"] have changed my life." Some people are so full of religion that they're offended by us, and I'm okay with that, as long as lives are being changed. That's what's important to me.

So, how do you keep all that stuff from getting you down?
Jonathan Steingard: We're in this position where we're not able to please everyone, and at some point we had to accept that. We have to be responsible in our relationship with Christ and the way we live our lives. The four of us together are responsible for how this band comes across and we have goals and things we want to accomplish. We're not perfect, but we try the best we can, and God honors our efforts. We've taken the gifts he's given, and use them for his glory.
Daniel Biro: There are way more people who are supportive, which is why we've seen so much success. People have been great and receptive.

What has a show like American Dreams done to build up your fan base?
Dunn: I never really felt that it did much. I didn't think of it as a huge deal, but maybe things came out of that we didn't know about. As a whole, it was a cool thing and it certainly looks good on a resume.

How about being involved with Winter Jam?
Biro: It was a huge Christian tour with NewSong, Newsboys, tobyMac, and we didn't know what to expect. But we went out four days a week and it was amazing. It was so encouraging from a professional, spiritual and fun point of view.

What would be your dream tour?
Biro: It would be cool to go out with Building 429 and Kutless. I also want to tour the world globally—to see Japan, the U.K. and all the cool places outside North America.
Steingard: I'm attached to Audio Adrenaline. We toured with them last year, but they're calling it quits this year. We really love hanging with them and want to play as many shows as we can with them this year. Christian music is going to miss them.
Biro: I hope they give us their bus and pass everything down to us!

Visit our site's artist page to learn more about Hawk Nelson, and click here to read our review of their latest album, Smile, It's the End of the World. To listen to sound clips and buy their music, please visit Christianbook.com.