Hawk Nelson formed as a Christian pop/punk band in Ontario,Canana in 2003.  In the last 10 years they put out 5 records on Tooth & Nail records, won several Dove Awards and have been nomiated for Grammies.  After a major line up change with original singer Jason Dunn leaving the band, Hawk Nelson is set to release their upcoming record, Made, which releases one week from today (April 2).  Their first single off the new record, "Words" has already hit #1 on Christian radio.  

Jon Steingard, lead singer/guitarist for Hawk Nelson was kind enough to take the time out for a BREATHEcast interview and talk about his new role as singer, their new album and the band's new sound.    

BREATHEcast: So Made releases 1 week from today, correct?  Bet you are so excited to just let people finally hear it.  

Jon: "It's been about a year in the making, so I'm definitely ready for it to get out there."

BREATHEcast: How long was the process of not having a singer before you decided to step in?  Did you audition other guys or did you step right into the role?

Jon: "About a year and a half ago, he(Jason) started indicating to us that he wanted to pursue a career in music outside of Hawk.  Of course, for any band when your lead singer says that, you have a a moment of "uh oh" (laughs).  It was a bit of a moment of like, ok what does this mean are we done?  would we continue with a different singer, is that something that we can even do?  It's a really hard transition to make, I know a few other bands in Christian music have done it, like Newsboys and recently Audio Adrenaline.   So we thought about it and prayed about it for awhile and then we really felt like this is still something that we would love to do and if there is anyway that there is a second chapter of this band, we want to explore that before we give up on it.  So we started talking to a couple different singers from outside the band but we never actually got around to full-on auditioning anybody.  We were talking to a couple guys that we knew, but none of the decisions felt 100% right.  We were still on the road with Jason, it was his last tour with us, we were out with Mercy Me.  Bart (lead singer of Mercy Me), he pulled me into his dressing room one day and kind of gave me the sales pitch of my life.  He was like, "I think you need to be the singer".  I had been the guitar player for almost the last 10 years and I'd obviously been a part of the band for a long time but this was a whole new thing and I wasn't sure I agreed with him to be honest.  He kinda spent time with me that day and other the course of the rest of the tour.  I felt just really encouraged and we starting talking about it, between Justin(drums) and Dan(bass) and myself and all of a sudden it started to feel like kind of an exciting option.  It kind of felt like starting a band with guys you were already in a band with.  You already have that history there and you don't have to bring someone new in.  So pretty quickly we started writing new material and rehearsing a bunch and we record the 12 we felt most strongly about.  So it was a journey man, it really was and I think for me personally it's been a process of growing into this role.  A few months ago, it kinda clicked when we were playing some shows.  It started to feel like it really felt real."

BREATHEcast: What was the one thing Bart Millard (Mercy Me) said to you and how it impacted your decision to become the singer?

Jon: "Well on a practical level he felt really strongly that our listeners would respond to someone already in the band becoming the singer and he was sure right about that.  On another level, for me, I think he saw some potential in me that I didn't really see.  That's kind of a weird experience, you know, when someone sees something in you and calls you out and say "I think you can do this" when I wasn't real confident that I could.  I was kind of a cool experience to have someone plant a seed in you and watch it grow over time."  

BREATHEcast: What was your biggest fear of switching into the lead singer role?

Jon: "I think my biggest apprehension was just the comparisons that were inevitable.  My biggest fear was somebody telling me that "you're not Jason" because how do you respond to that, I mean I'm not Jason.  Anytime I get that sense I always want to respond, "well yea, I'm not Jason".  My greatest fear was that I was gonna feel pressure to have to be like him.  When I was talking to the guys about it and they were like, what if we allow ourselves to grow into something a little bit different.  How would you feel about being the singer if we commit to the fact that you don't have to do it like Jason at all.  When I felt that freedom, that was the turning point for me.  I was like, "ok, I can do this".  It's interesting, I've seen a few early reviews of the record come in and one guy said something like, "it doesn't sound like anything Hawk Nelson has done before but it still feels like Hawk Nelson".  That's exactly what we were hoping for.  We still have the same DNA, were still a live band with lots of energy live and having tons of fun.  We love making music and kind of being a party band at shows but we also wanted to dig in a little more and go a little beyond that."

BREATHEcast: How has your view of the live shows with the band changed since becoming the lead singer?

Jon: "I think the first couple shows I was super nervous.  At that point, it was new enough that it was in my head that I was gonna walk out on stage and play music for some people that don't know there has been a change.  We are gonna take the stage and they are gonna be like, "what is this?".  Now I feel like there has been a little bit of time, our single "Words" has been on the radio and it's been amazing to hear the response from people on that and for the most part when we go to shows now, for the most part I feel like people know the Hawk Nelson that they are about to see.  That kind of puts all the fears for me at ease and also I feel like as a band we have been growing into doing some things really differently and to just take the stage and have confidence in the music that you've created and what God's been doing in our lives and let that translate into the live shows and thats been really, really fun."  

BREATHEcast: So with you being the singer and main songwriter on this new album, did that lend to the change in the more Pop/Rock sound?

Jon: "I definitely am a Pop guy.  I never really listened to a lot of punk rock, Jason was kinda the punk rock guy.  So when he left the band, a lot of that influence left with him.  A lot of my favorite bands growing up weren't punk bands but they were bands that used to be punk bands.  So I was kind of excited to steer the band in a little bit of a different direction and take the things we learned from being kind of a punk band and lets grow beyond that.  There is a cool edge that you still get to maintain if you've got that history that you can still draw on.  The pop influence definitely has a lot to do with my writing.  Also, Seth (producer) and I connected real quick and we both love pop music and that had a lot to do with it."  

BREATHEcast: How do you feel your fans are receiving the new sound so far?

Jon: "Great, I honestly expected there to be a little bit more of, well I'm not sure what I expected exactly, but I'm not sure I expected we would get so much support.  We funded our record through a Kickstarter campaign and we had so many people so supportive even though they didn't even really know what they were getting into at that point.  At shows and online, I am blown away at the level of support from our fans and thats super encouraging.  I guess part of that comes from just playing so many shows through so many years out on the road and just met so many people, I feel like we have been able to make a personal connection with a lot of people who listen to our music.  When you have that it goes beyond just buying a cd at Target or whatever and thats real special, I feel really, really grateful that we have the opportunity to connect with people like that."  

BREATHEcast: With you being the singer and with the new sound, does feel like a new band a lot of the time?

Jon: "It really does.  We're drawing on our history a lot, so it's not like it's completely new but it does feel really fresh.  I actually got to hold a copy of the actual record with the artwork a few days ago for the first time and it felt like that feeling I had the first time I made a record.  It felt like that feeling of a "first" of something, ya know.  So it's been real fun.  I'm not sure I anticipated being able to have those feelings again."  

BREATHEcast: So this is your first record not on Tooth & Nail.  Tell me about that transition?

Jon: "We are on Fair Trade now.  We had a deal with Tooth & Nail for 5 albums and we put out 5 albums, so our contract was up.  It's not like we departed on weird terms or anything like that.  We just had a deal for a certain amount of records and a certain amount of time and we had fulfilled that.  It was kinda provident that it all happened at the same time, so it felt like we were really for a little bit of a clean slate and to start over in a few areas, so those were a few changes we decided to make." 

BREATHEcast: What guitars are you using right now?

Jon: "Right now I've got a 62' Japanese re-issue tele, it's a red one.  I've got a early 90's standard black les paul, it's a little heavy to lug around on stage sometimes (laughs)." 

BREATHEcast: So whats next touring wise?

Jon: "Few one off shows in the spring, Festivals in the summer and fall we are going out with Building 429 and The Afters."

BREATHEcast: So how stoked are you guys with how good your new single, "Words" is doing?

Jon: "Dude, we were pretty overwhelmed.  It's connected at radio better then anything we have ever done.  It's #1 at CHR right now, in Australia it's been #1 for 7 weeks.  Not that I judge whether we are doing the right thing by the radio charts, but it's kind of a small confirmation, we prayed "God, if you want us to do this open the doors and we'll step through" and He did."