I am in Paris walking across the Place Vendome eating my breakfast, an almond croissant, when I hear the sonaric ping from my phone indicating that there is a new message waiting for me. Not many people know I am here and so I reach for the phone to see who it could be, layering my chest pocket with powdered sugar and almond slivers. The message is from Peter and so I spin the wheel on my Blackberry and begin to read.  

“Habibi, howareya, whereareya mate?” “I have been working in the studio with the lads. Do you want to come over and hear some new music?

There is more to read but I look up just in time to avoid being run over by a Phantom leaving the Ritz. You remember the Ritz Hotel, the spinning door, princess Diana, Habibi finding the newsboys after Morocco, HR episode Nr.2 right?

  

“I would really love for you to hear the new music. If you want to hear it, get over here quick cause we’re headed out for a couple of shows this weekend. Over!” That’s it! I have just been invited to the eagle’s nest to hear the music in the factory! There is a smile on my face like Napoleon finding what ever it was he was looking for in his jacket…  

I settle into my people-watching seat at the Café De Flure, front row of course, one of the best views in Paris, and order a cappuccino to keep me company while I wait in queue on the phone to book a flight home. My thoughts slide across the table as I remember the incredible times hanging out with my favorite band in the city of lights several episodes ago. I must get to the studio before they leave. I grab my gear and run for the airport.

  

My plane lands in Nashville in the midst of a snowstorm and I call Peter to see if I can swing by on my way home from the airport. I wait but there is no reply. Could they have left on tour during the time it took Francois to find my flight home? Ping! Yes, it’s Peter! “Sorry for the delay, couldn’t hear the phone over the guitars in the studio.” And then the confirmation I was praying for, “Come on”, Newsboys code for hurry up!  

Peter answers the door, dressed in black, and that Aussie grin he has that says he has been having a lot of fun! The house is at least 80 degrees warmer then outside, keeping the seasonal differences accurate with those down under. We work our way up the stairs, down the hall, and to another staircase, to the left a bit and then into the studio. I am trusting you with these directions to the studio…

When you enter the studio you are actually entering Newsland! A quick panoramic glance around the room will both reveal and intrigue. I start on the right side of the room taking in every detail of the factory as if to duplicate the masterpiece somewhere in the East Bloc. There are couches and coffee tables indicating quite corners for writing surrounded by candles, microphones, and guitars, a personal favorite being the Piñata Tele-Stratocaster…

The loud side of the factory floor is sectioned off by sound canceling walls hiding a well-worn drum kit and a separate room containing a massive microphone and it’s bodyguards. I imagine that it is surrounded by a web of invisible laser beams. I peak through a crack in the microphone room wall as if I were at the wailing wall saying a prayer (I was actually thanking the Lord that the guys were still in town) and notice Jeff at the computer working harder then a line of judges at the Olympics.

  

  

  

“Oi Habibi, we’re over here mate!” Peter shouts as I brace the mic room wall from falling over.  

I turn the corner and am now standing at the core of the reactor. There is a couch with a coffee cup on top of a notepad on top of an open Bible with a lot of yellow highlights. Jeff greets me with a smile and a firm motor city handshake. I attempt to sit on the couch and am stopped mid descent. “Oh no Habibi, you sit here!” Jeff says as he gives me his seat at the computer “Yeah Mate, we want you to take it all in from the best seat in the house”, Peter says with the grin that has lead us up from the front door! I don’t know if anyone else other then Peter, Duncan, Jeff and Paul have heard what I am about to hear!

  

I am now surrounded by what looks like the cockpit of the space shuttle. I notice, and this is just between you and Habibi…(wink, wink)… that there is a tricked out Mac running Logic in overdrive, an Access Virus Ti keyboard blinking like a time bomb on its final countdown seconds, an Empirical Labs processor, an M-Audio controller, two iPhones, and a Mackie Big Knob controlling everything including the microwave in the kitchen and the air freshener in the studio lavatory. I have secretly recorded these details for you in my photographic memory, too bad I have reached the end of the roll or I could have shared more…  

  

  

  

I am sitting on a spinning leather command chair with Peter on one side and Jeff on the other. I tell myself if anyone starts speaking Cyrillic I am running for the door. I expect to be blindfolded but instead Peter suggests one of the 17 or so working titles to listen to first.

Like the amazing genius mad scientist that Jeff is, he works the dial on the Mackie, then flips a couple switches on the diesel generator under the desk, thus igniting the amps and bringing the factory to life. I am hit with a sonic tsunami that blows my chair back several inches passing Peter and Jeff on my way back to the rack of guitars on the opposite wall, and the Vocorder, a Habibi personal favorite as you know!

  

I sit in the command chair listening to song after song of the new album. Some of what I am hearing will go on to become the next Newsboys hits, our new favorites, the others will get shelved for later projects, maturing as they develop. All selected and perfected songs must fit together to make a complete album. So far I am loving every track. I sit for over an hour taking in this amazing overdose. None of the tracks have vocals recorded yet, and so from time to time, Peter will sing a part here or there as we follow the white curser as it works its way through the layers of the new songs.

  

I ask for titles to some of my favorites, Peter replies with names like “No Grave”, and “Your Everywhere Like the Television”. Jeff reminds me that these are just working titles and that everything I hear is subject to fine-tuning or complete “Meto-newso-morphisis” by the time I wake up from this coma!  

It is impossible to describe sounds with words, and so I will tread lightly here as to save the beauty of the art for your first listen sometime towards the end of October. It will be a long spring and summer waiting for the fall and the release of what I consider to be the Newsboys best album ever!

I can tell you that there are songs that just rock, like what the lads are calling “No Grave” for the moment, full of the Paul and Peter guitars that we have come to love. There are songs that bounce with an old school party flavor sprinkled with a bit of modern Euro electro like “Rise” (a personal favorite from the future). Imagine Duncan on an electronic drum kit hundreds of feet above the audience, party time in the arena! There are even songs that have a bit of Reggae mixed in with the rock. The song “Glorious” I think will become a new worship classic as soon as you hear it, smooth and mature, blended with all the melody and emotion that make up the Newsboys irresistable sound. I have now taken a guitar cord and secured myself to the chair, my glasses are vibrating on my nose from the sonic high altitude at which the boys fly, and I am loving it!

Jeff helps me move from the command chair to the couch as I have lost control of the muscle tissue in my legs due to the wall of sound I have been hit with over and over, and enjoyed each time. My thoughts turn to the message of the album, the theme that is developing even as my kneecaps are resettling into their sockets. Peter can read my mind and the conversation moves in this direction, Jeff shuts the generators down so we can hear ourselves.

Peter tells me that they are sworn to secrecy when it comes to the actual album title. The title, should the Lord terry, comes from the idea of living our lives as Christians and the struggles and blessings that we all go through, a life of fighting the good fight. I notice that there is a card on one of the tables in the studio with Hebrews 12:14 (niv) on it. This scripture plus the highlighted ones under the coffee cup on the couch are the spiritual click track to what is developing on this project.

  

Peter also tells me that there is a lighter side to the lyrics, influences from everyday life that have made an impact on him and the lads, on and off tour, on stage and at the truck stops of life. And yes, there will be the same fun Newsboys elements that unite fans young and old, little Breakfast nuggets scattered throughout the album!

As you know, Peter has driven himself and Summer, Lady Furler, around the US for the GO tour. Actual miles would indicate somewhere in the high 40 thousand mile range, or about a mile and half past the moon in Habibi calculating. This album was born on the road, raised in the studio, and is guaranteed to rock the arena or where ever you hear it. You can trust me on that, I am still limping a bit! I can’t wait to hear the tracks as they develop into a complete work. Jeff has promised to sneak me little “sniffs” as the layers get thicker and richer.

  

Speaking of layers, icing and the such, it dawns on me that I have not seen Duncan nor Paul on this visit to the factory. Jeff catches my wondering eye as he saves the tracks we have been listening to and shuts down the multiple hard drives, securing the gold, as would a Swiss bank the night before Oktoberfest.

“Habibi, we work in shifts around here.” “Once we get the basic idea for a song sorted out we start building and adding layers, much like they did on the cake at your cousin’s wedding”. “At this moment you have heard, yet not seen, the work of our comrades who are spending time with their wives and kids.”

As Jeff makes his way to the studio door he turns and smilingly asks, “Habibi, shall I make the usual reservations for you on tour, all access passes and a top bunk on the Tour bus?”

“Please” I reply, realizing that I have just been invited to go out on the road with my favorite band! Word on the street in Newsville is that the boys are planning a live concert DVD in the near future… unconfirmed intel of course, mostly fan speculation.

I turn to say good-bye to Peter and find him deep in concentration, working on a guitar lick for one of the new songs. I will let the genius work as I know that we will all enjoy later what is being created in this moment.