Life In Your Way| “‘What’s To Come’ …Not ‘What Once Was’”
remember driving an hour and a half from my small town existence to a dingy venue in Portland, Oregon to stand against the stage and belt the lyrics of “Salty Grave” as Life In Your Way performed it as an opener to The Chariot. And I remember Josh Kellam coming up to me and a couple buddies after the set and thanking us for singing along. I could only think, “Man, this is one of the nicest guys I have ever met!” I assured him their next time in town there would be twice as many chanting along. Little did I know that it would be their last trip through, but little did I know that it wouldn’t. Their current bio reads “We’ve been raised from the dead…” and that is exactly how it felt when news spread earlier this spring about LIYW’s re-existence. But I think that sentence speaks of deeper meaning than just a reappearance on the scene. I think that it will continue to gain meaning as their trilogy of 
So the recording is done! How’d it go? Was the magic easily found again?
James Allen: Overall recording was great. We worked with Greg Thomas and our own Dave Swanson at Silver Bullet Studios in Burlington, CT. We found that old challenges that we had faced in the past were being replaced with new ones. It was fun to have an environment to explore sounds and really create the kind of music we wanted. It was refreshing to have the Kickstarter backers help us make this dream a reality, because it removed any pressure to perform and create a "commercial" product. Having a new lineup made us approach this with the perspective of "what’s to come" and not "what once was". On this record we really focused on forgetting pretense of what people might expect but poured ourselves into what we love. That said, Kingdoms is about 90% message/heart and 10% anything else. The music came out of a desire to make our message known to the world. That message is that Jesus is enough to overcome the circumstance you believe cannot be overcome. He’s enough to do everything he says He’ll do including save us all if we let Him.
Can you clue our readers into your favorite track from the new stuff, why you love it and why you think fans will dig it?
JA: Each guy would claim a different track as their favorite. I’ll say this- before last night “Ruler of the Air” was my favorite track. Its hands down the heaviest/most technical song we have ever written and it was tons of fun to think way outside the LIYW box creating the Kingdom of Darkness EP. But, last night, we did the crew vocals with some of our Kickstarter backers and after hearing how “The Healer”(tentative title) came out it might have replaced “Ruler”. It has some of the most intense gang singing parts of any LIYW material and I’m really excited/moved by it. I think Kingdoms will, at times, be somewhat of a departure from what our old fans are used to musically- but the spirit of LIYW and the message have never been stronger. I think the fans will find that there is genuine passion on Kingdoms and that spirit-filled hardcore is alive and well amongst this generation.
It was quite a shock back in February that Life in Your Way was back and writing a record for later this year. I’m guessing the response from fans so far has been universally ecstatic? Not to rain on your parade but does that add a lot of pressure?
JA: Actually, there hasn’t been much pressure at all. Leaving a traditional label environment has created more work for us than any of us could have imagined was possible but, it has also allowed us the freedom to pursue the heart of God for Life In Your Way and Kingdoms. The Kickstarter kids blew our expectations out of the water with the unreal support they extended us with. "God’s heart for the Christian music industry is restoration. He wants Christian music returned to Himself and the perils of greed broken by a heart of generosity. After all, it was Jesus that said, ‘sell all that you have give it to the poor and follow me.’" I remember asking Josh the day before we launched if our $12,000 goal was too lofty and if we needed to drop it down. We both agreed that we felt like that was the number we needed to try for and went for it. The backers more than doubled that in just a few weeks…. we were blown away by their generosity and support. This record is truly possible because of them. Also- each Kickstarter backer will be listed as an executive producer in the liner notes. It was the least we could do…
You guys haven’t been gone long but as you know the music industry, styles and trends move so fast. What have you noticed during your time off from it that you are excited to join into again? What isn’t sitting so well?
JA: We all have our own experiences with “the industry”. I think I’ll steer clear from the general markets in answering this question, but I can say for sure that God’s heart for the Christian music industry is restoration. He wants Christian music returned to Himself and the perils of greed broken by a heart of generosity. After all, it was Jesus that said, "sell all that you have give it to the poor and follow me."
Come&Live! will be releasing your record later this year upon completion. Why go this route?
JA: Besides that fact that we share a kindred spirit with C&L, it was a really simple decision. Music is going the way of free. Like it or not, that’s the way it is. What we need to do is find ways to add and create value for the artists while still helping the end listener get free music. We don’t see any problem with selling music at all- but for the kids that are going to illegally download it; we want them to know that they can have it for free, "on us". That’s why we’ve chosen to release Kingdoms for free through C&L. We aren’t saying that we will never be on another label and that we won’t sell our music (in fact Kingdoms will be available for purchase)… we are saying that our general posture needs to be generosity. When we align ourselves with generosity it makes it easier to have a fresh perspective on what exactly "free" means. Free doesn’t mean "worth nothing", it means "worth everything" and so even if you can’t afford it you can have it. Our message is worth giving away for free.
LIYW was a band for almost a decade when you decided to call it quits. What do you hope to see in the future for the band? Is there another decade of your music coming?
JA: I don’t see Life in Your Way breaking up ever again. What’s the point? We are all best friends with like minds and hearts to pursue a generation to learn about Gods love. Our medium is our music. We may not ever be full time the way we used to be and it may take new shapes in the future but our message will not stop…Its fun to consider how this chapter and the rest of the story will unfold. We think its going to be the best one yet…
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