The Afters are a Christian Pop/Rock band from Texas that won "New Artist of the Year" at the 2006 GMA Dove Awards.  Their new single "Every Good Thing" is a top 10 Christian radio hit and their new album, Life Is Beautiful releases today (April 16).  They have had their songs featured on my film and television shows including their song "Beautiful Love" being featured as the theme song for MTV show "8th and Ocean" as well as the film New Year's Eve and shows "The Biggest Loser," "The Hills," "Army Wives," "Grey's Anatomy," "Dr. Phil," "Rachael Ray".  The Afters are comprised of Josh Haven (lead vocals/keys/guitar), Matt Fuqua (vocals/guitars), Dan Ostebo (bass) and Jordan Mohilowski (drums).  

We want to thank singer, Josh Haven, for taking the time out to talk with BREATHEcast about the new record and the latest with the band.  

BREATHEcast: You release your fourth studio album, Life Is Beautiful on April 16, tell us some about it.  You excited? 

"Man, we're excited.  We put a year and a half into making this record, writing and record it and we are just really excited with the way it turned out.  We wanted to make a record called "Life is Beautiful" for years.  In fact, Light up the Sky could have ended up being Life is Beautiful except it took some different turns and ended up somewhere different.   Life is Beautiful is basically a collections of stories straight from our lives, little vinettes from life and explores the beautiful things in life, things we are thankful for but also the pains and struggles that we go through.  What tie everything all together is how God is present in every aspect of our lives, He is with us through it all."

BREATHEcast: What were some inspirations for this record?

"When we were making this record, my wife was pregnant with our youngest child.  When he was born, there were some unexpected complications.  He actually came out completely blue and they had to rush him away to NICU and spend quite a while there which was totally unexpected.  I had never spent a whole lot of time in the hospital before that, but being in NICU with my song i saw lots of other parents there who were really in a dark place.  There were parents there who had kids who were way worse off then my son, parents who knew they would probably never take their kids home.  I just remember praying in the hospital, I started praying something that I still pray through every struggle, I started praying that God would turn my trials into testimony.  I do believe that He does that and He gave us an awesome testimony through this.  We had lots of ups and downs in the hospital there, there were some scary moments for us, a lot of sleepless nights and lots of tears that were shed.  Ultimately our son ended up improving and we were finally able to bring him home.  He is now a one year old with more energy then a one year old should ever have (laughs).  We are very blessed.  In the hospital I started reading the book of Job.  I saw a guy who lost everything in his life, more then most of us could ever fathom losing, he lost his whole family, every possession.  In the midst of all that, he shaved his head and took off his clothes so he had nothing left at all and fell to his knees and worshiped God.  I remember thinking, "man, thats the kind of guy I want to be".  There are some songs on the record that came out of that experience, there is a song called, "Waiting for an Answer".  The chorus says, "I don't have to know how or see You turning this around to believe in You now".  That song kind of came out of that experience of not knowing what the future held and having to be OK with that.  No matter what, You are God and I trust you and I want to follow you through this.  There is a song called, "Broken Hallelujah" that has some inspiration from being there, praising God through everything even in the midst of pain and struggle.  

That's just one part of the record and then part of the record is really fun that looks at the brighter things in life and the beautiful things that we are thankful for.  The single, "Every Good Thing" looks at all the good things that God is doing in our lives everyday.  We have reminders constantly of how bad things are and all the bad that is going on in the world.  We read James 1:17 that says, "every good and perfect gift comes from above, coming down from the Father of life who doesn't change like the shifting shadows."  We wanted to write a song that was a reminder of all the good things that happen in life everyday."  

BREATHEcast: So how would you say this album is different from your previous releases?

"You know I think as a band you are always trying to grow and improve.  We take a while to do our records and we really do challenge ourselves to improve songs and to really take the time with them to get things right.  Hopefully our fans will think it makes a difference (laughs).  Sonically, I think there are some things that are different then our previous records.  We try things we haven't tried before.  Vocally, I will try to stretch myself in different places, maybe try different melodies that maybe I wouldn't have done in the past just for the challenge.  An analogy would be, you have a sweet car thats like a 64 Mustang and every few years they release a new body style.  There will always be those classic elements that you first fell in love with, but there are some new elements too.  I think a band is like that in some way.  There are definitely elements of classic Afters in there, but lots of new things too. 

BREATHEcast: What song on the record would surprise your fans?

"To some degree I think the single ("Every Good Thing") was a little surprise.  We like to surprise our fans and throw them a little curve ball and give them something that maybe they weren't expecting from us.  There is a song called, "Breathe in, Breathe Out" that I feel is really out of the box for us.  It's a fun song that has everything from whistles to claps and lots of cool vocal harmonies that is really outside of the box. 

BREATHEcast: Who produced this album?

"We used a couple of people.  We used Dan Muckala, who has produced stuff on all of our previous records, produced 8 of the tracks.  3 of the tracks were produced by David Garcia and Ben Glover and our drummer Jordan produced a track on the record called, "Moments Like This".  

BREATHEcast: Where did you record the album?

"Several different places.  Mostly in Nashville, each of our producers has a studio.  Everything from studio rooms to bathrooms (laughs).  When we were writing the record, we would basically bring all the studio equipment into whatever green room we were at and set up there.  We were on tour with Casting Crowns, which as a lot of arenas, and they had these sports locker rooms.  So we would pile all of our stuff into these locker rooms and turn these smelly sports locker rooms into a little recording studio (laughs), so that was kinda fun."

BREATHEcast: What did you learn being on tour with Casting Crowns?

"Man, they are the real deal, we love those guys.  Mark (singer) he has a heart of gold.  We have become good friends with them and learned how to tour the right way.  That means you foster a family atmosphere, you take care of the people that you are with on the tour.  Make sure everyone is appreciated from the people who gets up first in the morning to push cases off the truck to the caterers, just everyone.  Make sure that everyone knows that every job is important.  Also to constantly do things that remind people of why they are there.  We would always gather together for a tour prayer and walk the venue and pray for the people who were going to be in those seats that night.  Just a good reminder of why you are there and to stay focused."

BREATHEcast: You are on tour with Francesca right now, how is that going?

"It's been great, a lot of fun.  We are in Massachusetts right now, so we are up in a cold part of the country, ready for some summer weather (laughs)."

BREATHEcast: What are your summer plans, hitting the festivals?

"Doing some festivals and we are going to do our own tour in the West and hit some cities out there.  We also try to balance touring with being home for our families.  A couple of us are also really involved in our churches and so it's important to make sure that we are present in our churches and involved as well."

BREATHEcast: That's awesome.  What plans do you have for touring this fall?

"We are planning a really fun fall tour with our friends Building 429.  Jason (singer of Building 429) and I have been talking about doing a tour together for years, so we are finally doing it. We are going to have Hawk Nelson come along with us, they are great friends and will be a great addition to the tour too.  So it's going to be an awesome line up."  

BREATHEcast: Do you have dates set for that yet?

"Yea, end of September through the middle of November."

BREATHEcast: If you could work with one secular artist and one Christian artist, which would you pick?

"Thats a good question.  You know, we did collaborate with a secular artist on this record.  We got a phone call from a guy named, Richard Marx.  He wrote some massive songs back in the 80's, "Right Here Waiting For You" which is a classic, along with many other classics he has written.  He called us and said, "my sons and I are huge fans of the band and I wanted to know if you would consider letting me fly down to Nashville and write with you guys for a couple days" and of course we were like, "yea!".   So he came down to Nashville for a couple days and we wrote a couple of really cool songs together that are actually on the record, a song called "Find Your Way" and then he helped on a song called "In My Eyes".  He was super fun and talented.  

Obviously, Paul McCartney would be like the hero in the mainstream that I would love to write a song with.  As far as in the Christian market, my hero was always Michael W. Smith, so to collaborate with him would be really sweet."