Think about your favorite songs: What is it about those tunes that you love? For me, it’s a combination of lyrics I relate to and a sound that gets my blood pumping.
When I listen to Kutless’ latest album, Hearts of the Innocent, I connect with how the band tells the truth about their struggles. I admire how they focus on faith and friendship even in hard times. And I groove on their in-your-face sound. Suffice it to say the Portland, Ore., quintet’s fourth release rocks.
Personal Connection
One song in particular really gets my attention. On “Mistakes,” front man Jon Micah Sumrall sings about the things he wishes he’d known when he was younger: Why didn’t someone warn me?/To save me from myself? Those lyrics resonate with me because I didn’t always make good choices during my teen years.
When I was growing up, music played a huge role helping me cope with life. I remember many nights that I retreated to my bedroom and poured out my heart through listening to music. My favorite songs gave the jumbled, confused stuff inside of me a voice. Music became my refuge. Maybe you can relate.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a growing relationship with God during those years. I wasn’t listening to bands that honored Him, and much of what I liked didn’t encourage healthy decisions. When I surrendered my life to Christ at age 18, I began to discover Christian rock—bands that sounded great and delivered a message that actually encouraged my faith. Back in the day, though, there weren’t as many Christian bands singing about life and faith as there are now.
Sometimes I wonder what influence a band such as Kutless might have had on me if I’d had a chance to hear them when I was 14 or 15. I think I might have identified with the themes they sing about. The band understands the loneliness everyone feels sometimes. Just as important, they know how much we need each other and God to make it through those times when we wonder if anybody really understands.
Let’s take a closer look at the messages on Hearts of the Innocent, plus hear from Jon Micah and guitarist James Mead, whom I had the chance to interview recently.
Singing to the Broken
Kutless erupted onto the Christian music scene in 2002. Since then, the band has played before more than 1.6 million fans. Constant touring has given them a front-row perspective on what’s happening among teens today, and the title track from Hearts of the Innocent describes some of what they’ve witnessed: I’m looking down into the eyes of hopelessness/They’re crying out to me.
The members of Kutless understand the struggles so many young people grapple with. They’ve seen firsthand how the breakdown of the family has wounded scores of their youthful fans. Where have the days gone, Jon Micah sings, that a promise was forever?/Families stuck together/We wonder why their generation struggles to get by.
“Right now there’s a fresh generation coming up,” James says. “Many kids in America are growing up in divorced homes. I was one of those. And the church is not set apart from the statistics. We see fans who are broken and crushed and searching for experiences [such as drugs and alcohol] to fulfill their lives.”
Another emerging struggle the band has noticed is cutting. They address that issue in the chorus of “Beyond the Surface,” which challenges those tempted by cutting to put the knife away/That’s not what anybody needs/There’s a better way. James says of this relatively new trend, “Something we’re finding very universal is youths cutting themselves as a form of grief escapism. That’s how far these kids are taking their grief nowadays.”
Interestingly, God has used the band’s name to draw at least one fan who once struggled with this problem. “In Texas we recently met this 13-year-old girl whose mom and dad had just divorced,” James says. “She had become a Christian five months before we met her. She had been cutting for about a year-and-a-half, but she’d started doing some Internet research because she wanted to stop. In the process of her searching, the name of our band popped up. She really got into our music, which coincided with a friend who invited her to church. This young girl heard the Gospel, responded with her heart and decided to stop cutting. She’s found a lot of liberation from this grief in her life through the Gospel, through our music and, more specifically, through our band name.”
So does the band’s name have anything to do with this trend? “When we took the name Kutless five years ago,” James said, “cutting wasn’t an issue. Maybe some kids were doing it, but it wasn’t a nationwide epidemic.”
Instead, Kutless’ name has a theological meaning. “Jesus Christ took every cut that mankind deserves,” James explains. “He took the full and final punishment for our sins. That’s what our name means. What His sacrifice did was so perfect that we are now without blemish in His sight.”
Holding on to Hope
Kutless certainly isn’t afraid of hitting hard issues head-on. What separates the band from secular contemporaries such as Three Doors Down, Linkin Park or Nickelback, however, is that they know there’s more to life than brokenness. Though several songs talk honestly about how hard life can be, the band doesn’t camp out in those areas without offering the hope they’ve found in God.
The ballad “Promise of a Lifetime,” for example, describes the band’s determination to cling to God’s promise never to leave or forsake us (Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5): I know You’re always there/To hear my every prayer/I am holding on to the hope I have inside/With You I will stay.
Similarly, “Winds of Change” helps us see that the changes God initiates lead us toward freedom. This song, written from His perspective, invites us to let go of our determination to run our lives and to give our dreams to God instead. So tell Me all your dreams/Tell Me all your fears and what you’re longing for the most. . . . It’s under My control. The last verse ends with a reference to Isaiah 40:31, Someday we’ll sail away/Mounted up on wings like eagles.
James and Jon Micah are passionate when it comes to the Gospel. “Kutless has always focused on being open with our listeners about our faith, being very open with the hope that we have found as five men who have been completely changed inside and out by Jesus Christ,” James says.
“Jesus Christ was in the trenches with people every day,” Jon Micah says. “He was with sinners because sinners needed Him. People don’t go to a hospital when they’re feeling fine. They go to a hospital when they’re sick and broken. What this world needs is for us [Christians] to be that open door they can walk through and say, ‘I’m sick, I’m broken. What’s the remedy?’ For those of us who have that gift of life, who know what the remedy is, how dare we not share it? What our music tries to handle lyrically is the fact that the five of us in this band know 100 percent, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus Christ has given us a new hope in everything we have to deal with.”
No Lone Rangers
In every band, there are two stories: the story of their lyrics and the story of their lives. Kutless’ two stories are tightly interwoven, as band members’ experiences and song lyrics reinforce one another. This is definitely the case when it comes to their thoughts about the importance of friendship and depending upon other believers in Christ.
The idea of touring the country might sound pretty cool, but the reality of life on the road can be draining. The night I interviewed the guys, Jon Micah told me, “We definitely feel this is exactly what we should be doing, and therefore we’re giving it as much gusto as we can. Tonight, though, we don’t have much gusto to give because we’re pretty exhausted. But we’ll do it anyway.”
To sustain their spiritual edge, the band recognizes the importance of its home church and families. “We’ve learned over the years that we need to be firmly grounded. A family is awesome for that,” Jon Micah says. “But it also takes having hearts submissive to the Lord and submissive to other people whom the Lord has set up around us as wise counsel. Fortunately, we have an awesome home church where we’re treated as individuals, not just as Kutless. Our whole fellowship prays for us, loves us, supports us and makes us feel welcome when we’re home. We’re really involved with the church staff. And our assistant pastor sometimes travels long distances to hang out with us.”
Relying upon friends—even when it’s uncomfortable—is the subject of Kutless’ song “Push Me Away.” This track is about one friend who is trying to close the relational door on another. It’s written from the perspective of the person trying to keep the lines of communication open. Don’t push me away. . . . When tears start to fall, then with you I will cry. The singer also reminds his companion, No one is perfect, it just isn’t worth it to stand on your own/Don’t be ashamed to ask me to help you. Sometimes it’s tough to ask for help, but this song reminds us that we don’t have to go it alone—a lesson band members have obviously learned.
Rock Solid
God can definitely use music to help us get in touch with the areas where we struggle. And I believe He’s as thrilled as we are when we discover songs we can sing with all our hearts that glorify Him at the same time.
I don’t know about you, but I’m glad there are bands whose lyrics are as solid as the rock they’re pumping out. Kutless is one of those groups. They’ve consistently focused on honesty, hope and our need for close relationships with our friends and with God. Jon Micah and James would probably be the first to admit that they aren’t perfect, of course, but I believe their example clearly points us in the right direction. If we take their messages to heart as we listen to their songs, our faith will likely take root more deeply as well. 
