Kutless

Kutless is an alternative Christian rock band that formed in the US around eight years ago. To date, they’ve released eight CDs including their latest To Know That You’re Alive, and a live CD, Live From Portland.

A couple of years ago, a significant portion of their song “All the words” got an airing in the TV series Scrubs.

Millions of people who’d never heard of Kutless were exposed to their music for the first time. This created opportunities for them to be heard on the Xbox game, The Apprentice, featuring Donald Trump.

Jon Micah Sumrall, the lead singer with Kutless, says this emphasises the way people consume music today is very different than it was even just a few years ago.

"I remember cassette tapes and CDs," Jon Micah says wryly. “What you’d do was go to your room or drive in your car so you could listen to music. Now with iPods and all the different media that’s available today, there are many more ways to consume music, and you get to carry literally thousands of songs in your pocket.”

But that’s not all that’s changed. Sumrall suggests people today have greater access to a broader range of music.

“If you had a large CD collection [10-20 years ago] it was maybe a hundred CDs of different artists but now it’s very common to not just have a hundred different artists but a thousand different artists on your iPod. This has created an environment for people to have a very diverse collection of music.”

He suggests that this in turn has helped provide the stimulus for many new bands. “I think there are more bands now than I can ever remember. There’s thousands and thousands of bands in all different genres that you can get music from.”

Sumrall adds, “I think it’s made [the music industry] more competitive and made music more diverse and more accessible.”

Many would argue that these changes have meant that it is now harder for bands to break through and gain a following beyond Myspace and Facebook.

But smart acts (including Kutless) are looking to other avenues (other than the traditional record company ones) to promote themselves. One of these is gaining placements in movies and video games.

“A lot of bands have launched themselves to the next level by being part of a sound track or a video game,” Sumrall says. “It used to be just about radio. But now it seems that multiple media formats are important for standing out in the crowd.

“One thing that’s really unique about music and film is that it creates a memory and a mood that you associate with a particular song, so there’s a bit of an attachment to it—when you hear the song at a later date, it reflects back to that moment or movie. I think that’s why it’s so effective to have your music tied in to films.

I think it helps set you apart.”

One of the challenges for Christian bands is staying true to their calling and core values.

“I really believe the Bible calls us to be good stewards of what God has given to us—to take care of our first ministry at home with our families and, secondly, our public ministry,” says Sumrall.

“I think this is absolutely essential because if we don’t take care of our families first, we’re not going to be able to minister on the big scale.”