Which seems almost an oxymoron that Stryper fans would take to the sound of Monday Morning. It would seem the hair metal fans there to see Stryper may not get into your style of music, but you found them open to your music?
Yea, definitely. I mean, the whole tour went well, but on a few shows, the band would come out and say, "Hey, play a few more songs. The crowd is digging ya and so are we," so we were totally pumped about that. Most of the tours we have been on; it was like, "You got three minutes to get off the stage." Stryper was very cool and let us play if the crowd was into it.

Monday Morning gets ready to head on tour tomorrow, but you guys work during the day. What is life like for you guys at this point?
It has been awesome all winter. Those of us who have pretty steady day jobs have really cool, laid-back bosses that let us off whenever we need to go and travel. And actually, Kent (Rector), Justin (Blythe) and I spent the winter working at a ski resort. That is pretty awesome. Justin is ski patrol and Kent and I give snowboard and ski lessons. You actually caught us on vacation up in Snowshoe, West Virginia, that is where we are at right now.

You have the new CD Fool's Paradise out, and when the band goes to record a CD, is there a preconceived notion of what the CD will sound like, or does the band kind of go where the sound takes you at the time of recording?
This CD has actually been a long time in the making. Some of the songs are probably in the upward end of four-and-a-half to five years old. It has been material that we had written and kept for the last four or five years. The CD that had the earliest songs were written for just evolved to what it is now, so we really didn't have any preconceived ideas of what we were going to do, but we are all exceptionally happy with the finished product.

Over that time, how frustrating was it to have the music and ability to put a CD together and distributed, but not have anything happen with that music? Was there ever a thought that the band just wasn't going to happen during that time?
Well, the four of us in the band are just completely committed to it and we always have been. We signed a deal before we signed with Selectric and they kind of didn't do us right and we were stuck for like a year and a half. There were times for the guys and myself during that year and a half, that we were just stuck. We had a CD finished, but we couldn't sell it, we couldn't do anything with it. So, in that year and a half, although no one brought it up, I think we all thought about hanging it up, but we never really vocalized it. We just kept it all in, kept practicing and kept playing as many dates as we could. We finally got out of that mess with the help of our lawyer and manager, and with the help of David and John Elefante from Selectric we are where we are. But through all that, one of our career songs, I think, called The Wonder of It All, was written and that was dealing with all that junk we had to deal with for those two years or however long it was.

So, you can definitely say patience is a virtue.
(Laughing). Yea, definitely. It is not always fun, but it definitely is one.

What do you do during that year and a half? I would have no idea on what I would do during all that turmoil.
We have always felt that this is what we are supposed to do. I mean we all dropped out of college to really pursue this band. Everyone of use went to college, but not even for a full year before we dropped out to devote all of our time to it. We thought about hanging it all up, but never talked about it. I think to give it up then would have taken a lot more out of us then to stick it out like we did and keep trying. We are all very persistent and it made us mad, but we also practiced a lot harder began to write better stuff. I think if we released that record as we originally intended, it wouldn't have been as good as it is now. So it was almost as if it was meant to happen. A few of our greatest songs came from that experience. We are definitely happy now.

I was going to say, it has to taste very sweet now. As a band that goes through this, it has to be ten times as sweet to release this CD versus another band who releases their disk. What did the band do to celebrate once the lawyers got you out of the deal and this was in the works?
I wish we had some grand celebration story, but I think we were all just like, "Finally!" It really was just a relief for us. When we finally got out of the deal, we signed our second record contract in a Subway in our hometown. We went over there, met and I had a meatball sub and went home and probably watched TV. I wish I had some great story about where we went and we all celebrated together and that it was a magical time ...

Subways can be very magical.
Right, it worked for Jared, right?

Now that you get to go on tour with a CD that fans can go out and buy after, is there a different vibe in the band with this idea that not only can you play in front of people, but you have a product they can buy as well?
The thing about the shows and mini-tours before the record release, was we would play with other bands, that people who saw us really had no clue as to who we were, they were just coming to hear music and check out some bands. So there was excitement, but not near the same excitement as now when people have heard us on the radio and have picked up our CD. So, there is definitely a different vibe at our shows. It's a lot better, and as our bassist (Kevin Stipe) would say, "Our morale is high."

After talking to so many bands, I think everyone agrees that there is no better feeling than seeing a crowd sing a song back to the band. Do you find that to be the most rewarding part of what you do?
I do think when you sing a song back to a band that is the ultimate form of flattery. It is respecting their art enough to memorize it and almost appreciate it as much as the band did when they created it. That is definitely one of the most rewarding things, but we definitely just like hanging out with people afterwards and meeting all the people that came to hang out and dig on us and listen to our music. We are in it to hang out with people anyway, so that is one of the most rewarding experiences on the road.

You talked about a lot of the music was very personal for the band about the experiences you were going through as a unit, but one thing about being a songwriter is different people interpret your lyrics in different ways. So when you meet people, they have the personal connection to you that you don't have with them. Is it ever strange when fans open up to you right away, even though you just met them for the first time?
That can be a little weird, but the cool thing about it is I can see how "Wonder of it All" was written and I understand where I was coming from when I put those words down and I know what it means to me. But to see how someone else can take it, relate to it and it can mean something completely different it pretty amazing.

Obviously being in a band means not only can people read about whom you are, but also your music tells people a lot of what the band went through. Is it strange to you that so much of yourself is out there for people to know?
We don't get too much of that, but there have been a few times that it has been a bit strange. When someone comes up and knows a lot about you, and what you are into and these things about you and want to talk about it.

I am not sure how to phrase this question, but a lot of Christian or "positive" music is becoming more and more mainstream. A band like Skillet tried to break it with a semi-major label in Lava Records and didn't quite reach the level maybe they or the label were expecting. Do you feel a tension to be pulled in different directions?
I feel less tension that I did years ago. I thing the only positive music crossover thing only seems to happen to bands whose music is good enough to make it on both sides. I mean, you have bands like POD and Switchfoot that always seem to get mentioned when people talk about the crossover of positive music and mainstream, but both of those bands really busted their butts for years, and really improved and developed a fan base. So, for me, it is not really that everyone is accepting it more, it is just more of these band are actually getting good enough to approach a different market.

Where do you see Monday Morning fitting in? I mean, to me music is music, and message shouldn't play a part in where music is formatted, even though it does.
I agree with you on that 110 percent. But wherever people will like our music, and our CD and our show. Those are the people I want to come see our show. I am not looking for a specific market anywhere.

Because the band is being labeled as a "Christian" rock band or a "positive" rock band, do you ever feel restrictive in how you can act, or write or even tour with this band?
Well, we are all imperfect people, and I think sometimes people want to elevate certain people in the limelight to a standard of perfection in all aspects of their life. I don't think that is right and I can see that there is more pressure for us, but one of the coolest things about our label and that we can appreciate is that they never forced us into any particular mold. They never said, "You are going to fit into this market and you are going to be this and act like that." They were always saying, "Be yourself and write." And I mean, that cal all change, but it has been really cool thus far.

To finish up, you are in West Virginia. I have been there and love it, but always like leaving West Virginia just as much. How excited are ya to head out on tour again?
We always look forward to hitting the road. Even when we are at home snowboarding, it is always great to hit the road. We got a bunch of guys that really get along and really enjoy playing live. So the excitement level is always up, but it does make it a bit easier when you can come home to do something you love.

So Jack Johnson has the surf crowd, are you going for the snowboarders?
Yea. Well, we are actually doing some filming here of us hitting some jumps and rails and will be putting it up on our website, so check it all out ay mondaymorningmusic.com. You can see a little snowboard expose on the band.