Quote

I think the themes in my songs are very similar from the first album to the newest one. It's all about the human condition and how we are all trying to learn to live with each other and survive love and life.

Heathens are unredeemed outcasts from heaven who roam the planet without hope of surviving the deaths of their bodies. They may have values, but they are not secured by any divine source. Yet we embrace this because we think it represents the truth.

Nearly all the synth work on Heathen is mine and some of the piano.

Gospel songs to me are about the mansion in the sky, and washed in the blood of Christ's crimson blood, songs that are filled with biblical wording that's no longer understood by a lot of people.

It's great to hear from people who have been touched by these songs. It has been good to know that the Lord is using this in ways I am not even aware of.

It is a little weird now, going over to Heath's place. It's like, 'Hi Heath, hi Nomes.' Very strange!

Ian and Sylvia, who, when you got right down to it, were essentially country and western singers. I just recorded his Four Strong Winds. It's a wonderful song.

After playing so many songs in churches for eight or nine years, I've learned what songs people react to. Then I just had fun with the arrangements. That's how this album came together.

To me I think artists in general make a statement - and for the rest of their lives - every album, every book - are variations on a theme.