by Matt Conner

In 2017, longtime Jesus Freaks finally got their wish with a long-awaited dc Talk reunion on the high seas. The first dc Talk cruise included full band concerts and solo performances to highlight the past and present musical ideas of TobyMac, Kevin Max and Michael Tait. For the first time in nearly two decades, there was movement of some kind toward a reunion.

The next Jesus Freaks Cruise will set sail in 2019, but lest you think the band is content to perform on open waters every few years, don’t fret. Max admits there are significant administrative challenges that keep the Grammy-winning trio from following their goals, but he believes answers are on the way.

What are those plans? We’ll let him explain.

CCM: One dc Talk cruise has now given way to another. Are you excited for another run?
Kevin: I’m along for the boat ride, man. We talked about it at the end of the last cruise, which was in 2017, and everyone had such a blast that we said, “Let’s do this again.” We asked the audience if they’d want us to do it again and they said, “Yeah!” So we thought 2019 would be the time.

I know there’s a lot of talk between us and the people who surround us about doing more than cruises, so we all know that the hardcore dc Talk fan wants something more than a cruise. That much is obvious. It’s trying to align all those different careers and families and people who are taken care of through these independent musicians—putting all that together and coming up with something we all can do is the puzzle. Beyond that, I know all of us are super excited to do more.

CCM: When you say more, do you mean tour dates or another cruise or perhaps even an album?
Kevin: I would say all of it, all of it. I’m obviously a guy who loves to create albums and I would say I’m more interested in creating stuff in the studio rather than performing live, but the other two guys love to perform live. But I think they also love making albums as well. So it’s not just touring. I would really love to see us do something creative.

CCM: It’d be very interesting to see something creative today as opposed to the original days.
Kevin: Someone on my fan page was talking about this the other day and said, “Wouldn’t it be great to create a dc Talk record today based on what you’ve learned over these years and do something really natural to where you’re all at right now as musicians and creatives.” I said, “Absolutely!” I mean none of us would want to go back to 1999. [Laughs] That’s not what we would do.

So I think the sky is the limit. It’s all about God’s timing, obviously. I believe that this band was put together through providence. It’s literally one of the strangest bands on the planet. I would not have put the three of us together, so I tend to think it was a divine project. I think it continues to be. It’s a very interesting combination of people who are totally different as musicians, but when we come together, it just makes sense. It clicks.

So we’re not done yet. I think that we have more roads to plow. For the hardcore dc Talk fan, I think there’s a lot more around the corner. I mean, if you think about it, how many years did it take us to do that cruise? Years and years and years. So for a dc Talk, these are better times than ever because there is actually hope for more. I’m a fan of dc Talk as well, so I’m excited. I have the inside skinny on it and I know there’s excitement from everybody about doing more.

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