MDM4M: Would you agree that your music is very similar to that of the Smoking Popes?

Josh C: Our style and sound is similar to the Smoking Popes. The lyrics do slightly change the tone of the music. Duvall doesn't have the underlying melancholy that was there in the Popes. There's something at the core of it that's different. Once I became a Christian and kept playing with the Popes, especially in the Midwest, we'd play shows where there were kids in the audience singing along, and our music was really important to them. I started to be convicted by the fact that most of these songs that they knew the words to weren't about anything of eternal significance. The fact was that they were exalting the band, and me as the songwriter. The Popes had some kind of message that they wanted to hear. What I was telling them wasn't spiritually helpful to them. I didn't feel that rock was evil, but what we were doing with it. It was an empty shell. I liked the style of the musical shell, and I wanted to inject it with something substantial: Christ.

MDM4M: : I like the words in 'Jesus Never Leaves Me': "...Jesus never leaves me, what more do I need?" How did you come up with the words to the song?

Josh C: I wrote it with a friend in mind. I have a friend that's struggled with sin and ...I was thinking of him when I wrote the song. After the song was written and I had sung it I found that I could relate to it even though I wasn't struggling with the same sins. I found that I could really relate to the song, and felt that I could sing it as a prayer in my own life.

MDM4M: There seems to be a franticness or urgency about the lyrics in your songs. Words like "Way deep inside I'm shooting like star, and my heart is racing like a race car. Way deep inside I'm jumping like a fire…" Do you feel that sense of urgency about your own life?

Josh C: I do feel an urgency in my life and a passion to be increasingly fruitful. I think this is part of my growing process in the Lord - the process of having my life become more and more useful to God. It was formerly full of selfish wastes of time when I was in the Smoking Popes. The more I know the Lord and become more mature I have more of a desire to use every part of my life for Him, and every day for Him. Sometimes I fall into this rut where I feel useful to God and close to God when I'm in worship ministry. The rest of the time I'm just watching TV and eating hamburgers. [laughing] I want to be more useful to God. There is a sense of urgency about that.

MDM4M: So what's ahead for Duvall? What can we expect from the band in the coming year?