Interview: Showbread

Showbread discusses signing to Come&Live!, their upcoming album, and tour plans for 2011 (free concerts!!!)

Showbread recently signed to Come&Live!. Can you describe how that label operates differently from other labels and why you decided to sign with them?

Josh Dies: Our friend Chad Johnson started Come&Live!. He was our A&R when we were on Tooth & Nail Records. And he left right before we did our last record on Tooth & Nail, and was like, “I’m gonna try to start a record label for ministry oriented bands, where they can give their music away for free and help facilitate that.” And we said, “That sounds awesome; when we finish our contract we might be a part of it.” So we were talking to him for a long time; we finished our last album with Tooth & Nail. It’s just a really high deal for a band like Showbread, that doesn’t care about any of the business aspect side of things or all the like stupid like, “How many records can we sell to make sure that we get on this tour,” or “to make sure that this store is gonna stock us” and all that crap. Instead, we could just say, “Let’s find a way to fund this thing, and then we can give it away.” And that’s what he wanted to do, and what we wanted to do. Right now, Come&Live! is still pretty new, but definitely here and now, on the verge of some really big breakthroughs. Essentially, all they want to do is facilitate bands like us to be able to tour full time and make music, give it away, and still be able to eat and go and play shows. So it’s definitely a groundbreaking approach to the industry.

Showbread had a fundraiser for its upcoming album, Who Can Know It. How did that go?

Josh: It went really well. We set out to raise $13,000 in 90 days. We raised the $13,000 in like 6 days. By the end of it we had raised $33,000, which is way more money than we would have been given on the huge record label that we were on. And we retain full rights of our music, and we can make the record we want to make, and give it away for free. And we have no traditional record label, so I’d say it went fantastically well.

Has the band begun production for the album yet?

Josh: No, it’s actually- in two weeks we leave to start recording. We’re recording through September and October.

What can fans expect with the new album?

Josh: Showbread.

Garret Holmes: They won’t know what to expect.

Josh: It doesn’t have anything in common with any album that we’ve made before, except for the band has the same name.

Garret: But it’s still gonna be good.

Josh: Oh yeah, and that it’s good. [To Garret] You should have been correcting me more on that!

Josh, I hear you’re working on a Showbread memoir? What’s the status on that?

Josh: I finished the first draft; right now the editor is working on it. It’s called The Joke We Play On The World. And it’s a pretty funny book- there’s a lot of really weird things in it that are true, but I think people will think that we’re not normal people after they read it. But maybe they’ll laugh, or maybe they’ll just be disgusted… I don’t know.

Showbread has it’s own video production company (In The Boat Productions). What projects have you guys been working on lately?

Josh: We just directed a video for The Ember Days, which is another band on Come&Live!, and it came out really good. We’ve been doing music videos and we make short films for fun. But it would be nice one day… we write screenplays and things like that. Who knows… knock on table.

For those who have never seen Showbread live, what should they expect at a Showbread concert?

Josh: It’s weird, it’s loud, and sometimes we throw things, and then that’s entertaining. You know, if nothing else is. You see a guy throw a guitar into a keyboard and everything falls down; that’s pretty cool. So, at the very least maybe something will break. There’s something in that for everyone, I think.

Any tour plans for the fall?

Josh: No, we’re gonna spend the rest of the year recording and then releasing the album, and then we might do some CD release shows for it. But at the beginning of 2011, we’re gonna do a long, national tour to support the record, and it’s gonna be completely free- the way the record is. So, all free shows and a free album. Can’t beat that.