Building 429: 'We Won't Be Shaken' And The Road To Self-Discovery

Article by Anna Dinger

Building 429's Jason Roy, lead singer and founder of the band, spoke to Conversation Hub Podcast, in an interview that was published in their 157th episode, on July 18. Roy talked a little bit about the band's most recent album, 'We Won't Be Shaken' as well the growth that has occurred within the band in recent months.

With the release of the new album, Building 429 discovered a new depth to their spirituality and purpose through God's will. "Confidence, I think that's [been] the biggest change for us," Roy said. "Not only confidence, but also understanding that we were meant to lead. I think, for the longest time in our career we kind of looked around and thought, you know what, maybe Third Day is supposed to lead this things or maybe TobyMac is supposed to lead this thing, and Casting Crowns. I think this is the first year where we've kind of looked around at each other and said, 'You know what, God has equipped us to say something that no one else can really say. He has equipped us with the ability to potentially lead in a way that nobody else can lead.' And so, not only that, but He has also given us those opportunities to do that."

With this new-found confidence the band also underwent great deal of spiritual growth and maturity, which ultimately allowed them to lead and share their message in a unique way. "I think that what you see right now in our band, you see a band, in a lot of ways, growing up to be the man of the house, you know what I mean, that's kind of where we are," Roy said. "We're kind of understanding, okay, so we're not Casting Crowns selling out arenas yet, but every single time we show up, we feel like God has given us something important that need to be heard, that needs to be said. And so, we're not going to sit back and differ anymore, I think that's what it comes down to."

This new sense of purpose has made an impact in the song-writing aspect of their career as well. "I don't waste my time on bad ideas much anymore and I can tell that it's not gonna be good pretty quick," Roy said. "I understand that we've got to meet people where they are... there's a lot out there in the world and you have to kind of cut through it."

In order to make an impact on the public, the band has learned to focus on creating powerful catch phrases that will make an immediate impact on their audience. "That's the way that we approach every song. If the song cannot be concise, brought down to a single line that tells everybody what the song's about, then we're probably going to have to work a little bit more on the song until we get it right," Roy said. "I think that's why our songwriting has become so much more focused, I mean, you hear 'We Won't Be Shaken,' you hear, 'Where I Belong,' these songs are statements in and of themselves, and if you just heard the title of the song you'd be like, 'Okay, I get it.'"

Roy also explained that the band has really grown into their name, based on the scripture Ephesians 4: 29, which speaks up building others up and encouraging them. "We have kind of realized that that's actually who we are. It's so weird. That was kind of a hip shot decision that my wife helped me make about a band name, but it's quite literally who I am as a person. I'm built to be an encourager and Building 429 is built to lead, to encourage the body of believers to stand firm in their faith and their resolve," he said.

This growing understanding of their true purpose helped the band to create 'We Won't Be Shaken,' which they believe to be their most powerful and encouraging album yet. "Today, I'm more focused than I've ever been on writing encouragement. There are a lot of people who write about how hard it is and how tough life has been and all that kind of stuff, you're not going to hear a lot of that out of us," Roy said. "And I don't know why that is, because I've had a really hard life, I have. I mean, I've been through many disappointments and many broken hearts and family problems and just, you know, the tragedies of life, some that are quite a bit more than what most people would handle. But I still don't feel like it's my job to dwell on those. I feel like my job has always been to dwell on the sufficiency of God when everything around me was lacking. And so, that's what we really focused on. This record is quite literally the best representation of our name that we've ever made in a record, ever."

The band was invited to perform in Newtown, Connecticut, in order to help the community and the individual families grieve and experience healing following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings back in 2012. "That was a daunting task," Roy said. "Again, this was another one of those things where Building 429 was called to lead. We got the call to go up and play and the answer was, 'Absolutely.' And then when we got there and we looked at the line-up the were the low guy on the totem poll if you will, you know what I mean? And then it was interesting because it was 10,000 people in this arena and it was, we've played for years, but I've never walked into one where it was dad silent like that. If you'd have clapped your hands, everybody in the arena would have heard it. I mean, there was no noise, everybody was so distraught and upset and frustrated. And we felt like we'd written, 'We Won't be Shaken' for a moment like that."

The Connecticut performance was the first show that they performed this year and they were surprised to find that they were set to play first. "It was right after we had felt like God had said, 'Hey guys, time to step up, time to go.' And we didn't really even recognize that until we had finished playing 'We Won't Be Shaken' and the crowd stood to their feet and sang it as their own." On the way to their hotel that night was when it really Roy that God had called them to lead that night and to display His strength for all to see.

Roy and Building 429 have been performing at Christian music festivals throughout the Summer and are set to perform their next festival at the Sonshine Festival, in Willmar, Minnesota, on July 19. They are set to play right before TobyMac and are excited to be involved in the excitement of the festival. "Festivals are our opportunity to see how our songs are really connecting," Roy said. "One of the things that really plays to our advantage is that a lot of people make records to sound like records. For us, we actually quite literally make our records as though it's the live show."

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