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Here's an interview Joey did for the Phantom Tollbooth . Check there for the rest of the article, including Joey B's thoughts on leaving the CCM industry.

"There's an effigy of who I was.
I'm tearing it down
An epiphany of who I've become
Deaf to the sound
Turn it around."

"Epiphany" by the Echoing Green.

Joey Belville. has had an epiphany. At the risk of sounding cynical, he has grown tired of the business side of making music. And with the song "Epiphany" Joey's band The Echoing Green is poised to step out of the CCM world, and venture into new markets, where they feel the music needs to be heard.  While it could be a risky move, Joey's going forward. "I just realized that God called me to make music that touches people. That deal was struck 10 years ago between me and God. It had nothing to do with corporate anything. God never said 'Go make music that will chart on CCM top 40 stations'. I think it's easy to lose site of your original goals when the industry is constantly breathing down your back with questions like: 'Are the songs catchy enough? Are they Jesus-y enough? Are you selling enough units in these areas? What's with all the weird synthesizer stuff?' and whatever. CCM is, first and foremost, a business. Ministry is fine as long as it's making you a few bucks."

Last fall brought the band's fourth full-length album, and another record label. With Supernova The Echoing Green had developed from a one-man synth pop act fronted by Joey B. to a full-fledged band, with keyboards by Jesse Dworak, vocals by Chrissy Franklin, and drums by David Adams.  The group thought they had a solid album on their hands, and although Joey B. doesn't regret the last decade, he adds "My only recent regret is the frustration of delivering a record that we felt was a true accomplishment - only to have it cast to the wayside"

Even before Supernova hit store shelves, the band had several more songs waiting to see the light of day. Those songs, some written before Supernova may be an indication of the band's future, as they now comprise the independent release Music from the Ocean Picture being sold online from http://www.adifferentdrum.com . It could be the first of many independent releases from the Christian synth-pop pioneers.

Tollbooth: Joey, tell us a little about the new album Music from the Ocean Picture

Joey B.: Even though this album was started before Supernova - most of the
recording was done after. The major difference between the two albums is the
production. With Supernova, we had a huge budget and recorded in big
studios, etc. That record is super polished. Ocean Picture is not. Normally,
I would be a little afraid to release material that would, normally, be
considered sub-par from a pervious work. But, surprisingly, we had a lot of
hardcore fans feel like Supernova was a bit TOO polished (a view which I'm
still too confused to react to) - so this album is a bit more lo-fi.

Also, during this recording, I totally changed my recording setup. I went
from recording to ADAT multi-tracks, to recording straight to hard disk via
Emagic's Logic Audio on my Mac. (I switched from PC to Mac during the
process which was also new for me). You can tell the difference with songs
like "Tragic" or "Noise" which were all adat - to a song like "Goodbye"
which was a mix of both (which is probably the not the best mix since that
songs was kind of a guinea pig with my new stuff which I wasn't too familiar
with at the time) to songs like "Beautiful", "Trip", and "Ceremony" which
were totally done in a digital environment - after I finally figured out
what I was doing.

Tollbooth: Musically, did you take any different approaches on the new
album?

Joey B.: This album was decidedly more electronic and stripped down. I
originally started out trying to make a
"guitarless" album but I just couldn't do it. I think it was kind of stupid
to put those kind of boundaries on myself in the first place. But,
nevertheless, there's only guitar on about 3 or 4 songs - and only prominent
on mainly 2.

Tollbooth: One thing you have always done is connecting to fans on the net,
as well as make new friends on the road. What role does this play in your
continued success, and sanity?

Joey B.: I think a large part of our success is due to the fact that we make
ourselves so accessible. We've never had an interest in being rock stars.
The fact that we are so accessible is a large part of our ministry.

Tollbooth: Having just released _Supernova_ last fall through Pamplin Music,
a fairly big player in Christian music, and now with the new _Ocean Picture_
album being released through the independent label A Different Drum, what's
the future hold? Will you continue with a major CCM label, or go the indie
route?

Joey B.: Well it's funny you should ask that because it's something that
I've been pondering over for quite sometime. The song "Epiphany" on Ocean
Picture is pretty much about our decision to say a quiet farewell to the CCM
Industry.

interview © 2001 The Phantom Tollbooth, Steve White.