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AN NRT EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Songs from the Caves
Joshua McCabe, half of new Canadian duo Caves, shares the personal struggles and victories that fueled their debut album.
 


Cavesthe debut project by the duo of the same name, immediately strikes the listener as worship at its most vulnerable, born from a place of stripped away surrender. And when singer and primary songwriter Joshua McCabe starts to share the project's origins, it's no surprise.

Caves came about organically as a musical collaboration between Joshua McCabe and Matt Shaban. Songs Joshua had written during a turbulent time in his personal life found a home in the musical setting of worship sets played around their home in Ontario, Canada. A successful indiegogo campaign and a lot of hard work later, and the group has ten tracks to present to the world, each one bearing praise imagined in the style of the Psalms.

Joshua McCabe took some time to talk with NRT about the group's origins and his personal journey leading to the creation of this collection. 

How did Caves get started, and where did the name come from?

In the summer of 2013, I went through probably one of the most difficult seasons of my life, a season that in some ways I'm still learning to walk through. God uprooted my entire life-- my marriage, my identity, everything. I had been battling depression and some other things in my life that the enemy had a grip on. As I had been praying for many months, God decided it was time to deal with it. 

It was painful, and in many ways I felt like King David did when he fled to the Caves, as written about in the Old Testament. I started writing songs and pouring my heart out during this time through music, but I did it quietly. I wasn't active in the studio recording a record. I was just working on these ideas with Matt as a way of sort of "venting" or just expressing what I was feeling. 

Fast forward to September of 2014, we get the opportunity to do some acoustic songs at a Franklin Graham event in Toronto with Kari Jobe, Lecrae and others. We had no band name-- just some songs we had been working on quietly behind the scenes.

We were going to name the record Caves because it just felt so appropriate, but about 30 minutes before we played we said "I guess you can call us Caves." There the name became "official."

What were some of the sources for inspiration and spiritual direction while you were working on these songs?

I think much of it was the season I was in as I talked about above, but during this time I felt like I was hearing inspiration from all over the place. Some of it came from friends who had written songs that spoke to me in this season (songs like "Obsession" and "My God"), and some came from other random sources.

My wife and I attended Elevation Church here in Toronto for over a year during our time away from serving on a church staff, and the messages from Steven Furtick spoke to my heart in so many ways. He preached on Elijah from 1 Kings 19 one Sunday, and that ended up being what inspired the song "The Robe."

Other songs, like "Trust" and "Take All Our Titles," came from honest conversations with friends, while a song like "A Reason To Hide" came out of singing what was on my heart-- a song that came to me while grocery shopping. Funny story actually, I hid in an aisle behind cereal boxes, singing the idea into my phone, trying to not look like a crazy person.

When you find yourself in an open place, planted in God's Word, it's incredible the kinds of things God will speak to you. This album is anything but a strategic album of radio singles or anything like that. It's just songs I wanted to release that reflected the heart of the season.

If you could choose a favorite song on the album, what would it be and why?

That's so tough, but I'd say "Trust" is my favorite. It's a short, short song, but its probably the most honest I've been. In fact, some of the lyrics I ended up changing when we recorded the song because of how honest they were. Not that I was afraid to be honest with people, but I felt like some of the words just needed to be between God and I. 

The song is a conversation, one that I had many times with God in the midst of that season. I say that I trust God with many aspects of my life, but as I dig deep, there are so many day-to-day things I don't trust Him with. I'd catch myself so many times in conversations with people where I would take the battle into my own hands rather than giving it to God. I mean I gave the whole situation to Him, but it didn't always translate in the day-to-day. 

I love "Trust." It's special to me, and it's a prayer I think many people are afraid to say. But I don't think God is offended when we admit we struggle to trust Him. It doesn't come as a surprise to Him.

Your album features appearances from some pretty special guests. Who all featured on the album, and how did those collaborations come about?

It's actually crazy how many people were involved in this record. There's actually guest vocals on almost every track -- we just didn't list them all as features. My sister sings on "Obsession," and the worship leader at the ministry I pastor, Bryanna Fretz, sings on "A Reason To Hide." There are a few other people involved too-- too many to mention!

When we recorded this record, I knew I needed to have Aaron Gillespie on it. Aaron has been one of my closest friends through many seasons of life, and we've been blessed to stand by each other in many ups and downs since he left Underoath. It almost wasn't going to work out timing-wise because of his intense touring schedule with Paramore, but when he was up leading worship at my church, we managed to find a few hours before his flight to have him on the record.

Another friend Daniel Richter, who's the singer for a Canadian mainstream pop band Elevenpastone, has been a close buddy for a while. I had the honor of being his pastor for several years, and in many ways I think he still considers me his pastor. We talked about making music together someday, and he loved the track "The Rescued," so it was a great fit!

Amanda Cook, who sings on "My God," is best known for her song "You Make Me Brave" and her involvement with Bethel Music. A few years back I had Amanda leading worship at my church with Martin Smith. It was such an honor to get to lead with both of them. Amanda hung around for a few days after, came by the studio, helped me with some demos and sang just some rough vocals on "My God." Amanda's voice is one of the best I've ever heard, so we actually used the demo vocals for the record!

What's next for Caves? Do you have plans to play shows?

Matt and I both have so much going on in our lives. Matt is a business guy, and I'm a fulltime Young Adults pastor, so we are pretty limited for what we can do. We've really struck a great relationship with the Franklin Graham festivals (Billy Graham association), so we do a number of those, and we have a few festivals and events planned for the summer. 

At the end of the day, fulltime touring is not something we feel overly called to, but if that's what God opens, then we'll cross that bridge. We just love being able to do nights of music and ministry for churches no matter how large or small. We've had a blast doing a few of these sharing songs and stories and allowing God to work in the night. The response has been great!

How can we be praying for you?

Pray for our families, our relationships, and our church. Matt is dating a sweet girl named Mel, and I'm married to the best woman ever, Kyla, and we have two kids, London and Adelaide. At the end of the day, we want that to be our priority: God, family, Church. We don't need prayer for the next big break or album sales. That's not our motive. We just pray the songs would encourage whoever comes across them.

To learn more about Caves, visit their website, facebook and twitter. You can buy the album on iTunes here.

Associate Editor Mary Nikkel’s love for writing, photography, videography and rock and roll have all been bound together by her love for Jesus, leading to her role with NRT. Her favorite things include theology and Greek language studies, her math grad student husband, obscure Nashville coffee shops, all things related to the work of J.R.R. Tolkien and pushing the boundaries enacted by societal norms.

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