I remember the first time I heard Shonlock perform some of his solo material. In the midst of a concert with his Diverse City band, tobyMac gave Shonlock one song's worth of stage time—and the artist formally known as Deshon Bullock made full use of that time, singing his catchy lead single "Something In Your Eyes" to an intrigued and pleasantly surprised audience. 

Of course, Shonlock even then was no wide-eyed newcomer to the music scene, having worked with a number of mainstream acts, including Aaliyah and Arrested Development, among others. His God-given talent and industry experience made his debut record, Never Odd Or Even, turn a lot of heads.

It seems he was just getting started. Shonlock's genre-defying musical gymnastics are back for a second act, as the artist releases the next step of his musical and personal progression. Shonlock took some time in advance of his album release to talk with NRT about the musical and lyrical themes of new record A Night to Remember, and what it's like to be a Diverse City graduate.

I've been enjoying the new album and am excited to get to talk about it. What have you been up to since Never Odd Or Even?

Since Never Odd Or Even we've been just traveling, touring the record, doing a lot of international things: Norway, the Netherlands, just crazy traveling and preparing for this next record. Life. 

I didn't realize you've been traveling internationally. What's the response been outside of the U.S.?

It's been crazy over there. The first single from Never Odd Or Even, "Something in Your Eyes," went No. 1 over in New Zealand before it did anything in the U.S. I don't know how it happened. One of our friends that I knew got a hold of the song and just started playing it over there and it just caught on. Next thing I know I'm getting a call: "Your song is number one. I'm like what? Who gave you the song?

Now, you're not with Diverse City anymore, is that correct?

I'm still a Diverse City member, but I'm doing my own thing. People ask all the time if I'm still Diverse City and I'm like yeah. I've been with them for 11 years or so, even before that. It's like having your brother or somebody get another job. He's still your brother.

It's pretty cool to see so many of the Diverse City band members do their own thing and step out on their own like that... like Nirva (with her husband, Seth), DJ Maj, and Mr. Talkbox, and even B. Haley's got his clothing line thing. What does that say about this particular group of people? What makes you guys special, be able to be so successful?

I think what makes us successful is God has placed something special in each and every one of us and Toby has a talent of recognizing the gifts that God has put in other people and he brings those people together to help propel the message of Christ.

I think he's picking the dynasty team. The thing is the people that he involves himself with are God-centered people and have something special inside--and everybody does. He just has the special eye and a capability of pulling those things together.

I was really excited just to be one of the first guys to be launched out of that camp because Diverse City to me is like a university. You're amongst so many talented people, it's just crazy. I'm just excited to be a part of that team and looking forward to seeing what everybody else is going to come up with. I mean there's a lot of crazy things on the rise for the Diverse City family.
 
Like I said, I've been enjoying the new record. I'm a huge fan of the first one. I think I might even be an even bigger fan of this one. The first album had a lot more hip-hop/urban edge. You've still got that on A Night to Remember, but this one definitely has a dance, a club sound, a lot of stuff like that. Talk about your musical progression since the last album.

The way I figure it, the progression comes with maturity and just learning and exploring at the same time because I always wanted to be eclectic in my delivery. I think the center point to what I do, the common thread is Jesus and honesty. I think that a lot of times people want to put you in a certain box. I do music that I like, music that moves me, and that's what you get out of my records most of the time. You'll find a bunch of different styles, but the center point would be Christ, and it'll be honest and real. I didn't go out trying to make a clubby record; I just wanted to do stuff that I felt would move people and encourage people.

It's like our tastes even as listeners change and it's like you said, you make music that you like. I think it's very fresh and very current and maybe pushes the envelope a little bit. The title of the album, A Night to Remember, tell me about that. What's it all about?

It's funny how you start writing songs and then you kind of step back from the songs and you realize there's a story kind of thing going on there. A Night to Remember is the title track off the record, but it's about that moment where you give everything over to God and that moment before you accept Christ into your life. 

Some people had different experiences, all great experiences, but they're all different. Some might be shaking with nervousness and anticipation, their heart beating fast with anxiety because this is that moment where you're going to take that step, and then to have Jesus meet you there is like an unforgettable thing.

I wanted to try and capture that moment in that celebration and put a stamp on that period in time that you'll never forget. That was the heart and that's what I was really trying to pull together with a night to remember.

And I bet that kind of a night is what you aim for during your shows.

Definitely. When I was thinking about putting together a music video for it I thought about people being at festivals and different situations where they might be at a concert and they have no idea about Jesus, but really curious about it.If you listen to the lyrics you can hear it. Just think of that mindset and you'll get it completely. It's articulating that moment.
 
Now there are a number of collaborations on this album, both singing and sort of the behind the scenes stuff, too. Talk about a few of those collaborations.

It's crazy how a lot of this stuff falls together. I'm good friends with Solly [Solomon Olds] from Family Force 5 and I love some of his production--that's Soul Glow Activatur for some that don't know his name. We got together and created some amazing music. He gave me some stuff that was unique and we made the song called "Transform" and we used this transformer sound.

He was like you need to see if Toby will get on this. As much as people think that Toby just jumps. You've got to be selective because Toby is selective. He doesn't just jump on anything. But when he heard it he was like, "Yeah. I love it."

That's how it went from Soul Glow Activatur to Toby Mac, but the song I had with Soul Glow is called "Kinfolk," which is just really a unity song. It's about supporting one another in this faith and encouraging each other to go forward in the things of the Lord fearless and unashamed. 

You can definitely hear the Soul Glow flavor on that song for sure. It's got that energy. You've got the song with one of the Demon Hunter guys too, right?

I'm in the studio working with Josh Crosby. We happen to be in Toby's studio and Josh is playing some of my songs for this other producer named Aaron, who happened to be working with Ryan Clark in the other room, the lead singer.

Before I got there, Aaron and Ryan had come into the studio because Josh was playing my music really loud and so they were like, "That junk is crazy. Who is that?" That was when the light bulb went off because I'm on the chorus of "Don't Play" trying to get it real hype and it just clicked.
He was like, "We should get Ryan to sing the hook. It would be crazy." I was like, "Yeah, let's do it because I love the energy and intensity in his voice in a lot of his music." He fit perfect. 

The story doesn't even stop there. It was crazy because I was trying to get my artwork designed and I reached out to a company called Invisible Creature. Big company. They do artwork for Target and Hallmark cards and all kind of stuff. 

I call them and I email them and I get an email back saying that they are way too busy to do my artwork. They have a lot of crazy stuff happening with their bigger accounts. At first I was like, "Oh man. That's messed up. They just turned my project down like it was nothing," but then I realized that they have Target and Hallmark cards and all these other people. Of course my little project isn't that important.

But then as I get to the studio, I finally meet Ryan. We're talking a little bit and for some reason somebody brought up art and stuff like that and I was like I was trying to get this company to do my stuff. You ever hear of Invisible Creatures? Come to find out that Ryan owns Invisible Creatures and it's his company.

I'm like you guys said you couldn't do my project. He goes, "You must have talked to my brother." He was like, "Hit me back at this email." I did that and it worked out. It was a crazy story in so many different angles. Just so weird how God orchestrates the desires when he wants it all to fall together. It's been amazing putting this thing together.
 
That is amazing. The track is great. It is so different than what we've heard from you before. It's awesome. It's got this harder edge. You just would never instinctively think Shonlock/Demon Hunter, but it worked. Who are some artists you'd still love to collaborate with? Who are on your bucket list there of collaborations, secular or Christian?

I had a song with Eisley, it's kind of like a folk band, that never got the chance to come out, but that's one band that I want to work with. Sarah, who is one of the singers that we did a song with and it never came out and I really, really wish I could have got them on the record. I'm good friends with Mat Kearney, so that might happen.

If we're going to talk about any music, I would definitely want to do something with U2 or OneRepublic. I want to do stuff that's just out of the ordinary. Like you said, you'd never think a sound like Ryan Clark, Demon Hunter, but when you hear it it's like, "Wow. That works!"

That's what I want to do--continue to mix genres of music to give people something fresh and unique that they haven't really heard before. Those are some artists that I'd like to try that with.

That's great. Who would you say your audience is? Do you feel like your audience is believers, the general public? Does it matter?

I think my audience are people who enjoy good music, people who enjoy honesty and that falls into believers and nonbelievers and hopefully the message that I'm sharing in my music will pierce the hearts of people who don't really know Jesus and will draw them to want to have a personal relationship with Him. I definitely would like to think that my core audience is people who enjoy good music and enjoy truth and life.

What's next for you? Are you going to do some touring? 

We're getting ready to head on a promotion for the record March 12th. I'm on the Shine A Light tour and we'll be touring all across the U.S. and Canada and then right at the end of that tour I head over to Australia, New Zealand to go support the record that's been released over there. 

Then we come back and we're doing some Acquire the Fire stuff and then right after that I head back overseas to Belgium, Brussels, to do some award show in Belgium and then later on in September we go to Melbourne, Australia. It's a busy year. We're excited at what's going on.

You've really got an international audience, don't you?

It's so weird because I always prayed God would let my music reach the masses, but the way it happens--I couldn't explain how it happened because it wasn't like I'm setting out to do these things, all these different places. God orchestrated it and just heard my prayers to reach people everywhere.
 
If you had to sum up your unique mission, what would you say that is if you had to sum it up?

I think that people have seasons, and first, my season was to unify the body of Christ and show people that we all have gifts and talents and things that God has called us to do and that we're so much more effective when we stand together in unity. That was my initial thing. I think that it's still about encouraging people to go after their dreams and aspirations, but ultimately I'd like to see people see God for who He is and not for what He can give you.

I think that there's so many different platforms that people have and superstar things that you can get on stage and do, but then the dirty work, as some would call it, would be going and spending time feeding the homeless and taking the time to do those things that everybody might overlook. Some might think that you're some superstar and that you wouldn't go do that. But God has called us all to serve one another. So for me right now it's about serving, submitting, and just humbling yourself out there. That's where I'm at right now.

Last question. How can we be praying for you?

I pray that God is putting the right people around me, surrounding me to not only hold me accountable for the goal and the mission that He has placed in me, but to execute with excellence. I just don't want to be someone that just puts out anything and does anything and puts God's name on it. That's my heart, to have the proper team around me that strives for excellence and keeps me accountable to what my mission is and what God has called us to do. That's where I'm at right now.