Hawk Nelson is a band who has proved their ability to endure. Through punk rock to worship to shimmering pop, their heart has consistently been to reach the listener's heart-- and have some fun while doing it. 

The newest era of the band comes with Miracles, their new studio album releasing April 6. After three years of personal challenges and the resulting growth, the Hawk Nelson is returning with renewed dependence on a God who walks with us through fire. I caught up with Hawk Nelson founding member and bassist Dan Biro to get a glimpse into this chapter of the band's story. 

It's been a couple years since your last album. Can you catch us up on some of the things that have happened in the band and in your lives individually?

Yeah, it's been three years since Diamonds came out. It goes quick, but at the same time, three years is a long time; a lot can change. Our singer Jon had a son, and he's actually just found out he's having a second child. So that's a big change. I had this benign tumor that was eating my bone in my leg, so I had three surgeries. The last one was two years ago, and it's been good since, so I'm very grateful for that. David, our drummer, got into photography. Our guitarist Micah has gotten into music production. So there's been a lot of growth and change, in a healthy way I think.

The first anybody heard of the new music has been "He Still Does Miracles." And that's been out for a couple months now at radio. What has the response been from people who are hearing this song?

I remember when it first got added to some radio stations last fall, we got a couple of emails right away-- really in depth, like "I need a miracle, this is what's happening, I still believe that He can." And it was really encouraging stuff. 

And then there's also been some people who maybe aren't getting it as much. We didn't want to write the exact same record as Diamonds in terms of style or make it cookie-cutter. So you're always going to get people who are like "oh, it's not the same, I don't like it." And that's OK. I don't like it when bands just make the same record over and over. 
 
So what was your goal going into this album in terms of how you wanted to innovate? What were you aiming to change as you're continuing to progress as a band?

We've always said "let's write this record like it's our last." And we've said that for like the last four records. This time, it was really challenging I think for Jon, between having a son and no sleep and just that adjustment. So it wasn't really coming together smoothly. I remember calling him because I was actually concerned about him as a person and as a friend. I was like "dude, I think you need to just go home, stay home, and I think we just need to take a break from all this. It doesn't seem like you're in a healthy place."

So that was kind of scary, but at the same time it is what it is. I don't know if he got an extra motivational shot from that, or if all the sudden God was like "OK good, you guys gave it up, so now I can actually do my thing and work." Because that's when songs like "Miracles" started coming together. So somehow, it all happened anyway.

What has Miracles ended up like thematically, being born out of that kind of difficulty? What are threads you see woven through the songs?

I feel like Hawk Nelson has become this thing where it's positive-- we like to have positive, upbeat vibes. But I also hope that we're known as a band that is honest about our trials and struggles, that not everything is picture perfect in life. I don't know where we get this idea as Christians that it's supposed to be perfect, because the Bible doesn't say that. It says "you're going to face troubles and trials."

Our singer Jon sometimes talks about the miracle of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They've been thrown into the furnace. They didn't want to get thrown into a furnace-- who would want that? But the miracle wasn't that God saved them from being thrown into the furnace. They still had to go into the furnace, and then the miracle happened.

I feel like it's the same for our lives, that we often have to walk through those hard things. I'm just starting to choose to believe that I can ask God for help through them, and He's going to deliver me, and He's big enough for all of my doubt and all of my fears-- all those things that we wrestle with. I just choose to believe that He's bigger than all that, and I can go to Him.

So I feel like that's just stuff we've been walking through, and hopefully that comes out on the record.

Is there another song aside from Miracles that you're really excited for people to hear, that maybe you resonate with personally?

There's a song called "Parachute" that will probably be the next song at radio. It's a little more mellow I guess; we didn't want to overproduce it. It was super stripped down. It's talking about when you just feel lost, crying out to God to be your parachute. Both Jon and I feel like that's probably going to be the most significant song on the record for people.

There are other songs that are special to me on the record. There's a song called "Right Here With You" that was produced by Kyle Lee. I love all the stuff he's producing. He did the last Leeland record, he did the Michael W. Smith worship record Surrounded. He's got good taste, and I love the way he did this song. This girl named Madison is on it, and it's nice to have the collaboration between the male and female voices. We're playing it live, and musically it's my favorite on the record for sure. I never get tired of it.
 
The other element to this record that people have already been seeing is all the video content. And from what I understand, Jon has been spearheading that. Can you share about the vision for the video accompaniment to this album?

Yeah, Jon has really been getting into video the past couple years. He actually stumbled into it when we needed more video content as a band, and it was really challenging to get people at that time. So he was like, "I'll just try making lyric videos and things." And Jon's just one of those people who is good at whatever he does. It's kind of annoying, because I'm not like that! But he's a great person to have on your team, I'll tell you that much.

So when he wrote the record, he was like "I feel like Miracles, the content of it is very supernatural and otherworldly. Where could we do video to portray that?" So we went to Iceland and kind of captured a five day adventure of traveling, and I think he nailed it.

The other videos, we're writing each other like "what should we do?" And there's actually one that we shot on tour in a single shot at a show. It starts out with Jon downstairs on a piano, and the camera follows him up to the concert. You don't even really know he's at a concert. We don't really love performance videos where it's just the band playing, because that's kind of boring. But this is one camera shot, and it's really cool. And that's for that song called "Right Here With You," my favorite.
 
At this point, you have been the one who has seen Hawk Nelson through all its iterations. Looking back, what has changed about Hawk Nelson and their mission, and what has stayed the same through all the transitions?

We always wanted to hold onto the things that helped our identity early on, which was like energy, positivity-- those kinds of things. But the things that have changed are like, we're all older now. So our musical taste is a lot more broad. Back in the day, pop punk was kind of our thing. And it's not anymore. I might listen to a record like that for nostalgia purposes-- I did that actually last week on the bus. The guys were playing a card game, and I said "let's put on some old Blink 182!" And it was like "can you believe this was music?" It's just funny that we were in the same category, like I remember playing that kind of thing.

But it's felt like a really healthy change. It's always hard going through member changes; I'd say that's the hardest. But we're now at a place where we've all been together for several years, and they're my brothers, my best friends. Even when this band finishes someday, these guys? I love them.

Through that long road of growing up together, of the band growing and shifting and changing, have there been moments you look back to as kind of touchstone moments where you're like "this proves to me why all this was worth it?"

Well I know it's carried me through a lot of trials. We get stories from people-- for example, a few weekends ago we were playing a show, and this woman came through the signing line, and she wanted us to sign her Diamonds CD. She was like "this song, 'Diamonds,' got me through all my chemo treatments last year. Now I'm cancer free." And everyone was kind of like "oh my gosh," you know, trying to keep it together. 

You get those kind of stories, and you try not to take it too lightly, because we all have songs that are really special to us that carried us through relationship difficulties or whatever. So the fact that we get to make that kind of music that can be that for people sometimes? That's what makes it worth it. And that's what's special about it I think. If we were just a fun band that didn't have those kind of songs with impact, we wouldn't be here. It wouldn't be worth it. It's just not enough. 

So key moments-- there's stories like that from other people. People that have struggled with suicide, depression, and they feel like our records have really helped them through those times. Specifically there's one fan of ours, not going to mention her name, but she still comes out to shows. She calls us her big brothers. It's cool to know that we've had that kind of impact in her life. What else could you ask for?
 
Oh for sure! Looking towards the future, are there still things as a band that you'd like to achieve? What's on your band bucket list?

One thing we've always loved is international travel, seeing different cultures and perspectives, seeing how God's working differently in different places. So we are going to the Philippines this summer for like a three concert thing. Then it's like "we're already going there, where else can we go?" So we're trying to tack on more. That's always been a thing we love to do. 

I think that it's been very much year to year, like "God, if you keep opening the doors, we'll keep going through them." But we're also not naive to the fact that this could be the last record, so let's try to appreciate it for what it is.

How can people who are reading this later be praying for the band and for you individually in this season of your ministry?

God has been so good and always answered prayers for safety while traveling, and that's always important. But I feel like right now it's more like we need prayers for the future, the vision of this band. If we're going to continue, what does that look like? How does He want to use us? Hopefully that's not too vague, but it's something that we need to kind of answer, and be patient. We just want this to be a God-inspired thing, not something we're doing just because. 

You can find Miracles by Hawk Nelson on iTunes and Spotify now.