THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH - On Untraveled Roads

Posted on July 27, 2017 by Michelle Humphrey

Since 1996 Thousand Foot Krutch has been bringing their mixture of rock and hip hop music to music fans all over the world. The rock band hails from Canada and have released eight albums to date. Their upcoming release Untraveled Roads (TFK Music) is a live album featuring eight of the bands last nine Active Rock radio songs. The album will be released on September 15th, and includes their biggest hits from their albums Exhale (2016), Oxygen: Inhale (2014), and The End is Where We Begin (2012), all of which were independently released.

Photo Credit: Jimmy Davis

Thousand Foot Krutch was formed by lead singer Trevor McNevan and Screamer recently sat down with him to talk about how he got his start in music as well as what Thousand Foot Krutch has been up to recently, including the latest musical offering from the band.

McNevan learned of his love for music at a very young age. “When I was 10, music just grabbed me…I started getting out notepads and writing my own thoughts down. I listened to a lot of hip hop coming up and we had one classic rock radio station in my town at the time. Those were the first influences in my life.” He recalls playing music for friends and kids in the neighborhood. His entire childhood was filled with music, which is something he was destined to do.

McNevan recorded his first album at the age of 13. “It was called The Boogeyman. It was all hip hop. When I was 16, I released a record as Oddball (a band that he had at the time), and that was half rock and different types of music on the other half. It was 27 songs and kind of hilarious. I realized that I enjoyed writing songs…I started Thousand Foot Krutch the next year when I was 17…that’s been my journey musically.”

When asked about his greatest musical influences, even though McNevan listens to all different types of genres, he’s always loved music that had an underlying hip-hop, urban flavor. He explained, “I listen to all different types of music…Michael Jackson’s Thriller was definitely a huge influence and it made a huge impact on me musically. I was so blown away.” He went on to say, “There’s a whole bunch of artists who inspire you along the way and I’ve always been influenced by musicians who have a powerful connection with their audience.”

Speaking of having a powerful connection to their audiences, Thousand Foot Krutch feels as if this is one of the most important things they can do as a band. They want to feel the energy of the crowd and look for that connection. In fact, they thrive on the connection with the fans. This became very evident during the interview. Thousand Foot Krutch is a band who genuinely cares for their fans.

When asked about the upcoming album coming out, McNevan talked about it with excitement. “We’re about a year in our studio album Exhale and it’s been an incredible year. The new album (Untraveled Roads) was recorded during this year’s forty-six city Winter Jam Tour Spectacular. McNevan said of the experience, “It was an amazing tour and we really connected with the audience. We got really inspired to capture what live feels like to people who might be on the other side of the globe where we haven’t been able to get to come to their country or city yet – the people who haven’t had that journey with us yet.”

Thousand Foot Krutch has had an array of hit songs such as Let the Sparks Fly, Light Up the Sky, Running with Giants, Born this Way, and Untraveled Road, just to name a few. All of these songs are ones that are featured on the upcoming album and are a large part of the band’s success.

This is Thousand Foot Krutch’s second live album. The first one was Live at the Masquerade, which was released in 2010. McNevan said, “Since then we’ve gone independent and have released the last three albums on our own. It’s been a special journey and we thought it would be awesome to capture that authentic live energy.”

Since the band first formed in 1996, they’ve evolved as not only a band, but as individuals as well. They’ve had many great experiences over the years. “It has been a natural progression musically to be inspired to go in different directions as the years go by. I think we’ve always remained intact as far as the identity of the band, but we’ve definitely taken a lot of musical adventures on our records…I think it’s been an organic process to the growth of the band. I think we’re definitely a stronger band than we were in the beginning.” He goes on to talk about what an amazing journey they have had. They have traveled the world and their music and songwriting has evolved because of the experiences they have shared over the years. Not only has their music progressed over the years, but they now have families so there have been many changes along the way. “We just get to share with more people now,” he said.

As far as success, the band has definitely found their niche in the music world. All of their hit songs represent their significant success as a band who has created their own sound by intertwining both rock and hip hop. The band has a straight ahead songwriting style. “I handle all of the songwriting at this point, actually. In the earlier days we started out trying different things,” McNevan said. The songwriting came most natural to him and not so much to everyone else so that is where the songwriting has stayed. He sends the guys in the band music to review on a regular basis so everyone has a part in creating their signature sound. McNevan raves about the members, “They are incredible musicians as well so they definitely put their own identity and flair in what they do when recording bass and drums.” In the end, they all come together to decide on the best songs to record. It’s undoubtedly a team effort.

Thousand Foot Krutch is a band that always has always focuses on positive music. They are always looking for the light in the somewhat dark world. Even with all of the things that are going on in the world today they remain positive. When asked how they are always to keep a positive outlook with their music, McNevan explained, “To me, my faith plays a big part in that. We all have our issues and things that we are working on in our lives, the things we struggle with and balance. I’m very thankful in my life to have faith that there is something greater than us…our faith has never been our genre of music. It’s our lifestyle, and that’s how we look at it.”

McNevan is thrilled to be able to share Untraveled Roads with the world. He says, “This new record is a special collection of what we’ve accomplished with the past three records. It’s an experience that we can share with the fans. The live experience is a large part of what this band it. We’re so excited to share this album to the people who have never been to a show and to the people who have been to a hundred shows.”

In addition, there are twelve videos that are edited together from the live tour and will be released to the official TFK YouTube channel. “We also have a stories piece that we are still putting together to honor the audience and to share stories with each other. People have been sending videos from all over the globe talking about specific songs and how it’s meant to them…how the music has spoken to them,” McNevan said. This is a project that he is very excited about and is ready to share it with all their fans, so everyone can be on the lookout for that.

At the moment, the band is taking a little break to spend time with family. McNevan has been having fun creating a hip-hop album on the side called ATAT, which stands for “As Thick As Thieves.” “I’m finishing that up in the next month or so and will be releasing some EPs in the coming months,” he said. “It’s been a fun side project while taking a break from the road.”

The band is very excited to release Untraveled Roads and has many things in store for their fans in the very near future.

The full Untraveled Roads track listing follows:

1) Running with Giants

2) Light up The Sky

3) The River

4) Push

5) Untraveled Road

6) Let the Sparks Fly

7) Born This Way

8) Courtesy Call

9) Be Somebody

10) War of Change