A Little Friendly Competition

The date is September 27th, 2007. The time is 4:19 PM. I am in San Diego. The sun is shining. A breeze is blowing. The birds are singing. To my right hand lies an iced Americano. To my left sits my celly. It has had a busy day. Final preparations, last minute decisions, ordering this, picking up that. There has been much to do, yes, much to do, for the time draws nigh. We are within the final week of waiting. Come this Tuesday, twelve songs will be officially released under the umbrella of a single word: “Cannons”. Even now they sit in their cardboard prisons, waiting in the musty dark for one such as yourself to free them from their current state and give them the listen that they so desire. For that is why they were created. Hewn from experience and emotion, fashioned in love, they simply ask you to lend an ear (as well as a small fee of anything from $9.99 to $20.00, depending upon the retailer). I am writing today, on behalf of these songs, to seek your aid. The circumstance is woebegone, but all is not lost. Their story must be told. The message proclaimed from whatever edifice you can climb. Here, on this site, we have provided one such edifice. Bookending this post you will find a link, a gateway if you will. Should you choose to help, then you need only click the link above or below (didn’t want ya to miss it) and further directions will guide your way. Oh, and you’ll be entered into a contest to win some fun stuff including an ipod. Who wouldn’t want a free ipod right?

I’ve also been reading this book by Tolkien called “The Children of Hurin”. The whole “world stacked against a hero” theme seems to have rubbed off on me.

Oh, and one more thing. If you don’t have a myspace then forget I mentioned anything about a contest. It has to do with your myspace profiles, so if you don’t have one then think nothing of it.

TEN DAYS TILL CANNONS!

As I was posting the previous blog I realized that October 2nd is only ten days away, which means “Cannons” is only ten days away, which means I am getting very excited. Seriously, I’m really excited right now… it’s literally going to kill me… this excitement. What am I excited about? I’m excited for you guys to hear it. I’m excited to see and hear what the Lord is going to do with these twelve new songs.
And just to let you all know, a little extra help on your guys part would be muchly appreciated. “How can I help my buddy Phil?” you ask. Well, if you’re excited like me, then tell someone about it.
If you need some ideas then here is an example convo:

“Hey (insert name #1), you pumping some sweet iron?”
“Yeah (insert name #2), I’m trying to get my guns up to ‘cannon’ status in the next ten days.”
“What’s the occasion?” asked (insert name #1).
“Well (insert name #2), Phil Wickham’s new CD, “Cannons”, is coming out in ten days and I just wanted to be ready for it.”
“Yeah, that makes sense, and I’m glad you reminded me about it.”
“Me too (insert name #2), me too.”

Pretty easy right? Even the most mundane everyday activities can be used to spread the word! Let me know of your “Cannons” word spreading exploits. Anything from posting a link to shooting yourself out of a Cannon would suffice.

Y’all have a terrific day.
-phil

Hungarian Always Forever

This blesses my heart.

A friend of mine sent this to me after she visited a church in Budapest , Hungary.
It put such a big smile on my face.

The Desert Chronicles

Who knew that the road between Albuquerque and Phoenix could be so fun! I’ve been spending most of this month going from radio station to radio station talking about the upcoming release. The interviews have been fun, but the hours on the road can get a bit arduous.
So Kai-the-Radio-Guy and I started having some fun with the camera. What you see is the result.

Oh, and this is a Jackalope. It’s pretty much my new favorite animal.

-phil

True Love

Hello Everyone,

The release of “Cannons” is quickly approaching, so I’ve been spending a lot of my time doing promotional stuff for the new record. The video below was shot at the offices of Christian Musician Magazine where I did an interview, and played a few songs for them live. True Love was one of those songs. As you watch and listen try not to get too caught up in the massive production of the video, and try and focus on the song itself. I especially like the ficus tree in a few of the shots.
-phil

Download a new song for FREEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Hello Everyone,
I wanted to write a quick note to let you all know that “freeccm.com” is featuring a new song of mine called “Sailing On A Ship” as a free download on their website. So click on the link below, and then click on my song to download it. It’ll be towards the upper left corner of the page under the heading “Top Downloads”. It should be pretty easy. Enjoy!

Here’s the link.

Click the FreeCCM Banner for a FREE Download from Phil!

ttyl,
-phil

“After Your Heart” and a haircut… a really short one

Hey Guys,

I am so excited right now. “Why Phil?” you may ask. Well, for two reasons. First and most importantly, the first single from the new CD has been officially released to radio stations. It’s called “After Your Heart”, and it has already started getting plays on some major stations. Right now you can exclusively hear it on my virb page:

www.virb.com/philwickham

Soon it’ll be available on itunes and on myspace and all that. So now I need your help. If you like the song then call/email your local Christian radio station and be like, “Play Phil Wickham’s new single ‘After Your Heart’, YAY!”. A pretty big radio network called KLOVE has started playing it, so let’s all go to this address:

http://www.klove.com/About/Contact.aspx

and give them a hearty thank you!!

The second reason I’m so excited is something entirely different, yet still strangely connected. With the new record, and the new single, and the super hot weather everywhere I thought that I would celebrate with a new haircut.


Not sure what I was thinking, but I went super short. Can’t tell whether I look like a musician, or a marine trying to look like a musician. Either way, it’s keeping me a lot cooler than that shaggy helmet of hair that I usually have. It’s actually kind of growing on me. I might stick with it for a while… I don’t know.

Anyway’s, I am presently in Orlando, Florida. I’ve been doing a bunch of radio station visits and interviews this week here in the deep south east corner of America. At the moment me and my traveling buddy, Mark, are sipping on some coffee trying to waste some time before we visit Relevant Magazine’s building. I’m going to be doing a podcast interview/performance with them.

This is where you can hear it once they put it up.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/podcast.php

So I guess that’s all for now.
Thanks for stoppin’ by.
-phil

NEW RECORD COMES OUT OCTOBER 2nd

Hello Y’all,

I have seen several incorrect postings on the web about the release date of “Cannons”, my new record. I believe that this is mainly due to the fact that the CD was initially scheduled to release September 4th, a date that even I had started shouting from the rooftops. But the posting of that date was premature. The label had brought the date of October 2nd to the table, and gave several reasons why it would be the best thing to delay the release a month. After much consideration, my management and I agreed to the new release date. So I apologize to those who have been mislead in the past, but now we are all on the same page. YAY! So if you would all clear your minds of September 4th , and highlight October 2nd on your calendars that would be GREAT. One more thing, the spreading of news by “word-of-mouth” is a powerful thing, but it can only happen if words are coming out of mouths… or blogs, myspaces, and the like.

So this is what I need you all to do:

1. Either pre-order the record off of my myspace/website or be sure to buy it the week it comes out..or both

2. Whether you have a blog or journal, myspace or virb, website or facebook, magazine or newspaper, voice or instrument, and you have connected with the music, then please help spread the word and tell some people about it.

3. Yes, quite.

4. Give more hugs.

5. OCTOBER 2nd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6. Come see me when I’m in your area and give me a sweet high five.

-phil

I’m in Germany…

So, like I said, I’m in Germany. Kind of random I know, but I’m here nonetheless. I won’t be here very long though. I’m actually on my way to Budapest, which is in Hungary for those who weren’t sure. I had an hour to kill here in the airport before I get on my third and final flight of the day, so I got a tomato, mozzarella, pesto panini (which I am eating right now and it is amazing!), sat here on the floor, and I wanted to say hi to you guys. Hi.
The past 24 hours kind of feels like a dream. Last night I played at this massive outreach that happens every year in Orange County called the Harvest Crusade. It’s this amazing evangelistic ministry that’s held for three night in a row at the Aneheim Stadium. David Crowder and I played for the first night, and a ton of people came out for it, enough to give me a little bit of the butterflies. It was actually kinda surreal cuz I remember going to those crusades every year when I was a kid. Once, during my high school days, my youth group took a couple vans to it, and I remember my youth pastor telling me that I was going to play there one day. I was like, “Psh! Yeah right.” Anyway, I guess he was right after all. So that was last night. Big. Loud. A blur. Now, not even a day later, I find myself in the heart of Europe, sitting on the airport floor, minding my own business, while people from all over the world pass by occasionally glancing in my direction to check out my guitar case.
I’m on my way to Hungary to meet up with a church group that is out there serving and telling people about Jesus. I’ll be playing at some concerts/outreaches that have been put together to set up a platform for the gospel to be preached. I’ve always loved being apart of these kinds of trips. Please keep us in prayer as we bring the gospel of Jesus to many who have never heard it. It seems the enemy works extra hard against these kind of things, and the power of prayer is immeasurable. My flights boarding, and I gotta go:)
Thanks,
-phil

One Last Look

Presently, I find myself in the foothills just outside of Sacramento, California. The town is Auburn, otherwise known to the natives as “A-town”. Since last time we’ve connected I’ve been to a few places. The first was Creation West, which is quite a large Christian music festival that takes place in the state of Washington. The venue is a massive natural amphitheater that is nestled right up to the cliffs of “The Gorge”. The Gorge (not the “George”) is kind of like Washington’s version of the Grand Canyon, definitely smaller than the original, but still vast and majestic to say the least. I acted as kind of the festival worship leader for the first few days, leading in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings, along with teaching a worship seminar and playing a few sets of my own stuff. They kept me pretty busy, but I was happy to do it. It was actually a bit daunting at times, walking onto the main stage with just me and my guitar in front of 20,000 people.
After a few days at the Gorge, I traveled about a hundred a fifty miles over to the Seattle area, Bremerton to be exact. It was green and cool as Seattle always seems to be. I played in a venue called the Roxy. It’s an old theater refurbished with a rocking sound system and lights. It was my second time playing there and it’s always a good time.
Now I’m in “A-town” playing at a Calvary Chapel event. It should be a good time as well.

I do have a question for all of you, so if you have any input please respond. Here’s the question:
With the new record coming out there will be new merch coming as well. Me and the team have been brainstorming about it. You know, what kind of things to people want and so on. But I thought why don’t I ask you guys. What does someone want to buy other than CD’s and shirts? Any ideas?

Anyway,
Like I said before, the record is just about finished up. This little video is a bunch of random things from that process. Hope you like it.

until next time
-phil