How Do You Know He's Real?
Monthly Column by Amy Hammond Hagberg

In the Spotlight with Tricia Brock from Superchick

SuperchickI recently chatted with Tricia Brock, lead vocalist for the Christian pop/punk band Superchic[k] about their music and ministry. Their latest album, Beauty from Pain hit the airwaves and retail outlets in 2005. Her testimony is featured in my new book, “How Do You Know He’s Real: God Unplugged” which is available at book stores everywhere or at www.amyhagberg.com.
 
AH: Tell me a little bit about the significance of the title, “Beauty From Pain.”
 
TB: Beauty from Pain is the title track on the album. It pretty much is the story of a time of brokenness where everything in my life, things I had planned and hoped for, started to kind of fall apart. I would almost say to the point of just being pretty depressed. And when all of this was happening we had to go back on the tour....I didn’t really know how I was going to get through it. So I knew that the only option was to seek God...I would tell Him every thought and feeling I had. “God I don’t understand you right now, I don’t understand your plan, I don’t understand your will, I don’t understand why you let it hurt like this when you say you love me.” The main scripture that I meditated on was Job 28...Job still believed that God was watching him even though he couldn’t feel God. He couldn’t see God. But he kept the faith that God’s promises were true and that in his pain God was still watching him and believing that God was going to make beauty in him through that pain.
 
AH:  How would you compare this recording to your previous ones?
 
TB: Our other albums are more light hearted and kind of typical pop and punk stuff. We’ve had songs on past albums that were about more serious stuff but maybe just not as personal. That’s the biggest difference. Because these are personal I think it will come across a little bit more serious and honest and vulnerable because we’re not giving just analogies. We’re not talking about somebody we met on the road or a friend of ours. We’re saying this was me - this was the time that I went through.  
 
AH:  What are your plans for the band down the road? 
 
TB: This is where God’s had us for a few years now and it has been like what we’ve been called to. I think there are things that each of us could do after this, we all have interests in other things, but this is our first priority. I mean at least a couple of us from the band, if this ended, would stay in music and maybe make an album of our own, do a different type of thing. But I don’t think that’s really that huge of a thought right now...Until God really shows us that the doors are closing obviously this is where we’ll be.
 
AH:  Several of your songs have been featured on TV and movies.  Do you see yourself moving more into the mainstream market?
 
TB: I would say that more than ever if those doors got opened and it seemed like it was right and it was the right timing... We’ve never sought it out, but I would be really excited about what that could mean for our music and our ministry. But it would also be scary and I don’t think I would take it lightly. We’ve all said we wouldn’t jump into anything like that. It would definitely be a lot of praying. 
 
AH: Do you consider yourselves to be musicians or ministers?
 
TB: We always said that this is our ministry and that we feel like youth pastors. But at the same time, our whole motto has always been that everyone is preaching something, and everyone with their lives is a  pastor. 
 
AH: Who have been some of your musical influences? 
 
TB: I wasn’t really hugely into music when I was younger. I love to sing, but it was all pretty conservative stuff. I grew up singing in church and choirs. When I was a kid Amy Grant was my hero. I think she did change Christian music a lot and I think she was a role model for a lot of girls. ...I think as time’s gone by the people I respect the most in Christian music are the people that I meet, people like Michael W. Smith, who don’t act like they deserve to be treated any certain way and that definitely have a lot to be respected for. Musically my favorite Christian bands are Pax 217... they are one of my favorites just to rock to, Audio Adrenaline out of the big headliners and obviously the Newsboys - they signed us, they’ve taken us on tours with them and definitely really have helped us.
 
AH:  What’s in your CD player now?
 
TB:  When I put in a CD a lot of times it’s worship; David Crowder is probably one of my favorite things to just stick in because I love his lyrics, I love how they do hymns and Psalms and make them rock. Or it’s a lot of really mellow stuff, some of it’s Christian and some of it’s not. I tend to like really laid back music that just kind of relaxes me. There’s this one girl, a secular artist, Alicia Keyes, who I totally think is an amazing talent. 
 
AH:  If you were to describe to someone what your sound might be compared with in the mainstream market what would you say? 
 
TB:  We’ve been told that if you mix Blink 182, Black Eyed Peas, No Doubt and Good Charlotte that you’d have our new album. So there you go. 
 
AH:  What do you like most and least about being a “rock star?”
 
TB:  Probably most -- knowing at the end of the night that...What I do is just because I feel called here. And I wouldn’t really want to live without a strong purpose. Probably the least is the instability - to not really feel like there’s a “home” home. I’ve got like three different places I go off the road that are called “home.” I’m a really relational person ...That’s probably the hardest thing for me, missing birthdays, and missing weddings, missing my friends and family. There are just some things that aren’t helped when you’re gone. 
 
 
About the Author: Amy Hammond Hagberg is an author, radio host, wife, and mother of two teenagers. Her books include the How Do You Know He’s Real? inspirational book series which features the spiritual journeys of well-known athletes, recording artists, and actors. Amy’s award-winning work has been featured in magazines all over the world. Read more by checking out her website, www.AmyHagberg.com. On her online radio show she interviews celebrity authors, recording artists, and athletes about their faith. You can catch it by visiting www.blogtalkradio.com/godunplugged.


 

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