Jason Dunn: Totally, man!

Daniel Biro: Totally!

Jason: NHL Hits '02! Are you familiar with NFL Blitz?

Daniel: Oo! Then we'll get along.

Jason: It is the best game!

Daniel: I have at home, set up right now, the regular NES and the SNES, and that's it. Just finished playing some Donkey Kong Country this week! Bought the cartridge with the booklet with everything. Sometimes I'll bring the system on the bus and I can hook it up in my bunk to the little TVs that fold down...

Jason: See, I thought of doing that, but I would NEVER sleep if that was the case. *laughter*

Daniel: It takes a lot of room...

Jason: I usually stay up to 3 or 4 in the morning until I'm like "OK, I gotta quit..."

Daniel: Kids don't get it these days. The classic games are where it's at!

Jason: I do agree. I think the older games are way better. That's why NHL Hits - it's still arcade-y. It's two buttons: pass, shoot, and hit. See, I'm into that.

Daniel: It's simplicity. People don't need more choices. There are too many options, there are too many choices.

Jason: It's like, "press R7 on the back on the trigger and..." There are so many buttons.

Daniel: Dude, Super Mario Kart? That's where it's at! Stuff like that.

Daniel: Probably Mario Bros. 2. It was the best of Mario's --

Jason: NO WAY, really?

Daniel: Because it was like a weird dream that he was having...

Jason: Yeeeah, I wasn't into that.

Daniel: I really like it cause it's different.

Jason: I like Mario 3

Daniel: Everyone likes 3. I like 3, c'mon! The thing about 3 is... I'd saved up all these popsicle points [to get Mario 3] and sent it in and they were like "We don't have it anymore." So they said "We'll send you these two games" -- and they were lamer games -- So I said "OK, I'll take those." And then they said "Oh, we don't have those now." So they sent me a thing for $10 off on popsicles...

Jason: You got taken for a ride, man!

Daniel: And then they sponsored us last Summer!

Jason: R.B.I. Baseball!

Jason: *Starts doing the "R.B.I. Baseball" tune*

Jason: Oh yeah! ...Blades Of Steel was always a good one too.

Daniel: Blades Of Steel's AWESOME!

Jason: "FACE OFF!"

Daniel: Dude, there were so many good ones.

Jason: Duck Hunt was always good. Dude, the new Wii has this game -- I bought the gun thing and it comes with a game like Duck Hunt, a little more modern. Pretty awesome.

Daniel: Nintendo's done a really good job with the Wii. I think it's their saving grace. I would actually get a Wii.

Jason: Yeah, they're awesome. I talked about getting one, but my girlfriend - she's in South America right now, but before she left, she was like, "Hey, I got you a gift!" and she got me four controllers and eight games, but didn't buy me the system! So she was like, "Now you have to go buy the system," knowing she wants to play it! *laughter* And knowing I'd do it because I love games! I'm like, "Shoot!!" So I had to go buy the system and I got it and it's changed my life. Perfect world. *laughter* I love it.

Daniel: Don Clark of the Clark brothers and Demon Hunter. Originally, I don't think we had any ideas. I never really trust Tooth & Nail to come up with stuff themselves. Like, with the first record, it was our idea to have the photo shoot in the school and the different kinds of poses. And if we didn't have that, I know there'd be nothing. The second one, we did the photo shoot here in Centennial Park. And that kind of formed the whole "End of the World" theme. And then, with this one, my wife found a bunch of old vintage games - like The Beatles and The Monkees - online. And we forwarded them over to the guys in the art department and they were like, "This is the coolest idea, we're going to run with it!"

Jason: And you could tell they were really into it because it turned out really good.

Daniel: Yeah, they're going to stop making records.

Jason: I used to. I'm changing my ways now.

Daniel: Well, you're getting more than just the record! I haven't played it yet, have you guys?

Daniel: *Opens up a copy of the "Hawk Nelson Is My Friend" CD and unfolds the game board CD jacket* I want to see if this works.

Jason: *In response to Daniel having trouble spinning the disc* Well, that's pretty crummy, I'll be honest.

Jason: Well, that depresses me actually. I thought it would be...

Daniel: But if it's on a hard surface, dude! *Daniel was trying this out on the hotel bed, but then tries it on something else* That's not bad! I don't know... the Special Edition is better. You can use the DVD and the DVD has different numbers.

Jason: Yes. My favorite song is called "Somebody Else."

Daniel: Oooo! Hawk Nelson / Raine Maida!

Jason: Raine Maida. He's the singer in a band we grew up idolizing - a band called Our Lady Peace. They're from the Toronto area too. We just love that band! Still do. I just thought it'd be cool to get together with him, and their manager's like, "OK, we'll work that out." And we were like, "Oh, yeah, that's not going to happen." I'm a very pessimistic person, maybe? But it happened. We flew to L.A. and went to his house. I was literally starstruck. I try to maintain professionalism, y'know? But I was like "Omigoodness, this is SO crazy!" I remember we were getting lunch before we went to his house and I remember he called our manager and I heard him talking on the phone and I was like "Is that him on the phone? Omigosh!" And I remember we went to his house and we rang the doorbell and he answered the door and I was literally freaking out. And I try not to get starstruck, but I said "Hey man, I'm Jason." and he was like, "Hey, I'm Raine" (*in a cool, calm voice*). I'm like, "Oh, gosh! I know who you are man, you're freaking Raine Maida!"

Daniel: My first concert...

Jason: And it was just really cool. Then we wrote a song together and we spent the day at his place. And I'm honored. It was a really great feeling.

Jason: Yeah! We did a lot of cowrites on this record, which I think is very smart. I think every band should do it. So your records don't mesh and sound the same. So... I have a voice recorder that's full of ideas and I remember sitting at breakfast, "I'm going to take this today." And I just took it to him. And he said, "Well, let's change this and move some things around." And I was like, "Omigosh! That sounds awesome! I never thought of that before!!"

Daniel: He had some cool ideas.

Jason: I don't know, for some reason, there seems to be this pride issue with a lot of people. They're like, "No dude, we have to write our own songs!" I don't know. If you want to be successful, you gotta write with people that are better than you. Collaborations are the key. You learn so much.

Daniel: Well, yeah, it's always important to understand that your success isn't just you. If you have that mentality, I don't want anything to do with a person like that. I mean, it's a group, team effort -- between everyone from the label to the management to the radio to you guys.

Jason: There's no "I" in "team!"

Daniel: But there is an "I" in "win!"

Jason: Ummm... no. Well, it was a little weird. It was one of those things I had a really hard time dealing with when my grandmother passed away. Cause I was raised in a Christian family where everyone believed, "well, just pray for them and they're going to get better!" Y'know, I was raised like that, so if I had a cold and I prayed, a couple days later it went away and I'd be like, "Wow! I got healed!" So when my Grandma got sick, the whole church was praying and people were gathering by her bedside and laying hands on her and praying for her and she never got better. And it really hit hard for me. Because I was on the road and she got really sick and my Mom was like, "she's probably not going to make it." And I said, "You guys are praying, right? If we're all praying, then we should be better." So I flew home, and I got home and she died that night.

Jason: Yeah. It was weird, because she was basically nothing for three days and they're like, "This is really strange" and they asked my Mom, because she was my Mom's Mom, "is there anybody in your family that's missing?" and my Mom said, "Well, my son's on the road. He's on the stage right now." And they told her, "He needs to get home." As soon as I got home, the doctor called and said, "Hey, can you just call the hospital when you get home?" "Yeah, OK." So I got home and I called and within the hour, she died. It was pretty crazy, y'know? It made me really think - this doesn't make sense because I was told if somebody's sick and you pray, they're going to get better. And it really made me - not question my faith, but this doesn't make sense, y'know? And I'm like, "Well there must be, obviously, a plan." So I remember sitting here, it was actually in Nashville, just messing around on the piano and I got the idea. I just started thinking about it, "OK, why did this happen? God obviously has a plan, what's His plan?" And I came to the realization as I was getting through it that His plan is way different from our plan and God's timing sucks. I'll be honest, you want things to happen and happen now, but it's not going to happen because humans have their own time frame. They think of something a certain way and then God thinks His way and we have to remember that it's not our time and we can't do things our way. And we often flip into that feeling where we do have to do it our way and that's all we know. So I don't know what the plan is. I really hope this song is the start of something big. Because, already, I've gotten at least 30 or 40 emails already saying "Hey, that song has really helped me with the passing of my Mom" or "the passing of my Grandmom." Cool! Mission accomplished. I mean, maybe that was the whole entire plan, I don't know? I know she went through a lot of suffering, too, because she had cancer. And that sucks. I don't know what that feels like, but I know it's not pleasant, obviously.

Jason: Yeah! That's cool that He got to use me through that.