Jared Haschek: Justin Michael, Jared Haschek, Rebecca Haschek (yes, they are married) and Matt Young are the four culprits here. We were all doing university together at the time, and a friend of ours was putting on a Christian event that needed a band. So we said we'd throw together a band for the night and over about 4 weeks, rehearsed this weird bunch of U2, Jars of Clay and Newsboys covers, added in a few originals, and did the gig. We really had no aspirations beyond that night, and I'm sure we sounded terrible. However, someone there asked us to play at their youth group, and someone there asked us to play at something else... and here we are 13 years later!

Jared: We really are influenced by great songs and great songwriters. We love the lyrical depth of Jars of Clay, the super-hooky Newsboys choruses, and the "soundtrack to your life" type writing of artists like Crowded House and Brooke Fraser. We really love artists that have something to say - there's already enough noise out there without us contributing to it further!

Jared: Well, these days we are all married with kids, so family rates really high on the spare-time meter. Personally, music really is my life, and I'm blessed that it's my job as well as my hobby. I also enjoy watching quality TV shows - my wife and I are right in the middle of season 2 of the West Wing at the moment.

Jared: There's so much cheesy music out there in the Christmas music genre, and we really wanted to contribute something that we felt was a bit... less cheesy! We actually had this "no cheese" motto for the whole writing and recording process, and I think we just about achieved it. It was also a great opportunity to write an album that really focused on Christ, so on this album, it's less about every day life type topics and more focused on God, our relationship with Him and what he has done, and continues to do, in our lives.

Jared: Yes and no. On the one hand, Seasoned is definitely in the same ballpark as our previous releases stylistically, however it's also a bit more mature I guess. There is a depth to it that perhaps we didn't have in the past - maybe it's just a part of getting older and experiencing more of life. We definitely went all out with the orchestrations on this project, and had some players from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra play on a number of the tracks, which is something we haven't been able to do in the past.

Jared: That's an interesting question. Here in Australia, the Christian music scene is very small, so small in fact that it's almost impossible to make a living as a Christian artist. As a result, there really isn't such a thing as a Christian record label over here, just a community of independent artists doing their own thing around the country. That's not to say that there aren't talented people over here, there's just not a big enough buying public to support it at that level.

On the flip side, there are millions more people in the USA, and as a result, the industry there is big enough to support labels and artists. However, we are yet to find a label in the States that is interested in signing an artist from Australia that wants to stay living in Australia. While we are more than happy to tour the USA, we don't want to uproot our families and move them half way around the world just so that we can get signed to a label, and then go on tour 10 months of the year and leave our wives and kids sitting in Nashville wondering what happened to their husbands.

So, the short answer is yes, we are definitely interested in getting signed to a label, but it would have to be the right fit, and as yet that hasn't happened for us. If it never happens, well, that's life, and we'll just keep on doing our best to create the best music we can, and hopefully people will still be able to find it, enjoy it and grow through it.

Jared: That there is a lot more grey in life than we often realize or would like to admit. Every story has at least two sides, and there's not always a right side and a wrong side. We need to be much quicker to reach out in grace than in condemnation, and the more we can be like Jesus, the better the world will be.