Back2Back Radio Canada - S3E10 - Jake Fretz (interview), Jason Dunn (music)

Get ready for another inspiring episode of Back2Back Radio Canada, where host Dale Boreland celebrates the diversity of Canadian Christian music through powerful songs and meaningful conversations.

This episode features the energetic Christian punk rock sound of Jason Dunn, whose music delivers hope with an unmistakable edge.

Then, Dale sits down with worship leader and contemporary Christian artist Jake Fretz for an inspiring conversation about the heart behind his music. Jake shares the experiences and faith that inspire his songwriting, the importance of leading others into worship, and his desire to create music that points people to Jesus.

Whether you love rock, worship, or discovering new Canadian Christian artists, this episode offers uplifting music and authentic stories that will encourage your faith.

In this episode:

• Two back-to-back songs from Christian punk rock artist Jason Dunn
• A feature interview with worship leader and CCM artist Jake Fretz
• Honest conversation about faith, worship, and the inspiration behind Jake's music

Back2Back Radio Canada celebrates independent Canadian gospel and Christian artists by sharing their music, their stories, and the message of hope found in Christ.

Support the show: back2backradio.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Welcome to Back to Back, your gateway to Canadian Christian music. On each broadcast, we listen to great music and interview the people shaping the future of Canadian Christian music today. Please welcome our host, Dale Borland.

SPEAKER_03 0:31

Hello and welcome to Back to Back Radio. I am Dale Borland, and on today's program, we've got an interview with Jake Fretz. But we're going to start off the program with music from Jason Dunn, a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician known for his co-founding of Hawk Nelson. With his contribution of his signature energetic sound and faith-based lyrics, it resonated with his audience. Keep in mind that back to back radio is brought to you in part by GMI Hub. To find out more, go to gmihub.ca. We'll get into more of the story of Jason Dunn after this track called Hope, right here on Back to Back Radio.

SPEAKER_05 1:26

Am I gonna make it? Step down of the spotlight. Don't know if I'll make it brook and oh no, my mother gave me set to stay strong with everyone's against me. Never knew, never thought I'd ever see the day. Such a disaster if I'm doing okay. So what's the matter? Step thin to a big don't know if I'll make it fruit I started all for my mother gave me. I started reading it. I started changing it. Never move, never started, never stay the day.

SPEAKER_04 3:57

Do you feel misguided? I gonna let you know you're not alone.

SPEAKER_05 4:04

When you got to death, don't break, too dead, too bad, don't break, hope brings you back. This is back to back.

SPEAKER_03 4:28

So Jason Dunn was heavily involved in his church and the worship team, which is really cool because he loved doing it. So let's get some Jason Dunn worship on as we go to Holy Forever right here on Back to Back Radio.

SPEAKER_05 4:40

A thousand generations falling down to worship to sing the song of ages to the lamb, and all who've gone before us, and all who will believe sing the song of ages to the land. Your name is the highest, your name is the greatest, your name stands above them all throes, and the millions of powers, and this is just your name stands above them all Elliot Scrum All three days, just you a bit holy for you've been forgiven if you've been redeemed Sing the song forever, to the land if you walk in freedom, even if you fail his name, we sing the song forever, to the land We sing the song forever and name Hell the angel. Your leg is it highest your leg is it great as your leg State above them all the bubble the road in the mini part It was this above them all the day will always be holy Holy Forever We have our interview with Jake Fred's coming up after this.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Singers and songwriters, if you are looking to get your music on back-to-back radio, then you need to get connected with the gospel music industry hub. With feedback, you will find out if your music is radio ready. So connect with the GMI Hub today at GMIHub.ca.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

You are listening to back to back radio.

SPEAKER_03 9:39

Well, hello, Jake Frats, and welcome to Back to Back Radio Canada. How are you? I'm doing great tonight, Dale. How are you? I'm doing alright, and I'm looking forward to this conversation. Well, let's talk a bit about your beginning.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Back whenever you first started So I've been a worship pastor for about 20 years. When I started writing music, I started probably 20 years ago writing terrible songs that nobody will ever hear. But I you know, I just started writing for myself, I started writing for Jesus, I started writing for these moments, and I started to hear them, and you know people hear the realize that only years. What really happened about five years ago? I started writing it for my local, I wrote it for myself before I wrote before the time I tried to write for that. What do we do for that? There's nothing that's the resurrection. I was trying to like hold over and just like this idea. And then it went home and start working out on the piano, and I'm not a good piano player, so I just started like fucking out to get the melody. And then it started to develop from there. And we were actually starting to write that song while we are coming out of COVID, to be honest with you. Um that's when it first hit me too. So then when I realized, like, there just seems like there's barriers everywhere. I think it's important for our congregation and for maybe more people than just my congregation to have a song deal to remind us that nothing's gonna stop us, nothing can stop the power of the resurrection.

SPEAKER_08 12:56

All we know, no wall can keep your kingdom out. You're the God of miracles, God, you are a miracle. All we know, no chain will lock your gospel down. You're the God of miracles, God, you are a miracle. Every word that you say is true. Every promise you make is as good as done for you. You move it, we seem till we feel the foundations, move it. Move it, strong, strong, is you empty you all still goes today, no power beyond your vacant tool. You're the God of miracles, God, you are a miracle. Our redemption song begins and ends with yo. You're the God of miracles, God, you are a miracle. Every word that you say is true. Every promise you make is as good as God for you. We seem to rebuild the foundations, move, gotta be killed the foundations, move, strong, strong, it's you a TV, still CJ Move only you can, oh no, so you can come, two, only you can do only you can, you shouldn't you can come, two only you can do two with only you can you can come, two with only you can do We seem to kill the conjunction, Move Can we kill the congestion, move away, strombo, strombo, into empty grace The stone you wrote still rolls today Move Move Move Move Jake.

SPEAKER_03 16:16

Let's get to another one of your tracks. It's called Feel Your Forgiveness. Can you give us a little bit of a story about where the heck it came from? Uh the background and maybe uh what you felt at the moment you were writing it.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

So that song probably uh was 20 years in the making, maybe even longer. Uh I've always been a guy who really I always felt afraid. I always felt afraid. I always felt like I was carrying around. When I was in high school, I was the kind of guy. I didn't have a lot of friends when I heard a friend for like he loves me whenever I think he loves me, and then I'm gonna keep loving me, even when I mess up again. With that fresh perspective, I started going into each and every day, realizing Oh yeah, a new day with a new sunrise, new grace.

SPEAKER_08 18:34

My sin dubbed me so deep, it buried me until I lost the light, and my best attempts couldn't clean the stains on me, no matter how I tried. But then you called my name long enough that I could learn it, and now I bask in your grace Again and again with every gone I wake. Every step I take like a crashing wave. I feel your forgiveness, I feel your forgiveness. I get it again, no matter when I hold Whether big or small, push it, come, push it, oh I feel your forgiveness. I feel your forgiveness, get it again. Get me hit a stumbling, trapped in all its eyes. But you give me strength to stay. You take my birth and we leave the old behind The feet that crush my sin. Share the hands with plea forgiveness. Your kindness welcomes me. I get it again, with every gonna wake. Every step I take, crashing with I feel your fork in this, I feel your fork in this get out of the game, no matter when I fall, with the people, pushy oh, pushy oh, I feel for kidnapped, I feel for kidnapped, get out of the game, I feel for kidnaps, get out of the cake, I feel your forgiveness, get out of the case. My guilt is gone, my judge's been prayed, so I'm singing every day. I'm feeling, I'm feeling your forgiveness. I'm feeling, I'm feeling your forgiveness. My soul's seeds, get out of here with every gun out, every step by check, like a crashing way, I feel kidnapped, I feel kidnapped, get out of the game, when I push it up, push it off, I'm gonna kid this, I can't kidness, get out of the day, I feel kidnapped, get a gay yeah, I feel booking this, get out of here.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

What I love about playing music as an artist is that most songs that you'll ever hear presented either in whatever format, whether in a record. Recording or live from the stage, those are things that have been honed and mined and crafted not just as a song, but as truths. They they have to be refined again and again. And there's a point of within a song, every single time. There's a point within a song, sorry, within a songwriting process where the spirit shows up and he asks and he says, Are you gonna mean it? Like it sounds cool, but if you're gonna carry this, do you mean it? And and and those are the moments of of conviction, which are not heavy, they're beautiful, but they're the little moments of freedom that we as songwriters and we as creatives get to carry forward. Um and they're moments that call us into deeper communion with God, they call us into deeper relationship with Him, right? Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 22:43

But they also challenges us, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Yeah, exactly. Um, and those challenging things are or those challenging moments are really important to take hold of and to press into with vulnerability and intimacy. And and I think God honors that vulnerability and that intimacy with more creativity. That's been my experience.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

Yeah, for sure. Now I want to ask you a question about collaboration. What how important is that do you feel within an artist's um experience in their in their music abilities?

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Oh uh collaboration is unique and magical and should be embraced by everybody. There are moments for the individual to shine and for the individual to uh bring to pour a lot of effort into a creative process, but but so often uh the things that last and the things that last a lot longer than ourselves and reach a lot further than ourselves are come out of collaboration because it's taking the best of two people or three people or more and bringing those things together. That the sum of people's uh people's best efforts always brings back, brings um together uh a unique perspective, a unique voice, a unique moment, and those things are hard to capture. One person can't do that. So I I I learned years ago. Um it was actually in a worship band when I was younger, but this is how I learned this lesson. Uh I remember auditioning this band. I was back in college, and I auditioned a guitarist, I auditioned another vocalist, and I was supposed to be the lead guitarist and the singer. Well, it turns out the uh the singers that I auditioned were way better than me. Like way better than me. And it turns out the other guitarists that I auditioned so much better than me as well. So here I am in this band that I'm supposed to be leading, and everybody has more skill. I had a moment or I had a choice in that moment where I could have tried to keep them under my thumb and allow them to support me in my ministry, which I think would have been in a total abuse of power and would have been the wrong move because it would have been stifling others' creativity and other skills for my betterment. That's selfishness, that's selfish ambition at its heart. Um, instead, I had the wonderful opportunity for about for about eight months to just let other people shine and let other people take the spotlight and me find a way to be a supporting role behind these people. And in that, where where it used to be that I would have a creative idea and we would try to bring that to fruition, um, when we everybody started bringing their creativity and everyone started bringing their skills, the things that we came up with were way better than I ever could have imagined. Way better. So yeah, I welcome collaboration. I I think I think it's integral to creativity.

SPEAKER_03 25:29

Right. And in in in that moment, whenever you are yielding or whatever you want to call it, there is wisdom in that and it makes what it makes what is happening better than it ever could have been on your own.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Yeah, absolutely. Uh when when you yeah, when you yield to others' creativity and allow them to speak into a process, um what you end up getting is depth. Like I think often we end up trying to trying to like right, you know what I mean? Like we try to grasp onto a moment and hold it. But moments moments, especially moments creativity and crafting and and work the any project that we are working on in in a cr in any creative endeavor, really, when we hold them in an open hand and we allow other people to see them, then they start to see perspectives that we never would have seen. And that only adds depth. No, no, it actually adds more depth, which means that the likelihood is that it's actually gonna have more reach. Right? More people will be able to not just associate with the de with the um perspective that you were bringing, but with also the perspective that they were bringing. Therefore, you've not just increased the depth of the project, but you've also increased the reach of the project. So yeah, again, collaboration, it's just it's just actually good stewardship of creativity, but I also think it's a good process of creativity because it means submitting to one another. And I mean, God calls us to do that in the church all over, right? He calls us to submit to the body and we submit to each other's gifts and we submit to each other's strengths. So why should the creative process be any different?

SPEAKER_03 26:59

Thank you, Jake. That was that was that's all that needs to be said. I appreciate your time and I thank you for uh spending some time with us today.

SPEAKER_02 27:06

Thank you so much. It's been so much fun to be hanging out with you today.

SPEAKER_03 27:14

Well, there you have it, that's Jake Rats hanging out with me. Man, that was so much fun. We gotta do that again sometimes. So that's another show in the camera. So I'm back to that video. We can do this again.