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Interview with Israel Houghton

You might say that as an artist, Israel Houghton is as distinctive and as notable as his first name. Songwriter, worship leader, producer and lots more, the former member of Fred Hammond's Radical For Christ ensemble never fails to startle anyone catching him for the first time.

Having enjoyed considerable acclaim with his New Season album (see album review)and now out with his second project Real from Integrity Gospel, Israel took some time out to talk with Gospelflava.com:

Gospelflava.com: There is a contrast in style and delivery of New Season and Real. Explain that contrast and your vision for Real .

Israel Houghton: The vision for the new record: first of all when the label approached us, they said that they wanted to do a new record, and that they wanted to do one right away. That was because at the time we started talking about it, New Season hadn't connected [with people] yet.

New Season went out in limited release and sort of hit. Gospel radio started playing "Who Is Like the Lord" and "There's A Lifting of Hands". It got this spike and then that tapered off and so the label came to me and said that they were ready to do another one.

I said, 'Do me a favor. Just put [the song] "New Season" out there just in case. They said that it's not really a radio song, that it's live and that people had to be there to get it. I said that 'I disagree'. I actually fought pretty hard and told them to get it out.

So they put it out there and just tested it in a few markets, and it went crazy. People started calling radio stations saying, "That's my song and it ministered to me'. I knew that it would have that impact because of where it came out of when we wrote it.

There was this announcement that needed to be made. People need to know. It's not over. It's a new season. It's just the beginning. It's a new season.

With that said, I said 'I'm not sure that we could do a live album again and hit that [same] kind of intensity right now'. Because we need songs that could kind of marinate out there. The reason I think that New Season [hit so hard] was because those songs had been well seasoned. We had tested them and we had been doing them a lot.

With Real, we said that we wanted to do something different. We kind of went back to a time when Andrae (Crouch) use to do records. There were live horns. It was always Israel Houghton

an event when his records came out. Non-Christians and Christians alike looked forward to his records. Obviously I love Andrae and I love what he's done for Gospel music and he's had a tremendous influence on our music.

So we said, if we are going to do it, let's still do a flow. So there is no dead space, all of the songs flow into each other. It was really important that it was this kind of experiential journey. That really is the contrast where the message (of Real) is a little more inside. You have to think through it. It's less interactive and more 'sit down and listen'.

Gospelflava.com: You hooked up with producer extraordinaire, Tommy Sims to invent the sound of Real. Tell us about what Tommy brought to the table and the camaraderie between the two of you.

Israel Houghton: I've known Tommy Sims for seven years now. The first time that I met him, I was getting ready to do a record for Warner Bros; it was more of a CCM type of record. I sat down and played "Nothing Else Matters". He said, "That's it". He told me that he thought I was the next Andrae Crouch. I would say, "C'mon Tommy, that's not your style to give crazy props like that." He said "No, you got it."

We didn't get to work together then, so when I approached him last year, I told him that I have to do a studio record, and I really, really don't want to do it with anybody else (but Tommy). There were some big names, producer-wise, that were tossed around, and I thought about it. But I knew that in order to do this record right, it would have to be Tommy.

To address that contrast between New Season and Real that you were referring to, I asked Tommy to do a couple of songs.

Album Review: Real

Real ends with gorgeous balladry, three tracks strong. "Magnificent and Holy" is New Breed showcasing the beauty of softly-rendered but strong vocals laid over organ and piano. The song blends into the guitar-kissed "Don't Want to Leave This Holy Place" with..

See full album review.

"If one of those songs is 'Nothing Else Matters', I'll do it.", he said. At the time, he was only going to do two songs. When I played the songs that were going to be on this album, he said that he wanted to produce the whole thing. I almost fell out of my chair when he said that, because he is notorious for only doing two or three songs on an album. He really felt passionate about this record and wanted to take on the whole thing.

Gospelflava.com: "Better" is a remix of the "Better Than Life" song from the recent Lakewood Church album, We Speak to Nations. "Better" and in fact much of the Real project has the whole 1970's, Earth, Wind and Fire vibe. Where did that concept come from?

Israel Houghton: I have to take my hat off to Tommy. There was actually another song called "Rejoice and Be Glad" that almost made the final cut. The reason that it almost made it because it had that same Earth, Wind and Fire feel and we wanted to do songs like that.

About "Better", I came back from a break, we had taken about a two-hour break and I walk in the room and Tommy is playing this acoustic guitar, playing the melody to "Better". It was a whole different song.

"Bout' it Bout' it", this is a song that I wrote with a guy named Shake Anderson about three years ago. It was a swingy neo-soul type of song. It actually had the same vibe as the song "Real" but Tommy said that it was too similar. So I said let's hype it up. Let's figure out what we can do. He comes in again laughing saying, "I got this idea for the 'everywhere I go' part. It'll be like 'everywhere I go. I go. I go."

Gospelflava.com: You are doing something that not many artists or worship leaders are doing and that's have a multi-cultural sound and ministry. Can you tell us why a multi-cultural ministry is so important.

Israel Houghton: "I think it goes back to where I'm most comfortable. I was a black kid in a white family; going to a Hispanic church until I was 18. Culturally I've gotten so many looks and different angles on life. When I began to embrace that diversity in life, cause you know when you are 18 you want to be like everyone else. You don't like the fact that you are kind of a mutt. I was a little confused about that. What am I supposed to do?"

"So I would sit down with record companies and they would say, "You're not black enough to do this and you're certainly not white enough to do this. So I was always in this kind of holding pattern unless I was willing to let them shape what they wanted me to be. It was never what I felt I needed to be. It made for some frustrating seasons in my life."

The Album Players on Real

Check out some of the prominent players taking part in the Real album from Israel Houghton and New Breed: Tommy Sims, Aaron Lindsey, Paul Garcia.

See overview.

"I began to embrace the fact that worship is an equalizing force. It causes everybody to come as they are. You don't have a black section in heaven or a Gospel, CCM or a Latino section in heaven. You got this sound in heaven that we have yet to hear. I can guarantee that it's not segregated in heaven. We're asking Lord, as it is in heaven, we're asking that would be here on earth.

"Maybe I look like an idiot. I feel the pleasure of God on this music. We built a group that is multi-cultural. Not so much multi-cultural in skin tone. I don't believe that culture and race has anything to do with skin. I think it's a mindset. Same as cross-cultural. Cross cultural is where you celebrate and embrace other races. You pursue other cultures.

That's why I think that it's significant that we are doing our debut concert at Lakewood. If you look at Lakewood, you have 30,000 people that come through Lakewood and there is no dominant race.

Gospelflava.com: You are involved in Promise Keepers, Champions for Christ, New Breed and Lakewood. How do you found balance?

Israel Houghton: (Laughing) I'm not sure that I found it yet, to be transparent. I think that this is a season that I am able to do it.

The one thing that I will brag about is my first ministry, which we haven't talked about yet. It's not as prominent as the others. My first ministry is to my wife and my children. If I'm not ministering there effectively, then I'm really a joke to you right now. Trying to minister to you is all from the head. But if I minister effectively at home, then I can minister to you from the heart. I'm exporting what I'm building at home out to the world.

Israel Houghton

So Meleasa, my wife, is a stabilizing factor on how to find that balance. We're doing it, but we're doing it together. We have a home in Houston and Austin. So when I am here in Houston, we are here as a family. We are not stuck in some hotel.

Gospelflava.com: Tell us what your musical director Aaron Lindsey and also vocalist Danielle Stephens bring to the New Breed ministry.

Israel Houghton: I think they bring a lot of the Gospel side of things that I'm not totally familiar with or accustomed to. Like I said before, I wasn't raised in that culture. So to able to understand and relate to that culture, it helps to be mentored to a degree by them.

Their experience with Fred (Hammond) who is probably one of the biggest mentors in my life, ministry-wise, they've brought that experience to this group. Beyond that, it's really their heart and their desire for worship and their desire to see the glory of God cover the earth. You can't engrave that into someone, they have to embrace it. When you come across people who are embracing it, it's just like an explosion.

Gospelflava.com: Where would like to see New Breed in a few years?

Israel Houghton: Geographically, I don't know. As a force in the earth, we'd definitely have a heart to be agents of impartation. We'd love to see a school and a place where interns can come and we minister to young worship leaders. Then we would send them back to their cities and let them affect and bring change into their churches and their community.

That is probably at the forefront of our desire. So really we feel right now that we're just gatherers. Right now, we're just out there developing a sound, developing an audience and almost being a signpost in the journey of their life. Fall in love with God. Stay in the presence of God. I think that's a resounding message in our music and in our relationship with each other, and consequently, in our relationship with God.

Gospelflava.com: What are you jamming in your CD player?

Israel Houghton: Man I went to Best Buy and I bought two boxed sets of Andrae Crouch because I want to write more songs. I'm in a zone where I'm wanting to write more. The way Andrae constructed a song; the songs he wrote are in every denomination. You can go to any church and hear, "To God Be the Glory" and "Bless the Lord Oh My Soul". I have a six CD changers in my truck and all six cartridges are filled with Andrae's music.

Gospelflava.com: Who would you like to work with in future endeavors?

Israel Houghton: Pastor Andrae Crouch, Monty Alexander and Cyrus Chestnut.

New Breed is a vision, a movement, a ministry, an entity and an outreach. Israel and his team have something that is sure to catch on to those who have not yet grasped or embraced it yet. Be on the lookout for Israel and New Breed as they are taking the church by storm with a sound that not only blesses people of all nations, but is pleasing to God and His diversity in heaven.

— interview by Dwayne Lacy —