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MQ: Now through this whole process, did you have a mentor or somebody you looked to for advice, guidance, or direction?
KM: Yes - different people along the way. Once I got my footing down here, I actually started working a lot with Margaret Becker. She really blessed me and was a real leader in my life. She was somebody who showed me the ropes and was very supportive. I would say I really look to her as a real defining person in my life - which has been a blessing.
MQ: A current issue of the day is technology and how it affects music production, distribution, and creation. Then there's also piracy and downloading. Do you have any thoughts on that?
KM: Yeah, I think that technology and seasons of life and all of those things are always going to affect what we are doing. I think we are going to go in and out of those seasons. Right now, sure, downloading and piracy are greatly affecting our industry. Some of it is for the positive and some of it is for the negative. I think there are always going to be those things that are going to keep the industry in flux, but hopefully people will always continue to make music because they can't 'not make' music.
MQ: Now you've done some work with World Vision in South Africa...
KM: Yes.
MQ: Can you tell us a little bit about that - what you thought, how you got involved and how it's affected your worldview...
KM: Sure. I was probably like most people - I had seen a lot of footage from those types of places - of intense poverty. I've heard a lot about the AIDS crisis. I saw it - whether on television, or listened to it on radio, or read it in the newspaper - but to see it in person...was something else because it really was what they said it is. It's not propaganda. It's really as bad as they say...and it's probably worse than they say. When I went to Swaziland, they were reporting a 38.6% rate of infection for HIV AIDS. So you're talking about almost half of the country. You can't even believe it. You don't even know where the country is going to be in fifteen years. I walked into some huts and homes where the father was long gone, the mother was dying of AIDS - and had a couple of two year olds and the grandmother was taking care - or some other relative or and older sibling. I walked into several homes where it was completely child run - just child headed households. You hear about that, but when I saw it I called home and said, 'You're not going to believe this! I went to a hut today with five children and they don't have relatives and their parents have passed away because of AIDS and they're raising themselves.' My dad said, 'Well, what do they do?
How do they get any food?' I said, 'Exactly! What in the world do they do?' It's really happening. It's happening because this whole middle generation is being wiped out. So, you have grandparents who don't have that much longer, raising two year olds, three year olds, four year olds....
I think that Isaiah 58 really came alive to me...where it talks about true fasting. Not just...you know, picking a day and giving something up or whatever. But really being about the gospel....giving your food to the poor and the hungry, taking in the poor, setting the captives free and breaking the bondage of the oppressed. That's a fast that is acceptable to the Lord and so that's something that I've kind of walked away with thinking, "Ok, through World Vision, how can I help that process?"
MQ: Where do you find inspiration for your music and writing?
KM: I just find inspiration in life. I'm a pretty deep feeler, I feel things pretty poignantly. So, it seems like I'm kind of inspired all the time by something - some sort of topic. But it's also a discipline, sometimes I'm not inspired at all and I still have to sit down and write - and that's fine too.
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