Good News Tucson - A Family Values Publication

From Making Chicken Sandwiches to Making Hits

Up Close with Sanctus Real frontman Matt Hammitt by Johnnty Johnson

The four-member, Toledo, Ohio-based rock band, Sanctus Real, is poised for 2008 to be its breakout year. While the band has only received Christian airplay in recent years, their new album, We Need Each Other, will be released Feb. 12th and may find them gracing the secular charts as well.

“There are several songs that would be very well received by a top 40 audience,” said frontman Matt Hammitt in a personal interview. “It’s one of those things we haven’t pushed, but there are several songs that have that potential. I don’t know if it will happen or not.

We’ve been real happy making records for the Christian market.”

The Dove-Award winning band (Modern Rock Album of the Year) has become a household name in the Christian market. Sanctus Real has had five number one hits on the Christian charts since 2004, and their new title release, We Need Each Other, is currently climbing the charts.

But the band hasn’t always been successful. Hammitt formed Sanctus Real when he was 16 – twelve years ago – and they didn’t emerge on the national scene until 2002. Up until that time, Hammitt worked various jobs.

“I worked at a daycare with 4 and 5 year olds and did telemarketing for a glass company,” Hammitt said. “I also worked at Chick-Fil-A. In fact, I got my 3 year pin!”

But Hammitt never gave up on his songwriting or the band. And when Face of Love was released in 2005, the band gained popularity with three hit songs including their song Don’t Give Up which was Christian Hit Radio’s number six most played song of 2007.

“In Face of Love, we were forced to expose all of our feelings – deep emotional experiences. While we were recording, we were experiencing tough things,” Hammitt said. “Mark’s dad was passing away from cancer. My grandma passed away. Our bass player left the band. We were working with a brand new producer.

Everything was chaos. It was a real stretching time. The cool thing about that was we’ve taken that growth and we’ve carried it on and grown even more.”

Hammit says that their new album, We Need Each Other, marks a completion of that healing process and is a call for unity.

“There’s a longing for something bigger than oneself, a band, a song or a crowd of concertgoers,” he said. “We need to come together as the body of Christ, unifying to see God’s work done through us. There’s so much simple truth in the statement, ‘we need each other.’ We can accomplish so much more if we stand together as one.”

We Need Each Other is available in stores and on I-tunes Feb. 12th.

Travis Kelly is a freelance writer and the Men’s Ministry Director at Pathway of Hope Foursquare Church in Oro Valley.