Winter Jam
Featuring: Skillet, Building 429, Kari Jobe, Jordan Feliz and John Crist.
When: 5:30 p.m. Feb. 9.
Where: Wolstein Center, 2000 Prospect Ave., Cleveland.
Tickets: $15 donation at the door.
Info: 877-468-4946 or wolsteincenter.com.
Winter Jam, the touring festival of contemporary Christian Music artists, is gearing up for its 15th annual stateside jaunt.
One of the headliners is returning after its last tour appearance five years ago — power-pop act Building 429, which is known for radio hits “Where I Belong” and “We Won’t Be Shaken.”
“We love Winter Jam and the opportunity to bring Building 429’s profile back to a different level,” said Building 429 frontman Jason Roy, calling from State College, Pennsylvania. “You’re going to see 400,000 to 500,000 people face to face over the course of three months.
“They get to see you in a way that social media does not catch. We wanted to make sure we (get) in front of as many people as possible, remind them of our catalog and prepare for the release of the new record coming out in the spring or summer.”
The Grammy Award-nominated act, which got its start around the turn of the century in North Carolina, is getting ready to release the follow-up to 2015 album “Unashamed,” which reached No. 2 on the CCM chart.
Roy said Building 429 has been hard at work for a while on the new album. He admitted it’s taking longer than expected because the outfit set the bar high to avoid mediocrity.
“One of the great challenges is to figure out how to be authentic in this new ... sound of music while at the same time doing something that we’re proud of,” Roy said. “So that’s kind of what we’ve been chasing and trying to figure out as we’ve been writing this new record. We want to make a record that’s timeless and not just cool for the moment.”
Fans attending Winter Jam’s appearance Feb. 9 at the Wolstein Center can get a glimpse of Building 429’s new direction from the album’s recently released lead single, “This Place,” which Roy said possesses “some weight and a little bit of wisdom on it.”
Building 429 is hoping to follow in the footsteps of not its CCM peers, but instead Bruce Springsteen and The Rolling Stones. Specifically, Roy pointed to The Boss’ popular song “Secret Garden” as inspiration.
“There’s just something about the way he sang that song that always kind of wrecked me,” Roy said. “It felt so true and authentic. For the new album, we’ve used a lot of him. And I’m saying words that people don’t understand probably with our market, but we used a lot of the idea of Don Henley’s ‘The Boys of Summer’ and stuff like that.
“We’ve been trying to figure out how do we now, at our age, hold our heads high and not be out there dancing around like fools trying to grab the attention of the Kool-Aid fans. It’s like, how do we give them something that tastes good but also had great meat on the bone? That’s really what we’re trying to get accomplished with this record.”
And what kind of meat is Building 429 cooking?
“You know, I think we’re looking for a slow-cooked, smoked brisket,” Roy laughed. “That’s the funniest analogy I’ve ever given as it relates to our music, but that’s it: We’re looking for a well-smoked brisket on this record.”
Winter Jam
Featuring: Skillet, Building 429, Kari Jobe, Jordan Feliz and John Crist.
When: 5:30 p.m. Feb. 9.
Where: Wolstein Center, 2000 Prospect Ave., Cleveland.
Tickets: $15 donation at the door.
Info: 877-468-4946 or wolsteincenter.com.
Don’t miss
>> ‘Stomp’ back at Playhouse Square with floor-pounding fun | Performance review
>> ‘Peter Rabbit’ has a crude streak, but it’s largely cute, clever and fun | Movie review