Tony Cummings went to Bilston to talk to the renowned singer/songwriter MARTIN SMITH

Tony: A very successful worship songwriter told me the amount on the royalty cheque is always a surprise for him and his wife, because it can be anything. Presumably you've learnt to live with that kind of thing.

Martin: Yeah, there have been peaks and troughs. The end of Delirious? meant the end of a lot of things. You've got to follow your heart, you've got to follow what God's asking you to do - whether that means blessing in that area or not. You just have to keep doing what you're told, don't you?

Tony: Tell me about Chris Tomlin's involvement in "God's Great Dance Floor".

Martin: I went to Atlanta specifically to write with Chris for a few days. I played him the "Back To The Start" song in his car. It got to the end - "I feel alive/I feel alive on God's great dance floor" - and he's like, "I couldn't do the rest of it, but I like this bit. Can we take that bit and write a brand new song?" So that's what we did. That day we wrote some verses and called it "God's Great Dance Floor". Incredibly, he's taken that across America and got the Church in America dancing again.

Tony: Were you present at the Passion when that amazing DVD was shot?

Martin: I wasn't there, but somebody sent me a video of it while it was happening.

Tony: Did you feel it fulfilled everything you'd hoped for for the song?

Martin: I think there's more for the song. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point in the next 10 years someone even in the mainstream takes it. It's got that sort of vibe to it that it might cross over. Who knows? It's great hearing churches that would not normally engage in that style - "Dancing is of the Devil" or whatever - thinking, Oh, that's OK. It's brought life to a lot of churches, a lot of people, and that's amazing.

Tony: What you do always sounds like today's music, but a lot of worship music seems some way behind the times. What is it in your music that's different?

Martin: I don't know; I think a couple of things. I've got teenage kids now, our house is full of what they're listening to; even five years ago that wouldn't have been true. My boy's into a lot of R&B - the Jay-Z stuff and all that. The other thing is that Jonny Bird helped me produce these. I met Jonny three, four years ago - he came to my house for the day, and it feels like he never left! It's been great. Having Jonny involved, and a few other people, has really helped steer it in a great way - whereas my habits would have made it feel a little bit older. That's been great for me - he's really pushed me.

Tony: What's that involved? More synth and less guitars?

Martin: Yeah, a little; but that can change any time. I think some arrangement things, some clever programming, having time in the studio, community, church friendships - all those factors together. It keeps it young.

Tony: You originally put out 'God's Great Dance Floor' as EPs, Integrity released them after some remixes and a bit of tweaking as the two albums, and now a batch of the tracks are finally out in America as the compilation 'Back To The Start'. Did the Americans cherry-pick the tracks?

Martin: The tracks picked themselves in the end. Of course, the Americans want more of the songs they can sing. The Americans came on board much later and just thought, OK, we'll stick this out.