Group member and producer of SUPERCHICK, Max Hsu gives a track-by-track rundown of the band's soon-to-be-released album

Superchick

Over the years America's Superchick have reinvented their sound. Initially being perceived as purveyors of teen pop, their new album 'Rock What You Got' sees the sister-fronted band honing a "rock-o-tronic" sound - an electro-punk mash-up of slashing guitars, pulsing keyboards and grit-pop vocals. Here the band's founder and producer Max Hsu gives his thoughts about each song on Superchick's newie.

"Rock What You Got"
Once upon a time, there was a duckling that looked a little different than everyone else. The other ducklings made fun of it a lot. At puberty, that duckling got teased about its high forehead. When that duckling grew up, it turned out it wasn't a duck at all. It was Tyra Banks. We've all heard that story. It's easier to believe we're ugly than to believe that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. You have to fight the lie; no one hands it to you. You have to shake off the insecurities and the beliefs that hold you down. When I see people being who they were created to be, they light up the world around them. You can be that person. I can be that person. If there was hope for this ugly duckling, there's hope for everyone. Be who you were meant to be.

"Alive"
I studied computer science in high school. I had an uncle at IBM who helped to develop the microdrive. I spent four years studying computer science and when I graduated I got recruited at a big network solutions company. I was there for five years until the tech collapse left us all without jobs. Now I'm doing IT maintenance at a big box chain. Every day I get to work, fix the same problems and play solitaire until 5.30 when my boss isn't looking. Superchick never existed. We didn't sell 700,000 records. I never met all the amazing people that are my friends today. I didn't see 30,000 of them jumping up and down at our show in New Zealand. I never wrote and produced records. I never photographed covers for magazines and albums. I never shot music videos. I never tried surfing, bought my motorcycle or jumped out of a plane. I never met my wife. Well, that's what would have happened if I'd done the "sensible" thing. But everyone is born with a destiny. God gives us talents that he means us to use. We are meant to live, while we're still alive.

"Hey Hey"
About 2600 years ago a Babylonian king called Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem. The king made a huge golden statue and decreed that all the people should bow down before it, or be thrown into a blazing furnace. Three young men refused to bow down, saying that it was against their beliefs. True to the king's word, they were thrown into the fiery furnace - but they did not burn. Seeing this with his own eyes, King Nebuchadnezzar called them out and declared that no one should speak against the God of those three men. Actual rebellion takes a lot more courage than appearing to be rebellious.

"Hold"
The difficult thing about grief is that we pass through it alone. Just as with physical pain, though my friends may empathise with me, I have to pass the kidney stone by myself. I can find comfort in their presence, but at some point they have to go home and tend to their own lives. God, however, feels my pain, never goes home and never lets go of my hand - even if I don't reach out to him.

"Breathe"
The mother of my friend was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I asked my friend how she was dealing with it, and she cheerfully said "denial." When my own father had prostate cancer years later, I came to understand the way your brain locks down on the only outcome you can accept. Fortunately, my father came through the surgery well and is cancer-free now. We've seen a lot of hospitals in the last couple years as different family members have fought with cancer, but this song is for anyone struggling to find hope in the darkness - anyone so lost that they have to make up reasons to live.

"So Beautiful"
When I listen to our finished records, I don't hear what other people hear. I don't here the song or the things we got right - I hear the things I didn't get right. I hear the off notes, weak arrangements. Clumsy lyrics and parts that I wish were better. Sometimes it's so bad it makes me cringe. I feel like I went to the Olympics and I got silver. Silver's not bad, but when you have gold standards it's still a failure. I listen to other people's records and they sound so much better to me than anything I've ever done. I think it's human tendency to focus on what we wish we could fix rather than what we got right. So many people look in the mirror and discount themselves. We see only the flaws. We have one ideal of success and beauty and we criticise ourselves relentlessly if we don't conform to that. We warp and twist ourselves to hide the ugly creature we think we are. We believe that love must be earned because we ourselves are not worthy of love. This robs us of who we are and who we can be. We are fearfully and wonderfully made and God means for us to shine light and joy into the world - not to creep fearfully and timidly from place to place. Superchick was born out of that message and it's a message we will keep repeating because the enemy does not sleep and his insecurities still gnaw at our hearts. We will shout defiance from the rooftops over and over until all have heard that God has indeed made us all so beautiful.

"Cross The Line"
In Iron Man, Yinsen saves fellow prisoner Tony Stark's life twice. The first time Tony is brought in, wounded, Yinsen operates on him to save him. The second time, Yinsen fights the guards, knowing it will cost him his life to buy Tony enough time to complete the iron man suit. As Yinsen lies dying, Tony says to him, "Thank you for saving my life," and Yinsen replies, "Don't waste it." Moby wrote a letter to some of us who had worked on a Christian dance album and rightfully took us to task for being derivative and boring. He writes, "I want us to live and create boldly. If Christ had not lived boldly, he would be known for his ability with a hammer, not his willingness to be hammered to a cross." If we truly believe that someone died on a cross to save us, do the lives we live reflect that gift?

"One More"
If you want to do something, do it. Then do one more past where you're comfortable. Repeat daily. In the process, you will have not only learned or achieved what you set out to do, but you will have also learned to be a fighter. Any positive change you seek to make in your life, whether it's losing weight or becoming an Olympian, will be an uphill battle that you will fight every day with yourself. Our natural tendency is to lie down, to give up and admit defeat to ourselves before we even take the first step. but it is learning to always take that next step that will get us to our dreams. If your dream is 100 steps away, how many did you take today?

"Crawl"
One critic wrote the following about our album, 'Beauty From Pain': "The songwriting seems more vapid, despite the personalised approach, with most songs merely offering a message of 'We all hurt, but hold on because it'll get better.'" I think this critic missed the second half of the message: "Hold on, it will get better. You are not alone, God is with you." This is not vapid; there is a place below bottom where that is the only message that makes any sense. A friend called me to let me know about his baby's birth, but as he asked me to pray, he choked up, unable to get the words out to tell me that his son was born with Down syndrome. I've watched mute and helpless while friends have lost family members to cancer. I've personally been to the dark place where suicide seems like the only way out. In those times, when our hearts have broken and are overflowing with grief, we don't need clever theology or smart slogans. All we need is the fundamental core truth of it all.that God has not left us - and though we may have lost hope and lost ourselves and lost everything, he has not lost us.

"Stand In The Rain"
I never thought this song would do well at radio because it had a very specific message about finding the courage to face things you were running from. Initially, it tested poorly and many stations wouldn't play it. A couple of brave programme directors later and the phone started lighting up. It went on to hold 10 weeks at number one. Recently, as I listened to the song again, I realised people were writing themselves into the song and it took on different meanings to different people. That's the amazing thing about ministry - you do your best with what you can see and sometimes God takes those humble efforts and uses them for much bigger and better things.