A break for DC Talk as solo careers take charge

AMERICA'S top pop gospel band dc Talk have clarified their position after earlier reports that Kevin Max had left the group to go solo. Announcing a sabbatical during which both Max and Michael Tate would record solo albums, Toby McKeehan told Billboard, "We're just taking a year to a year and a half off and doing some solo records. Michael and Kevin right now are pursuing their efforts, and I'm still kicking around whether I want to or not. I'm enjoying Gotee Records. I love working with the artists there. It inspires me. We're really supportive of each other in these endeavours and it's not like a weird thing. It's really a love thing. And to see them express themselves and me express myself through Gotee Records, we're just cheering each other on. But the break is good for us. We're a little burned out and we didn't want to approach a record in that state. We didn't want to approach a new CD going, 'It's time to make a CD because our contract says we have to.' We're going to take some time, and we're going to make a CD when it's bursting out of us, when we can be passionate about it."
McKeehan says they aren't attaching a specific time to this sabbatical but think it may just be a year to 18 months. A lot will depend on how the solo projects are. "You never know what's going to happen. If Mike or Kevin's record really takes off, they are going to have to support that, obviously," he says. "I think we're just in a place where we're ready to be inspired and at the same time using this time as a creative outlet for some artistic statements that have been kind of welling up in Mike and Kevin that aren't quite right in the DC Talk format... It's going to be exciting to see what comes out of it."