Tony Cummings spoke to Geoff Hunker, frontman of the Dream Records band SATELLITES & SIRENS

Geoff: Yeah, I do that a lot. Ronnie Petkovich actually wrote almost every song on this record with me - lyrically and melodically.

Tony: Tell me about the themes of some of the songs. It's a lot more thought-provoking than your previous work.

Geoff: I'd say so. Since it took so long with this record, we really wanted there to be something being said in each of these songs instead of regurgitating the same ideas. We really spent time taking those songs apart. We wrote one song three different times before we ended up with it where it's at. One of the songs I love is "Chasing Photos". We just wanted to tell a story with that song. As a society we chase after capturing the moment instead of living the moment. I think that happens with social media; you take 35 pictures before you find the one you want to post. At concerts I'll be on stage and I'm seeing people's phones not their faces. I understand wanting to capture that moment to have it on your wall, but let's also live that moment, let's do that and have that memory instead of the picture and remembering I took 75 pictures to get there.

Tony: When you sit down to write lyrics, do you think about the audience - whether the song will be aimed more at someone who has faith or someone who hasn't?

Geoff: Absolutely - just knowing the audience. On the last record, it was almost like a 50-50 split - 50 per cent hopefully connected to anyone and 50 per cent worship songs. I'm now at a church - a little over a year and a half - and had a chance to write some music for the church. When I sat down to write this record, I had an outlet for the worship stuff: we wanted an outreach record. Everything is obviously from a Christian perspective. The song "Old Souls" is, "Let's take a step back and remember when we were kids. Remember when we could be anything, we had dreams we thought were attainable. Let's get back to that time where we really believed that we do anything, that there were plans for our lives instead of the ruts that we live in now." It's kind of a Christian perspective, but I think everybody can understand that idea. "Let's pull out some of those dreams I had and see if I can still get to them."

Tony: Do you ever feel you need to kick-start your faith? Does being a worship leader help to keep you focused?

Geoff: I'm questioning some stuff right now in my life. I'd been on the road so long, more than one place; I used to see the affected lives nightly, now it's every weekend we see people affected by the music and the ministry. I'm at a place where I'm remembering I used to be in a different city talking to different kids; God's working in different people's lives all over. Now I'm seeing it constantly. You've got to continue to maintain your relationship with Christ, have your time with God; you've got to fill up to be able to give out. It's a constant battle for most Christians to continue to find that time to spend with Christ.

Tony: I'm delighted you're with a record company again. Did you have a time of feeling a bit cynical about the whole CCM industry?

Geoff: Oh yeah. When you're different in the mix of everything else, it's sometimes hard not to be cynical. You hear the radio and you think, "Man, we got passed up and this is something that's being played?" I had a friend - Matt from the band Superchick - we were writing one time, and I showed him a song that I didn't understand why we went to radio with it and nothing seemed to happen. I played it for him and he said, "God can put life into anything that he wants to. This is a great song but God didn't choose to give it that life. But has somebody on the road come up to you and been like, 'This song has really affected my life'?" I was like, "Well, yeah, I hear that." He was like, "It's kind of cliche to say it as a Christian, but that song is reaching some people. It may not be given the life to become a number one single but God is still using that music." I'm OK either way, knowing it's still connecting with people.

Tony: Has there ever been pressure put on you by record companies to write a song to a particular formula so it sounds like a current Christian radio song?

Geoff: Honestly, we've never really had that pressure. I think maybe that's something that's kept us at the level we're at. When we were working with Connor at Word he was all about, "I want you to do what you do but I want you to make a great record - something that you love." We were like, "OK!" So we did. The second record, 'Frequency', was independent, so obviously we could do whatever we wanted with that one. This record and the last one with Dream Records, they are really just supportive. We sent them songs and they would say, "This is a great one" or "Maybe this one isn't one" or "Hey, this is your single." Or maybe "Sonically, can we change a few things?" but it's never really been, "You guys need to do this to fit the mould." We've been allowed to be who we are, which has been a really cool thing.

Tony: At what church do you minister?

Geoff: I just moved to Arizona. I'm in Chandler at a church called Chandler Christian Church. My wife and I came out here and it's been awesome. We love the church and the people at the church. I didn't know what it would be like stopping what I was doing - on the road constantly to being at a church - but they have been so supportive of what we do, just allowing me to still be creative at work. We wrote an EP and released it with the church, which was a really cool thing too. It was fun to do for the church, and the church really gravitated towards those songs. It's been fun; I've loved it.

Tony: Are you still intending to do a major tour each year?

Geoff: We're still doing stuff, so we're waiting to see what pops up right now. We've been working on this record for a while. We did some stuff last year, went to Australia and toured out there. We've done some things like that. We've actually been getting plugged into the Arizona scene, which is really cool. We've done the Phoenix Suns basketball, a Faith & Family night they did; this next hockey season we're playing for the Coyotes. Alice Cooper has an outreach here where they bring in bands and do this big competition. The winner gets to record some songs and to open for Alice Cooper. We were asked to be judges for the competition and to play a couple songs for one of the last nights. We're doing some different stuff in town. It's been cool.