Third Day's 'Revelation' comes at right time

Mark Lee couldn't decide which shirt to wear for the photo shoot.

"Wait, you're wearing black," the guitarist says, gesturing toward bandmate and Third Day frontman Mac Powell. Rummaging through a milk crate with several T-shirt options, he wonders aloud, "Should we go all black?"

And that was the only thing close to a rock star moment of the morning, as the four members of Christian rock band Third Day gathered in a northwest Atlanta studio just a little over week ago to rehearse for Tuesday night's appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."

The "Tonight Show" spot coincides with Tuesday's release of the Atlanta quartet's 10th studio album "Revelation."

The road to "Revelation" began in 1991, soon after Powell and Lee graduated from McEachern High in Powder Springs, and the band has gone from playing local churches to major amphitheaters across the U.S. Third Day has three Grammys, more than 20 of the Gospel Music Association's Dove Awards and is nearing the seven million mark in total career album sales.

With "Revelation," the band could reach new heights. The foursome's previous studio album, 2005's "Wherever You Are, " debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard album chart, but the new one could easily top that. The "Tonight Show" appearance is likely to give the album a boost, so that's why the band is doing something it doesn't do very often. It's rehearsing.

"It's a big opportunity for us to be on the 'Tonight Show' and we thought we should make sure that we're putting our best foot forward," says bassist Tai Anderson. "What we're really hoping is that after we put this record out, that our fans go out and buy it and buy it quickly, and then the next story becomes our chart position on Billboard. I don't want to curse that, but I would say that's probably everyone's hope."

The guys in Third Day see "Revelation" as a new chapter in Third Day's evolution. It comes after a pair of best-of compilations ("Chronology Volume 1" and "Chronology Volume 2") and the depature of guitarist Brad Avery.

"We've had a couple of years where we've gone a little bit dark. I mean, we've still had a presence, but radio stuff has dwindled, intentionally," says drummer David Carr. "We needed that time to figure it out and start over. I hope ["Revelation"] really brings us back in a bigger way than ever . I think it has more potential to do that than any album we've ever made."

The band gives lot of the credit for the album's punchier sound to producer Howard Benson. "Howard was a big part of a lot of things for us, not only pushing us in our performances and our songwriting, but also opening up those doors and inviting other people," Powell says.

Both Flyleaf vocalist Lacey Mosley and pedal steel phenomenon Robert Randolph pitch in on the new album.

The most crucial guest on the album is Chris Daughtry, who lends his volals to "Slow Down." The former "American Idol" contestant called Powell just before the "Daughtry" album was released and said he was a fan. The feeling was mutual.

"I got Chris' album and listened to it and thought, 'this sounds huge,'" Powell recalls. That's where the connection with Benson comes in. He produced Daughtry's very successful debut album.

"Revelation" might showcase a new and improved Third Day but don't expect a radical re-invention. "I think it's probably more like what they're used to hearing live. It's got that kind of energy to it," says Carr.

The band's live energy will be tested on stages from New Jersey to California over the next two months. The "Music Builds" tour begins Aug. 21 and runs through Oct. 12, including a stop at Atlanta's Lakewood Amphitheatre on Sept. 20.

The band tours hard. The guys call a year with 60 shows an "off year." One hundred shows is closer to the norm, but that makes it even more important for the band members to spend quality time here in Atlanta. "We make sure we're home a lot, too, so that we can keep our family lives healthy, and we can be there for our kids — we're all dads now — so that we can do this for a long time," Lee says.

"Balance is not a passive verb," says Anderson. "It's not like we've achieved it, this state of balance where we spend the perfect amount with our family and the perfect amount with the band. We work at our family and we work at the band, but we've been able to keep an excitement to both."

These men are friends first, and it shows in their easy banter. "We really try to seek out times on the road where it's just us," says Anderson. "That's our favorite thing, whether we go 'let's all go out to lunch tomorrow'or 'let's all go see a movie together.' Those are my favorite times on the road."

Third Day's idea of on-the-road fun is hardly typical rock star behavior. After all, this is a band that brings along its own pastor. "We do get to do some cool stuff," Anderson says. "I mean, we get to go to some NASCAR things and we always go to baseball stadiums whenever we can. That's one of the things we do together. But a lot of times it's nothing that's all that exciting."

"You know what we should start?" Powell interjects. "Museums."

"Totally, man," Carr says.

Lee chimes in, "Listen, I've been wanting to go to museums for years."