ERICK DURAN MANARD
Q: The new album A Road Without Any More Detours feels particularly personal. Can you talk about inspirations behind this album?
My life experiences have been painful and varied. I found with Jesus, there’s no turning back because He’s been able to gradually (and painfully) transform me from the inside out. In A Road without Any More Detours, I take a risk and put myself “out there” publicly, exposing my past and present sins, vulnerabilities, flaws, and weaknesses, but also exulting in my victories and triumphs. Why so? I have a story worth sharing, and I can’t keep quiet. Maybe someone else will resonate and be encouraged. By showcasing my story and struggles, I’m creating a human connection with listeners and spreading hope in a fallen world.
I openly sing about my weaknesses and triumphs to testify of Jesus and so that Christ’s power may rest on me (2 Cor. 12:9). This record is my joyful, visceral, and authentic testimony, while encouraging listeners to keep pressing forward no matter the detours ahead.
Q: This album is the premise of an endless struggle between light and darkness. How do you navigate those moments of self-doubt and struggle in your life?
I encourage myself, first, in the fact that I know the Lord. I know His character, so I also know that all things that happen to me are ultimately working for my good. Jesus has my back in all cases. Second, I’ve learned that the struggle in life’s journey is a blessing, for in the struggle we are finding who we are underneath, when crunch time comes.
Q: The imagery of “A road without any more detours” within the title track seems to imply a turning point. What does this line mean to you in spiritual or personal terms?
The year 2020 began my unprecedented, life-altering detour. The reverberations still have rippling effects on my life. Today, after mature reflection, I understand better how this detour was necessary. These detours usually include loss or pain of some kind, whether loss of job, divorce, relationships turning sour, sudden health issues, or an inexplicable barrage of crises all at once. The worst part for me during a detour is the fear of uncertainty and/or disruption of my “comfort.”
Detours can also be a lonely time but an ideal period to self-reflect and take stock of what really matters for eternity. What have I done with my life to this point? Who am I, and what is my purpose here? Why do I do things the way I do? Why do I believe what I believe? Whom have I offended, and do I need to make amends with anyone? Do I need to recalibrate my life’s priorities? And so forth. The title track takes a reflective look at my life to this point, and answers how to live considering eternal matters and the afterlife. On my journey, I’m always stepping toward an “upward call,” at the end of which is heavenly light and no more detours! (Hence the album cover concept.)
Q: You do address mortality in “Lost on a Dime (Blink of an Eye). How do you think fragility influences your perspective on life, or perhaps more importantly for your music?
As I’ve aged, my mortality becomes more an acute reality, and so I’m more grateful to God for every breath He allows. The central theme of this song is to recognize the transitoriness of life and the certainty of God’s imminent judgment after we die. Maintain joy and peace in fleeting situations, hold on to God’s truth while rejecting all competing voices, and don’t idolize worldly pleasures. The cycle of sudden loss occurs throughout life. So, if all hope lies in earthly things, where’s hope grounded once our “adored thing” is gone? Another idol? Rather, we must grip God’s truth as our only hope and reality and hold loosely all else. God gave us the Bible, “what is true,” to prepare ourselves for any and all situations.
Q: “Pilot My Soul in the Tempest / Walk on the Water” is such a potent image of faith into and through the storm. Was there anything in your own life wherein you had to “walk on water”?
There have been many times. This past year has brought such events requiring complete trust in the Lord for help and deliverance. This includes health and financial issues wherein I was close to foreclosure because recurring illness prevented me from working. I felt at the mercy of circumstances and helpless to do anything to improve it. For months I remained in diligent prayer, and miracles happened, and deliverance came…once again. I’ve had some breakthroughs in how to better manage if not cure my health problems, and I’ve been blessed with a financial windfall that allowed me to be debt free and gives me a new start. I write about what I know and things I’ve personally experienced. I share with listeners what I’ve learned, and I try to deliver a message of hope amid the storm. That hope is found in the living Jesus of Nazareth. Keep praying, keep trusting, and deliverance will come.
Q: “Burning the Plow No Turning Back” has a sense of abandon. What does it mean for you to be able to make such a clean break from the past?
I use “burning the plow” as an apt metaphor to describe when I reached that point in life, later than sooner, that I acutely realized my soul and body belong to God for His prerogative and service. My life is not my own (1 Corinthians 6:19), but God’s for disposal as He will. God has broken open the skies as a deluge, stripped away all illusions, destroyed every self-delusory shelter, laid bare any pretense to hope or safety without total surrender to His abiding presence and lordship.
I must burn my plow daily and be all in and willing to leave it all behind for His sake, including family, friends, money, or personal aspirations if necessary. Jesus is my Master, and He “burned His plow” for the Father’s greater redemptive plan to redeem me on Calvary’s cross. Jesus held nothing back, nor ought I in a reciprocal love.
Q: How does the biblical reference of burning the plow reflect your own journey of transformation and letting go of old habits or mindsets?
The story begins based on 2Kings 19:19-21. I’ve found that life without God in this world is futile and doomed to a fiery end, and living for self always ends in pain, misery, and destruction. Jesus calls us to deny self, redeem the time, and follow wholeheartedly after His divine plan and higher calling. This requires fixed eyes on, and full trust in, Him. “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” This calling entails a daily self-denial and a devotion to advancing God’s kingdom in this earth. Life is not all about me, but Jesus. Anything that hinders the kingdom must be set aside.
Q: At least to my ears, the record seems to circle a lot around the idea of redemption. What is redemption to you, both personally and creatively?
I was reborn a warrior for Christ on June 14, 2020, on a still summer’s night. Today, I am a broken and humbled man, maybe even dysfunctional with tethered baggage; but I’m not destroyed nor defeated. I’ve been redeemed for this time and place. I am a work in progress, as we all are. I’m pressing forward in the journey, step by step! The underlying theme throughout my music is that if Jesus can redeem a former wretch like me, He can transform anyone into a renewed creation! There’s always hope in Jesus! Praise His name!
Q: In “Crucible of Loneliness (My Darkest Hour),” you talk about the refining process that is undergone through suffering. How do you see your own isolated, difficult moments?
I’ve learned to view difficult times through the lens of Scripture, which says that Jesus is always with me through every valley, even till the end of life. So, each challenge is another opportunity for my faith to deepen and grow! We should seek not to let the lessons found in solitude be wasted. If not for the crucible, I’d not be refined in the fire, nor be called to heaven, nor be the better man I am today. I’m never truly alone, for Jesus promises unceasing companionship (Matthew 28:20). So, I lean into Jesus during those times of loneliness.
Q: A very powerful metaphor is that of being “reborn” through the crucible. Do you feel that your struggles have brought you to a rebirth?
Definitely. This song chronicles how I experienced spiritual rebirth through the worst period of my life. On a summer’s night, June 14, 2020, I was on my deathbed, with 2 weeks to live and in desperate prayers, and the Lord Jesus came to me when I was facing the wall, helpless to stand, and revealed His undeserved love and healing power in redeeming my soul from sickness, death, self, the devil, and hell. I wrote these lyrics when I was only a year or so removed from my painful divorce (occurred in 2021), or about two years after my conversion. This is where the “warrior” was reborn.
Q: “Facing the Thing You Fear Most (Embrace of My Stone)” closes this album on a sense of triumph over fear. To what extent have your fears played a role in your music, in how you express yourself in it?
That’s an apt way to put it, triumph over fear. Fear is an emotion that all people experience. I write about my greatest fears and the challenges of learning how to deal successfully with overcoming those fears so that I don’t allow fear to debilitate me from living out God’s purpose in my life. I think fear is something that everybody can relate to. Everybody likes music. So, I will write about that topic in musical art. I share what I’ve learned in overcoming my personal fears.
Facing one’s deepest fears (e.g., being without companionship, aging, or dying alone) may be more a marathon than a sprint; it may involve a “lonely road” without indication of how long isolation will last nor any signal of what to expect down the road. That’s where unwavering trust in Christ’s hands as our Rock (“Stone”), through whatever storms of life, provides us the strength to stand courageous, the power to overcome fear, and the enjoyment of comfort, direction, and a sound mind—despite fearful realities we might face. We don’t have to be ruled by fear of what we see, because we can live by faith in the greater unseen reality, which overrules the torment of fear. Based on the blood of Jesus, God’s grace opens our eyes to freedom from fear, with no dread of the future, in Christ the Rock.
Q: This song’s “Stone” seems to be such a consistent thing. Discuss whether or not faith has been a rock for you during some really hard times?
Faith is a rock for me, because my faith is grounded in the objective reality of the resurrected Jesus who dwells in me. Christ is called the “Rock” (1 Corinthians 10:4), and a “living stone” (1 Peter 2:4). He holds me in his hands, and He promises that I can’t be lost or misplaced (John 10:28). Hence, I can live life in the embrace of my living Stone! I’m secure. If I think it through, fear is irrational since I’ve nothing objectively to fear. Terrorizing fear is a personal leviathan. In every season of life, there’s a lesson to learn (“a light to find”). God’s Word declares that Jesus holds power over all things that would cause us fear. So, I’ve no reason to fear the future. Now the hard part is to walk in that truth till the end of my journey.
Q: This album is full of these kind of gorgeous, poetic images. How do you think storytelling functions for you within the songwriting process?
Storytelling brings abstract concepts to life. If I say “love,” it’s a nebulous word imbued with our own personal ideas we project into it. But if I show you two people holding hands, then I say “love,” the concept just came to life with an intended visual illustrating what “love” may be like. I want to enrich the listener’s experience and take them on the journey with me.
Q: There seems to be an ongoing battle between good and evil. What is your vision for the balance of forces in the world today?
I touch upon this battle between good and evil in the song “Wrestling Leviathan.” For me, “Leviathan” may be any variety of societal evils which pervade culture, e.g., killing the unborn, government abuse and corruption, willful ignorance, or rejection of God. Satan is the great inverter of God’s created order, which brings chaos—Leviathan. God says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)
Life is a spiritual warfare, on both personal and societal levels. The insanity of this world makes much better sense once we recognize that reality and view life under that rubric. Satan inverts and thus brings chaos to God’s order; but Christ will return, He will establish His kingdom on this earth, and thus order will prevail in the end. That’s my biblical vision of how balance will be achieved. Christ will destroy evil, and good will win because God is good, and God is eternal. Therefore, good is eternal with God.
Q: The sound of your music feels very contemplative. How important is introspection in your writing and even overall?
My music is very visceral, meditative, and authentic. It’s just who I am. Self-reflection and introspection and contemplation are all important elements of my creative process. I’m interested in writing about the existential issues of life, which anybody can relate with. Again, I will write about what I know and have experienced. I want to share those experiences with others, relating how I found hope and redemption though Jesus of Nazareth.
Q: “Lost on a Dime” has an urgent feel to it, like time is running out. How do you balance the intensity of life with the need to have more meaning to it?
Yes, the song is about the brevity of life and the inevitability of death and God’s judgement. So, we should have our spiritual ducks in a row since no one knows when his/her appointment with the Reaper may come. It must be a most horrifying thing for an atheist to wake up from death only to be facing the living God and realizing how wrong they were after all. After death, it’s too late to make amendments. Hence, I appeal to the listener with urgency. Your soul may come due this very day! Is your house in order? That’s the basic theme.
I try to balance life by living soberly, having priorities aligned, worrying about nothing while praying about everything, and recognizing that meaning and purpose in life come from God. Life’s meaning is summed up in two things: love and serve God, love and serve others. That’s the entire human purpose encapsulated. So, the more I seek after the ways of God, the more I discover of my purpose; and the greater meaning I find that my life holds for the Lord’s kingdom.
Q: “Burning the Plow” feels very much about a choice that is made to be rid of some comforts. What are some things that were hard for you to leave behind in your personal or spiritual journey?
This song is not so much about a one-time event, but a process of time during which vices, habits, addictions, or certain destructive behaviors of mine got left behind and unhealthy weights got cast aside for the greater good and glory of God. Living for God enables me to become optimally human to live as God designed. This is an ongoing reality, the sanctification process which occurs throughout life. I’m still shedding sinful weights and dying daily to self. The struggle never ends, but therein lies the blessing of the journey. In the struggle, I am finding out who I am.
For me, these things needing to be “burned” included drunkenness, lifelong porn addiction, abusive speech, false sense of identity, etc. I was also a former heretic and blasphemer who mocked the God of the Bible. I was one of those who was gradually “deconstructing” from Christian faith only to return years later. I wasn’t a good person. The song is about burning down the past life once lived for selfish pleasures in exchange for the life and purposes of God. It’s about abandoning one’s comfort zones, perhaps everything one might hold dear, if necessary, to press forward toward the heavenly calling of God in Christ Jesus my Lord.
Q: At the same time, you also set personal experience against biblical references. How do you go about fusing those elements in a way that feels authentically and meaningfully done?
I simply relate what I’ve learned through real-life experience. The Bible reveals reality as it is, and therefore it has perpetual relevance in human history. When I see its warnings or its promises consistently coming true in my life or in the lives of others, the Bible’s reality is confirmed as true and is not coincidental fantasy. I’m compelled to tell the truth. So, I employ the vehicle of musical art to transmit that message of the truth as it in Jesus. My goal is not to convert, but to share what I know.
Q: How does vulnerability come into play in your music? How do you find the balance between opening up and at the same time managing to protect your sense of privacy?
I’m not sure I’ve located that balance yet. There’s much I haven’t revealed, some skeletons only I know about. That said, I determined for this record that I was going to write lyrics for all songs and be authentic in the delivery, because I know I’m not alone in my struggles. That requires that I relate the existential matters of life, since that’s the realm we all travel in whether we’re conscious of it or not. I’m not about frivolity or superficiality when it comes to delivering my musical art. I must redeem the time God has given me as a good and faithful steward of the talents He has blessed me with for His glory. My message therefore must be centered on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith.
Q: Your album ends on a hopeful note, one of overcoming through faith. In your mind, is the album document of that journey toward hope and redemption?
My goal throughout was to deliver a record of hope through redemption. The world is full of hurting and broken people who need and are desperately seeking hope in a hopeless world full of wars, evil, pestilence, tribalism, rampant government corruption, etc. Every song’s theme one way or another is simply hope in Jesus. Despite my struggles, pain, and losses since 2020, I’ve maintained hope in Jesus, because He has wrought changes in me and for me that I couldn’t have imagined possible apart from supernatural providence. God can do the same for anyone who is willing to receive redemption in Christ. Mountains have been moved and demonic footholds broken, and I’ve witnessed many miracles that are inexplicable without God. I’m not a big believer in coincidence.
My faith stands not merely on some ancient book, but on the historical and well-attested fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth 2000 years ago by the power of God. God doesn’t raise wicked men from death. Therefore, His resurrection is undeniable proof that God approved of this man. That confronts each one of us with a decision: What are we going to do with Jesus? Hence, my personal policy is that anyone who raises Himself from death, I believe we should follow that man! He might just know a thing or two about reality. Jesus is a living and abiding presence and the worship in my song.
Q: As you look back on A Road Without Any More Detours, what do you want people to take away from this album, perhaps for personal growth or spiritual introspection?
I reiterate: Life without God in this world is futile and doomed to a fiery end, and living for self always ends in pain, misery, and destruction. I’ve learned this truth firsthand. Jesus calls us to deny self, redeem the time, and follow wholeheartedly after His divine plan and higher calling. This requires fixed eyes on, and full trust in, Him as our only hope for abundant life here and hereafter.
Q: What is next on your artistic horizon? Will you be exploring a new theme, or perhaps another project?
I’ve pretty much determined never to make another album, but to release singles instead. Producing this album nearly killed me—literally. But it was worth it, because this record can stand as my magnum opus, my legacy. I don’t think I could top it. I have produced official videos for eight of the ten tracks. I should complete the remaining two soon. Every song on the Album will have its own official video. Beyond that, I’m in early planning stages currently for writing a screenplay for a mini movie based on the Album as the soundtrack. The tentative title is “A Journey of Ten Chapters: Step toward His Light.” The subtitle of the Album.
