For King + Country Talk UNSUNG HERO, Relationships and the Struggle to Success

Published: April 29, 2024

For King + Country Talk UNSUNG HERO, Relationships and the Struggle to Success

By Movieguide® Contributor

The Smallbone brothers haven’t always gotten along like two peas in a pod. But after more than ten years of performing together, they’ve now found their “identity” as a musical duo.

The For King + Country lead singers shared their rocky path to success with Andy Erwin, one of the producers of their new movie, UNSUNG HERO.

“I mean, we’ve been doing this over a decade together now in music, and Joel and I didn’t get along, you know, growing up very well and when we started,” Luke Smallbone said on the April 23 episode of “The Storytellers” podcast.

“Luke is the younger brother, but he got taller than me, and he’s a better sport,” Joel Smallbone said.

Luke continued, “When we first started it, there was a degree of—and we’ve talked about this a lot—I mean, there was a degree of learning how to work together that was needed…For the first five years of us working together, we had zero success, which I think struggle produces something thing in people. So we went through a time of really learning how to work together.”

With songs like their rendition of “Little Drummer Boy,” the band is known for their drums and upbeat and vibrant rhythms.

Joel compares their professional relationship to marriage—a long-term commitment that takes a lot of work.

“When you look at actual marriage, the struggle, the perseverance, the conflict resolution, right, also knowing your roles, like what are you actually good at, I think there’s a lot of times where we think we’re good at something, and everyone’s going he’s not very good at that…and so there’s a lack of self-awareness,” Joel said.

“Which I will say, when we started out there was a radical lack of self-awareness on my part in how I related to Luke because I had spent years in my teenagehood writing and recording on my own and he had not,” Joel explained. “Actually, the first song he ever wrote was a song we wrote, and so actually it was reset. It was like the order of business was the sort of pecking order started out in the right spot, but then my challenge probably from that day to…two, three years ago was how to not keep him in his corner.”

Luke shared that their passion for songwriting and performing eventually became their “identity.”

They bring their family’s life story to the screen in UNSUNG HERO, which released on April 26.

With scheduling conflicts and lots of ideas tossed around over several years, the duo struggled to create their family’s story.

Part of Movieguide®’s review of UNSUNG HERO reads:

UNSUNG HERO is a true story about a Christian family from Australia’s struggles to survive and thrive in the rough and tumble music business while trying to serve God. When the father, David Smallbone, loses big on promoting an unsuccessful tour, he thinks relocating the family to Nashville may be their best route forward. Odd jobs and a local church keep the family afloat while David seeks work in the music industry. David’s father, wife Helen and others tell him he should focus on the musical talent living under his own roof. The family’s prospects rise when he takes that advice to heart. Can focusing on God and family lead them to the new life they seek?

UNSUNG HERO is a powerful, compelling story of faith and family, told with lots of sincerity and heart. The acting and writing is very good and convincing. UNSUNG HERO has a strong Christian, biblical worldview. The family’s Christian faith is not only clear from their repeated prayers to Jesus to guide and provide for them, but also from their infectious enthusiasm and spiritually uplifting song lyrics.

In the movie, Joel plays the role of his father, David Smallbone. He also wrote and directed. He told WJJY radio that it all took its toll on him mentally.

“It’s like, ‘I am my dad. But that is me. But I am me, and this is my mum. But I’m kissing my mum. But it’s not my mum, it’s an actor,’” he said. “Like, [it] just breaks your brain.”

But in the process of creating, they and those involved had a lot of “joy.”

“I think that when you look at where the world finds itself with…families…my heart breaks for the lack of confidence that the world has in the power of family,” Luke told Erwin. “My hope is this is not going to solve all problems right, but I hope it contributes to just people feeling encouraged, built up, that they can be a better father, that they can be a better mother, that they can be a better sibling.”

“That’s where this movie has power, and I think that what I came back from, and when I watched it and I got to, you know, soak it in and have some chats with Joel, is just like, ‘Hey man, we’ve done what we’ve set out to do,” Luke continued. “The team of people now, we all have to be bound together, and we hope and man, that God blesses it. If it does, fantastic. But even if it doesn’t, what a win.’”

The brothers announced on Instagram yesterday, “@UnsungHeroMovie isn’t the only exciting arrival today✈️…. the official ‘Inspired By’ Soundtrack is streaming everywhere now! ?? Hop back with us through the 90s nostalgia?, with more features than any album we’ve ever done, and maybe even a brand new original song as well ?”