|
|
Article - Parachute Band Interview |
|
(Liverpool, UK) June 11, 2002 - Pure Christian Music's Keith Hunter had the change to interview Parachute Band, talking to them about their newest album Amazing.
Click here for more information about Parachute Band
Your style is very much fun and enjoyable praise rock. What bands have influenced you?
Wayne: We listen to a number of different styles. For me personally I like a lot of R&B, like Stuart Franklin type sounds. But then I also love Delirious? and Radiohead.
Libby: Yeah, probably similar. We all have quite an attraction for the R&B type stuff but the real guitar driven sets and sound - I'm quite into that.
Wayne: One of our extremes is, I guess, is because we've all been in the music scene for quite a while, we've been listening to vast extremes in styles of music for a long time, so we're just drawing a line as much as we can.
You started your musical careers as the worship band for the Parachute Festival. Can you tell me about the festival? I heard you get over 22,000 people - where do all the sheep go??
(laughs)
Libby: They run far away 'cos it's so noisy! We started the festival back in 1989. In a country of only 3 million people, to get 22,000 it's just quite incredible. It's starting to really shape our nation quite majorly because it's a youth event that runs for four days and kids bring their friends and they have tents, and they camp and they have a wonderful four days of music and teaching so it's a really amazing event.
Excellent. Your band name - did you wrestle with any other names or did it just seem right that, as you were the band for the Parachute Festival, you should be called Parachute Band?
Libby: Yeah you got it! (laughs) It sort of came about by chance in a way - we were the in-house band at the festival and then we recorded an album and we needed a name so it became the Parachute Band.
Ok, pretty simple then?
Libby: Yeah... Pretty simple!
Wayne: Pretty disappointing for some!
Libby: Sorry!
(laughs)
Your public performances are connected very much with the Parachute Festival. Do you do many other concerts?
Libby: Yeah, probably the festival would be the major thing we play at in New Zealand, and then we tour mostly in the United States about three months of the year, not all in one block but we go about four times a year so we tour a lot in the States... we've been to Asia a wee bit, Australia quite a bit. We do seminars around New Zealand but the festival, that would be our biggest event that we do in New Zealand.
Let's talk about your new release 'Amazing'. You worked with the famous producer Bryan Lenox for this new release - what was that like?
Wayne: That was fantastic! We did mostly everything here at first, and we worked with Bryan to mix the album. He also worked with us on getting radio edits for a couple of the songs and doing some lead vocals over there. And he's good, he's fantastic. He's such a humble guy too. As a producer, I learned a lot from him and as a band, he's done great things for us. So we're very appreciative!
Ok. Apart from there being a track 'Amazing' on the album, were there any other factors which made your decision on the title of the album?
Chris: I think this album, although it's got some very tender songs, it's generally a very positive album and the song 'Amazing' seems to sum it up so I think it was just a logical choice for us to use the title of that song.
Looking through the booklet of this album, it's noticeable that many of the newer songs such as 'Complete' and 'I Long To Worship You' are much gentler and slower than that of older songs such as 'All My Life' and 'Jesus.' Is this just a coincidence or has something influenced this change?
Chris: Well, 'All My Life' and 'Jesus' were actually on a different album and they've just been put onto the UK release of Amazing . They're actually on the album called 'Love' which hasn't been released in the UK yet so it was our distributor over there - it was a judgement call on their part to put those two songs on the 'Amazing' album. That's why!
Wayne: In general we try to have a mixture of songs, we try to collect songs from around the country so we've got various writers writing songs in various styles, and out of all situations, and that's where I believe our strength is. So you'll notice that all these songs are from different composers and that brings strength so far, just different styles relating to different people.
What is the inspiration for the unique pictures in the album booklet that combine elements of nature and human-built factories with a cold, winter feeling?
Libby: We have an artist who does this artwork. He's a really special friend of ours and most of these pictures are from his life. When you talk about worship with him, he sees worship as being all encompassing basically so this is his expression of it, these little home pictures that's he's made and he's montaged them together. It's really much the artists life he's painted and we just really like the whole approach, so that's why they're in there.
Ok. Our favourite track from your new album is 'All My Life.' What's your favourite song off the new album and why?
Wayne: I've changed mine a bit as it's gone on. I liked 'Complete' first of all but now I think my favourite has got to be 'Salvation Song' which is interesting. It just pictures something for me. It leaves me with this great feeling, it's such a strong statement. I will turn away from my sin and I know that You're saving me. It reassures me and I love singing it.
Chris: My favourite one would be, apart from 'Complete' would have to be 'I Long To Worship To You'. The words are just so simple, it's just from a heart's cry saying Lord, despite of what I've done, I'm coming before you and long to spend that time with you, not just in singing but just spending time with you so it's a real heart cry.
Libby: I really find it hard to pinpoint, I think each song has a special place in my heart. I love 'Amazing' 'cos it's so positive, it talks about the fact that God's love will never leave us and we change when we come into an experience of Him or you can use it as a really explosive praise song. So each song leaves me with a different feeling and does something in my heart in a different way so it's quite hard to pinpoint. I like 'Complete', I think it's one of my favourites, just because of the statement it makes, that we can worship through the struggle and we can worship with perseverance and faith and one day we're going to be complete in Him and because of Him.
Excellent. Do you like to make music that is popular at the time, or just write however way you choose?
Wayne: Yeah, the songs come and they're very varied in their style. From an arrangement point of view we want to stay relevant, we want to stay modern and contemporary. But sometimes the songs are written in a certain way that you just have to take it that way. In the end, it's just whatever works for the songs, but we listen to a range of different styles so we try to take them as contemporary as we can. At the same time, we want people to be able to listen to them and hear them in the context of their church, these are worship songs that we want people to pick up and use in their church. So hopefully, we try to weave that into the sound as well.
As a band, what's it been like starting up in New Zealand? Did you find it easier or harder?
Wayne: I guess from a travelling point of view, from a touring point of view, it is difficult because we're so far away from everywhere but being from New Zealand it gives us a unique perspective, that only New Zealanders have.
What are your future plans for Parachute Band? Are you planning to tour the US or the UK?
Libby: We're touring the United States of America in three weeks time. And then at the end, a month later we're looking at South Africa, later in October. We're hoping very much to get to the UK at the beginning of next year so yeah, it's a busy year, we got the new album and the touring. We'd love to come over to the UK though, love to.
We'd love to have you! Finally, you're known to be not just a band but a group of friends who love music. Do you spend a lot of time off stage together then?
Chris: We do when we're not busy. We don't have many weeks at home so when we're at home we tend to spend a lot of the time at home with our own families but we are good friends and we've grown up together quite a lot. So yeah, Libby would be my closest friend.
Libby: Oh yeah, definately. It's like doing life together, especially when we're on the road.
Wayne: We find that we're really good for each other. (laughs) We're really appreciating the differences in each other and working together and it's no coincidence that God has got us together, particularly the four of us, Libby and I, Mark and Chris. Mark is our overall leader and visionary and it's just been a fantastic journey that we've all been on. And God teaches us so much because of it. We feel like we're living so much together and using that and helping others.
Okay that's all my questions. Thanks very much for giving Pure Christian Music this opportunity.
Libby: No, thank you.
Chris: Thank you!
Wayne: Thanks so much.
Click here for more information about Parachute Band
|
|
|
|
