Tree63

ChristianMusicMonthly.com Interview
Tree63
By Mark Weber, primopr716@juno.com

Q) Your sound could be described as "Newsboys-meets-U2." When you worked (and work) with producers, what kind of input did and do you have for what the "sound" of Tree63 would be/is?
A) Tree63 is fundamentally a three-piece, guitar-based, drums-&-bass- anchored rock ‘n roll band whose subject matter is Jesus. So yes, bands like U2 and the Police have provided a template for why we sound the way we do. The only “Christian” band we follow is Delirious. In the studio, the emphasis is on authenticity, originality, integrity of the music and passion, passion, passion—for Jesus, not for rock ‘n roll, of course.

Q) Your band is from South Africa. What is the spiritual climate like there?
A) On many levels, much the same as any other westernized first-world country. However, this is Africa we’re talking about, not Europe or the States, so there’s a pretty interesting mix of spiritual ideas and values going on, most of it decidedly ungodly. After all, Africa invented voodoo, right? The Christians in South Africa are, however, firing on all cylinders.

Q) What tough time(s) have you gone through that have influenced your writing?
A) Where do I start? A broken home, life-altering depression and anxiety attacks, failed dreams, a broken heart… I only became a Christian in 1996 at the age of 23, so I have a lot of tough stuff I’ve crawled through that informs my songwriting.

Q) What are some of the themes your music conveys?
A) Hope and joy. We have a hope only through the redemption Jesus provided for us, and we have deep, deep untouchable joy as a result. We live in a culture where it pays to focus only on how depressing everything is. We need to be honest and real, but at some point down the line our honesty has to give way to the Truth.

Q) Talk about the song "All Over The World."
A) It’s a Matt Redman/Martin Smith collaboration. Matt told me how he needed help with the chorus and turned to Martin who duly provided it. I played on an early live version of this song with Matt at the 2005 Passion conference in Nashville. It’s one of Matt’s that hasn’t been copied to death by CCM artists. Yet.

Q) Talk about the song "Have Your Way."
A) An older Tree63 song. The original version appears on the second ‘proper’ Tree63 record entitled “63”, which came out on Survivor Records in the UK in 1999. It was left off Inpop Records’ debut self-titled Tree63 record, for some reason. This new version features a band arrangement, whereas the original was just me and an acoustic guitar. It’s a deeply personal song, written in London in 1997.

Q) Your CD released in Nov. 2005. How is it doing? Who is your primary audience?
A) Hard to say how it’s doing. I hate having to quantify its value based on its sales performance. It’s a great, great record regardless, but then again so was our 2002 release, “The Life & Times Of Absolute Truth,” which sank like a stone in the U.S. So who really knows? Our audience is people who have a passion for authentic music whose focus is Christ. We’re not “modern worship,” we’re not “college worship,” we’re not “Christian Contemporary,” we’re neither AC nor CHR, we’re just three guys that love music and love using it to worship God with.

Q) In concert, what song gets the biggest reaction? Why?
A) “King” gets a big reaction: up-tempo, fist-in-the-air declarative rocking! “Look What You’ve Done” is also a timeless Tree63 anthem, especially now since we’ve started ending it with a snippet of “Amazing Grace.” And then of course “Blessed,” which is just ubiquitous.

Q) What do you think of Jesus?
A) Savior, friend, shepherd, king, brother, lover, bread, water, breath, life…

Q) Does everyone in your band believe in Jesus? Do you pray together? How important is God?
A) Is it possible that there are people in modern Christian bands who aren’t believers? What is that, a career move? We wouldn’t be bothering with this if we didn’t firmly believe that this is God’s will for our lives. Without God’s call, this is truly one of the worst jobs on the planet. Forget fame and fortune, it’s a tough, tough way to live. So of course we pray. We’re absolutely useless without Jesus. We’re just another band. With God, we’re another matter entirely.

Q) You get the opportunity to open for or play with lots of famous bands. Name some of them and fill me in on what it's like for you to do that...when you're in "secular" venues, does your band stand-out from the crowd, and if so, how so?
A) We opened for Savage Garden in South Africa. In South Africa, we’re considered a mainstream band. Unlike a lot of modern Christian bands, Tree63 has a long history of barrel-scraping dues-paying. We’re a great live band first and foremost. I’m aware of how arrogant that must come across, but remember we live in an age where bands’ biggest aspirations are getting a record deal. What happened to just getting up on a stage and playing music? Is music the goal, or “American Idol?” In the Christian world, we’ve opened for Jeremy Camp, Delirious, Jars Of Clay, Rebecca St. James, the whole deal. It’s an honor, most of the time.

Q) How did you pick the name Tree63? Does it have any special meaning?
A) We were originally just “Tree,” after the numerous references in the Bible to trees: the garden of Eden, the cross Jesus hung on etc. “63” was the title of our second record, and it came from Psalm 63. When we got to the States in 2000, we discovered a band in Boston called “Tree” already, and they were unwilling to give up their band name, so we had to either alter or change ours. The compromise was “Tree63.”

Q) What gets on your nerves?
A) Values being replaced by expediency.

Q) When you have bad days, what keeps you going, pressing on?
A) God’s sovereign call. Nothing else, other than a profound desire to express my thankfulness to Jesus for what He did for me.

Q) What is something you'd tell a struggling young person who doesn't go to church or "know the Lord" to encourage them?
A) That they’re struggling precisely because they don’t know the Lord. That Christianity is not about going to church but about having a personal, vibrant relationship with God. That God actually exists; your grandmother was right all along.

Q) What do you struggle with and how are you dealing with it? How does
God help you with it?
A) Being misunderstood by people professing to be Christians. That’s a hard thing, because you have to wait for God to fix it. He will and He does, but in His own time. In the meantime you run the risk of being ultimately ignored and rejected, all because you’re trying to be honest. God teaches you patience in the process.

Q) Does the band still live in South Africa? If not, where do you live?
A) No, we live in Nashville, Tennessee.

Q) Does the band go to church on Sundays? If so, where? What kind of
church? If you don't go to church, why?
A) We go to Newsong in Tennessee whenever we’re around, but we’re often on the road or in an airport somewhere on Sunday mornings. This year we’ll be taking a weekend off a month to make sure we have some kind of regular church input.

Q) How is today's modern, contemporary "Christian" church failing the youth?
A) In so many fundamental ways, it’s almost depressing. But our hope isn’t in man but in Christ, right? Modern churches focus on community instead of Christ, and church and church activity become ends in themselves. I believe George Barna, there’s an alternative revolution going on under the surface; God’s fixing it.

Q) If someone wants to pray for you and the band, what should they pray about/for?
A) That our families and marriages will withstand the strain this calling brings, and that we will remain true to the essence of what God asked Tree63 to be.

For more info, please visit www.tree63.com

**This article is one of more than 12 in the book "Contemporary Christian Music Makers Q&A Vol. 1," available at lulu.com.

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