The Servant's Heart

The first evening of SonShine Fest in July (where we got a large portion of our interviews), while mi madre rested in her luxurious hotel room (yeah, I camped), I did a solo interview. It was with Tobin Bawinkel, frontman of the Celtic punk rock band (oh yes) Flatfoot 56. I had a quick phone chat with Tobin and we agreed on a meeting place. I went to meet him and had no trouble finding him in the crowd. My immediate internal reaction was simply, "Whoa." The man stands at roughly six and a half feet tall. You have no idea how awkward it is to take a stroll to a quiet place to have an interview with someone who is actually about a foot taller than you, attempting to make small talk all the way. Try it sometime.
Fortunately, Tobin was not an awkward person with whom to talk. As with many physically intimidating people one might meet, he is personally the exact opposite of intimidating. Kindness illuminates him. His main focus in the interview was on being a servant of Christ. He talked about showing the love of Christ to those we may not normally be inclined to reach out to, like social outcasts or people who do tend to intimidate us. After all, that's what Jesus did.
He was also all about God's will. In talking of the anxiety one experiences when thinking of the future, he emphasized the fact that we are taken care of in God's hands, as long as we are following His plan for us. We may know a major component in following God's path for us is being in constant communication with Him through prayer and reading the Bible, but Tobin also mentioned the need for good spiritual leaders, such as pastors and parents. He advised us not to become prideful when we are young and being filled with knowledge, because our elders' experience trumps what we think we know from books. And again he mentioned servitude as a way to follow God's will. Even if you're not sure what specifically you're supposed to do with your life, Tobin said, "You’ll never go wrong with pouring into people’s lives around you. That’s a calling of all of us, whether we know what our big goal is or not."
It's a great reminder that I think we could all use. Jesus had a servant's heart and commanded us to do the same. In serving our Lord's creations, we serve our Lord.
It is also wonderful to see a popular rock band have the opposite of the "typical" attitude of "rock stars." Thanks for blessing our lives, Flatfoot 56, and thanks for your time and inspiring words, Tobin!

The Leap

Our next interview was with Ben Olin, Brandon Paxton, and Jeremy Kunkle of the band This Beautiful Republic. These guys are currently on the Creation Fest Tour all over the country, so try to catch them!
Oh, of course, as I'm writing this, one of their songs starts playing on my iTunes, which I have on shuffle with 951 songs! Awesome.
The guys from TBR, just like Jon from Hyland, talked about the band being a business, and how the work is never done. Money is a huge risk they took and are taking. But they shared that they have learned that money is definitely something God takes care of if they are following His will. As Ben said, "The body of Christ will support the body of Christ."
In the same way, they spoke about the real ministry being in fellowship. Personal relationships are where real influence happens, not necessarily from a big stage. In personal relationships there are deep conversations and modeling of a Christ-filled life. Even as a popular Christian band, they find that when they go home and talk to old friends, they are able to encourage more and be more encouraged than from the "pedestal" that is being in a rock band.
Ben, Brandon, and Jeremy revealed the risks they took in creating and continuing the band. They talked about the fear and doubt they had in making these life choices, but even more so about the ever-imperative trust in God. They stressed the need for a continuous, 2-way relationship with God in order to know His plan. Their career defines the phrase, “making a leap of faith.” Their story taught me that it’s not just about the initial jump. It’s the entire freefall, with no personal control; just knowing that God is not just the parachute and not only the final ground, but the air that surrounds us. We have to remind ourselves that when the wind carries us away (or what we think is “away”), it is God’s command and plan.
On another note, some of my funniest interview moments came from this interview. From poking fun at the way I worded a question to funny stories about the years of TBR to making fun of themselves for something they said, we shared a lot of laughs. We learned that Ben will continue singing in This Beautiful Republic even if he has his larynx removed, radio stations have his mom on Caller ID because she requests TBR so much, and we should all buy band t-shirts even if we can't afford them, because This Beautiful Republic has a credit card machine!
Thanks, guys, for the time, the wise insight, and the humor.
On deck, Flatfoot 56!
P.S. Make sure to tell all your friends, and random people on the street, to follow this blog! You can also follow me, to keep updated on the blog, on twitter.com/KelseyNBolton

The Cast List

Hi guys. Sorry it's been a million years. I promise it won't happen again.
It occurred to me that I may have more than 6 followers on this blog if I make it, oh I don't know... actually interesting.
Although, of course, everyone should have been absolutely riveted to hear about Hyland, because they really do rock, in more than one sense of the word.
But Hyland isn't the only one of your favorite bands that's been interviewed for this book. Here's all of them, so far:

Children 18:3
Decyfer Down
Eleventyseven
Family Force 5
Flatfoot 56
Hawk Nelson
Heath McNease
Hyland
Nevertheless
Philmont
Red
Remedy Drive
Silverline
The Afters
The Glorious Unseen
The Wedding
This Beautiful Republic
Thousand Foot Krutch
Willet

We are currently in contact with several other incredible bands, as well as one other awesome non-musical group (it's a secret!), with whom we are hoping to get interviews. I'll keep you updated on here... no, really, I will.
By the way, if you've got the hook-ups, we'd greatly appreciate any great interviews you can score us! :)
Also, there is currently talk of a band or two writing a song or two for the book, that could be marketed with the book. I'll let you know if/when that becomes official, too.
Still transcribing! The TBR blog should be up any day now.
In the meantime, just pray. There are so many aspects for which this project needs prayer.
And make sure to tell all your friends to follow this blog! Also follow me on twitter: www.twitter.com/KelseyNBolton
I'd love to hear from you!
Thanks so much dahhhlings!

The Start

Hello everyone (anyone?)! I'm Kelsey and this is my blog about the process of writing a very exciting book (title pending).

My mom and I are freelance writers working on a book that compiles advice from Christian music artists for high school graduates, or young people at a crossroads in life. We've interviewed several awesome bands/artists and are extremely excited to find how it all will come together. We are hoping to have it finished around Christmas, and hope to hook a publisher before then. :)

As for now, I am currently working on typing all of our audio interviews into Word documents. Tedious though the task may be, it's great to review the awesome conversations we had. In the following weeks, each of my blogs will discuss one interview with one of the bands/artists we have interviewed. After that, I get to start blogging about the process of my mom and I actually putting the book together!

Our first interview was with Jon Lewis, lead singer of the rock band Hyland. It was literally my first interview. A bit nerve racking at first, but Jon was great. He blew us away. At one point he stepped away from us for a minute to talk to the guy from Skillet who produced their new EP. On the recording, a conversation between my mom and I about how he just has it all figured out can be heard. He really is unbelievably prepared to work in the music industry. So much can be learned from a twenty minute conversation with this guy. He emphasized the business side of being in a band, and how much work it really is. He's an artist at heart, but he certainly knows the logistics, too. It's especially amazing how he's figured it out, considering he's been basically on his own since he was 18. At 18 myself, and the child of four extremely supportive parents, I couldn't imagine his situation. What a lesson that was in following God's calling no matter the circumstances.
I am very excited to share Jon's thoughts with the world. I have so many musical friends I thought of during his interview. They all need to know the things he learned the difficult way. The music industry is hard to navigate and succeed in, so those aspiring to be part of it need all the help they can get.
Major kudos to Jon for giving us some of his time and a lot of his valuable knowledge!

Next up, This Beautiful Republic!