For All Seasons continued from page 19
campus all the time. There were probably eight different chapel services a week. As a Biola student, you’ re required to go to 30 chapel services every semester. There was a lot of that happening and I think all of us just really gravitated toward worship, our love for music, and a chance to get involved on campus. And this was a chance to be a part of forming the culture of worship at school. It was interesting because at Biola, they obviously have a music major and they also have a worship emphasis of the major, but nobody in our group was a worship major or even a music major!( laughs) We just kind of fell into it because we wanted to be involved and we loved music. I think we were at a stage in college where we were really being shaped by the truth we were hearing in the classroom … you know, in Bible classes and in our relationship with the Lord and just feeling that prompting from Him.
For myself, it started at a homeless brown-bag ministry and an athletic camp during the week … any opportunity to serve really, and then when the opportunity came to play music, it was like marrying passion and excitement with service at the same time. I think because we formed that groundwork at the very beginning, it really speaks to the longevity that we’ ve had. The three of us have been playing together for over ten years now.
[ WM ] What were your majors?
[ Jeff ] I was a business major with an emphasis in marketing and then Johnny and Emily were both communications majors.( laughing) Johnny wanted you to know that he didn’ t finish! He kind of dropped out and started working on music a lot more! He was in another band while we were playing. It’ s interesting because, being in a band and doing it full-time, we’ ve essentially launched a business. And Emily is really gifted in teaching and communicating from the stage. You know, Emily’ s communication is a large part of what we do and I know that has a lot to do with her communications classes.
[ WM ] Tell some of how your band sound evolved over the years.
[ Johnny ] We’ ve always kind of been guitar heavy … even back in school we had two electric guitars and that was always a big focal point of what we did. I think back in school, we were always trying to think of different arrangements for the songs that we’ re hearing. A big part of us was like putting our“ stamp” on those songs. A lot of music at that time was like a five-piece arrangement where there was a keys player, one electric, a bass, an acoustic, and a drummer. Um, we saw having two electrics as having an advantage toward our own renditions and our own arrangements of songs. We leaned heavily into having specific guitar parts.
[ Emily ] I remember specifically, we would rent out a classroom late at night, like starting at
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