[Emily] Yes and no. I see the only setback
currently is that travel time is long. There are
bands that live somewhere on the west coast
or just “not-Nashville.” And if they get on some
kind of national tour, they will just fly out and
almost live out of Nashville. But I think what’s
been really cool is that we’ve been able to
spend six years just getting a really good grasp
of the West Coast. You know, like Washington,
down California and even over into Arizona.
We have just been able to spend a lot of time
here and even on this last tour with Jordan
Feliz and Blanca, it was like, “Jordan’s going
to do this West Coast run, so he’s going to
bring a band with him that has a good read
on the West Coast.” Also, a lot of bands don’t
want to make the trek all the way to California
because you can’t just do the West Coast for
the weekend and then go back to Nashville.
You have to stay out for a couple of weeks.
So, honestly, we found it to be a benefit and I
think it’s even proven in the fact that we’re still
here based in California. I think that influence-
wise, we like being in California. When it comes
to our sound, kind of having that separation a
little bit considering that 90% of Christian music
is made in the same 50-mile radius, having
that separation is nice for us. Even just work-
wise, being able to be in a population where
the majority has no gauge of what you do and
honestly doesn’t really care either – because
Christian music is just not a big vocation in
California, it’s such a corporate place. It allows
us to just turn off work-mode and enjoy time
with our families, but still have an opportunity
to play because California is so populated. I
remember having this conversation with our
manager about another artist that he manages
and how when you play a show in, let’s say,
Oklahoma, it’s like you can maybe play two
shows in Oklahoma – Oklahoma City and
Tulsa… but it’s like in California, you can play
Anaheim Hills and then go 20 minutes away
and play Huntington Beach and then drive
another 35 minutes and you can play L.A. It’s
just such a populated place that it allows us to
stay really, really busy without having to travel
July 2018
WorshipMusician.com
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