just been beautifully accidental, even in the
sense of how the band started. Obviously,
a lot of us are family, and we’ve kind of built
emotional dynamics over the years naturally
just by growing up together. In terms of playing
together it’s almost an accidental release that
just happens. We talk a lot about how much to
choreograph stuff, and where you should be on
stage, I think there is an element of that which
is very appealing. But I think if you do that too
much and you set too many parameters, that at
some point you’re building up a dam for yourself
and it’s not going to let the water flow how it
wants to. We’ve actually worked with a guy
named Tom Jackson, who is kind of notorious
for performance tips and coaching. Just seeing
his world and how he pulls that out of people
without it looking too rehearsed is incredible.
His big thing for us, was that from night to night
it is so important to lead surprise moments,
and mysterious moments for ourselves not
necessarily knowing what’s going to happen
keeps you engaged and keeps you in it.
[WM] I often feel sorry for talented drummers
in church. Many of them on worship teams
must succumb to plexiglass cages, while
some are relegated to a cajon or electronic
drum pads, which even non-drummers can
play! I liken the practice to pastors being asked
to study with only one lens in their reading
glasses, and a candle for light. I understand
that some churches acoustically require a
limited and much-managed percussive sound
level, but I think the commonplace practice is
far too widespread and easily arrived at as a
solution. What are your thoughts on this, and
do you have experience playing drums on a
worship team?
[Martin] Obviously it’s biased because I’m
a drummer, and I feel like most of the time
they’re the ones either behind a cage or in the
background, which isn’t necessarily wrong. But
as I’ve been doing this more and more, I’ve
grown to have a huge heart to inspire, not just
drummers, but all musicians in our market to
own their craft and spend time being excellent
at what you do. It makes sense in the church
for things to be convenient, like showing up
Sunday morning an hour before for rehearsal,
you need the chorus to be simplistic and for
the rehearsal to run smoothly. But I hope to just
inspire musicians to, on their own time, dive
into their own worlds.
I have and actually still do play on a worship
team most Sundays out of the month. We kind
of talk about ways to even inspire each other,
and to celebrate each other’s musicianship.
Even within We the Kingdom we talk a lot about
having instrumental moments where the music
is the focus of that moment, there doesn’t
always have to be a lyric thrown on top of it,
although that’s incredible. All of the 70’s stuff
that we love, it’s all jam bands. They’ll go on
15-minute jams, and they know how to ebb
and flow with each other, and play off each
other, and the chemistry is definitely there. So,
to me it’s like, I don’t know if you necessarily
have to break out into a jam session at church,
but to me it’s beautiful to see and celebrate
100 July 2020
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