FamilyChristian.com Exclusive Interview
By The Tree: Talking By The Tree ...continued

FamilyChristian.com: Chuck, what's playing in your CD player right now?

Chuck: I just bought the new Weezer record. Like it a lot. I also just got the new Semisonic record. I like it a lot. On a frequent basis, probably the most played record right now is Coldplay. We play that a whole lot. Then I like Switchfoot's new one. Learning to Breathe is one of my top ones.

FamilyChristian.com: When did you start writing songs?

Kevin: I started writing songs when I was little—freestyle rapping and stuff out on the playground, just making up songs all the time. In fact, there's a tape out there somewhere, when I was in 7th grade and I had the highest little voice. Shadowfax was the name of the band. I put on a tape in the background. Chuck started writing songs about four years ago.

FamilyChristian.com: What inspires you guys when you're writing songs?

Chuck: Usually my biggest inspiration [comes] when I hear a sermon. I think that triggers me emotionally to really write a good song. I'm also inspired on the road a lot to just to get alone and write. "Reveal" was written one night after a sermon by a guy that's a good friend of mine in Illinois. However, most of my songs come out of quiet times, times alone with God in the Word. I feel like that's the best kind of worship song.

FamilyChristian.com: If you guys were to write a review for "Invade My Soul," how would you describe it?

Kevin: That's a very hard question because once you get close to music it's hard to be able to hear it objectively. That's why people get producers so they can be an objective opinion. I think most of the songs are all catchy. I would describe it as lyrics pointed to God but [musically it has] a lot of random influences.

FamilyChristian.com: Your single, "Reveal," comes across to me as a prayer of dedication, especially in the line, "I in You, You my king/this gift of melody I bring." Do you have a mission or a stated purpose as a band?

Chuck: We've shaped and formed it over the past few years. [We] have a real heart for lost people because [of our work] with Young Life. I think that our mission is to embrace people that are lost. [We want to] reach them through music that we feel competes on a secular level but has lyrics that are going to reach them. God's Word says it will never return void. We want to embrace those people and show them that God is real and that He can change them like He did us. We're no different than them—we just found God. That's the great thing about being a Christian. And I know God wants that for those people and that's what He sent Jesus for. What we're here to do is to be used by Him to hopefully reach those people.

The other night we were in Chili's and we just hung out [with] these [servers]. We were just real nice to them. I don't think we said a word about Jesus. But from what we understand, they're going to come to our concert Friday night and they will get to hear about it.

Kevin: And they don't go to Christian concerts.

Chuck: Yeah, they're totally lost. That's what we want to be able to do is to reach people that are lost.

Kevin: So many times people, when it comes to anything Christian, they won't even show up. That's the best for them to show up and [we] just lay down the beat. When a secular person comes up afterward [and says], "Man, I really liked the show"—there's an extra gratification to that.

Chuck: I think we're better in that arena, too. I think we feel more compelled when we're in that area. Like at Chili's the other night, I think we were happier to invite those people than just a youth group.

Kevin: For sure. As far as knowing you're in God's will, one of the reasons when I originally left By The Tree was I felt like we were playing lots of camps and stuff and I wasn't made to do that. And then I found the writer who became [the] pastor I never had, which is C.S. Lewis. He is exactly like what I would love for By The Tree to be. Anybody can read one of his books. He speaks to secular people. He speaks to the theologians and the people who question everything that's going on. C.S. Lewis just exposes all of the movements that have ever happened throughout history and gives you this peaceful feeling about knowing that the God of the ancient Hebrews truly is He who exists today.

The ironic thing, too, for me, sometimes the worst thing for me spiritually is being surrounded by churchy things because I'm just such a devil's advocate in my heart. But whenever I'm out in the world, like in high school, when I was just surrounded by sex and drugs and stuff, I was so more compelled to just show people Christ.

FamilyChristian.com: Aaron, how has your experience with Sonicflood prepared you for what you can bring to this band?

Aaron: In every possible way I've been prepared. I know pretty much what not to do. I know that now, in the beginning stages of a relationship in a band, you have to form true, lasting friendships. In the tough times like what [Chuck and Kevin have] been through, if they weren't really good friends and weren't like brothers, one of these guys wouldn't be around. One of the most relevant things that I can bring to this band is that it's imperative that we all have very deep, real, true friendships and biblical relationships with each other. That's the only foundation that we can place underneath this band. I think God's purpose for Sonicflood in my life was to prepare me for being in By The Tree.

FamilyChristian.com: Did you have any hesitation about joining another band?

Aaron: Well, I was jaded. I definitely had some issues. I left Sonicflood physically and didn't travel. I took six months off from that point and I didn't do anything for three months and I got a job for the other three.

FamilyChristian.com: Doing what?

Aaron: Selling shoes. It's definitely a way to realize who you are in the food chain. I got this regular job, doing a normal thing like a 17-year-old kid would do. That's the kind of pay it was. I didn't do any music. It [was] like fasting and praying for all that time. I think God, at that time, worked on me to prepare my heart to be asked to be in a band. If they'd asked me a month after I left Sonicflood, I [would have said], "Whatever, praise and worship, dude. I'm going secular." I was mad and I was hurt and I felt like I'd been abandoned. I'm sure everybody in that whole situation did. We all went through a really tough time but we've all become better people.

FamilyChristian.com: Do you consider yourselves more worship leaders or artists?

Chuck: We're trying to do both the worship and artist thing. We've started as a praise and worship band. We've been that since the beginning. Since 1997, we've been touring and leading worship for churches and conferences. And now we've stepped into being a signed band and naturally we're trying to do more of a concert approach. We've done that over the last year as well. That's the great thing about Kevin and I and our blending together is that I do more of the worship side of things and then he brings a lot of the concert side out. He raps during concerts. He wears funky pants. So the cool thing about it is that a lot of what Delirious does when they blend worship with concert/modern-rock format, we do the same thing. I think that that's something we really want to do in the next few years—really develop a concert format but a place where people can come and worship, be in the presence of God. I think that would be a cool place to be.

FamilyChristian.com: What does worship mean to you?

Chuck: Worship to me is something that I learned a lot from my pastor in Texas. I'll use his quote because I like it and then I'll elaborate on what it means to me. He says, "Worship is our heart's response to God's revelation of Himself."

To me, it's like when God does something in my life and it's evident, I definitely have a response to that. How can you not respond to the good things God's done? When we were in concert the other night, I prayed this simple Christian prayer of "Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross and for that work" and didn't really realize I was praying it. Then I caught myself and I thought, "Man, that's powerful. There's power in that." It makes you want to worship, it makes you want to respond to what God's done. It's definitely my response to what God's done and His revelation of Himself to us.

Invade My Soul by By The Tree

FamilyChristian.com: Many artists and songwriters are also avid readers. What are you reading now?

Chuck: I'm reading Fresh Faith. That's going to be more of a book that inspires me to really live out what I believe in. It's going to really help me with my faith.

Kevin: I just finished A Catcher in the Rye and A Tale of Two Cities and I'm reading a million C.S. Lewis books.

FamilyChristian.com: What's your favorite C.S. Lewis book?

Kevin: Mere Christianity was one of my big ones. I just finished The Pilgrim's Regress and right now [I'm reading] God in the Dock. The reason I love Mere Christianity is because I was a religion major at Texas Christian University [and] you read all these brilliant philosophers. [Then] you go to C.S. Lewis. He, one by one, uncovered all the layers and exposed everything from humanism all the way down. For anyone out there in the world who's struggling to accept Christianity because it doesn't seem like it fits in with actually using your brain, C.S. Lewis is one of the great guys to read.

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