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Go Fish cut their musical teeth as an a capella band, selling over 100,000 copies of their three independent albums and reeling in a number of fans. Now signed to Inpop (home of Petra, Phil Joel and Superchick), the trio spiced things up a bit on their national debut, adding guitars, percussion and electronics to create an Infectious vocally-driven acoustic pop sound. Jamie Statema and Jason Folkmann (Andy Selness was preparing for his wedding and wasn't able to join in) sat down with FamilyChristian.com to talk about the decision to sign to a label, their new musical direction and the lessons learned along the way.

FamilyChristian.com: The first thing I'm going to have you do is introduce each other. So Jamie, why don't you tell me about Jason?

Jamie: What can I say about Jason? I would say that Jason is probably the spiritual leader of our group. He's always got his nose in his Bible so I call him Bible Bill. I tease him but I appreciate that about him as well. He's been a good influence on Andy and I. On the flip side, Jason grew up on a hog farm in Iowa so he's the expert at making animal noises.

FamilyChristian.com: That's a good talent to have.

Jamie: It is an amazing talent. It's definitely a showstopper at our concerts. Probably one of the greatest things Jason has ever done for me is introduce me to pork burgers from his farm. If you haven't had a pork burger…

Jason: …you haven't lived.

Jamie: Come out to Minnesota and Jason will cook you some.

Jason: I'm introducing Jamie now.

Jamie: Be nice.

Jason: Jamie has the largest biceps in the group. [laughs] Jamie is definitely the leader of the group. He has a vision for where he wants the group to go and isn't afraid to try things before he really sees things materialize in front of him. For example, if we're a little short on money this month, he keeps us encouraged and lets us know that even though we don't have the funds to do it right now, God will provide.

FamilyChristian.com: Tell me about Andy. Since he's not here, you can say whatever you want about him.

Jamie: Andy's getting married this weekend so that's why he's not here right now. He's just trying not to freak out.

Jason: He builds our website so he's definitely more talented in a lot of other areas than me and Jamie are, so we're very thankful for that. He has a very creative eye.

Jamie: He's the quietest person in the group, which is good because I have a lot of opinions and I'm always talking so we balance each other out. And like Jason said, Andy adds a lot to the group but it's a lot of background or behind the scene things, like the website. He's got a good eye for design. Jason and I can barely match our socks so he makes sure we're coordinated on stage.

Jason: Whatever he has his heart in at the time, he's 100% in it. That's just a good quality about him.

FamilyChristian.com: You guys have built a pretty extensive fan base without any major label support before now. How have you done it?

Jason: We've never been able to rely on radio support or a national label so it was up to us to make a reputation for ourselves. And if the way we sell CDs is through our concerts then we'd better make the concert the best that we possibly [can]. I think when you give people an experience that they want to last longer than that one evening [and] if they came to the concert and left with something that they didn't have, they're going to be pretty devoted fans. We have really great fans that, completely by word of mouth, moved our CD across the nation.

We've [always] been really interactive with our fans. That's probably my favorite part of being in the group. We love singing but for us, getting to meet these people who have had their lives changed by our music and the message that we offer is really cool. Go Fish is about telling people about Christ so they're as much of a part of Go Fish as we are.

FamilyChristian.com: So what made you decide to sign with a label at this point in your career?

Jamie: We went at it with a lot of prayer and felt like it was the next logical step for us. We were at a point where what we were doing had really grown. We dealt with probably three to four hundred bookstores on our own, doing shipping and invoicing. The business side was almost taking over the music side. We'd spend 80% of our time doing non-music related things. We wanted to get some outside help so that we could really focus on our true passion, which was creating music. We had talked to quite a few labels in the past few years and just never felt like it was the right time or the label didn't completely understand our goals and our ministry. That's why we're so thankful for Inpop. They were willing to do things a little bit differently and I think they caught the vision of who Go Fish is. They didn't want to change us but just wanted to come along and support us.

FamilyChristian.com: Infectious is somewhat different from your previous projects because you've added instrumentation. What made you decide to move in this direction?

Jamie: There are several factors. The one thing we want people to know is it was definitely not because of the label that we made the change. We appreciate the label taking a risk and letting us do what we wanted to do on this record even though it was a little bit different. All three of us all play instruments. We love a cappella music and we continue to do a lot of a cappella songs at our concerts but at the same time, as musicians, we love playing our instruments. It was just a logical next step for us to be able to add those other parts of our musicality into our show and into our music.

It's hard when all you do is a cappella music. You're singing from the very second the show begins to the very second the show ends. [Now], as we do more touring, it's nice to have a band help us out so that we can do more audience interaction. I think a cappella is something that makes us unique and we're going to keep doing it. But we also like doing the instruments so it's fun to combine all of the different aspects and have complete variety in the show.

FamilyChristian.com: What instruments do the three of you play?

Jason: Me and Andy play a little guitar [and] piano and Jamie plays drums.

FamilyChristian.com: If you guys were to write a review of the album, how would you describe it?

Jason: We titled it Infectious because we want to be infectious for Christ. Every song deals with having an infectious relationship with Christ. In the past people have commented on our albums being the one thing that the whole family can agree upon when they're traveling in the car or they're on vacation. I think that's the case with this album too because there's enough edgy stuff for the kids but there's also some more acoustic stuff and some more mellow stuff that would grab the hearts of [their parents] as well.

Jamie: Hopefully it will point you to Christ and that's our ultimate goal. When we're in the studio we pray all the time that God would truly bless those songs and change people's lives through what we do. That's the ministry part of Go Fish and so hopefully that will happen.

FamilyChristian.com: Your Christmas album, More Than A Story, was re-released this fall. What makes this album different from all the other Christmas albums out there?

Jamie: We set out to make a Christmas album that was completely unique. And for me personally, that's one of my favorite records we've ever done. I think as far as Christmas albums go, it's one of the most unique albums out there because it is all vocal. Then, the songs that we picked-there are some traditional songs that we've completely changed. We've [also] got the theme song from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and we remade an old Bob Dylan song ["I Believe In You"] so it's an eclectic mixture but it definitely puts you in the holiday mood and that's what we wanted.

Jason: You're going to hear "Silent Night" in a way that you've never heard before. You're going to hear "O Holy Night" in a way I don't think anyone will ever attempt. It was fun to re-do some old ones and come up with some new ones at the same time.

FamilyChristian.com: As a group, you've gone through a lot of change and transition this year. What has God been teaching you through this process?

Jamie: This whole experience with signing with the label, it's just on a whole other level than it has been. And I think what God's teaching me right now is, in the midst of all the things that this world can throw at you, to never lose focus on Him. More than ever I'm learning that I need to trust Him with every single part of my life because I'm the type of person who likes to make things happen on my own. I'm not a very patient person and I need to realize that God is ultimately in control. I'm trying to trust in Him more every day.

Jason: I think every day of my life, especially since I've been in Go Fish, I've learned to be more patient. Like Jamie said, we like to make things happen for ourselves so when we know how to do it, turning things over into the hands of that we've never trusted before is a big thing. It's keeping the focus on God and just being patient for Him to provide for you.

Infectious Go Fish

FamilyChristian.com: What is the most important thing you want people to know about Go Fish?

Jason: We've definitely had our share of mountain peaks and our share of valleys. When we were sitting there in the bottom, I remember going over to Jamie's house, looking to him for answers, saying, "Jamie, you know what? I don't know if this is for me." There were so many other things I wanted to do in the past few years, like going back home to Iowa and farming with my dad. But the one thing that always kept me in the group was the fact that we have something going for us that's real. I've seen that night in and night out. There has not been one concert that we've done through the past four years that I haven't seen the audience physically change-the look on their faces when they walk out. You can tell that they came expecting one thing and walked out with something else. And I think they saw that we aren't trying to be something that we're not.

Jamie: I'd go right along with that. My prayer is that everyone who comes in contact with us will sense that there's something different, not because we think we're so special but because God has changed us. We realize that what God has given us He can take away just as fast so we want to make sure that every single day we're making the most of every situation.
Amy Meyering , a writer in Grand Rapids, Mich., originally conducted this interview for Family Christian Stores' All Access music catalog.

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