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Q & A with Building 429Sep 23, 2011 (Victoria Advocate - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Christian chart-toppers Building 429 and Leeland kick off their fall co-headlining tour, "Sounds of Hope" this weekend. The two popular Christian rock groups are playing alongside special guest band Royal Tailor on Saturday night at Faith Family Church in Victoria. Building 429, a Dove-Award winning band, and Leeland, a Dove-Award winning and three-time Grammy nominated band, launch their 30-city nationwide tour Friday in Friendswood, wrapping up in Mequon, Wis., Nov. 13. Known best for their 2004 hit song "Glory Defined," also named BMI's Christian Song of the Year in 2005, Building 429 has been generating buzz since 1999. The group recently released its fifth album "Listen to the Sound," and the band's single by the same name, "Listen to the Sound," became a recent radio No. 1 song. In a phone interview Building 429 drummer Michael Anderson discussed the upcoming tour, how bandmates have continued to thrive in an ever-changing music industry, and what to expect from Saturday's concert. Your band has roots in Texas, but has Building 429 ever played a show in Victoria? You know what, I don't think so, but there's always a possibility. We play so many places that I forget half the time where we've been and where we haven't. We're playing a few shows in Texas but we're definitely looking forward to that one. Have you toured with Leeland before? We haven't. We've played a few shows with them here and there. A few festivals and stuff like that, but we've never done a full tour with them, but we're super excited about it. We just got done with tour rehearsals the last couple of days. It's going to be a really cool tour. We got a chance to see Leeland's set and of course Royal Tailor. It's going to be a really, really, really great show. How do you keep your band together after so many years, while continuing to release chart-topping music? Oh my goodness. I guess we always say it's like a family, or it's like a marriage. We go through the good and the bad together, and have very open communication. If you don't have good communication and you're not open and honest with each other, then this thing would never work. Your band name is based on the Bible verse Ephesians 4:29, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Does Building 429 reflect on this verse before shows? Even more than that, it's something that we try to live by. We do the best we can. It's a pretty hard verse to live by because it's not just about not saying bad stuff about people, but more importantly, it's about building others up in your daily life, you know what I mean? (It's about) encouraging people, weaving in a closer relationship with Jesus. So of course it's something we think about on stage, but more importantly it's something we try to live daily. Were you brought up a Christian? Yes and no. I didn't grow up in a Christian home per se. I mean, I used to go to church with my grandparents when I was real young and stuff like that, but neither of my parents were Christian. When I was 12-years-old, my parents actually got divorced and I stayed with my aunt and uncle quite a bit during that time. They were very strong Christians and led me to the Lord during that time in my early teenage years. And the cool thing about that is about five or six years later, I actually got to lead my parents to Christ through that whole situation. What has God showed you in your career with Building 429? I first started in the band when I graduated college in December 2002. And in January 2003 is when I joined up with the band. Here I had a college degree, and people thought I was crazy for graduating college and wanting to join a band that wasn't even signed, was independent, didn't have a record label, didn't have anything really going for them. But for some reason I've always known music was a gift that God gave me, and was something I was supposed to use for him. And I just kind of took a leap of faith and joined up with (lead singer) Jason (Roy) and started this thing off. God has been faithful through almost 10 years of doing this now. The fact that we're still doing it is a testament that I made the right decision back then. Are you part of the songwriting process? Jason is the main songwriter in the band. When we get in the studio, we all work on the music, but Jason is definitely the main song writer. Is there a song you never get tired of playing? Believe it or not, you'd think I'd get tired of playing "Glory Defined" because we've been playing it for eight years now, but I never get tired of playing that song. I don't know why. I look forward to playing it. It's the last song in our set on this tour and I'm always looking forward to playing it. What's the main goal of the tour? The main goal is to lead people to Christ. I know everybody in the band wouldn't want to leave their families and go out for so long if that wasn't the main goal. To keep it pretty simple, the main goal is to lead people to Christ, to encourage them, and lift them up. The whole country is going through a tough time right now, and we just want to encourage people and show them that there's hope. Do you have a message to your Victoria fans? Bring your whole family out to the tour. You can bring your friends, you can bring your non-faith friends, you can bring your church friends. You can bring whoever you want, it's going to be a great time for everybody. You're going to be encouraged and lifted up. Everybody come out. ___ (c)2011 Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas) Visit Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas) at www.victoriaadvocate.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |