Here is a whole WACK of interviews done at different times in Jake's career from a bunch of different people! Enjoy:)
Written by Marty Christianity.com had a special article where Marty wrote it himself. Have a read:)
Introducing Jake Up and coming brother trio, Jake, share their youth in Canada and their voyage in Christian music. By Marty Penner
Christianity.com - Hey everybody, this is Marty from Jake. As you probably don't know too much about us (we're still pretty new on the scene) I'll fill you in on who we are and a bit of what we're about.
The group consists of myself, my fraternal (two-egg) twin Josh and our older brother Toby. As brothers we grew up singing and playing together in churches, town fairs, and family reunions until we were old enough to tell our parents we didn't want to do that anymore. You know how it is. A few years after that we started learning how to play instruments (Toby and Josh play guitar, I play the bass), and spent hours plinking and planking away together. Although we jammed a lot and had played a few gigs at weddings (yes, for a short time there, we were wedding singers) and coffee shops, the idea of trying to make a go of it together had never really presented itself to any of us.
After high school, Toby spent a bit of time playing guitar for a local rock band called boxtree. Josh and I were big fans of the band and ended up going to every show that we could bum a ride to. They actually called us their "dial an audience," because whenever they had a gig they would call us, and we would come help whip the crowd into frenzy with our antics! It was actually a lot of fun, and we rarely got hurt. Through our association with boxtree we ended up being introduced to a representative from a record company in Nashville as well as a producer named Steve Rendal who lives in our hometown of Three Hills, Alberta (that's in Canada). It was suggested to the three of us that we try making a demo as a group. Steve offered to make it for us for free, and to send it to all the record company people he knows, and we were smart enough to say "…umm….ok".
What's the catch, right? So we took our guitars out on the lawn and wrote a couple of songs, recorded quick versions of them at Steve's studio, and sent them down. We heard back from a couple of companies right away, and they all sounded very interested. Reunion Records was kind enough to bring us down to Nashville to show us around. We were so impressed with all the fine folks at Reunion that we decided it was a fit and ended up signing a contract with them about a year later.
So why "Jake"? Good question. Jake is the name of our dad, grandpa, great-grandpa, great-great-grandpa and on down the line. It would've made sense for one of us to be named Jake, but I think our dad thought things were getting too confusing as it was. So basically naming the group Jake was an attempt to give a nod to the influence our family, and our dad and grandpa especially, has had on us. We grew up in a very musical family, and we feel like we've inherited a bit of that musical spirit.
It's about a year now since we've signed with Reunion, and in that time we've recorded and (just barely) released our self-titled album. We also moved to Nashville about six months ago. As you can imagine, Nashville is quite different from where we live in Canada, but we're getting used to it … sort of. The biggest adjustment for me has been the impossibility of finding a proper slurpee around here. Honestly I don't know how I'm surviving!
We've been busy playing shows around the southeastern United States in the last few months. We've also been spending some time in Canada lately, which is fun for us. The next few months look to be even busier, but that's good. We like to be busy.
We're really excited about the direction in which Jake is moving. We feel like this has been so obviously God's leading, right from the start. Although playing and singing as a full-time occupation can be a little crazy at times, we have really felt a lot of peace about the whole thing. We really believe that this has all been God's idea, and that every bit of success we've had, and every connection we've made, has been because of His working. We feel like as long as we're serious about staying committed to God in our lives, and with Jake, He'll continue to lead us. All we have to do is give our best, and hang on while He puts us where He wants us. And that's a great position to be in.
During the next few weeks, we’re going to be taking time out to send in a few little articles to Christianity.com. Basically, they will be short essays where we talk a bit about what we think and feel about different topics. We don't feel like we have the answers to all of life's problems, but you won't find any answers if you're too afraid to ask questions or take a stab at the answer. Hopefully, we can all use this as a platform to take a peek at issues that are important (and hopefully interesting) to people who call themselves followers of Christ.
"If we want to make a difference for the better, we must unite, be positive, think deeply, ask questions, take chances, trust in God, respect ourselves, use our skills, and never cop out. We have been given a wonderful opportunity to share with you our thoughts and feelings on topics we feel passionate about. It is our goal that this column will not try to persuade you on the "right or wrong," but that it will evoke deep thought and result in introspective reflection. God Bless."
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Living Light
Living Light News Online interviewed Jake some time ago. We have no idea when the interview was done.
by Annette Wierstra
How do three ordinary guys from Three Hills, Alberta make it all the way to Nashville and sign on with Reunion Records? The three Penner brothers who form the group called Jake say that it is all God’s work, not theirs.
“The way things have been moving, it’s not because of any special, crazy talent that we have, it’s just God deciding to use us and put us in different situations,” says Marty, who with his twin Josh and older brother Toby make up the band. “He’s filling us up with a vision and a reason to be doing this and we’re just going through each door that opens — and they keep opening.”
It all started in Alberta with a chance meeting with the right people at a BoxTree concert in spring 1998, a band Toby was formerly part of. From there, things have moved quickly, with Jake’s first self-titled album hitting the streets in mid-August.
The band’s name comes from one of their greatest influences. “Our dad was named Jake and none of us are — obviously, ” says Marty. It’s a family name that goes back generations.
For long time fans of pop music and especially Michael W. Smith, it’s exciting to be part of the same label as the Christian pop veteran. “I’ve been encouraged as I’ve met these sort of people to find out what they’re like,” says Josh. “Michael W. Smith in particular is a really great guy and he’s really supportive of us and it’s really fun.”
So far the album is being received well. With the popularity of other all male pop bands like InSync and the Backstreet Boys, it’s not surprising that Jake already has a single (“Let Me Know”) sitting on the Top 30 charts of Edmonton’s pop music station Power 92.
The Penner brothers are pleased with the success of their first single because they hoped that their music would reach a wide audience. “We wrote it as an honest representation of where we are at in our lives and our struggles and things we were dealing with and whatever we were thinking about,” says Toby who believes Jake has much to say to young people, whatever their beliefs. “It really was just an honest reflection of where we were in our lives, being three young, single, Canadian, Christian guys.”
But faith in Christ is important for the members of Jake and it comes out naturally in their music. “It’s a big thing that covers all areas of our life and we don’t categorize it,” says Josh. “That’s why we have songs about girls, about life in general, about money, things like that. Our faith effects all of that.”
Part of the band’s vision is to give a positive message to all young people. “We care a lot about the culture that we live in,” says Toby. “We feel if we can affect that in any way that would be a really good thing. We want to have as many people as possible hear our music and messages that promote truth.”
While success in the music business hasn’t been a long time dream for Toby, Marty and Josh, they are appreciative of it. They hope their music will continue to connect to people. But as to how far their music career will go — they’re leaving that in more capable hands.
“Mostly we’re just trusting that God will take us where He wants, says Marty. “We are available for that and we want to work our hardest at it and we think He has plans ... and we’re excited about that.”
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BC Christian News - February 2001 Here is an interview done with BC Christian News and our Jake gentlemen. It's in the February 2001 issue.
Christian Week Online - February 20, 2001 Christian Week Online interviewed Jake on February 20, 2001.
Alberta boys take pop rock world by storm
Making girls cry doesn’t seem quite right to three brothers from Three Hills, Alberta, but such are the risks when attracting a following in the world of pop rock.
“Once in awhile there’s [a fan] who screams and cries. The first one we had, we were all totally in shock, we didn’t know if something was actually wrong or maybe she was hurt or something,” laughs Marty Penner, one third of pop rock newcomer Jake.
These days, Marty, 22, his twin Josh, and Toby, 25, find themselves a long way from the prairie town they call home. Just two years ago, they loaded up their ’85 Topaz and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, after signing a deal with Reunion Records.
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Count to 20 September 2001 from 20 Count Down.com
Jon Rivers: It's time once again for our weekly artist spotlight feature - when we go backstage for an exclusive interview with members of today's dynamic class of Christian artists. And talking about their debut hit single Waiting are Toby, Josh, and Marty Penner, the three Canadian brothers who make up the new group Jake, on 20 The Countdown Magazine.
Josh: The name Jake comes from our paternal line of names. Our dad's name is Jake and his dad's name was Jake and his dad and his dad...
20: So why are there Toby, Marty, and Josh and no Jake?
Josh: That was sort a thing with our family. It's the first born is supposed to be named Jake in the family and that was Toby. And when our dad didn't name Toby Jake there was a little bit of a thing going on and it was kind of a big deal but I think dad just thought it was getting too confusing and he just thought, you know, "I'm putting my foot down."
20: So some of the relatives were a little miffed that there wasn't a...
Josh: Yeah...I think mostly my grandpa. I think some of the successive Jakes were a little slightly upset.
20: Yeah.
Josh: Dad was just ready to do his own thing.
20: Yeah...right. So he came up with Toby. And then Marty and Josh came along. Marty and Josh have this special relationship. It's...
Josh: Well, we are fraternal twins which is two egg twins.
20: Two eggs?
Josh: Two eggs...yeah. That's the biological definition. We are two eggs and a side of Canadian bacon.
20: (laughs)
Josh: Toby is the side...I'm not sure how I like that metaphor but, whatever, we'll go with it.
20: You know, if you were fatter that would be funnier but you're a...he's a rail. The three of these boys are so skinny.
Josh: He is greasy though.
20: (laughs)Insult him...
Josh: Yeah, okay....let's move on now. You guys can help me out any time you want, but I think that Waiting is kind of like a modern Psalm. We've been talking about it in that kind of a sense because David wrote a lot of Psalms about "God where are you?", you know, everybody comes to that point where they're trying to...they need a connection, they need to find a communion type of place with God. And it's difficult sometimes because of different factors I guess, in people's lives but there are so many Psalms in the Bible that are just talking and pleading and begging God to come and meet with whoever the Psalmist was probably, David sometimes anyways. This song was written just about from that place exactly. The lyric is "I'm waiting for you" or "I'm waiting for my eyes to see the light." So it's just like a Psalm.
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By Peter Fleck
CONNIE SCOTT did it first in the 1980s. Then fellow Vancouver-area recording artist Carolyn Arends followed suit in the 1990s.
Now the focus has shifted to small-town Alberta -- with new pop sensations, Jake, only the third Canadian act to ever crack the roster of a major American Christian music label. And the group -- composed of 24 year old Toby Penner and his 21 year old fraternal twin brothers, Josh and Marty -- did so with amazing ease.
With barely a public performance to their credit, the three brothers from Three Hills secured a contract from Reunion Records. Based almost solely on the strength of their studio demos, the Jake boys suddenly found themselves keeping company with label- mates such as industry giants Michael W. Smith, Kathy Troccoli and Gary Chapman.
Following the release of their self-titled debut last summer, Jake's music has been heard by millions. Their single, 'Waiting,' reached number four this past September on the Christian adult contemporary radio charts in the United States. Another song, 'Take My Heart Away,' has achieved strong air play on mainstream stations in Canada. And the project just recently received a Juno nomination for best gospel album.
The Penners even secured a cameo appearance in the Left Behind motion picture --where their song, 'Believer,' is featured at a pivotal point in the story. "Our song being in the movie is a big thing," Marty told BCCN. "They've sold a couple of million copies of the video already, so that many people have heard our song." With the film poised to hit movie theatres soon, the song should make an even bigger impact.
The song also gave Jake the opportunity to perform on this winter's Left Behind concert tour, where they have been sharing the stage with some of the top names in Christian music, including: Avalon, Rebecca St. James, Bob Carlisle and Third Day; and at the Celebrate Freedom festival in Dallas last July, Jake got to play to a crowd of more than 70,000. But the brothers are taking the band's sudden rise to prominence in stride. "I think from the beginning of this, there was a sense that this might be what God wants us to do," Josh said. "So we've kind of been humbly expecting good things."
A highlight for the young band occurred at a radio-promoted lunchtime concert in Houston this past summer, when the Penners suddenly found many of those in the audience of 800 singing along to their hit single. "It was just an amazing feeling to sing a song you wrote and have a lot of people singing along to it," Toby recalled.
"It's a really big honour to have something that you wrote mean something to someone else who you don't know. That's one of the main fulfilling things that we run into in doing this whole thing . . . People come up, and they'll say some story about how they were listening to the radio, and 'Waiting' came on -- and they got really challenged, and had this big turnaround in their life or something. And you're like, 'Really! Wow!' Every time you hear that, it really means a lot."
Speaking of meaning, BCCN asked the trio who or what the name 'Jake' refers to. They come from Mennonite roots, and it had been the practice on both sides of the family for the name Jake to be passed down from father to son for successive generations. But since their father broke tradition by not naming any of them Jake, the brothers chose to adopt the name for their band as a tribute to their rich heritage.
Their father, Jake Penner, considers it a great honour, but admitted that relating to the boys' musical style has been a major challenge. "I've put myself on a deliberate, conscious education program, because I was so far out on the extreme," he said. "I just sort of wrote off everything that derived from the youth culture and called itself music. So when I saw the degree to which the boys were marked by this, I wasn't prepared for it."
The boys were also somewhat unprepared for one aspect of their success. Not all of Jake's lyrics are explicitly Christian in nature -- and while this has helped the album crack the mainstream market in Canada, it has also reaped some scorn.
"We get some emails, and the record company gets a little bit of flack for it. And there's certain stores that won't carry our product in the States, and stations that won't play our songs, even the high Christian-content songs, because they know there are other songs on the record that talk about girls and whatever," Josh said.
But Marty explained that the album was not purposefully crafted to cater to dual Christian and secular markets. "It sort of just happened that way," he said. "We wrote a record about where we were at in our lives at the time, and the things that were happening in our lives. It was influenced very little [by] where it was supposed to go."
Appreciative that Reunion took the risk of releasing an atypical Christian album, Marty said: "Christians have experiences, and Christians fall in love, and Christians deal with death, and they deal with materialism -- all these sorts of things. And if we pretend by singing only about how we relate to God and how we worship God, then it's not really honest if we are trying to make a true picture of our lives."
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Girls, God and Pop Music Friday, December 15, 2000 Mike Ross from Edmonton Sun interviewed Jake for Jam
Imagine the confusion if you were a Christian boy-band. When you're singing the line, "I only want you here beside me," who is it directed to - a girl or God?
OK, kids: get ready for Jake, a three-brother pop trio that has it both ways on its self-titled debut album. You have songs about girls - which if marketed correctly, could induce screaming and rampant allowance-spending of same - and you have songs about God.
"We don't write exclusively about our relationship with God," says singer Marty Penner. "We have a faith and we believe in certain things and believe in them pretty strongly, and we write about those things. But we also write about all the other things that go on in our lives."
Like, as mentioned, girls.
"There are definitely songs that are written about a girl and then there's songs written about some type of spiritual issue," says older brother Toby. "We think it's pretty easy to discern which is which."
Marty, 21, his twin brother Josh (the quiet one) and Toby, 24, were in town Wednesday doing that promotion thing. Jake - named for their dad - is represented in Canada by Zomba Records, whose roster includes the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, Britney Spears and, just to balance things out, Tool.
During an interview here at Sun world headquarters, these particularly tall brothers from Three Hills revealed themselves to be smart, funny and devoutly Christian. They talked about how their faith has helped them up to now - and how it could affect their future. "Accusations" of being a Christian band certainly hasn't hurt Creed. It remains to be seen now it will go down with the boy-band crowd.
Jake's faith in God has already helped, Marty says.
"God brought this into our lives," he says. "It's not really our idea."
The concept started with producer Eldon Winter, who runs a recording studio in Three Hills (who knew the town had such a happening music scene?). He approached Toby, who had played in an alternative rock band called Boxtree, and suggested he make a demo tape with his brothers. Winter had contacts with Reunion Records in Nashville. A few meetings later and Jake had record contract. Just like that. The brothers, who grew up listening to pop on AM-106 in Calgary, currently share an apartment in Nashville. A gruelling touring and promotion schedule follows. Things have happened so fast, Marty says, that there has to be some sort of "divine intervention."
Even with such strong beliefs, the Penner brothers insist they have no desire to club anyone over the head about it. The meaning of the songs "is there if you look for it," Josh says. Otherwise, "It's a good sounding pop song, hopefully, if we did our job properly. People can take from it what they want."
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September 26, 2000 Here is an interview done with Jake by the Agape Press
by Allie Martin AFR News September 26, 2000
(AgapePress) - A contemporary Christian band from Canada has landed a big break. The band is made up of three brothers: twins Marty and Josh Penner (21) and their 24-year-old brother, Toby. Together they make up the band "Jake"--named in honor of their dad.
AFR News caught up the trio as they were on the set of Left Behind: The Movie. In the movie, they have a small on-screen role as security guards at the United Nations. They are also featured on the upcoming soundtrack for the movie.
Marty says the band's debut album covers a wide range of issues.
"It's not exclusive in its content," Marty says. "On our album you won't find all of the songs to be typically what you would think of as Christian songs because they're not [all] about God specifically."
"But we feel like they're all Christian in content because they talk about life and relationships...from our point of view," he says. "And we are Christian people. We feel like they're all really good examples of Christian songs."
Jake recently moved from Calgary to Nashville, TN. They will soon be out on the road for the first tour.
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This interview was done by someone from Missouri Bible College. She didn't put her name on the interview though :(
August 18-20, 2000
Six years ago Jars of Clay performed at Welcome Weekend weeks before hitting the charts and playing on the late night shows. Since then, MBC has brought the newest hopefuls to campus for a "before they were big" concert that students always remember.
This year, it wasn't exactly Jars - it was Jake. As a Reunion Records artist, there is a certain expectation of ability and professionalism that others like Clay Crosse, Kathy Troccoli, and Michael W. Smith are known for. Their website is killer. Their promos and management are cool. Even their less-than-a-week-old debut CD is certainly worth the listen.
But sitting around the table at dinner, I got the feeling that these Canadians were more green than red and white. We typically provide an interview of concert artists, but honestly, there was nothing to tell. By the time I finished off my hamburger and coke, it was time to change plans and review the concert instead. Oh, girls - one note for you - only Marty Penner, the bassist with a great smile and sense of hat-fashion, is spoken for.
As the sky lightened and the smattering of rain subsided, Jake took the stage. Instead of feeding off the student's energy, the group floated around their set list mumbling some pearls of wisdom between songs. As a point of perspective and humor, even their manager was chanting "don't say anything stupid… don't say anything stupid" as they introduced themselves to the audience.
After a half-dozen songs, this concertgoer called it quits. I think of myself as a pretty hardy when it comes to concerts - I believe I could even make it through an N*Sync concert, but I had enough tonight. Sadly, as I pulled away I saw the band break-out with an energy that challenged their look and sound. Students were hopping and the music was thumping. Perhaps I should have stayed a bit longer. Don't get me wrong, most students braved the threatening clouds and occasional drop to hear a likable band. But for me, Jake's track-assisted live performance didn't come close to their recorded sound.
I recommend adding their self-titled album to your CD collection but I'd hold-off their concerts for a year or so. They need more time to acclimate to the stage and to mild-mannered interviews. MBC has had a slew of great artists come and go (and many who started here) but to no-one's fault, this wasn't the greatest. Hey I keep telling myself - they can't all be Jars. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MBC: Where did you get your start in the music business?
Toby: We were all living in Three Hills, Canada — Three Hills is Alberta — and we weren’t really in a band with each other. But because we’re brothers, we played together and jammed sometimes. Once in a while we got together and screamed and hollered and played guitar. It was basically really informal. Then I joined a real band and was playing full time. Through connections with this band, we met some producers who suggested that maybe all three brothers should make a demo. We decided that would be fun and one thing led to another…so basically here we are.
MBC: What does it mean to you to be Canadian?
Marty: We are very Canadian and have a really strong connection. We’re actually dual citizens because our mom is from Portland. We grew up in Canada almost all of our lives, with all of the culture that is there. Sometimes people don’t believe that there is a difference culturally from Canada to America. The more we are here in the U.S., the more we notice differences, and it really is a different country. We really enjoy it.
MBC: What are some of the specific differences?
Toby: They don’t have my gum here! It’s sugarless Dentyne cool mint, and I guess it’s strictly a Canadian product that you can’t buy here, so I import. That’s a gigantic cultural difference. There’s a whole different attitude in America than in Canada. Canadians are generally passive and laid back — not overly outgoing and friendly. In the south, we get the whole southern hospitality thing where people will come up to you and ask if they can help. It’s a wonderful thing; it’s a big difference from what we are used to.
Marty: The drivers here are really bad… but that might be just in Nashville. I don’t think we can generalize about all of America. Driving in Nashville is like being at a big Nascar track…everyone watches Nascar all week and then gets behind the wheel!
MBC: How does the Christian subculture in Canada compare to that of the United States?
Toby: That is one of the huge differences that we are noticing between where we grew up and where we are now… is that the Christian subculture is not nearly as defined. There aren’t very many Christian radio stations in Canada. The Christian radio industry is beginning to expand now. For years and years it was illegal to broadcast Christian material over the radio… it is only a recent change. It was different for us growing up in Canada. If we had been raised in a Christian family and school in America, we might have not been exposed to such a variety of music. Whereas growing up in Canada, we selected our music from what was available and tried to use our discretion as best as we could… that included some Christian music as well.
Marty: We feel like that was a good thing. We are not from the mindset that only Christian music should be listened to, and we think that it would be a tremendous waste if somebody just wrote off all of the music that existed based on one category that humans have created for themselves. But it is important to exercise discretion, and we feel privileged to have grown up that way.
MBC: What is the main message that you try to convey through your music?
Marty: We tried to make an album that reflected our opinions and music beliefs … its value is not based on whether it talks about loving God or not, there is so much about music that has value and importance. We tried to make a record that spoke about all of life and not just part of it. We tried to make an album from the point of view of Christian young guys where we talk about girls, God, money, and mortality, and that kind of real stuff…and it is all through the mind-set of people who have a relationship with Jesus. That was really deliberate that we broadened the topic… we didn’t try to compartmentalize to any one topic.
Toby: And then, we love making of decent pop music for people to be happy and move to. There is another aspect and that is if we can exist and have a voice to make truth in our lyrics and in our life put out there for people to listen to, so that might be what brings them closer to Christ… that is a main goal of ours.
Marty: We really love music. We believe in what it can do for your soul and the warm fuzzies that music can give. We love making music that can do that and it excites us to have the chance to play and have people listen. And maybe not just truth, but it connects them to their spiritual nature. It makes them understand that they have spiritual needs that can only be made by there spiritual creator God. We have lofty, high goals like that, that people who listen to our music who are not necessarily Christians would take away from the album if they dug into it.
MBC: What are you interests in the U.S. market?
Marty: We have had some success on the radio in Canada, which has been cool, not on the Christian radio exactly, but on the pop radio. The company that owns the whole Christian family of records that we are in — their Canadian division picked us up and released the record up there and it has been really surprising and really cool the way that things are working out up there. So that’s our general market. I think last week our single was like top ten in Christian radio… we are really excited to be in both places because we have things to say to both audiences, and we feel that we have made a record that doesn’t exclude either audience.
Toby: As far as age, we want to appeal to the widest range possible. And we think that college age people and even people beyond that can find something appealing about it. We have been pleasantly surprised about the large spectrum of age groups listening to us.
Marty: As far as whether we are targeting a Christian or general audience, we are excited to be reaching both. We are just excited about having people hear our music, and as many people as can hear as possible, that is better for us. Wherever it can reach, whatever it can do, we feel we can have things to say in both places. So we are excited about all of those opportunities.
MBC: How did it feel to first hear your hit single, “Let Me Know”, on the radio?
Toby: The first time I heard it on the radio I was over the phone while talking to my girlfriend in Calgary and she was like “Your song is on the radio!” and that was a really cool feeling and cool thing to share with her.
Marty: The first time I heard it was when we were up in Toronto where we have our song on the radio and it was really cool. We were in somebody’s car from the record company on the way to the radio station to do a radio station thing, and we heard it on the way there on that station, and it was really cool because it was right after Toni Braxton, and we felt very honored. It was like a little bonding time.
MBC: What is the significance of the ’85 mercury topaz?
Marty: It was a beast of a car that Josh (Marty’s twin) and I actually split right down the middle. We have had it for a few years; it is a Canadian car and the three of us drove it down to Nashville with all of our worldly belongings. We drove it a straight 40 hours here and we’ve been driving it ever since. We are definitely looking to upgrade.
MBC: What has it been like being a band of brothers?
Toby: It is really the optimum type of relationship to have when you are in a band. It is always a very strange dynamic, being on the road with people you don’t know or you thought you knew… but you find out that some people are just really terrible. I have been in band situations before and it is really beneficial to know someone really well if you want to go on the road with them. I just think that growing up together, and being very close, there is no difference between being at home together and being on the road together. We love each other to death, and we wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else.
Marty: It has been great growing up together and doing this for years and years… we kind of understand everyone’s role, and that is something that really helps in our band situation. It is really easy for us to respect each other, and pick up the slack in different areas… it works out really great.
MBC: What roles do you each take?
Marty: Toby is our musical leader… he wrote most of the songs on the album and has the greatest musical vision. He had a big hand in the production of the record too.
Toby: Marty has the worst role which is business and responsibility. Like knowing where things are and where to go. He is really good at reading maps, and handles money a little differently than I do…responsibly.
Marty: Josh is our newly appointed spiritual advisor. He is probably the physical activities coordinator too. He is the one that brings up different issues to discuss.
MBC: What was your college experience like?
Toby: I was in a university transfer program with the University of Alberta. I was an English major - I did two years and decided to take a break and go to bible college and during that one year I met my other band, which was an amazing experience. College — I would highly recommend it. At the same time, I wouldn’t say that my scholastic record was exemplary.
MBC: What was your most embarrassing moment in college?
Marty: I was in a touring choir and we were on a flight returning to Calgary from London. I had an aisle seat and I went to the washroom, returned to my seat and fell asleep. I was sitting in a big group of all my friends and when I woke up they were all looking at me with really strange expressions on their faces. The person sitting next to me pointed down and I realized that my fly was wide open. I guess they had noticed one by one and were telling each other while I was asleep. I had on black pants and white underwear. A lot of the other people on the plane not with the choir had wondered what was going on had filed passed to have a look as well. There were many embarrassing pictures taken that day.
Toby: One time I fell in the fountain in West Edmonton Mall. I was already having a bad day and attempting to take a shortcut around the edge of the fountain. That was pretty frustrating and embarrassing, but everybody else got a good laugh. Josh is too cool; he never does anything embarrassing or gets embarrassed.
Marty: Unless you are talking about his ex-girlfriends of course.
MBC: What is in your CD player right now?
Marty: You’re probably going to laugh, but the two that are in our CD player right now and most often are N’SYNC and Brittany Spears. We also like Maxwell and Toni Braxton. We have just about everything ever done by Sting and U2 as well.
MBC: If you could be any character from The Wizard of Oz, what character would you be and why?
Toby: I would be that bizarre little lollipop guy who sings to Dorothy and dances really strangely. He is about the only thing I remember about that movie. But that’s me.
Marty: I’d have to say I’d be Dorothy - I love Somewhere Over the Rainbow - it’s just adorable - and she has really cool shoes. And between you and me I wear women’s shoes sometimes—black and boot like though--not the shiny red pumps.
MBC: What is your best conspiracy theory?
Toby: I think that when you have small things, like pen-sized and smaller, and they just disappear off the face of the earth, I think that is aliens. It happens all the time with my guitar picks; I have them one minute and suddenly they’re gone. I think stuff falls into some parallel universe or vortex or something. We can’t get them back out until they fall back in.
Marty: We as humans have the entirely wrong idea about CD collections. It has nothing to do with individual collections. All of the CD’s that exist in the world are part of one big lending library but we just don’t realize it. How many times have you lost a CD only to find another one in your collection that you have no clue where it came from? There’s a higher power that switches CD’s back and forth. That’s why we never worry that a CD is lost.
MBC: Do you have any lucky charms?
Toby: I have a microphone that doesn’t work but I’ve had it since grade 11. A guy in one of my bands gave it to me, and it’s really funky and weird looking. I can’t let it go. I sing into it and practice with it in the mirror, which is helpful.
Marty: The only thing that I have carried around with me for a long time is a little stuffed frog named Mr. Frog. It came from my girlfriend, Andrea, who made it when she was little. Years ago, she sprayed it with perfume and gave it to me. He hangs out on my bed and has all kinds of adventures while I’m away during the day.
MBC: What is your involvement with the movie Left Behind?
Toby: We have a song, “Believer”, that is on the movie’s soundtrack, but the best part is that we are all security guards in the film. It was fun to be an extra; not nearly as glamorous as you’d think. It’s a lot of sitting and sleeping, but we certainly are convincing security guards, though.
MBC: What are JAKE’S next steps?
Marty: We want to get a new car, have a hit single in the US, and to have as much circulation of our music as possible. The more we do with the band, the more we realize that it’s been God’s work and nothing we have done. We really believe that God is in control and He will take us wherever He wants - all we have to do is trust in Him.
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The Following Interview was done by Jackie Chapman and is courtesy of GMA today. GROWING UP WITH JAKE
Marty: Our dad is named Jake, and none of us are, obviously.
Toby: Long before the band Jake, we lived in our father Jake's world.
M: Growing up, our parents would take us around the world with them. Mom always worried about us, but we ended up doing some really interesting stuff. When Josh and I were 13, our parents packed us up and moved us to Belize for one year. Everything in Belize is poisonous--poisonous trees, poisonous bugs and crocodiles everywhere.
Josh: The Mennonites made all their own roads, so there are no laws really. You learn to drive when you're 12. You see little kids driving these big Ford pick-ups down the dirt roads; it was a big adventure.
M: After surviving Belize, we went to Three Hills, Alberta, Canada and Prairie Junior High and High School. We didn't come from a wealthy family. So, we had to get a job every summer to make our own spending money. When we were 16, Dad put Josh and I on a train and sent us to Alaska for the summer. We heard people made pretty good money fishing. So, when we arrived, we went down to the docks.
J: But it just so happened it was like the worst season for fishing, and nobody would hire us.
M: We didn't know what a "fisherman" actually looked like, but we met this man and asked for a job. Turns out he was a logger. So, we ended up working at this logging camp. They do clean-cut logging, which I'm against, but we had the token environmental job-cleaning out the creeks after the logging had been done.
T: I went to Alaska later and worked in a logging camp as a choke setter. Basically, you're on the mountain running around, attaching cables to trees so they can be yanked out of the forest. It took me a while to figure out, and I was persecuted by my fellow loggers.
J: But to know Toby is to love Toby. You can't be mad at him; you just feel sorry him.
T: -Thanks-but in logging camps, you live on these floating towns on the ocean. When the camp received a new contract, they would float the town to the next island and moor it off the coast. There were like 35 buildings and 90 people living on this huge raft.
J: We played a lot of basketball on the floating town. But somehow we always lost the ball in the water, and we would have to row out and get it.
T: Little kids wearing life jackets always rode their tricycles around the floating town. Every once in a while, a kid would ride off the edge. He would float with his life jacket on, but the tricycle sank.
J: Sometimes we took a skiff out on the open seas. There were always a ton of whales out breaching. We used to see how close we could get to one. We'd cut the engine, and when we saw one's nose come out of the water, we'd start the engine and race toward it. It took like 15 seconds for one to dive, and it would be almost underwater by the time we got to it, so we'd only be able to touch the tail.
M: The tail was longer than our boat.
T: There is so much wildlife in Alaska. I always thought fishing was a myth before Alaska. You stick a line in the water and sit there for hours and don't catch a thing! But my friend Travis showed me fishing was not a myth. The salmon were running, and the stream was just thick with fish. We were catching them with our bare hands. We were valiant, and we let them go, but I learned fishing is not a myth.
M: The experience really helped us. Our parents didn't shelter us; they pushed us out there. It taught us not to be scared and showed us God's faithfulness. I mean, a logging camp is about the most unchristian place you can be.
CREATING JAKE
T: Jake happened in a way that's different than most bands.
M: Toby played guitar in a rock band, boxtree. Through boxtree we met producer Steve Rendall who lived in Three Hills, our hometown. He works as a "local talent scout," so to speak. Label reps in Nashville always let him know what they are looking for. At the time it was a sibling group; must have been the hip thing, I guess. One night he ended up at a boxtree show.
T: Marty and Josh were our dial-in audience.
J: Boxtree was our favorite band.
M: We would go and whip everybody into a frenzy.
J: Our calves hurt the next morning from all the moshing.
M: We were introduced to Steve as Toby's brothers. He found out we played guitars and sang. So he suggested we make a demo as the three of us.
T: We've been playing together by virtue of being brothers, but never thought about being a band. So we thought maybe we should make a demo.
M: We took our guitars out on the lawn and wrote two songs, "Right Time" and "Take My Heart Away."
J: We recorded at Steve's place, The White House Recording Company, all crammed in his basement; he was doing construction at the time. We did vocals in a closet, sweating bullets. I think he's still doing construction but that's because he only hired like one senior citizen to finish the job.
M: Anyway, the demo was sent off, and Reunion showed interest. They brought us down a week after they got the demo. At the time we were all doing horrid labor construction jobs, building oilrigs and such.
J: Construction on grain bins is worse, but....
M: Josh and I were in northern Alberta where there is nothing but moose, working this absolutely horrible job, if you can just imagine a camp with oilrig guys.
T: My friend, Donny, and I were working as commercial painters, another terrible job.
J: But they were our last jobs in Canada. We took days off when we found out we were going to Nashville. Then we never went back. It was a happy beginning.
DEVELOPING JAKE
T: You could call this section, "Tough Love."
M: Yeah, our first big gig in Nashville was in the Provident warehouse. Reunion was good enough to hook us up with jobs. We needed money after moving all the way from Canada.
T: On our last day we packed our own posters; that was a nice gesture. Now we actually get to make money as a band, which is sweeter on the spirit.
M: Since the warehouse, we've been doing promo things. We played at Celebrate Freedom in Dallas back in July.
J: Celebrate Freedom was such a great thing for us. In Canadian Christian culture, you would never see that many people at a Christian concert. But in America, it was the largest gathering of people at a Christian music event in modern history. It was incredible to see that many people. Celebrate Freedom did take place on Canadian Independence Day, so we sang a bit of the anthem for all the Canadian Christians we're sure were there.
T: We love Canada. We love America, too. Our mom was born in the U.S., so we actually have dual citizenship, which is very nice when crossing the border. Traveling north or south, we always get a "Welcome Home."
M: We're going to be big movie stars soon. We recently went to Toronto to be in Left Behind-The Movie. Along with Clay Crosse, we play security guards. They had a great wardrobe department. We were hanging out in the corner of the Second Cup coffeehouse on a break, still in our uniforms, and an employee came over and asked, "Can I get you gentlemen anything to drink?" "Nope, we're fine." He came back, "Are you sure I can't get you gentlemen anything? On the house." We can't say no to free drinks, so "Sure, we'll have some hot apple cider." We didn't quite understand why he gave us free drinks. Clay tapped the badge on his chest and said, "It's the badge." The man actually thought we were cops!
J: We had the complete outfit with gun belts and guns with clips that shot blanks.
T: We were probably a bit miscast; we're a little too thin to be cops. When you see the movie, you'll probably say, "They don't look scary." We did not look intimidating at all. It's a good thing television adds 20 pounds.
M: There was a lot of action in the movie, and yes, we did our own stunts. I did all my own running.
DEFINING JAKE
M: None of us expected to be in this position. But our upbringing prepared us for almost anything. We're all involved in music, because that's all in God's plan. It wasn't our life-long dream to be a band in Christian music. But that's why we're here.
T: Our music is based on our life by looking at how and why we grew up the way we did.
M: We come from a church background, but somehow we're not completely submerged in the subculture. There really is not as definite a Christian subculture in Canada, so we can think outside of that box.
T: One example of that is there is not much Christian radio in Canada. Music on the radio sometimes runs the whole gamut, Christian and secular together. We had to be conscientious about what we chose to listen to, sorting through all the hooey.
M: We are not Christians out of convenience and necessity, but rather out of purpose with a fresh position. We want to put practical Christianity into action. We have an understanding of Christian kids. It's almost by default we grew up in church and Christian school. That creates a danger of getting too caught up in the culture of Christianity. By doing that we miss the point-we miss Jesus. We want kids to understand that. It's about Jesus-not about a concert, a youth conference or a record. As Christians, sometimes we just take the benefits, but we become numb to the rest of life.
J: We want to emphasize to kids that it's a very intensely personal thing to be a Christian, sharing with them from a biblical perspective.
M: We're taking an honest look at life from a youth's perspective. We're not going to be something we're not. We are what we are. God has a hand in all the parts. We love God and we do music because God put those desires in our hearts. It's all His plans and His ideas. Now we need to do it with as much energy as we can give it. God has to be faithful; it's His baby, and we'd be dumb not to follow His plan.
