If you haven't heard about Plus One yet, you will—whether you hear their music on the radio, or see their faces smiling at you from a bus stop bench or billboard along the highway. You won't be able to avoid them. And why would you want to?
These guys want to minister to their peers, and music is the vehicle they're using to get the Word out—the Good News, that is.
As far as their voices go, I knew they were the real while having lunch with them not too long ago. Nate was talking about a song on their album and, with part of a chimichanga still in his mouth, he belted out a dozen perfect notes right there at the table. I'm sure the rest of the guys, while eating their fajitas and burritos, could've done the same thing, but I didn't ask for fear of Mexican food flying back and forth across the table. They can sing, and each of them has for many years.
The first video from Plus One is for their initial radio single, "Written On My Heart." The guys are in a high-rise studio working on some dance moves while people begin to congregate by the building on the street below. One-by-one, Nate, Jason, and the rest of the guys begin tossing pairs of headphones out the window, with some long cords, for the people to listen with. The fact is, a lot of people do want to listen to them, and they are, with first week album sales topping 19,000 checkouts. Were you one of them?
It's time to learn more about these five guys from their own mouths. And don't forget to click over to their official Web site after you've read this interview; it's one of the better band sites out there.
Gabe: "I'm a pastor's son. I grew up just outside San Francisco. At our church, I led worship, sang in choirs, and played several instruments. I love to minister to others, and I love music. I'm lucky to be able to put these passions together and minister through our music. I love seeing people get saved, coming down to the altar and getting saved. They're throwing their past life away and just starting a new one."
Jason: "I'm another preacher's kid. I played the drums at church, and was at every service, whenever the doors were open. The Lord blessed me with a talent, and I want to use it for him to help spread the gospel. I'm really passionate out this group. It's everything I've ever dreamed of musically and ministry-wise. I think Plus One has a lot to offer, especially spiritually. We're a group that is definitely put together and totally ordained by God."
Nate: "I'm also a PK. Don't worry. There are just three of us! My dad and grandpa are pastors. I even thought about becoming a pastor when I grew up. I sang in the church choir and the school choir. I'm really passionate about worship. This group is an important part of my life, and I'm focused on doing what we're supposed to do and being obedient to God. I'm having a good time, and I feel this is God's will for me right now. Music is definitely what I feel called to do."
Jeremy: "I was really independent when I was younger. I even rebelled against my parents and Christianity. But there came a point when I stopped rebelling and started accepting the ideas I'd been told all my life. I started believing them in my heart. God's given all of us the opportunity to minister through this band. He's opened doors and allowed us to use our talents. I want to utilize it as best as I can.
Nathan: I'm 22, the oldest guy in this group. I went to church all my life. But there came a point then I asked, 'What is this all about? What do I really believe?' That's when I really started to form a relationship with God. As I thought about these things, It drew me closer to him. My passion is to see kids and adults alike come closer to God.
How are your concerts different from your secular counterparts you're usually associated with?
Jeremy: "During our concerts we always stop at some point and worship with everyone. Sometimes it's just for five or ten minutes -- however long the Spirit leads. And I think that's a big part of why we're connecting with our audiences so well. Everyone worships together. It's a very awesome thing to stop in the middle of a concert and take time to thank God. It's cool.
"We're asked a lot about the 'boy band' thing. Most of us play instruments, which is different than the typical boy band. During a show, however, we do dance. We've been working hard, and we're getting better all the time. We have an awesome choreographer. He works for Carmen, Out of Eden, and with a lot of other Christian artists.
Another thing we've noticed is that people see us as role models. We'd like to say that you can look to us for a positive message, but Christ is the one we're striving to be like. He's the ultimate role model. If you look to man, they're going to let you down."
Nate: "We haven't gotten used to seeing our faces on billboards, and having fans. We feel like fans ourselves. We saw Michael W. Smith in the hall the other day. It was like, 'Man, we just met Michael W. Smith!' Those are the extra bonuses we get by doing this job. It's neat and fun to us, but that's not really what's important to us. I won't say we don't care about those things -- we took pictures of the billboard with our names on it! But the important thing is that we're getting the message out to people who hear our music. That's the way we look at it.
Obviously, God has done what he's done so far for a reason. He's put a message in our hearts and he's using us to get it out to others. We just keep seeing more doors opening up. It's great."
"As for me personally, the older I got, the more I was involved in music and singing in worship. That's something I'm really passionate about is worship. I sang in youth group and all kinds of different church things and choirs and school and all that kind of stuff. Music was definitely something I knew was involved in my calling in life. The creation of this group kind of brought that about, and I knew I was supposed to do this.
"It might sound cheesy to keep saying music, music, music. So, aside from music, I'm passionate about my family. It's something I think all of us are. I think that's something real important to all of us is just to keep good relationships with our family, and we all do. I talk to my parents every week, not every day, but probably every few days.
"What we're doing right now is real exciting for us. This group is something that is the main focus of my life, and it's hard to give a lot of attention to anything else right now time because I'm so focused on doing what we're supposed to do and being obedient to God. I'm having a good time, obeying God, and I feel this is God's will for me right now.
"It's important to bring the light to people who don't know about Jesus because there are more people that don't know about him than those who do."
Where does your sense of ownership to this project come in? And how does that come through your message?
Nathan: "A couple of us were able to write a song on this album. It's called 'Be.' So when you buy the album, check it out. We didn't think we were going to get a song on this album. But it happened, and that was important to us. We hope to write a lot more on the second album. The album is called 'The Promise.' That's also the name of the title track, which will probably be our second single. It's a great song. We love this album, and are so excited. We think people will really like it.
"Our message is the main thing we hope people will get but, obviously, the first thing that's going to attract listeners is our sound. So we hope once they start listening to the album they would really hear what we're trying to say. I want people to have something they aren't ashamed to let their non-Christian friends hear. And I pray our music shows others that Christians can have fun and that they've got cool music."
Jason: "I feel strongly about having a true purpose for this group because the reason I sing is because of Jesus Christ, my Savior. The Lord blessed me with a talent, so I'm going to use it for him. There's such a difference in singing when you're ministering.. We all love to sing, but really the whole reason we do this is for ministry and to spread the gospel."
How can you relate to many of the people listening to your music?
Jeremy: "I developed my own faith rather than it being only the faith of my family or my pastor.
"I went to a Christian school. And I had a lot of friends that totally, I could tell, rebelled just because ever since kindergarten they just heard the same thing over and over. And as I mentioned, I went through that stage as well.
"A lot of my friends would be at church, and then around eighth grade they stopped showing up at church. Then all of a sudden I heard about stuff that they'd do. My friends were just totally turning the wrong way because they felt like they didn't have the chance to try these other things.
"They wanted the choice and they wanted freedom. A lot of times people rebel because they're curious, I think, to know what it's all about and what it's like to do certain things. A lot of people get trapped into it, and then they lose control."
Nathan: "I led worship in my church for many years. And I thought, 'Am I really worshiping?' Because being up on stage and all these guys you forget. Sometimes you're just performing, and you don't really get the time to get in the audience and really worship. So I got to a point where I was like 'What do I really believe? Do I believe because of my parents?'
"I got to that point and I was really starting to get in a real relationship with God. I want to help kids and help adults come to that point, because I know there are a lot of people out there who don't have that relationship and it's just a religious thing.
