Promise Keepers
by Wendy Lee Nentwig
From the October 2000 issue of CCM Magazine.
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In case you haven’t heard the news yet: It’s Plus One’s world. We only live in it.
With teen pop showing no signs of slowing down thanks to listeners’ voracious appetites for all things Britney, Christina, ’N Sync and Backstreet, Christian music’s first boy band is finding unprecedented success. Slickly-produced, feel-good pop tunes combined with hip choreography and picture-perfect good looks make Plus One a natural fit in a genre of music that’s taken the nation by storm. A brief look at the group’s recent accomplishments proves that these five young men could very well be on their way to joining their general market counterparts in becoming household names:
The group’s debut disc, The Promise, which released May 23, set immediate Christian sales records and sold out at summer festivals. At press time, over 150,000 copies had been purchased in just under four months;
Plus One joined such luminaries as Mary Chapin Carpenter and Stevie Wonder in performing at this summer’s Democratic National Convention;
The fivesome recently appeared on CNN and NBC’s "Days of Our Lives" as well as landing on one of this fall’s biggest tours, opening for Jaci Velasquez;
This month, either "Written on My Heart" (a staple at Christian radio this summer) or tender ballad "Last Flight Out" will release to pop radio.
Perhaps most telling of all, when these five young men perform, the girls start screaming before they even sing a single note, often drowning out the music. Afterward, those same fans wait for hours to pass through an autograph line so they can snap pictures, get their CDs signed and personally deliver tokens of their affection: stuffed animals, personal notes, even home phone numbers. It’s like a scene straight out of a VH1 "Teen Idols" special. But the members of Plus One, like their fellow Christian artists on pages 30-34, hope to be set apart by the mission behind their music. Rather than merely embracing this "teen pop" mantra, Plus One is setting its sights on a bigger picture.
Fans and Fame
As the boys of Plus One are quickly learning, fame can be exhausting. One look into their bloodshot eyes after a trio of performances at a California summer festival shows it hasn’t been an easy summer.
"It’s never been as busy and crazy as it is right now," admits 19-year-old Nate Cole. Adds Jeremy Mhire, 20, "Sometimes I talk to my mom and she’s like, ‘What have you been doing?’ and I can’t even recap the last week. We were in Florida, Virginia, New York, Alabama, Atlanta, Los Angeles, South Dakota… a different state every day. We’ve done so much."
And while label execs, management and others with an interest in their careers (not to mention their mental health) did what they could to prepare them, when fame hits with the force of a tidal wave, it’s hard not to be knocked a little off balance.
"They seem to really have it together," says legendary producer David Foster, who signed Plus One to his new 143 label in a joint deal with Atlantic Records. "I told them early on ‘My job is not to be your disciplinarian. You’ve all been raised right.’" And Foster hopes their faith and their families will help keep them grounded as their careers continue to move forward at lightning speed.
"It’s just a crazy schedule that wears you down [so] you really have to focus on why you’re doing what you’re doing," Cole says. "I think as long as we do that, we’ll be cool. We’re not gonna freak out."
Their fans make no such promises. They "freak out" every time the band is within earshot. In fact, 20-year-old Gabe Combs admits the pressure has already led him to tell a few little white lies. "When girls say, ‘Do you remember me?’ I just say ‘yes’ now to every single one of them," he confides. It’s only after the rest of the group points out the error of his ways that he admits his new strategy might not be such a good idea after all, even for someone with a "really bad memory."
Attend just one concert, though, and it’s easy to see why Combs caved in the first place. These fans can be persistent, pelting the guys with notes, demanding they look their way for the twentieth time so yet another photo can be taken. And it’s not just the girls. Combs tells stories of pushy parents coming through their autograph line and suggesting, "Why don’t you give my daughter a hug?" which he says makes him feel a little, well, weird.
In between the uncomfortable moments, though, Mhire sees the opportunity to make a difference. "If they have something to say to you, are you gonna sit there and listen to them?" he asks. "Maybe it’s two seconds, maybe it’s 10, maybe it’s a minute, but that’s a window, an opportunity to do what we say we’re all about."
Battling the Frenzy
And what the group is all about, according to its members, is getting their message of encouragement and God’s love out to as many people as possible. With the overwhelming response they get wherever they go, it would seem like a pretty simple task, but with all the screaming and adulation, these guys aren’t always sure their message is getting through as clearly as it could.
"Sometimes they don’t listen," Nathan Walters, 22, admits of the group’s very vocal fans, most of whom are teen and pre-teen girls. But the guys press on, because as Cole reasons, "at first it might just be a bunch of screaming because we look good and dance well. But if they’re listening to our album, it’s gonna start sinking in. Music is powerful, and it can slowly but surely affect lives."
One of the more interesting ironies of Plus One’s current situation is that as their fan base grows, they find themselves feeling increasingly lonely. Mhire explains, "I’ll be honest, it gets really hard because you’ll do a show, and you’ll sign [autographs], and there’s tons of people. Then all the sudden you’re on a plane, and it’s just us again."
"We don’t have time to develop relationships and friendships," Walters adds, "so we go back to Nashville, and we are so lonely. Thousands of people will wait in line to get our autograph, and we have no one to talk to." Not that they’re looking for sympathy, mind you. It’s just another realization of how much their lives have changed in just a few short months.
While the imaging, fame, adoration and even the loneliness are all part of the teen pop package, the members of Plus One say a primary concern for them is to stay on track spiritually amidst the mayhem, especially since God isn’t just the reason for their group, but the "One" behind their name. To help keep that foremost in their minds, commissioning services were held at each of the band members’ home churches at the suggestion of their manager, Mitchell Solarek.
"They didn’t really get to say goodbye to us because it was all rushed when we got together," Mhire explains, so the group went back home to make sure those they left behind were committed to keeping them in their prayers and keeping them grounded. And since Cole, Combs and Jason Perry, 18, are all pastors’ kids with strong Assemblies of God roots, the guys are rarely lacking in spiritual guidance when they’re out on the road.
"Nate’s dad has become sort of a spiritual leader for us," Walters adds, noting a book the entire group is currently reading at Pastor Cole’s suggestion.
Roaring Lambs
That strong spiritual foundation will no doubt prove invaluable as Plus One attempts to navigate the tricky waters of the general market this month with the release of its first single to pop radio. It may seem like a risky move when they’re still burning up the Christian charts, but this has always been the plan, and they’re moving forward with a sense of purpose.
"We wouldn’t be completing our mission as a band if only Christians bought our music," explains Cole, "because what Plus One wants to do is show a world that doesn’t see a lot of positive things that God is there for them. We think God has really opened up these doors for a reason."
Adds Perry, "People will tell us, ‘Don’t water it down. All you talk about is love and peace and all the warm fuzzies that God gives and not the wrath of God,’ but we don’t feel like we have to defend ourselves. Everybody is called to different positions in ministry so we feel like we’ve got our own specific purpose and plan."
Fortunately, others are continuing to help pave the way. For instance, the group watched with interest recently as outspoken Christian rockers P.O.D. triumphed on MTV’s "Total Request Live." "I look at P.O.D. as such an inspiration," Mhire says. "They have to deal with a lot of crazy stuff, and they’re totally using the position they’ve been put in to touch a lot of people’s lives."
Plus One discovered its first taste of meeting the mainstream press on a recent trip to New York. On a tour of teen magazines, the questions turned particularly personal. Not only were they asked what they meant when they said they were a Christian band, a question they expected, "They were asking us if we were virgins, if we believed in sex before marriage. I mean we went through the whole thing with some of these people," Cole says, adding that their honesty and convictions eventually won over those in attendance.
At their next stop, Atlantic Records’ Manhattan office, they encountered more misconceptions. "They were scared of us. They were worried we were going to walk in in robes," Cole says. "With big crosses," Combs adds, laughing.
But New York isn’t the only place the group is misunderstood. With Plus One’s appearances on "Days of Our Lives" and at the Democratic National Convention, both taking place in the same week, some conservative fans were wondering what it all meant."Us singing at the Democratic National Convention is not at all representative of our political views," Mhire insists. "They asked us to sing, they’re not asking us to vote for Al Gore. We feel honored to represent Christians."
"We couldn’t do the Republican one when they did ask," adds Cole, citing a scheduling problem rather than any political motivation. "[It] would have been totally awesome, too."
And about that soap opera? The script for that episode called for a group to perform at a Habitat for Humanity build that was a part of the show’s plot line. Habitat recommended Plus One to the producers based on the group’s work with the organization during a build last summer in Selma, Alabama. The guys insist they had no idea anything like this would come of their volunteer efforts, but when it did, they unapologetically jumped at the chance to take their positive message to the masses.
Future Planners
When asked what they miss most about their pre-Plus One days, the most popular answer these days is "sleep!" Even as they answer, though, they know how precarious the pop world can be, and they aren’t getting too comfortable. After all, the shelf life for most boy bands is pretty short so Cole, Mhire, Combs, Walters and Perry know they need to continue to think ahead.
How does Plus One plan to beat the odds? By picking up instruments for starters. "Gabe plays guitar, drums, bass and piano, and Nathan plays guitar and piano, and Nate can kind of play guitar, and Jason plays the drums," Mhire explains. So what will he play? "I’ve got the kazoo and the triangle down pat," he jokes. In reality, he hopes to pick up the bass in his down time during the fall tour. "We’re wanting to get into that a lot. We talk about that all the time," Mhire adds. They also want to continue to work on their songwriting when they can find the time.
For now, though, there’s plenty to keep them busy. And they’re excited to finally get on a "normal" touring schedule. "I think it will be good for us," Mhire says of being able to perform the same set each night instead of changing their show to fit varying festival schedules.
In the meantime, Plus One will continue to surf the waves of teen pop stardom for as long as possible, hoping the adulation found there will allow for a meaningful platform to audiences of all ages.
