This interview is from iBelieve.com we have it thanks to, Karen!
Plus One: An Inside Look
Not all boy bands are alike: find out how Plus One's music has led people to
Christ and even saved a life.
iBelieve.com: All right, the girls are dying to know first off, so tell us a
little bit about yourselves.
Nate: I'm Nate Cole, and I'm 18 years old. My birthday is coming up; I'll be
19 on the 19th of May.
Gabe: My name is Gabriel Combs. I'm 20, and I'm from Pittsburgh, Calif. I
play piano, guitar, bass and drum. I play lots of instruments.
Jeremy: I'm Jeremy Mhire. I'm 19, and I'm from Springfield, Mo. I like
penguins. I have penguin pajamas. I wanted to dress up like a penguin last
year for Halloween.
Nathan: I'm Nathan; I'm 22. I'm from Lakeland, Fla. I play the piano and the
guitar. I am the oldest of six children in my family. I have four little
sisters that I miss a lot. They're ages 3 through 10. I have a brother who's
19, and he's actually visiting me right now. I don't really miss him that
much 'cause I see him all the time.
Jason: I'm Jason. I'm 17, and I'm from Madison, Ind. As for a fun fact about
me, hmm, I'm getting ready to graduate on June 4, so I'm pretty excited
about that. I'll be 18 on June 1, and I can't wait. I'm looking forward to
graduating. I've got an older brother who's 19. My little brother is 14, and
my little sister is 13. So there are four of us. I'm into sports. I like
sports a lot.
iBelieve.com: Do you guys consider yourselves a Christian band or a band of
Christians?
Jason: We're definitely a Christian band, five guys who love God with all
our hearts. It's our passion and our calling to make Christian music and
lift up the name of Christ, so that's why we feel God has put us together.
He's got a purpose and a plan for Plus One. We're definitely a Christian
band.
iBelieve.com: What does "Plus One" mean?
Nathan: "Plus One" has a deep meaning. A guy named Phil Sillas is a writer
for our title cut, "The Promise," and we were all trying to think of names
for our group. We had considered "Blue," "Daniel" or "Rubicon." We were
like, "We don't want to be called Rubicon!" It's like "Take Rubicon for your
headaches." After a while, Phil Sillas said "Hey, what about `Five Plus
One,' `plus one' meaning God because He's always with you. We said, "Yeah,
that's cool." So we narrowed it down to Plus One. Because Phil is a little
on the older side, we take his ideas and make them cool, you know. Our name
is a constant reminder that we're never alone, and God's always with us.
It's us, plus One.
iBelieve.com: You're with Atlantic records and also 143 Records, David
Foster's label...
Gabe: Actually Atlantic on the Christian side; it's Atlantic Nashville. We
just met with Atlantic in New York, the mainstream side a couple of weeks
ago. We sang a couple of songs for them, and we might be releasing a pop
single in the summer. We have 12 songs on the album, and two of them are
love songs. This last meeting we had at Atlantic in New York was just for
them to see our hearts and how we're normal guys. I think a lot of them were
a little nervous and scared that we were going to be totally freaking
everybody out about, "You need to go get your life right." But the visit was
just to show them that we're normal guys, normal teenagers. We like to sing
and do music. We actually did two of our Christian songs for them and then
we did the one pop song that we're probably going to release on mainstream
radio. It's called "Last Fight Out."
iBelieve.com: What do you think of all the comparisons to 'N Sync and
Backstreet Boys?
Jeremy: Yeah, the comparisons are pretty obvious. Our hope and prayer is
that people will be able to see or hear our message and let that be the main
thing to differentiate us from any other pop band, not just Backstreet Boys
or 'N Sync, but any pop message that's just about feeling good and having
fun. Our message is more about the real relationship you can have with
Christ. And not just that, but we hope that our sound can be a little
different. We have a lot of different influences with nine producers
contributing to the album, so it adds a lot of texture and flavor to the
project.
Nate: As a group, we never dog 'N Sync or Backstreet Boys because we listen
to their music and stuff, and I think the main difference is they're more on
the entertainment side. There's nothing wrong with entertaining. I think we
entertain plus we have a message.
Nathan: Another thing about us that's different than a lot of the pop bands
is that we all play instruments—some a little more than others—but everybody
plays. We'll really mature more as a band in the future, but at least three
of us have played live at concerts before. We're kind of new at the whole
thing, so we don't know exactly what we're going to do as far as the setup
of our concerts, but sometimes we'll get together and three of us will do a
little acoustic set, something different. And we do worship songs during our
concert. We'd like to mature as a band to where we're not just doing pop
music all the time. We want longevity in this group. The potential is
definitely there. We like doing the dance thing. That's always going to be
part of it, but it's cool that we also do the instrument thing.
iBelieve.com: Have you been doing any performances lately?
Jeremy: When we lived in San Francisco, we started going to churches in the
area and in Sacramento, where Nate's from. We went to sing at his church and
a few churches around there for a couple of months. That really helped us
get used to singing together. Right now, we've been doing a lot of dates,
festivals, a pre-crusade thing for Billy Graham in West Virginia and youth
rallies in Clinton, Ill., and stuff like that. This fall, we're going on
tour with Jaci Velasquez.
Nathan: It's kind of cool, because you see how our concerts have progressed
from doing churches where we didn't know exactly what songs we were going to
do on the album, and we were actually singing to tracks, and that wasn't
really cool. One concert comes to mind. At the Billy Graham pre-crusade,
there were about 4,000 kids, maybe more. And they were like, "Hey, please
welcome Plus One." We came out; the fans were screaming, and we did a little
dance thing. The applause went up to another level of intensity that we
didn't expect. We couldn't hear the monitors, and some of us were almost
messing up our dance. But it was cool. We had fun and everything, but we
shared our hearts, and that's why we were there. About 400 kids got saved
that night. It's cool to see this coming together. We're having fun doing
what we're doing musically and also spiritually. It's weird. I got an e-mail
the other day from this girl. She said she was at a concert, I think she was
16 or 18 years old, and she said that she was crying during one of our
songs. It just really touched her, and she said she gave her life to God.
I'm like, wow! That's pretty cool. Our group is affecting people.
Jeremy: When we were in Sacramento singing, when we'd only been together two
or three months, this lady came up to me after one of our Sunday morning
concerts at their church. We were walking down the aisle, and I was the last
person. All of a sudden, someone grabbed my shoulder. I turned around, and
this lady was weeping and everything. She started telling me how she was
pregnant and the doctors had told her that her baby was going to be born
with Downs Syndrome. There were probably going to be a lot of other
problems, too. She said that she had really thought hard and long about
having an abortion, but she said while we were singing the title song from
our album, The Promise, she really felt at peace and that God was saying to
go through with the pregnancy. I sat there and prayed with her and cried
with her. It was really, really amazing. It was one of the first times that
I got to see how God was going to be able use us.
iBelieve.com: What kinds of things are you going to do to make sure you keep
that right focus?
Gabe: We get this question a lot. Of course because we're young, being out
on the road by ourselves is a scary thing. There really is no one to be
accountable to. We are hoping to find a road manager who will be more of a
pastoral figure, who will sit down with us and lead our devotions. We need
someone we can just talk to and be accountable to during the day. We have a
really good label, Atlantic. Barry Landis is very good with that. He leads
us in devotions a lot, and our manager also keeps us in check a lot of
times.
Jeremy: There are times as a group where one or two of us will grab each
other and say, "Hey, do you want to do a devotion real quick?" We pray
together quite a bit, which is good, and I always go to them for stuff if I
want to them to pray about something. Gabe holds Nathan accountable.
Gabe: I tell this story all the time, but it's funny. This is an example of
how we keep each other accountable. The other night Nathan went out with
some members of the opposite sex. It was getting kind of late, so I called
him up on his phone and said, "Nathan, where you at? What are you doin'
Nathan?" He said "No, man we're just having dinner. We're not doing
anything." I said, "OK. Cool. Well, get home soon." We keep each other
accountable like that.
iBelieve.com: Do you all live in Nashville? Do you live together?
Gabe: We just moved here. We've been living here for about a month now. We
live in a three-bedroom apartment, which is a lot better than where we used
to live. We first lived in San Francisco in a one-bedroom apartment. In
L.A., we lived in a two-bedroom apartment. In the San Francisco one, I slept
in a closet.
iBelieve.com: How do you know David Foster?
Jeremy: Barry Landis at Atlantic knew David, and David wanted to get into
Christian music. He actually dropped a group from his label because he
signed them as a Christian group and then they didn't want to sing Christian
music, and he said, "Well, that's what I want to do." So, he met us and we
were all worried that he was going to be like, "So now I want you to sing
all these love songs." Not that there's anything wrong with that. We were
worried that he would want us to totally forget the Christian industry and
go straight to the pop market, and he was all worried that we wanted to do
pop. It worked out. He's awesome. He's the most humble and genuine guy, just
generous with his time and money and everything, and he's an awesome
producer. The fact that he's able to affect both our generation and our
parents' generation with music that he's written and produced is a testament
to how avwesome he is at what he does.
iBelieve.com: How do you all know each other?
Nate: There was actually an audition for the group. Gabe and I knew of each
other because we lived about an hour away from each other. We both went to
Christian schools, and both of our dads are pastors, so we saw each other at
a lot of things. I think we mentioned our manager, Mitchell Solerek, and
Barry Landis with Atlantic. Those two guys basically had the vision of
putting the group together. Mitchell held an audition. Two of us are from
the West Coast, Gabe and I, and then Jason's from Indiana. Jeremy's from
Missouri, and Nathan's from Florida. We all kind of found out about the
audition in different ways. We all have our stories.
iBelieve.com: What kinds of things do you like to do when you're not
singing?
All: Shop. Swim. Go out to eat. Go out and meet people.
iBelieve.com: Here's an opportunity to introduce each other. How would you
describe Nathan?
Gabe: Nathan's a brain. I don't understand how his brain can go in so many
directions at once, and yet he can still regurgitate it all out into a
sentence. He's the philosopher of our group. You can always count on him to
get into a really in-depth conversation, or if you want to pick something
apart like, "Is this a Jolly Rancher or is this thousands of molecules of
little tiny sugars?" he'll sit there and do that with you.
iBelieve.com: How would you describe Gabe?
Nathan: He's like the funniest guy in the group. He can impersonate anybody.
We'll meet people who have things about them, and we'll all look to Gabe
afterwards when we leave and he'll ... (don't worry, there's nothing weird
about you so he won't be making fun of you). He's just really funny.
iBelieve.com: How would you describe Nate?
Gabe: Nate's the cutest one of the group. The cute younger-brother type.
Nathan: Nate is a really good speaker in concerts. He thinks of some really
good stuff. And spiritually, he knows our heart as a group, and I think he
verbalizes that in a good way. He knows how to formulate our ideas and
what's in our hearts and verbalize that.
iBelieve.com: How would you describe Jason?
Nate: Jason is the youngest member of the group. Jason's another hottie that
all the girls like.
Jeremy: Jason has lots of muscles. He's the morning person of the group. He
sings a lot in the morning. He always sings a bunch of hymns in the morning.
He'll be waking us up with "To God Be the Glory" (sings like an old man).
Nate: He's one of the strongest lead vocals in our group. It's funny, we
joke about him singing early in the morning, but we had a showcase at 8:30
one morning, and we had sound check at 7:30. It was so early. He can hit
high notes early in the morning, just like it's the record. He's a good live
singer.
iBelieve.com: How would you describe Jeremy?
Jason: Jeremy is 19. Jeremy is half Filipino. He's got the flavor. Jeremy is
a very good speaker. He thinks through what he's going to say before he says
it.
Nate: Everyone adds something unique to the group. I think Jeremy is a lot
different from me, but we still get along. He's really opinionated, so we
get into a lot of good conversations and stuff. He's really bold, and he's
not ashamed to say what he believes.
Nathan: That's one thing Jason has really helped me with - expressing and
standing up for what I really think. We've gotten into a lot of deep
conversations about a lot of spiritual stuff and a lot of other stuff too.
iBelieve.com: What is the most important thing you want people to know about
Plus One?
Jason: I think the most important thing about Plus One is that we want
people to know that we are five guys who love to sing. We love music, but we
love God, too. You know that we're going to be real. We're not about show.
We're not in this just for the teenage girls or for any other reason but to
minister and do what God's called us to do. We all feel God has hand-picked
each and every one of us to be a part of Plus One and that God has a purpose
and a plan for Plus One, a divine mission that He's called us to do. We're
just excited about it. It's pretty awesome.
Gabe: I think that really sums up what I want people to know about our
group. We want to be able to use every opportunity that we have to sing for
Christ and positively influence our culture.
Nathan: Like Jason said, we're not just in it for the show. We want to
encourage everyone to have a personal relationship with God. I really love
God because He's a real God. He came and He died for us, but now He lives.
You can talk to Him like a normal friend and a father. I just want to help
convey that to other people and encourage them to think the same way.
Jeremy: There's definitely a difference between believing something because
you've been raised with it and your parents have told you to and developing
your own sense of faith and believing something because you believe in your
heart. We want to help people develop their own faith.
