So you guys are from San Francisco you said?

Yeah, that’s right.

That’s awesome. We always talk about this, but we’re from Texas, and actually, we always get the best response from Texas and California. And I’m not just saying that because you’re from California, but every time we go to California, the people that invite us in always take really good care of us and the crowds are always crazy awesome, and it’s very cool. And Texas and California are so different state wise anyways, but it’s cool; ya’ll have that in common with us – great crowds!

Do you guys mostly do Southern California gigs or do you make it up to Bay Area?

Well, we haven’t been to SF actually, but we’ve done Spirit West Coast, Joshua Fest, we’ve been to Chino, and around the LA area.

Cool. Yeah, unfortunately, not too much Christian music ends up in our area, since it’s kind of hard to draw that kind of crowd, but you guys should stop by if you get a chance.

Yes, definitely. How long has BREATHEcast been around?

We’ve been around since 2004. Our main focus is on bringing out artists that we feel God is working through and that are carrying His message. Talking to Vince (Jonah33) the other day was great, and reading up on you guys, it seems that you guys have a similar kind of message.

Yeah, it was really cool when we went on tour with them. We were all saying the same things from the stage (laughs)…it’s cool going on tour with a band whose passion is the same. It’s really neat, because you have that drive, and people just get it, especially if there’s two bands in a row that are like....I don’t know, it’s just cool.

Awesome. But although your message is the similar, you guys have pretty different stories right?

Yeah. I grew up in church, so I was taught about God since the time I was little. But I think like anybody, you come to that point when you have to step back and ask yourself if this is some fairy tale. And the older you get, people start telling you that God isn’t real and Jesus isn’t real, and so I had come to a point in my life where I had to step back and ask, “God are You real?.” And I really began to seek Him, and even the foundations of Christianity and how it originated, and all that sort of thing, so I did kind of like my own little seeking journey for myself. But it was really cool just to come to the conclusion again that God really is real, and I guess from all of that at a very young age, God really began dealing with me and putting a burden on my heart for lost people, and for foreign countries especially. I’ve went on a lot of mission trips, to Russia for instance, and that was the main country that I really had a heart for. And out of the whole passion for missions really, it kind of collided with the whole music thing later on, and so from the heartbeat of missions, Inhabited kind of burst out. And through our music and everything we do…I feel like I’m still on a mission trip you know – you get in a 15 passenger van and travel across the country. (laughs) So it’s kind of like a mission trip still in that sense. But, yeah, that’s where the vision for our band started from, and we just want to reach people with the Gospel, and just be real with people and reach out to them. And actually even recently in the past month or so I feel like God has really been drawing me personally and as a band back to like the roots of everything, the whole reaching out on the grass roots level. We’re trying to put together something in our hometown, a concert to the homeless in Houston. And, I don’t know, there’s such a cool joy that comes from going out on that sort of a level. So it’s kind of cool that God is calling us back to where we came from as far as the heartbeat of the band…

You guys were on an actual missions trip not too long ago, right?

Yeah, we went to Belize. And that was really, really neat. We would set up everyday in a public park or sometimes we had the opportunity to go to a public school, cuz over there it’s not like over here in the United States, where they won’t let you talk about Jesus because it’s too controversial or whatever, but you can go in and share and they don’t care, it’s not a big deal for them. But every night we would have like a big thing where tons of people would come from all over the city. It wasn’t a rally, but just a gathering. And it was kind of humbling in a sense that the PA system that we were playing on and the drum set, everything was just very basic. It wasn’t anything fancy or flashy, and stuff might go wrong, but it was cool, because it kind of drew us back to the fact that it doesn’t really matter, you know? And the people, they didn’t care, all they cared about was your heart being into it. And it was just really cool. We definitely learned a lot on this trip.

Very cool.

Oh and one more thing. We were leading worship one Sunday not too long ago here in the states, and we were all scrounging around trying to find the newest worship song, trying to be up to date, and all that. We were like, “Oh what are the newest hits that we are going to play?” And then when we went to Belize, it was so funny, it was the complete opposite, we were like, “Ok, what’s the oldest worship song we know.” And we were trying to figure it out. And the thing I realized was that the people in Belize, their hearts were so genuine. And when they worshiped, they didn’t care if there was AC in the church or if it was hot and stinky, or anything, it was just the words were coming from their heart. And it was just really a reminder, going from one week previous to trying to be all, “Oh what’s the biggest hit that we can play that everyone will like because it’s new,” to just playing the basic old stuff. So that was kind of an awakening.

That’s great. So do you guys lead worship every Sunday along with your touring schedule?

We used to lead worship every week. Sometimes churches have us come in and do worship for Sunday morning service. Most of the time we do our concert stuff, but we mix it in sometimes.

So tell us about what’s coming up for the new year.

We just finished working on our new CD that’s coming out in 2007, probably some time in the Spring. It’s called the Life Unfolding, and we’re very excited about this record…you know, on your first record it’s a lot easier, I guess, and then the second record, there’s a lot of pressure on you to get it out, and get these songs written. But one thing for me is I hate writing songs for the sake of writing a song, or trying to write a radio hit or whatever - I like writing out of inspiration, and that’s it for me, I don’t like trying to conjure up stuff. So I was very uninspired. And so it very much pushed me in a place of really seeking God for inspiration. I mean, I was desperate - I would come into our studio and just be completely empty and just say, “God, I’m so empty, please I need You so bad for inspiration.” And the cool thing that came from that was God truly inspiring this record. And totally just pouring it into me and the rest of the band. So it deifinitely came from God, and not from us. And it’s called the Life Unfolding because, the one thing that I learned from the writing process on this record and everything has been that when we really seek God, and take time out of our schedule to personally seek Him, and not just on Sunday Service or whatever, but when we actually stop and give God a moment of our time, He really does show up, and life unfolds before us like we’ve never seen it before. And it’s just really cool. So out of a very dry desert came this “Life Unfolding,” this record. And the weird part is too, the songs, listening back to them, they’ve actually been an encoruagement to me, and usually you write your songs to be an encouragement to other people. But, as I’ve listened back, we’ve gone through some hard times as a band lately as well, and it’s just been crazy because the record has actually spoken to me, you know, and that’s kind of weird…but anyways, we’re excited about our record coming out.

What are some of the biggest differences between this one and the first one?

I think this record is a lot more free. There’s a lot of musical freedom. Vocally, I was a lot more free this record. And I guess that whenever you have the experience of doing two records – we did an indie record and then our national release last time – you have that experience, and I don’t know, I guess it just gives you more confidence. And so this time vocally I was just totally free. And I think that it’s a lot more – it’s got rock in it, but it’s also got some pop. And it’s a lot more groove oriented. And we also switched our band members, and so that makes a difference too, because you have different personalities in playing as far as like drums go or bass go. So there’s a lot of changes, but it’s very cool. This is definitely a CD that you can work out to. (laughs)

So when did you guys have personnel changes?

Our drummer left probably about 7 months ago, and our bass player about 5 months ago. And actually I guess the most recent one was our guitar player. He actually - we were about to go on tour, and the night before they were playing a game. And our new drummer is pretty strong and in this game, you peg the other person with this ball. And he threw it at (our guitar player), and so he got upset and punched the wall, and he broke his hand in several places the night before we were about to to go on tour. And so I think what happened to him was that he just came home, and you’re home for like two months, and he just realized that God was calling him more to lead worship and that sort of thing. And then the other guys – it’s been real cool, because a lot of time in band changes, member changes, there’s friction and you’re upset with each other. But it’s been real cool, because none of the member switches were all intense fights or anything, it was just a different season for them go to into. So it’s been good, we’re still all friends.

So any big plans before the album comes out?

I know they’re putting together a tour right now it’s called the Heart of War, and it’s going to be with Jonah33, that’ll be in March, and I know that they’re putting that together right now. So that’s something cool that we’re looking forward too.