I want you, such is the heart cry and title track of Carried Away’s sophomore release. The Canadian trio earned a 2007 Covenant Award in the category of pop/contemporary song of the year for I Want You and is quickly making a name for themselves in the states. While attending the 2007 Dove Awards the members, Colleen, Christine and Pam had lots to share about friendship, ministry, and their hopes for the future. We found time to chat in their busy media suite in the Renaissance hotel in Nashville, TN; once we started it was hard to stop.
After a few years of attending the Doves the ladies really seem to have gotten into the swing of things, “I know we came into this with a different mentality than last year. Last year we were kind of nervous artists. We were very apprehensive about the whole thing”, Colleen said, describing anxieties of being from Canada and looking at the scale of the American music industry. “We just know that we are called by God, so we‘re gonna do our thing…” Pam says as Colleen then chimes in saying, “And that’s it, that’s all we can do. We just feel more confident in our ministry…our calling… We can only be who we are”.
As they set out to record their sophomore album they were no longer rookies and were able approach the project in a new way, “We were more excited, just because we knew what to expect… At the same time we knew what we wanted more than [on] the first album. We had more of a direction”, said Pam. The group has written almost all the songs on their latest album, Pam said, “We went in thinking… this is our own, because that first album we only wrote three and it felt more like we could take it and make it our own”. Colleen expressed how their approach was different this time around saying, “The first album we didn’t have much of a say. It wasn’t because we were not really allowed to have a say, it was because we didn’t know… The second album we made a point to research… We sort of had a vision for each song, and not only that but the producer we were working with… really caught on to that vision…You just know you were meant to work together it was that kind of thing, very ordained by God”.
The group also took a creative approach to creating their latest video for the song, Alive. Shot on vintage super 8 film, the video features the trio enjoying life while on tour: hanging out, performing onstage, and even riding a rollercoaster. Their message being that none of it could be possible without Jesus Christ, Pam said, “It has the whole underlying notion of freedom. We have freedom in Christ; because he’s alive”. Colleen reflected on the impact the video had on her, saying, “I saw the video and it just hit me that, a lot of the times you don’t get to see that side…I think it’s important to see how normal we are… but like you said … we do have that freedom ‘cause we are saved… we are free to live our lives”. The video definitely [shows] us on the road, what we do on stage, and what we do offstage… we wouldn’t have a reason for doing what we’re doing, you know? It’s the whole foundation of what we believe”, Pam said as Colleen chimed in, “And we have joy!”
It is clear that the ladies of Carried Away are enthusiastic about sharing the joy and hope of Jesus Christ, throughout the entire album. Songs of praise, upbeat feel good music, soft ballads, as well as a colorful pop/rock blends can be found, all with a wide range of subject matters. One of the songs that really stand out is ‘Wasting My Words’. Written by Christine, the song lyrics are a cry to her younger sister who was facing a situation that Christine had gone through: I tried to tell you things that I did wrong, hoping that my story would maybe change your mind… You say you’re not in trouble at all, You have it all figured out so far… Am I wasting my words? ‘Cause I’ve been where you are. Don’t make the mistake that I made…Please listen to me with all of your heart ‘cause I’ve been where you are’. Christine says that the song can apply to any relationship, parent to child, whatever the situation may be, “She [her sister] was actually dating a guy … and I was like what are you doing? ... I wrote that [saying], I’ve been where you are and please just listen to me”, she said. “A lot of the time, especially as I’m growing older I see how it’s so important to listen to your elders... They know. Sometimes it’s hard ‘cause you want to figure it out your own way… That was just a cry to God, really and to her, saying ‘Please don’t let me waste my word on this… listen”.
Sharing how they come together to create songs like ‘Wasting My Words’ as well as how they keep the peace about decisions that need to be made, Colleen said, “We are all pretty good at compromise”. “There are not a lot of things that one of us, or two of us are dead set against, we’re all pretty easy going… I guess I should be thankful for that too”, Pam said. “Sometimes it is a struggle to lay your pride down and just say no, maybe their way is better. Sometimes you want to be right, just to be right”, she added, while Colleen agreed,” Yeah, when you remove your pride from the situation”. They went on to express how first being family members and friends and then forming a group has impacted both their relationships and ministry. “ Not to put a negative spin on it…sometimes we forget about the friendship, we’re so focused on the ministry , but we always come back to realizing where you come from and it’s because of the friendship that the group even started…It’s sometimes hard to remember that , you know?”, Colleen said. “It became a friendship first before the group. We had some good times “, Christine said smiling. The two sisters Colleen and Pam really bonded with their cousin Christine after her parents divorced. Her dad wanted her to have fun and encouraged her to visit with her aunt and cousins. They grew closer and this is how Carried Away came to be.
They each bring something to the table when it comes to songwriting. “Christine and I play guitar… I usually come up with the chorus and stuff, the hook I’ll bring it to Christine and she’ll write some verses to the song. And then Pam is like thumbs up or thumbs down…We all collaborate our ideas a lot, I’m finding out… We all make our individual strike, when it comes to songwriting”, Colleen explained. “Songwriting for me isn’t something like ‘Oh I want to song-write today’…but I like when somebody starts a song or has a song I love seeing the direction it’s going”, Pam said, while her sister contrasted saying, “I crave songwriting. Like I crave chocolate, I crave songwriting”.
Touched by how others react to the very songs they write, Christine shared a story about a little boy who stood for the first time after a surgery while attending one of their concerts she said, “We we’re all bawling our eyes out … how God can use our music to allow a boy to stand up and be excited about life, That was really incredible…”. They are often touched by emails, or by encounters with fans, “They come up and they tell us that they cut, and their parents going through divorce and all these different things… You’re just so aware… More and more I see, everyone is going through something… It’s just really eye opening”, She said. Pam went on to share how an experience singing for soldiers at FT. Knox had an impact, “They’re tired and exhausted from all their training. They came to the service and they were worshiping. People would come up to us and say I rededicated my life today, to Jesus or some of them [were] refreshed… I can do this, I can go on and I can defend my country “, she said. Colleen stressed the significance of that experience, saying, “To hear them say I rededicated my life to Christ was just so reassuring to them, because they need a rock… if something happens, you know? I know it’s weird to think about, but it’s true, they’re putting themselves at risk. It was very cool for us to do that… Even though we’re not Americans it still affects us”, she said, as Pam agreed saying, “We’re together.”
On a lighter side of our conversation, the ladies each shared an embarrassing moment. Pam said, “We have this one song on our album called ‘Feel it Inside’, we’re all on mic-stands and we have these moves that we do… So I’m the first one to do the solo in that song… I sing my solo and then I push the mic stand out…My mic wouldn’t clip into the mic clip so I kind of just held it on top to make it look like [it did] …My mic flew into the audience and I just stood there frozen…”.
Colleen insisted that Christine tell her embarrassing story about the green pants, while Christine protested, saying “That’s not even funny”. They were performing in an up close, intimate setting, when Christine’s aunt kept motioning from the audience that her fly was open. “I had these green pants on”, she said while Colleen teased her saying “That was the embarrassing part the green pants... avocado green… And they were fuzzy too”, as Christine went on saying “… What happened was on the fly, you know how sometimes it’s a bit darker? … It totally looked like my fly was down… Apparently everyone thought my fly was down but it wasn’t… but I think the most embarrassing part was those pants”, she says chuckling.
Colleen who seems to be the jokester of the bunch wasn’t exempt from an embarrassing moment herself. She shared how her keyboard interrupted one of their softer songs with a loud dance loop sound effect, “I thought I had it programmed right. I thought it was going to be strings or whatever… I didn’t know how to change it; it wasn’t one of those you could just quickly fix so we we’re all like stop everything “, she said.
By this point, we were all laughing and telling stories and soon realized that the next interview on their busy schedule would soon begin. They took this moment to share their final thoughts and their hopes for the future, as well as what they hope Carried Away will be remembered for. Christine opened up first, saying, “A group that first off did their best…That they as individuals and as group…encouraged every person to just strive for holiness... They wanted more of Christ…They went for it and gave God their all… We had a pastor speak a word over us and he said that we would be a group of generosity and I really do pray that… Whether it be in finances or in time or whatever it may be that we would be a group that would do that, give”.
Pam then shared her hope saying, “…People saw that we were ambassadors for Jesus Christ and we we’re on a mission, and we did everything we could to represent Jesus in everything on and off stage”. “I never want to get too busy as a group. Too busy enough to take the time to talk to people who are touched by our music”, Colleen said, “Growing up listening to Christian artists, you never really saw them… they were stars and I never want to be like that. … I don’t want to be out of reach to the people… I want to encourage people our goal is not fame at all, it’s like the total opposite”. They all agreed that if they never went worldwide that was okay, as Christine closed saying, “We want Jesus Christ’s name to be famous”.
