MBC: Where did you get your start in the music business?
Toby: We were all living in Three Hills, Canada — Three Hills is Alberta — and we weren’t really in a band with each other. But because we’re brothers, we played together and jammed sometimes. Once in a while we got together and screamed and hollered and played guitar. It was basically really informal. Then I joined a real band and was playing full time. Through connections with this band, we met some producers who suggested that maybe all three brothers should make a demo. We decided that would be fun and one thing led to another…so basically here we are.
MBC: What does it mean to you to be Canadian?
Marty: We are very Canadian and have a really strong connection. We’re actually dual citizens because our mom is from Portland. We grew up in Canada almost all of our lives, with all of the culture that is there. Sometimes people don’t believe that there is a difference culturally from Canada to America. The more we are here in the U.S., the more we notice differences, and it really is a different country. We really enjoy it.
MBC: What are some of the specific differences?
T: They don’t have my gum here! It’s sugarless Dentyne cool mint, and I guess it’s strictly a Canadian product that you can’t buy here, so I import. That’s a gigantic cultural difference. There’s a whole different attitude in America than in Canada. Canadians are generally passive and laid back — not overly outgoing and friendly. In the south, we get the whole southern hospitality thing where people will come up to you and ask if they can help. It’s a wonderful thing; it’s a big difference from what we are used to.
M: The drivers here are really bad… but that might be just in Nashville. I don’t think we can generalize about all of America. Driving in Nashville is like being at a big Nascar track…everyone watches Nascar all week and then gets behind the wheel!
MBC: How does the Christian subculture in Canada compare to that of the United States?
T: That is one of the huge differences that we are noticing between where we grew up and where we are now… is that the Christian subculture is not nearly as defined. There aren’t very many Christian radio stations in Canada. The Christian radio industry is beginning to expand now. For years and years it was illegal to broadcast Christian material over the radio… it is only a recent change. It was different for us growing up in Canada. If we had been raised in a Christian family and school in America, we might have not been exposed to such a variety of music. Whereas growing up in Canada, we selected our music from what was available and tried to use our discretion as best as we could… that included some Christian music as well.
M: We feel like that was a good thing. We are not from the mindset that only Christian music should be listened to, and we think that it would be a tremendous waste if somebody just wrote off all of the music that existed based on one category that humans have created for themselves. But it is important to exercise discretion, and we feel privileged to have grown up that way.
MBC: What is the main message that you try to convey through your music?
M: We tried to make an album that reflected our opinions and music beliefs … its value is not based on whether it talks about loving God or not, there is so much about music that has value and importance. We tried to make a record that spoke about all of life and not just part of it. We tried to make an album from the point of view of Christian young guys where we talk about girls, God, money, and mortality, and that kind of real stuff…and it is all through the mind-set of people who have a relationship with Jesus. That was really deliberate that we broadened the topic… we didn’t try to compartmentalize to any one topic.
T: And then, we love making of decent pop music for people to be happy and move to. There is another aspect and that is if we can exist and have a voice to make truth in our lyrics and in our life put out there for people to listen to, so that might be what brings them closer to Christ… that is a main goal of ours.
M: We really love music. We believe in what it can do for your soul and the warm fuzzies that music can give. We love making music that can do that and it excites us to have the chance to play and have people listen.
M: And maybe not just truth, but it connects them to their spiritual nature. It makes them understand that they have spiritual needs that can only be made by there spiritual creator God. We have lofty, high goals like that, that people who listen to our music who are not necessarily Christians would take away from the album if they dug into it.
MBC: What are you interests in the U.S. market?
M: We have had some success on the radio in Canada, which has been cool, not on the Christian radio exactly, but on the pop radio. The company that owns the whole Christian family of records that we are in — their Canadian division picked us up and released the record up there and it has been really surprising and really cool the way that things are working out up there. So that’s our general market. I think last week our single was like top ten in Christian radio… we are really excited to be in both places because we have things to say to both audiences, and we feel that we have made a record that doesn’t exclude either audience.
T: As far as age, we want to appeal to the widest range possible. And we think that college age people and even people beyond that can find something appealing about it. We have been pleasantly surprised about the large spectrum of age groups listening to us.
M: As far as whether we are targeting a Christian or general audience, we are excited to be reaching both. We are just excited about having people hear our music, and as many people as can hear as possible, that is better for us. Wherever it can reach, whatever it can do, we feel we can have things to say in both places. So we are excited about all of those opportunities.
MBC: How did it feel to first hear your hit single, “Let Me Know”, on the radio?
T: The first time I heard it on the radio I was over the phone while talking to my girlfriend in Calgary and she was like “Your song is on the radio!” and that was a really cool feeling and cool thing to share with her.
M: The first time I heard it was when we were up in Toronto where we have our song on the radio and it was really cool. We were in somebody’s car from the record company on the way to the radio station to do a radio station thing, and we heard it on the way there on that station, and it was really cool because it was right after Toni Braxton, and we felt very honored. It was like a little bonding time.
MBC: What is the significance of the ’85 mercury topaz?
M: It was a beast of a car that Josh (Marty’s twin) and I actually split right down the middle. We have had it for a few years; it is a Canadian car and the three of us drove it down to Nashville with all of our worldly belongings. We drove it a straight 40 hours here and we’ve been driving it ever since. We are definitely looking to upgrade.
MBC: What has it been like being a band of brothers?
T: It is really the optimum type of relationship to have when you are in a band. It is always a very strange dynamic, being on the road with people you don’t know or you thought you knew… but you find out that some people are just really terrible. I have been in band situations before and it is really beneficial to know someone really well if you want to go on the road with them. I just think that growing up together, and being very close, there is no difference between being at home together and being on the road together. We love each other to death, and we wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else.
M: It has been great growing up together and doing this for years and years… we kind of understand everyone’s role, and that is something that really helps in our band situation. It is really easy for us to respect each other, and pick up the slack in different areas… it works out really great.
MBC: What roles do you each take?
M: Toby is our musical leader… he wrote most of the songs on the album and has the greatest musical vision. He had a big hand in the production of the record too.
T: Marty has the worst role which is business and responsibility. Like knowing where things are and where to go. He is really good at reading maps, and handles money a little differently than I do…responsibly.
M: Josh is our newly appointed spiritual advisor. He is probably the physical activities coordinator too. He is the one that brings up different issues to discuss.
MBC: What was your college experience like?
T: I was in a university transfer program with the University of Alberta. I was an English major - I did two years and decided to take a break and go to bible college and during that one year I met my other band, which was an amazing experience. College — I would highly recommend it. At the same time, I wouldn’t say that my scholastic record was exemplary.
MBC: What was your most embarrassing moment in college?
M: I was in a touring choir and we were on a flight returning to Calgary from London. I had an aisle seat and I went to the washroom, returned to my seat and fell asleep. I was sitting in a big group of all my friends and when I woke up they were all looking at me with really strange expressions on their faces. The person sitting next to me pointed down and I realized that my fly was wide open. I guess they had noticed one by one and were telling each other while I was asleep. I had on black pants and white underwear. A lot of the other people on the plane not with the choir had wondered what was going on had filed passed to have a look as well. There were many embarrassing pictures taken that day.
T: One time I fell in the fountain in West Covington Mall. I was already having a bad day and attempting to take a shortcut around the edge of the fountain. That was pretty frustrating and embarrassing, but everybody else got a good laugh.
T: Josh is too cool; he never does anything embarrassing or gets embarrassed.
M: Unless you are talking about his ex-girlfriends of course.
MBC: What is in your CD player right now?
M: You’re probably going to laugh, but the two that are in our CD player right now and most often are N’SYNC and Brittany Spears. We also like Maxwell and Toni Braxton. We have just about everything ever done by Sting and U2 as well.
MBC: If you could be any character from The Wizard of Oz, what character would you be and why?
T: I would be that bizarre little lollipop guy who sings to Dorothy and dances really strangely. He is about the only thing I remember about that movie. But that’s me.
M: I’d have to say I’d be Dorothy - I love Somewhere Over the Rainbow - it’s just adorable - and she has really cool shoes. And between you and me I wear women’s shoes sometimes—black and boot like though--not the shiny red pumps.
MBC: What is your best conspiracy theory?
T: I think that when you have small things, like pen-sized and smaller, and they just disappear off the face of the earth, I think that is aliens. It happens all the time with my guitar picks; I have them one minute and suddenly they’re gone. I think stuff falls into some parallel universe or vortex or something. We can’t get them back out until they fall back in.
M: We as humans have the entirely wrong idea about CD collections. It has nothing to do with individual collections. All of the CD’s that exist in the world are part of one big lending library but we just don’t realize it. How many times have you lost a CD only to find another one in your collection that you have no clue where it came from? There’s a higher power that switches CD’s back and forth. That’s why we never worry that a CD is lost.
MBC: Do you have any lucky charms?
T: I have a microphone that doesn’t work but I’ve had it since grade 11. A guy in one of my bands gave it to me, and it’s really funky and weird looking. I can’t let it go. I sing into it and practice with it in the mirror, which is helpful.
M: The only thing that I have carried around with me for a long time is a little stuffed frog named Mr. Frog. It came from my girlfriend, Andrea, who made it when she was little. Years ago, she sprayed it with perfume and gave it to me. He hangs out on my bed and has all kinds of adventures while I’m away during the day.
MBC: What is your involvement with the movie Left Behind?
T: We have a song, “Believer”, that is on the movie’s soundtrack, but the best part is that we are all security guards in the film. It was fun to be an extra; not nearly as glamorous as you’d think. It’s a lot of sitting and sleeping, but we certainly are convincing security guards, though.
MBC: What are JAKE’S next steps?
M: We want to get a new car, have a hit single in the US, and to have as much circulation of our music as possible. The more we do with the band, the more we realize that it’s been God’s work and nothing we have done. We really believe that God is in control and He will take us wherever He wants - all we have to do is trust in Him.