PHATFISH – The Crossring Interview

By Andy Colborn    20th January 2003    0 responses

phatfish

Image: phmusic @ Flickr

Let’s start with the obvious question – why Phatfish?

It’s actually really boring! One of the girls in the group bought a friend this little purple fat fish key ring, and put in her note to him, “purple fat fish sounds like a good name for a band.” That became our name. Phat with a PH because it was pretty cool at the time, although it’s not now, but who was to know we would go on for nine years!

How did you all get together? Was there a band that inspired you?

The drummer and the bass player are brothers, and they got together with a guitarist and a percussionist and decided they wanted to form a band. So it started there. Then they interviewed me and the keyboard player, and the band was formed. We started playing at church and at universities, pubs, and clubs.

Do you see yourselves more as a worship band or as a club-and-pub band?

Initially we wanted to provide good music in a non-church environment, but the way things have gone in the last few years we’ve seen ourselves much more in a church environment, where people bring along lots of people who don’t know God. As a band we feel both congregational singing and evangelism are very important and the two things can come together – they don’t have to be separate. It’s kind of evolved as time’s gone on really.

Have there been any situations the group has been in where you’ve been up against the wall and had to trust God?

Yes – probably our entire career! As a band we have to trust God all the time for our finances, for work, and that kind of stuff. Even this tour is a massive investment for us – we’re trusting that God’s going to provide us with the money for it, because it’s costing thousands of pounds to put on. Personally, this year has been a year where I’ve been learning to trust God majorly – my aunt died of cancer, and we’re trusting God for a house. You’re always being stretched and this year has definitely been one of those years where we’ve been stretched, individually and as a band. But God is always there!

Do you find when you come through at the end it’s all roses, so to speak?

The reason we feel the value of the word and the Holy Spirit is because those are the things that feed you when you are in times of need, and when you’re learning to trust. So the bigger the perception and understanding you have of who God is, the more you can trust him, no matter what the situation is. So that’s why we need to get to know him, through the Bible, and through relationship with the Holy Spirit.

When you go through storms in life, you’re seeing God and you’re dependent on him like you’ve never been before. It can be exhausting and tiring and yet you’ve never felt so excited, and you don’t want it to end because you’re in a place where you have to depend on him. It’s a real privilege, but it’s always the two things in tension. It’s just a privilege to be in that place when God is stretching you, I guess, even though sometimes it hurts. It’s funny to be in pain, and hurt, yet you feel happy in it as well. There’s a joy in it, I suppose!

How did you come to know God?

I personally became a Christian when I was five. My mum would read me stories from the New Testament, and got to the bit about Jesus dying on the cross for me, and I thought, “Wow! Who is this guy?” She explained to me in simple terms – you do things wrong, you steal something from the cookie tin, and you say it wasn’t you, and you should be punished for that. She just did it very simply, and I thought, “Wow, this guy wants to know me! I want to know him!” So it was very, very simple at that time, and it’s developed as time has gone on.

How have you managed to keep God at the centre of your life from the time you were five to now?

My mum and dad are also Christians, which obviously has an impact. I also think church is a big part of it. I think if you’re in a good church that’s thriving, that’s got God in it, that’s got people of your age in it, where you’ve got friends around you, that has a huge impact on your life. If you’re in a place where it’s dead, where you haven’t got anyone you can relate to, you haven’t got friends around you, and there’s no support, it can be very hard to stay on track. I had a really good church and so I got stuck into things. I got involved and went along to camps and youth group, and sung in different places. That’s definitely a good part of it.

What are your plans for the future? Any new releases coming up?

We’re going to start recording after this tour. We’ve got seven new songs that we’re doing at the gigs, and they’re going really well – people really like them, so that’s exciting! We’ll probably do an album, and it’ll probably be out next spring time. Apart from that, loads of offers for gigs, Alan’s getting married in June, so there’s lots of stuff in the pipeline!

Delirious have had a lot of press about the battle between being a Christian band and a chart band. What are your views on that?

I think as a band, or as a person, God calls you to something, doesn’t he. You take someone like Ben Castle, who is a Christian but is in the music industry, and he’s just a Christian who is in the music industry, just like a Christian teacher, or a Christian computer man. There are loads of people who are Christians who work in a normal working environment. I think you’ve just got to go with what God’s called you to do.

In terms of the crossover, I think we always have a battle as Christians to get into the charts. I think the guys in Delirious have a heart to be Christians within that environment as much as they have a heart for the church, and so I think they’ve got to keep pressing on with what God’s told them to do. For us, we also had a heart for being in that environment, but God didn’t open the door for us, so we did it for a few years, and then just felt nothing was breaking. I think God can open up a door, and you can be in that environment straight away. It’s about what God calls you to do as opposed to trying to be something.

What’s your favourite Bible passage at the minute?

I’ve got lots of favourite scriptures. I think recently Hebrews 4: 14-16 has been talking to me. It’s talking about Jesus as our high priest and how we can have confidence coming to him. It says about receiving mercy, and grace, to help us in our time of need. It really struck me recently that sometimes we think we have to get it all sorted before we can approach him, but actually he says come to me, and I’ll help you in your time of need. I just found that really comforting – I don’t have to be perfect, I don’t have to know it all. I can be making mistakes, but I can come to him and he’s got grace and mercy there for me. So I come to him and ask for his help, rather than me trying to do it. So that’s really impacted me recently.

Thanks very much Lou!

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By Andy Colborn

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