Ariel Body: Can you tell me a little about how you guys got together the band?
Jason Roy: How we got together as a band. Um. It started like 7 years ago and I'd been playing in a bunch of other bands and just felt like God was calling me to get serious about it you know. I lived in Raleigh, NC at the time and just met with our bass player and drummer and just sat down and talked about a vision about what I had desired to do as a band. You know, to go out for as long as we could go and be out there sharing the gospel. And they were like okay, that's cool. So we got on the internet and looked up every Christian coffee house on the Eastern Seaboard and got a whole bunch of "no's" for every one yes and we went on the road and played 150 shows a year for 3 years as an independent band. Then signed a record label.
Ariel Body: Where did the name Building 429 come from?
Jason Roy: My wife actually was the brilliance behind that. We had pages and pages of bad names, you know. And she came in and said why don't you name yourself something having to do with 429, based off of Ephesians 4:29 "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen". We're like well, we need that accountability and anytime anyone dares to ask what our name is we get to share the gospel and it's exciting to share the gospel.
Ariel Body: Your album "Iris to Iris" just released a few months ago - how would you describe it?
Jason Roy: I'd say it's the most vertical record we've ever made. Um, it's, I think it's the record that puts our entire career into perspective. It's kind of hard to explain that, it's just that for the first time songs like Glory Defined and Space in Between Us, songs like that, songs that have been big for us, really make sense. This record was, I thought I had it completely written and I had written 25 maybe 30 songs, and I realized they just weren't very good, you know. And it was a scary realization. And I spent two days praying, I said I'm not going to write, I'm just going to pray. And for two days I just asked God like, "What do you want me to write about?", and at the end of the second day, I heard a very clear and specific message, and the message was "just sing to Me". So I started writing really vertical songs. We'd always been a band that really stayed away from that - at least we thought we did - because worship music can be really marketable, and I don't want to do it for that reason. But, for this record really, it felt natural for us to get a little more worshipful, that's kind of what the record's all about.
Ariel Body: Where did the name Iris to Iris come from?
Jason Roy: We were in Germany, on a trip, oversees playing shows and my manager was sitting down and we were trying to think of the name of the record, you know. And he quoted that lyric out of a song called "Waiting to Shine". "Praying that you'll let the skies open wide/Your child will see your eyes/Iris to Iris/We'll be here waiting." And it really just kind of clicked, like that was the whole focus of the record, you know, for us to be drawn in closer to god and just be willing to sing with reckless abandon, and that's why we named it that.
Ariel Body: If you had to pick a favourite song off the album, which would it be and why?
Jason Roy: Oh man. Actually, it's very rare that you make an entire record and then look back on it after you've played it as much as we already have, and say "I still really love this record." Actually, on the flight here today, I put it in, just to listen to it, just to see if it was as good as I thought it was. Good, is totally based on a perception, but I think one of my favourite songs on the record is a song called "Constant". It's not really seen a lot, it's one of the last tracks on the record, but it's one of those tracks that I'm really proud of. Lyrically, melodically, everything about it is really cool. And the theme of God being constant, no matter what we go through, is pretty cool.
Ariel Body: As a musician, how do you define "success"?
Jason Roy: As a musician, I think it's defined differently than as a ministry. As a musician I think success would be defined as playing in front of as large a gruop of people as possible and seeing them react to your music, you know. Watching people react and being pulled in, drawn in to what's going on with the lyrics and the song. On the ministry side, which is really where we focus most of our efforts, I think the most important thing is knowing that every night we're taking that music, and we're taking ourselves, and we're putting ourselves aside and allowing God to really show up and move and shine. Really, music is the means by which we draw focus off of everything else in the world to us. Then it's up to us what we do with it. We can choose to hold on to that focus and allow people to stare at us, or we can choose to step back out of the way and say "Now that you're looking at us, look at God". And I think that's really what our ministry would be defined as successful by.
Ariel Body: What's next for you guys as a band - touring, albums, etc.?
Jason Roy: Um. Tours. We're going out on Shoutfest. We're going out with The Afters, they're going to co-headline a tour with us. And we're going to do a co-headlining tour with Aaron Shust, and on that tour I think we may record a live worship record. We're just really being called back to that. It's funny how you can run so hard from something for so long and have God just say "No, this is what I want you to do," and I think that's what He's doing.
Ariel Body: What are the most exciting and difficult parts of being on the road all the time?
Jason Roy: The hardest part, today is that I'm sick. *laughs* No, the hardest part... I'm married, I have 2 kids. Everybody in the band, they're all married and uh, except for Dusty, our bass player, but he might as well be, he's already whooped. I think the hardest part is being away from our families. Not from the side of we can't handle it, but from a side of knowing that every moment that we're gone, we need to be using for His glory, because every moment that I'm here, is a moment that I'm missing in my child's development. I mean, I have an 18-month old daughter and a 4-year old son; I miss a lot. Because I'm out here. So that's by far the hardest part. The greatest part of what we do, I think, is the brotherhood that we share. And I think at the end of the night, when we've had a great show, we know that we did what I talked about, we gained attention then refocused attention and then walked off and let them stay focused. I think that by far is the greatest thing we do. And when we heard stories about it and stuff, it's what gives us the energy to keep doing it.
Ariel Body: Are you guys still involved in worship or music ministry at your home church?
Jason Roy: Yeah, um, my wife and I are actually the head of a college ministry at our church. And when I'm at home, I lead worship and stuff like that. Honestly, this ministry, Building 429, has just, through the years it takes up more and more of our time and really the time we get at home is really time where people , where we desire to have people feed into us. I think it's very easy to come out on the road and pray in front of thousands of people and talk about the goodness of God and to totally not even have a relationship with God. If you go to Festivals you walk around backstage, you can see a marked difference between those who have a tangible relationship with the Lord, where they really know God, and those who are just empty and doign every they can to project that they're not, you know. Some days, we are full. On some days we're empty. It's our desire that when we go home people pour into us. So we try not to be super involved in terms of leading. We try to go home, sit, listen, and be taught.
Ariel Body: How do you stay humble with so much attention from fans?
Jason Roy: ...My wife. Yeah, but I think it's really cool to be in a band with guys like this. It's a brotherhood really, it is. It's like an accountability group right here. If any of us get arrogant, the other 3 of us are going to slap us down, you know. It's of vital importance to us - vital importance - that we do not become so important that we miss out on the fact that God has a plan, and we could get in the way of that. Just as much as we could lead people to Christ on the stage, we could totally be the block that keeps people from Christ on stage. So, these guys are in tune to that, they keep me focused and I keep them focus. And at the end of the day, if we get out of focus too bad, our wives have no problem... Our wives are fully aware of how much of idiots we are, you know, they know we're dumb, and funny, and all that stuff. On the stage, we go out and act like idiots and try to prove to people that that's really cool, you know, but we're really juts being idiots. That's how it works.
Ariel Body: What's the weirdest question you've ever been asked and the answer?
Michael Anderson: What does our name mean... No, just kidding. *laughs*
Jesse Garcia: We've been asked to sign some weird things.
Jason Roy: I've been asked, um, I've been asked out before. That was the weirdest question. I was sitting here, just like this; you see [points to ring]... "Um.. no, I think I'm good." Oh, I tell ya', the weirdest statement you could ever get. This pins anybody in the band down. "You are so good looking!". If somebody ever says that, you're just like "...what?? Are you smoking crack? Why are you telling me that? What am I supposed to say to that?" You know. Weird. We know it's a lie anyway...
Ariel Body: Mac or PC?
Jason Roy: Without a doubt Mac.
Ariel Body: What's currently playing on your CD player or iPod?
Jason Roy: Well, I listened to us this morning. I actually listened to Starfield, "Beauty in the Broken", this morning. And, uh, what are you guys listening to?
Jesse Garcia: Further Seems Forever
Jason Roy: I'm trying to think if there's anything else that's new and happening that I'm into. I was listening to uh...
Jesse Garcia: Jackson Waters
Jason Roy: Jackson Waters, they're a good band, good friends of ours, we listen to them yeah.
Ariel Body: Anything else you'd like to add?
Jason Roy: Building429.com and our Myspace and thank you!
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