10 Questions with ... After Edmund

NAME:After Edmund TITLE:Band WEB:www.afteredmund.com

Line-up:
Mitch Parks (lead vocals, guitar)
Matt McFadden (bass)
Ben Hosey (guitar)
Adam Stanley (drums)
Yates (keyboards)

Label:
Slanted Records

Discography:
Hello (2007)

1) Briefly introduce the band members using personality traits and musical backgrounds.

Matt McFadden is the nicest guy in the band, a sharp negotiator and one heck of a bargain hunter. He's also a pretty snazzy dresser. Originally, Matt was the acoustic guitar player for the band and then moved to bass.

Mitch Parks is the drive of the band and a relentless perfectionist but a fun-loving chap. He's got a heart for ministering to people and always makes sure we put people first. Mitch is, at heart, a keyboard player and a pretty good one at that. Ben taught him to play guitar and he took over a guitar spot in the band when it needed filling. He studied voice in college and still practices singing a lot and really knows his instrument.

Ben Hosey is the realist of the band. He's the one who keeps us grounded. He's very handy as well and makes things out of wood like no one's business. He's one of two introverts in the band. He's got the ability to come up with guitar parts that fit a vocal like a glove, I don't know how he does it, but they just come right out of him every time.

Yates is the other introvert. He's the smartest one of us, no doubt, and the only one who knows anything about money or business, so we're glad of that and thankful for his economics degree. Despite his shyness, he's an animal on stage and the live energy of the band. I spend most of the show watching him actually. He's one of those players; you don't realize how excellent he is until you really listen to him. That's because he's so freaking tasteful. He's the first man to make me like a synth pad. He'll give you goose bumps with one of those things.

My name is Adam Stanley, and I consider myself to be the heartthrob of the bunch (that's a joke). Actually, if we were dwarfs, I think I'd be Grumpy. Well, at least I got the short-bearded thing going. I was playing a lot of jazz and acoustic folk-rock when my housemate Mitch asked me to fill in for some dates with his band until they found a new drummer. So I learned to play rock again, and 2.5 years later, here I am and loving it. I couldn't ask for a better bunch of guys to make music with.

Everyone in the band has a good sense of humor, so that makes life easier for all of us.

2) Can you offer a "brief" history on the band?

Formed during the members' college years, the band's first rehearsals were held in an old, rundown, moldy single-story office complex. That was 2001. Since then the band has seen a few member changes and heaping growth. After Edmund's current line-up was secured in 2005. The band signed with Slanted Records (DecembeRadio, Detour 180) in late 2006. After Edmund's national debut release, "Hello," will be in stores this week.

3) The bio says that you're classically trained musicians - who, in what, when and where, why?

Yates is classically trained in piano while growing up. No one knows why he was trained, but he's very good and has won a prestigious contest or two.

I, Adam, am classically trained in percussion. I was a first-year ceramics major in college and thought that taking a percussion lesson from the music department would help me with my drum set abilities; but I got more than I bargained for when I found myself learning marimba, orchestral snare technique, German timpani grip and very little drum set. Percussion then consumed my life for the next five years. Obviously I switched majors. I also had the opportunity to study jazz guitar, bass and afro-Cuban in college as well.

Mitch, Ben and Adam all hold degrees in Creative Music Technology (basically composing and producing your own music). Ben also studied classical and jazz guitar in college.

4) Any interesting or funny radio experiences/stories happen yet as you've gotten on the road?

We got stuck in an elevator with Jackson Waters, Needtobreathe, a publicist and a radio woman for 30 minutes during GMA Week in Nashville. The elevator was glass and sun was coming in and there was no air conditioning. As the condensation rolled down the walls, needtobreathe's band name took on a whole new meaning for me. Fun bunch, though.

5) Does the band have an end purpose or a mission in mind at all? Is it just about the music?

The band, I think, really enjoys ministering to people one-on-one more than anything. A big part of the ministry for us is just talking with folks or praying with them after we play. A lot of times you'll find at least one person, often several, who just need someone to listen and care about them. We genuinely love people and showing the love of Christ to them is paramount for us.

6) What are the stories behind the singles "Thank God" and "Come and Rain Down"?

One night, Mitch and Matt were struggling to come up with a good chorus for a certain song, and the evening had yielded no real fruit. Mitch left; and in the car on the way home, it hit him. He immediately called Matt and they wrote the chorus over the phone. That song ended up being "Thank God." "Come and Rain Down" was written right after Hurricane Katrina. A lot of lives were thrown into utter chaos, desperation and uncertainty. That song was a sort of cry of comfort to anyone in such a situation. "In the darkest room, there's a light on for you, if you're too weak to move, He's your strength." You can't count on anything in this world, but the love of God is constant and unfailing.

7) What is the underlying message to the album "Hello"?

To me the underlying message is that this world is a broken place full of flawed people and circumstances, but there is one in whom our hope can be placed and in whom we can seek refuge. That one is God, namely, Jesus.

8) Were there any moments in the studio that made you guys sit up and say, "Ah ha! Now we have a record"?

I think for me it was hearing the scratch tracks along with the drum tracks for the song "Like a Dream" for the first time at Southern Tracks Studio. I remember thinking, "Wow, this is actually a really good song. This could turn out really great." A lot of times you never really know how good or bad your own stuff is because you're so close to it, but it sounded so good in that room, and I had never listened to it while not playing, and it just hit me for the first time that we had at least one good song.

9) The name After Edmund comes from the "Chronicles of Narnia" character. Why the 'after,' what does that signify?

Following after Edmund in coming to God, asking for forgiveness and getting things right with your brothers and sisters

10) Where the heck is LaGrange, GA, and is there anything fun to do there?

Lagrange, GA, is almost in Alabama. If you take I-85 south from Atlanta, you'll pass through it right before you hit Alabama. There's a lot of porch sittin' and reading that goes on here, as far as I can tell. Sometimes we get crazy and make coffee late at night and listen to albums.

1) Who would be a dream artist to record with (any genre)?

For me (Adam), I think it would be WILCO. I don't know if I could hang, but I love their music and the way they treat it.

2) What is your favorite city to visit?

That's a tough one. Off the top of my head, San Antonio definitely has the food thing going on. Great Mexican, Southwestern and BBQ, and the River Walk is nice.

3) What is your favorite road meal?

Without a doubt it's BBQ. We get worked up over good BBQ.

4) Musical guilty pleasures?

Great question. For me, it's Journey. It's exactly the kind of music I hate, but my mom listened to it a lot when I was growing up, so it's kind of etched in there. I can't help it.