10 Questions with ... Group 1 Crew

NAME:Group 1 Crew TITLE:Musician LABEL:Fervent Records

Brief Career Synopsis:

Line-up:
Manwell
Bianca
Pablo

Label: Fervent Records

Discography: Group 1 Crew (February 20, 2006)

1) Introduce the members of Group 1 Crew using musical history and signature personality traits.

Manwell: I began dancing at the age of 8, which led me to getting interested in the other avenues of music. I started rapping and performing at the age of 13. Through studying hip-hop and learning my own personality, I began personalizing my craft and started adding more humor and off-the-wall style content that brought to life my first mix-tape released my junior year in high school. Since then I've released three solo projects, two group projects and two more mix-tapes prior to signing with Fervent Records. I'm more known to be the crazy one of the group and very much the business mind behind what we do.

Pablo: At the beginning my raps were just poetry turned into rhymes. At the age of 16, my interest sparked into the art of music production and the technical aspects of recording music. In 2002, I went to college at Full Sail (media production school and college in Orlando, FL) and graduated with an associate's degree in Recording Arts. My passion towards music grew and allowed me to begin helping numerous local emcees in the Orlando area. I'm definitely known to be the more pensive, quiet and slow to speak member of the group, but I still crack jokes when I get a chance.

Blanca: Since I was little, I was always drawn to music. I remember being six years old and throwing a talent show for my family. I sang "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston and I blew my mom away. That's when they realized that I didn't sound like other six year olds trying to sing. But it wasn't until I was 14 that I really got into the whole music industry. I was working with Disney Entertainment, involved in many choirs in Orlando, and was working on my demo with Transcontinental Studios. God had other plans in store for me, and at 17, I met the other members of Group 1 Crew. Since then I have grown a lot musically with what we've accomplished through our ministry in these last few years.

2) Can you offer a brief history of the band from the first meeting to signing with Fervent Records?

Manwell: The band met shortly after I got out of bible college and began a bible study that I tailored for my friends who all enjoyed doing music together. We all began working musically on my first solo project and then quickly after that began work on the Group 1 Crew's first LP.

3) What's the key message behind the debut album GROUP 1 CREW?

Pablo: The key message is simply to compel a generation to look beyond the norm and dream bigger than they ever have before. There's a very real God that is seeking for the youth of this world to rise and take their place in positions of influence with integrity and conviction.

4) Does Group 1 Crew have an end purpose? What's the band purpose/mission?

Blanca: We feel that music is simply a means to an even greater end. Our mission is to encourage this world to simply face God and view him through the expression of music. He gave all of us the gift of music, in hopes that everyone would see Him through a new set of eyes and give Him a chance.

5) What musicians influence your songwriting and music, and how/why?

Manwell: Our musical tastes are wide, ranging from Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Justin Timberlake, Michael Buble, Rascal Flatts, Lauryn Hill, Kiki Sheard, Brandy, Fred Hammond, Common, Roots, John Legend and Jackson Waters.

6) What are your touring plans in the near future?

Pablo: We're currently scheduled to go on tour with Superchick at the end of April.

7) Which song on the debut record would you consider to have the most important, timely message?

Blanca: "I Have A Dream" would probably be the song that really relates to the listener and the message we want to convey to them. There are so many songs on the album that carry a message that we'd love for the listener to grasp, but "I Have A Dream" conveys the hope of a fragile generation that's been told all their life that they'd never be anything. This song empowers them to believe that they can become anything they can conceive.

8) What's the story behind the first single "Love Is a Beautiful Thing"?

Pablo: "Love Is A Beautiful Thing" was birthed from a universal heart for generations to unite through the concept of love. To us it doesn't matter what age or what origin, the only thing that matters is that we speak and act towards each other in a way that personifies the love of Christ.

9) What's your favorite part about coming off the road and being at home? What's one thing you can't wait to do?

Manwell: Pablo likes to sleep, spend time with family, work in the studio and read. Blanca enjoys hanging with friends, being active in her bible study group, Body of One Ministries, and her new-found love of taking classes at the gym, like kickboxing. I enjoy working out, producing and watching movies.

10) Imagine life without music. What would you be doing?

Blanca: If we weren't doing music together, I think we'd still have a career in music individually. Pablo would probably be producing, Manwell running an independent label and producing, and I would still be singing everywhere and anywhere.

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

Manwell: Timbaland
Pablo: The Roots
Blanca: India.Arie

2 ) What is your favorite city to visit?

Nashville, because it's such a great music hub and our label is there. We also love New York for the shopping.

3) What is your favorite road meal?

We like a mixture of things like Subway, Chick-fil-A, Chinese, etc.

4) Musical guilty pleasures

Manwell's musical guilty pleasure is listening to 90's rock, Blanca's is listening to N*SYNC, and Pablo doesn't have one.