10 Questions with ... Tree63

NAME:Tree63 TITLE:Band/Musicians LABEL:Inpop Records WEB:www.tree63.com

Line-up:
John Ellis (vocals, guitar)
Darryl Swart (drums)
Daniel Ornellas (bass, vocals)

Label:
Inpop Records

Discography:
Sunday! (2007)
Worship Volume One (2005)
The Answer to the Question (2004)
The Life and Times of Absolute Truth (2002)
Tree63 (2000)

1) Introduce the band, using personality traits and musical backgrounds:

John Ellis (guitar, vocals and songwriting): bald, fast-talking and way too serious for his own good.

Daniel Ornellas (bass, backing vocals and one-liners): short, suave and dangerously on the edge.

Darryl Swart (drums, backing vocals and iPod operator): newly-married, which pretty much says it all.

2) Give a brief rundown of the band's history.

Formed in the absence of something better to do at the tail-end of 1996 by John and Darryl in Durban, South Africa, the originally-named Tree made a one-off 12-song record entitled "Overflow" and promptly broke up, only to be cajoled back into being by God on repeated occasions until it finally dawned on John that "this was it." A record deal with Survivor Records in the UK led to the groundbreaking "63," and then a deal with Inpop in the U.S. was struck which led to more albums.

3) What's the most important message you hope to convey on "Sunday!"?

Hope. We live in dark times, it's undeniable. But our hope is in Christ, and he will not break his promise to us, even if it appears to be getting darker by the minute.

4) What's the story or meaning behind the first single "Sunday"?

The song was originally entitled "Friday (But Sunday Is Coming)," after the famous sermon/book/movie/T-shirt/coffee mug by Tony Campolo. The concept is: we live in the Friday of the crucifixion, but the promise of Sunday, the promise of resurrection, is a promise that will absolutely come true, just as it came true 2000 years ago. Therefore, our hope is assured. We just need to hang in there.

5) Who do you admire in the area of songwriting?

Ron Sexsmith, Neil Finn, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Ryan Adams, Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Ray Davies, Sting, Pete Townsend, Paddy McAloon, Prince, Neil Young, Keith Green

6) Tell us your funniest or most strange experience involving a radio station.

We had to do an interview for a prestigious Afrikaans-speaking national radio station in South Africa, conducted entirely in Afrikaans (a derivative of Dutch), supposedly our second language back home. I could only understand fragments of the questions, and I didn't have enough vocabulary to answer, so our then-bass-player Martin had to do all the interpreting off-mike. It was awkward to say the least. And live on-air.

7) Which do you enjoy more: the process (songwriting and recording) or the performance?

I think the recording process. Songwriting is torturous, and performance is iff-y, but in the studio you get to be creative.

8) What's your favorite song to perform live?

At the moment, it's "Sunday."

9) Imagine life without music: what other career would like to try?

I would probably be a full-time academic, a professor of English at some university. I'm already a good way there.

10) If you could take your favorite parts of South Africa and your favorite parts of Nashville, and mash them up, what would your new 'homeland' include?

A beach, a Best Buy, a Ben & Jerry's, a Starbucks, an Apple Store, all my family and friends, African summer sunsets, a beach, African winter mornings, a beach, proximity to NYC and Chicago, Guitar Center, a beach, early fall.

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

Delirious

2) What is your favorite city to visit?

NYC

3) What is your favorite road meal?

In-N-Out Burger in California

4) Do you have any musical guilty pleasures?

Electric Light Orchestra!