Being a twenty-something male brought up in the full swing of the digital age, not much has changed from when I was a teenager. There are still the same segregated groups of Emos, Chavs, and trendies, that hang around town centres on a Saturday, the local Sunday league football teams that are often ruled by screaming parents on the sidelines – and skinny jeans are still in fashion. However, there are a lot of things that differ from when I was sixteen or seventeen – not least the majority of teenagers are consumed by gadgets 24 hours a day. Take the invention of the Nintendo Wii for example; despite being a very expensive means of exercise, it restricts children to the four walls of their house and stops them experiencing the finer things in life, like creating music.
I still remember vividly the day a drum kit was bought for me, I’m also very sure my neighbours remember that day just as well – maybe for different reasons. The point being, I had wanted to start a band so badly that in that point in time nothing really mattered to me except making music with my friends – however horrendous it sounded. As the Nintendo Wii has gradually found its feet in the gaming industry – currently selling 1 billion consoles annually – it has released music related games like sing-star, and guitar hero, which should be taken as a light-hearted game with a plastic guitar and no real means to hurt anyone. But is it affecting independent music businesses’? I asked local music shop employee Carl about the problem; “The game itself has taken a lot of passing trade from us, because the teenagers that would have picked up a guitar and bought from us are now taking the easier option of messing about on Guitar Hero”.
Although independent music shops such as the Rhythm House in Hanley, Stoke – on – Trent are loosing business to the so-called Guitar Hero wannabe’s who opt for the warmer, more convenient option of pushing a few buttons in the comfort of their own home, the Guitar Hero brand is in danger of loosing valuable custom because of the sheer volume of games they have released. The Guitar Hero franchise has now released in total – 14 different versions - each incorporating different factors such as, Guitar Hero – Warriors of Rock, World Tour, and a Greatest Hits collection. Releasing so many versions of Guitar Hero creates an already trending problem for the creators. This problem being that there is a vast amount of song material to download from their website, people who already have the Guitar Hero package are not going to invest in something they can simply download off the website. Dereck from Game in The Potteries explains the growing problem that the franchise is facing “The current Guitar Hero for the Wii console has flopped, because everyone is sick of it. The game itself is sound – it’s probably one of the best ones they have done, but because people have got older versions of the game and can download new songs, there is no point in buying the current version”.
To further these problems, The Rhythm House in Hanley sells a starter guitar bundle for a beginner at just £130, this is including the chosen guitar, case or bag, mini amplifier, pipe tuner, and plectrums. This price comes in stark contrast to a Wii console bundle with Guitar Hero 5 which comes to a total price of £320. “With the current economic climate in such a state, it is a very expensive item to be buying. Also, [Guitar Hero] Rock Band is struggling, because as I said earlier people already own the guitars and drum sets. So, what’s being done now is they are bringing out additions like a keyboard for example – this makes people want to add to their collection. They also have a professional mode on Guitar Hero: Rock Band, where you can by £125 guitar and it has 24 frets, with each fret having 6 buttons – so you are able to form chords and play a song correctly” explains Dereck from Game.
Becoming a button pusher will cost you £155. The real thing will cost you £120, a lot of hard work, and irate neighbours. Priceless.
Ben Gilligan remembers Rev Dr C Dexter Wise who in the '80s took Christian rap into the marketplace...
Reverend Dr C Dexter Wise is today a Harvard educated pastor and social activist who is probably best known as being the co-founder of Columbus, Ohio's Martin Luther King Breakfast, the annual event which brings in more than 6,000 people making it the nation's largest prayer breakfast. What many of the throng that gather for this event probably don't know is that this extraordinary minister of the Gospel is also a seminal figure in the development of Christian hip-hop. In the mid '80s Wise released singles and albums, one of which "I Ain't Into That!" gained UK release by Cool Tempo Records and peaked at number 14 in the dance charts. Although The Rappin' Reverend, as he was once known, has today many more activities to keep him occupied, he has never lost his passion for communicating the Gospel with today's youth.
Talking about his rapping days he said, "It seemed to me that it wasn't because the Church didn't have the answer, it's just we weren't packaging it in a form that was palatable or understandable or acceptable to them. I was the pastor of a large Baptist church, over a hundred years old, and you can imagine the kind of stir it caused when I became The Rappin' Reverend. In many ways I was a pioneer because I was rapping when no one else in the Church was doing it. And now everybody's doing it! It's very seldom now that you see a gospel album released without one rap song on it, or a little piece of rap on it. So in that way we kinda started it. But we took a lot of heat in the beginning."
Wise was called to preach at just 12 years of age. Four years later he would be officially licensed to preach and at the age of 19 he was ordained. Between the years 1977-82 Wise served as a pastor of Columbus, Ohio's historic Shiloh Baptist Church. His prayers, passion and powerful preaching saw the membership grow from six members to a staggering 500 plus in the space of a month. However, Dexter's finest and boldest hour was yet to come.
He explained, "I was 27 when I became its pastor; when I started rapping I was in my early 30s. So there was already a generational situation there. Some of the older people thought [my rapping] was the worst thing that had ever happened. But their grandchildren started requesting and quoting and reciting and rapping, and so then I became a hero. But originally it was like, 'I don't believe our pastor's doing that. It's so disgraceful and distasteful. It's terrible.' But ultimately everybody came around." Although rap and hip-hop have many of their musical origins in the Church (for evidence of this listen to the compilation album 'The Roots Of Rap' or Document Records albums of pre-war preachers like Rev J M Gates and Rev J C Burnett) the culturally conservative elements in the African American church were making the same disapproving noises about rap that they once made about the blues. But ignoring the cultural prejudice and lousy theology that labelled rap the Devil's music The Rappin' Reverend kept on going. He said, "God created the world through rapping, through speech. Rap goes back across our African heritage, through storytelling to music and so forth. If we go back far enough we find out that it's not crazy, it's just something we haven't dug up in a while."
Dexter's debut album "I Ain't Into That!" released in 1987 on a little label organised by the church created a lot of interest and the title track from it got considerable airplay in Detroit (not to mention a release on seven inch and 12 inch single in the UK). Said the reverend, "It was just obvious to me that it was more important to reach a lost generation than it was for me to worry about what people would think about me. I think that I did the right thing in that regard."
Dexter recorded a second rap album 'Crack Attack!'. Looking back at his time in the rap spotlight Dexter commented, "The funny thing about it is that I don't particularly like rap music myself - never have. I didn't like it when I did The Rappin' Reverend. But I saw that we were losing a whole generation of young people to drugs, to crime, to alcohol, just plain negative lifestyles". Even decades after his short lived recording career Dexter still encounters signs of his influence. "A lady came up to me about two weeks ago, and she's having a release of a CD, this Friday I believe. She came up to me in tears the first time I met her, saying how much she was influenced by my rap music."
Away from the music Dr C Dexter was a devoted family man, with wife Shirley (since 1973), his three daughters, Sybil, Sheri and Shonna and his only son Ceylon. Wise also has four grand-daughters. As well as preaching and teaching Dexter Wise is the founder and president of a community development corporation by the name of Faith No More. He told Cross Rhythms in closing, "You just kinda figure and know that the stuff you have is good; you put it out there and you trust it's helping somebody".
As any church historian will tell you, the youth culture event Soul Survivor is changing the face of the Church in Britain. Every year more and more churches are adapting, at least in part, the styles of contemporary worship music with their integration of rock and pop rhythms into their services. But, of course, Soul Survivor represents much more than organs and choirs being replaced by electronic guitars and drum kits. At the centre of modern worship is what could be called a holy expectation, a belief that genuine worship is much more then the singing of songs but rather an engagement with the divine, where God communes with his people. Soul Survivor has been instrumental in popularising this viewpoint and, as a by-product to that, the movement has sent the songs of worship leaders like Matt Redman and Tim Hughes circulating around the world's churches.
Now another young musician, Canadian-born singer, songwriter and worship leader Ben Cantelon stands at the cusp of international popularity. Already his songs "Love Came Down" and "You Are" have become much-sung items in many British churches while Ben's co-write with Tim Hughes, "Happy Day", is an international success. Now with the release of his debut full length album 'Running After You' this charmingly unassuming 25 year old seems certain to achieve massive UK Christian retail sales.
'Running After You' was produced in the USA by Dwayne Larring (SonicFlood, Tim Hughes) and, as well as Ben's acoustic guitar and keyboard, features the powerful rock guitar contributions of Michael Guy Chislet (Hillsong United). On a visit to the Cross Rhythms HQ, the day after he'd led a Soul Survivor event at Staffordshire University, Ben, the director of worship at Soul Survivor, spoke to Tony Cummings about his life and ministry. Didn't, asked Tony, the song "Running After You" have the potential to speak to non-Christians as well as believers?
Replied Ben, "I think that music really has the power to change people. If you're listening to a song about who God is and someone who doesn't know God walks into the room, if there's something in the song that relates to them they could really experience something of God. I think we need to see more of this happen, where people experience God through music. We need it to get beyond the church".
Talking about his album, Ben continued, "There's a song on there called 'Jericho'. Everyone knows the story of those walls falling down. The song reflects how in many people's lives there are walls which need to fall so they can live in the destiny God wants them to live in."
Ben actually has quite a Christian heritage. His grandfather pastored the Pentecostal Christian Life Assembly and was an early pioneer in broadcasting the Gospel in Canada. Ben grew up in Langley, near Vancouver, in an environment that was both spiritual and musical. "I was involved in music from a young age. My parents were very musical, my dad, before he became a pastor, taking over the church from my grandfather, was in a band called Eleven Fifty Nine and my mum, who is originally Swedish, used to travel round, with her sister, singing in different churches under the name the Johansson Sisters. So, I came from a very musical background. I started playing drums when I was three years old, just hitting pots and pans and stuff."
Ben's spiritual awakening came early too. He said, "Being born and raised in a Christian family and in the church I decided to follow Christ when I was about four or five. I had the 'talk' from my dad, he said a prayer and I said one back and that was it. But when I was younger I would keep asking God to come back because I felt like I was doing wrong. But yeah, it was a young age and I've never felt like going back."
When Ben was nine or 10 years old he had a profound experience at a summer camp he was attending. "The guy that was doing the camp said God has given the Church the gift of tongues, and encouraged us to start speaking it out. At first I didn't know what I was doing and it felt really bizarre. But then I spoke to my dad about it. I said, 'Dad, we were praying and all of a sudden this weird language came.' That was it, I knew I was being baptised in the spirit."
What would Ben say to those sections of the church who don't agree with the doctrine of receiving spiritual gifts? "There are still groups that don't necessarily feel comfortable with it, but I think we need to see more of the gifts. When Jesus left the earth after being raised from the dead he said he would send his Spirit. I think his Spirit is what we need for today, to get us through hard times, but also just to walk with us. I think the things of the Spirit are very important in today's times and we need to be open to them. I've just come back from Soul Survivor in Stafford and we saw God do amazing things and people were open to it. Some people at first might not know what's going on but as they start to see what's happening they begin to adjust to it and know that it's okay."
He continued, "Actually I think if you speak to many people who've had a real experience of God they'll truly say 'I don't know what happened to me there'. It's something that happens inside of them that they can't help but experience God, in many different ways. I think that's the great thing, God relates to different people in different ways. Some people might shake, fall or just stand there and receive from God. Some people speak in tongues or prophesy. There are different ways in which God ministers with the spirit."
Returning to his account of his early years, Ben explained how, by the age of 14, he was playing keyboards in a worship band. "We were initially called Flood but it was around the time of SonicFlood so everyone kept confusing us with them! So we eventually changed it from Flood to Surreal. We did a bit of recording. The first one we did I was about 14. It was with Langley Vineyard. It was a live recording called 'Live And In The Spirit'. We then did a full studio album called 'Everything' and an EP called 'Surreal'. We did those over about five or six years."
The lead singer of Flood/Surreal was Michael Larson who went on to become a popular worship leader with albums on ION. Commented Ben, "Michael is a good friend, I grew up with him. He lived in my house. We wrote the song 'Freedom Reigns' and it's just pretty cool to see how that song's just taken off."
In 2003 an event happened which was to permanently change the direction of Ben's life. Mike Pilavachi and Tim Hughes came to Vancouver and were ministering at a youth conference that I had been involved in the previous few years. They asked me to play keyboard for Tim. I got on really well with Tim and Mike and felt there was a good connection there. At the end of the conference they took me aside and said, 'Ben, we really enjoyed hanging out and we would love it if you would be a part of our Soul Survivor festival this year.' I said 'Yes' right off. There was just something about the worship in the UK that had really struck me. I always wanted to come to the UK, when I was 16 years old I was thinking of every way possible to get over here. I think there was a real sort of heart of worship, an intimacy and rawness about the songs. Something was really attractive about that and I wanted to come over. I heard about this Soul Survivor church in Watford and that's where Matt (Redman) and Mike were. I thought maybe I should just do a university course just to hang out over there, not to do anything but just to get experience of what it was like and take it all in. Then I thought it just wasn't me, it was just too much of a farfetched idea. But it's amazing how God brings things around and it was just incredible. I found myself right in the middle of it!"
Ben was blown away by the first Soul Survivor conference he attended at Shepton Mallet. His eyes gleamed as he said, "It was such an amazing thing to be brought over. I didn't have to do anything, they just took care of everything. It was the first time that had ever happened to me. It was the whole experience of being able to come and just play music and be part of the worship times. Also to see the effect that worship had on the young people here, there was just such a desperation and longing to meet with God. It wasn't about the hype or being excited, God was just doing real heart stuff."
The next pivotal stage in Ben's ministry was 2004, when he relocated to the UK. Said Ben, "I moved over to the UK right before Soul In The City in 2004. From an early age I really felt something for the UK, so when the invitation came to work with Tim, travel and do the stuff I love, I gladly took it. I was the music director for Tim Hughes. I would basically just travel around with Tim, play and develop the bands that we would play with. I would also do a bit of production in the studio; we also have a website called Passion For Your Name and we would do demos in the studio for it."
Travelling with Tim was a profound learning experience for Ben. "I learnt a lot in that time. But again the great thing was I was travelling around with Tim and just being able to watch him lead worship. I didn't realise at the time but I was learning how to lead worship by just being a part of it. It was funny because about a year into it I came home from a trip to Australia and Tim and his wife stayed there. I came back and had a time of worship, I was just playing my guitar and I really sensed God saying, 'Ben, why aren't you leading worship, why aren't you doing this?' I just thought, well there are so many great worship leaders and I love what I'm doing, I like being the music guy. There were so many people doing a great job of it already that I didn't feel I was needed. But it just didn't get out of my head. God just really put it on my heart.
"A week later Mike called me and said, 'Mate, this is the weirdest thing, but I was on the flight home and I just heard God say that you're supposed to lead worship'. It was an 'oh my goodness' moment and you know from this that it must be a God thing. There was definitely a confirmation there. I started to lead and Tim and his wife Mary moved to Holy Trinity, Brompton. Somehow I then ended up in leadership and became the worship director, alongside Lex Buckley. When that happened I wanted to try and keep the worship fresh for our church. I think for every worship leader's sake we need to take a stab at writing and go for it. I felt there was a need to start writing myself. I really started to take songwriting seriously and pursue it. My first couple of songs were called 'Love Came Down' and 'Celebrate' and they were on the 2006 Soul Survivor live album. The album was actually called 'Love Came Down'."
In 2007 Ben had a chance to record some more of his songs for Survivor Records. "I had a couple of songs, so Mike came to me and said, 'What do you think about doing an Emerge recording?' At first I was a bit sceptical but on the other hand I saw it as a challenge. It was a really good way to push my songwriting. So I said yes."
Recording worship in a studio as opposed to leading worship in a live gathering was a whole new experience, as Ben found. He commented, "It's a completely different process, you're trying to capture something in the studio that's quite hard to capture. I mean, live you can flow with what God is doing, you have the people and also the energy. This is quite hard to recreate in a studio. It's a very different experience, I've learnt loads doing it. It was produced by Dwayne Larring, he's from Los Angeles and was once a member of SonicFlood. It's kind of funny 'cause I saw him and was like, 'Oh, hi!'. I'd actually met Dwayne the first time I came out to Soul Survivor, he was there playing guitar. We did some of the recording in Eastbourne, just drums and bass, then finished the rest off in America. He did a great job on the 'Daylight Breaks Through' Emerge CD."
With Ben's admiration of Dwayne's copious production skills clearly evident Dwayne was a no brainer to produce Ben's debut full length album. The singer/songwriter spoke about some of his favourite songs on the project. "The song 'Coming Back' came about when I was having a time of worship. I wrote it about coming back to this first love and tying in the story of the prodigal. The song itself is a real journey, musically and melodically. It goes from 4/4 into 6/8 and then back to 4/4 again, it's a really different song in itself. The lyrics are talking about being broken, one of the verses goes, 'I'm broken, there is nowhere left to hide/I'm drowning in need of your lifeline/I'm on my knees again surrendered.' It then says, 'I've had all the riches in the world/But they could never ever take your place.' It is a song about surrender and coming back. The riches of this world isn't just being wealthy, it's having a roof over our heads, food and water on our tables. All these things that we take for granted, they really are the riches. It is really important that we come back to our first love and don't forget that he is why we are here."
Ben was asked whether it was slightly odd being a professional worshipper. How did he feel about being paid to worship God? "It's strange that nowadays you can make a living out of being a worship leader. But we need worship leaders to model worship so that other people can become worship leaders. You see, in the Bible when armies go to war the musicians would be at the front of the line with their trumpets and drums. Music has a really important part to play within the Church. I think we need to see worship take more of a stand and for musicians to write songs that push the boundaries."
Ben finished his interview by talking about what is needed in today's worship songs. "I think what people are looking for today is something real, honest and true. There is so much stuff out there that can be manufactured. You find nothing really changes and it repeats in a cycle. I think we need to have songs that are real, raw and authentic. Within worship music we've found a style that works within the Church and reaches God's people. Despite this we need to make music reach out to those people who are going through stuff, non-Christians who can find a real truth within worship music. Music that will make them think, 'I don't know what that is, but I believe it and it feels real.'"
