SONGS & STORYTELLING

Eli: We’ve known each other for over a decade now, been touring buddies throughout the years, and hotel ‘roomies’ for a good part of a decade... we haven’t been out on a tour for about two years now. So, I just want to make sure you still know the unspoken protocols. When you walk into a hotel room that we’re sharing, who takes the far bed closest to the window?

Alex: Well, I like to think of you as my protector, so you always need to be closer to the door.

Eli: Flattering, and correct. What’s the first thing one should do when entering into a new hotel room?

Alex: Call downstairs to get the WIFI password, but also you must drop the AC to the lowest possible cool setting. We’ve gotta know if they have a gym, and then go checkout the gym on the way to the nearest Taco Bell.

Eli: Yes, exactly right. We’ve had our fair share of international Taco Bells put to the test. We could write someone a list of where it’s worth getting and where it’s not worth getting. Unfortunately, the ‘worth getting’ list isn’t very long.

Alex: It’s not Canada!

Eli: It’s not Guatemala!

All right, well, you are much loved in our world, especially in the City Campus, but you didn’t grow up in Australia. Give us a little bit of background to your story.

Alex: I have lived in Sydney now longer than I’ve lived anywhere else, by a healthy number. I did ten years in Southern California. Ten years in Idaho (Coeur d’Alene), and when it hit ten in Sydney I thought jokingly, ‘Well, cool. This is when God typically wants me to leave.’ But no, I’ve happily lived in the great place of Sydney now 13 years. Eli: What originally brought you to Australia?

Alex: Like many of us, I originally came for the internationally renowned Hillsong International Leadership College, with plans to be here for one year. Actually, I planned on six months. In fact, I told my ska band called ‘Tiger! Uppercut!’ at the time if we’re all serious about the band, I’ll come back in six months, and we’ll all move to Seattle, the birthplace of ska.

Eli: Did you play bass for the band back then?

Alex: No, I wish. I just played old guitar and vocals. It turned out that the guys weren’t that serious about the band, which led me to staying and finishing first year (of college). And then I said I would stay for one more. Been saying that for 13 years now.

Eli: So, you were in a ska band before coming to Australia. Is this where your affinity for music starts in your life?

Alex: Absolutely. I think every 15-year-old with a guitar wants to start a band. I was like any other kid at school, I can’t tell you how many times I said, “Dude, we should jam some time.”

I also played guitar for my youth group at church. I feel like I got saved to Hillsong United songs and encountered God for the first time to that music. The next week, after I had publicly made that decision, I was asked if I could join the youth worship team where we played ‘What The World Will Never Take’ and ‘One Way’, and the United We Stand album from top to bottom, until the cows came home.

Eli: So good. I remember the early ‘Pap in Australia’ days. People knew you as the bassist. In fact, the singing bassist.

Behind the scenes of A Beautiful Life music video.

Suddenly, it was like God connected the dots of what I feel like I had been “ doing all along, and it threw me for a spin when

I realised these songs just ”need to be stories..

Alex: Yeah, back when I arrived at College, I was primarily a vocalist because I wasn’t going to stick around, and I had a little bit of an ego — which is the understatement of the year. I owned a bass but started out playing like absolute trash. So, made the decision to practice my butt off for two years, at least two hours a day, which is a lot for a normal musician. And at the end of it I guess I became semi-decent.

Eli: When did you know that you’d be doing a solo project?

Alex: Yeah, so I think you were actually there on the Outcry Tour in 2016 along with Martin Smith and other worship music artists. There was a specific prayer meeting where Martin was leading and he says to everybody, ‘Turn to the person next to you, and tell them what your dream is that you’re not doing right now.’

In that moment back in 2016, I felt like that dream to write songs was reborn. I had this quick dialogue with God and thought, ‘Cool. I’ll do it, but I won’t do anything Christian because I’m already doing that with church and I don’t want this to get in the way.’ I immediately felt the voice of God say, ‘Oh, because that’s how I designed light? That light could get in the way of light.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, ouch.’

So, yeah from there on I think the dream was to write Christian music that covers ground that is potentially uncovered at the moment. Songs that would be relatable to people that are on the journey and their path has maybe drifted them far away from God and [they] feel stuck — feel they are no longer good enough.

Essentially, that it would be songs that help you demystify what it means to be a ‘true Believer’. And to show that we all mess up, show that we all make mistakes, and ultimately, the music would be a beacon to point people back towards the house of God, to worship songs, and to the presence of God.

Eli: Was this a new thing to emerge — demystifying what it means to be a true Believer, to be a beacon of light to people who have lost their way on the path?

Alex: My strength I feel, is storytelling. Suddenly, it was like God connected the dots of what I feel like I had been doing all along, and it threw me for a spin when I realised these songs just need to be stories. I’ve lived them now. So, you know there’s a song on the EP called

Eli: What was it, do you think, that set that prayer meeting apart from all of the others that brought about the voice of God to reawaken a dormant dream?

Alex: I think it’s the grace of God. This moment started conversations for the next four years of the possibility of me doing a solo project. I knew I had to do it right. I wanted to honour the house and church that has given me so much. When I look back, it feels fast, and in reality, there has been some serious lows along the way — some serious disappointment — but ultimately that’s framed the ability to write songs like ‘K.O.’ When I thought I had nothing left to give, I was ready to give up on the dream, and then I wrote that song and thought, ‘Oh, wow! I found it. I found like the thing, and I found my confidence again.’ I hope the songs would do the same for other people.

Eli: Has there been a clear ‘Red Sea’ moment for you, where the waters just parted?

Alex: I consider this a project I’ve been building up to for my whole life. Because like I said: I look back at the times where I was just telling stories as a songwriter, and the years of solely focusing on writing songs of worship, to God birthing that dream again, and feeling like I’m ready and wanting to act, but experiencing moments of disappointment. It was like God was holding me back. I was just waiting. Ready to go, but just waiting.

I just looked at it like, God didn’t part the ‘Red Sea’ until the time was right. The ‘Red Sea’ opened right when it was meant to.

Eli: Okay now that your EP is out, what’s the next step?

Alex: I pray that as long as the Lord lets me, I can be creating art along the vision that I’ve said. And I’m mindful that is going to evolve, and it might look brighter on one side and darker on the other — like the light and shade of what it all means. But I’m excited to just continue to create art that is reflective of my story — that is honest and true, and by the grace of God, relates to other people.