Family Force 5 Interview: New Album 'III' Debuts
The Christian Post had the opportunity to interview Solomon "Soul Glow Activatur" Olds, the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of Family Force 5 of Christian label Tooth & Nail Records.
Family Force 5, is changing everything the music world may think about music and are infusing it with something different and creative.
Hailing from Atlanta, Ga., these crunk-rock stars are all about having a good time and letting the listener have a great time with each musical experience.
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First off, what is "Crunk-Rock?"
According to Soul Glow, crunk rock is, "Fun party inspired rock. Some think it has to do with synthesizers. I guess so...we have plenty of 808 beats too." He goes on to explain crunk rock as being "very southern."
When asked if that's what they set out to sound like, Soul Glow answered, "It's what we are. We kind of just fell into it. We are from Atlanta, it's very southern. We have that rock vibe, and that super ghetto vibe. It's a blend of everything."
He feels that FF5 are the pioneers of their style of music. Soul Glow and his brothers Jacob "Crouton" and Joshua "Fatty" Olds have been making music this way since the mid 90s and now there are a few other groups with the same style. "We definitely helped usher in groups like LMFAO and 3OH!3," he said.
FF5 loves to be unique and different. One way they do this is by assigning themselves stage names almost as if they are rappers. So lets introduce the band:
Soul Glow is the vocalist and rhythm guitar player.
Crouton plays drums and does vocals.
Fatty plays bass and also does vocals.
Derek "Chap Stique" Mount is the lead guitar player.
Nathan "Nadaddy" Currin plays the synth, percussion, and also does vocals.
Soul Glow talks about the names being something fun they did because they are from Atlanta where a lot of hip-hop legends are from, especially Outkast with Big Boi and Andre 3000.
The names were originally a joke, but when they started seeing kids wearing homemade T-shirts, they knew they were on to something.
Soul Glow says, "Everyone had names, so could white suburban kids. It's part of the culture." In a disapproving and sorrowful tone he jokes, "Except for the name Crouton. I don't know what happened there," referring to his brother.
Another important aspect of Family Force 5 is their faith. Although not explicitly a Christian band, they are definitely Christians in a band who happen to have strong faith. "We have strong faith, but don't beat people over the head with it. We just want to make fun positive music that humans can listen to, ya know?"
Soul Glow goes on to talk about their new album titled “III.” It's FF5's third album, and will be released Oct. 18 followed by the It's All Gold Tour.
In the band's press release it says “III” is a throwback to their first album. When asked about this, Soul Glow agreed saying, "The first album was very aggressive while our second album was more dance like. We wanted to give the fans what they wanted and not run away from being red neck ghetto kids."
In fact, the singer said he came to the realization he was a red neck while visiting Los Angeles. He recalls being in a meeting talking about their music when someone brought it up. He denied it at first but then said to himself, "I'm southern, I do enjoy watching NASCAR once in awhile, and love fried chicken...Yup, I guess I'm a red neck," he described.
Soul Glow says the highlight of the album for him is the song "Paycheck." He explains, "People think it's political, but everyone seems to be having financial hardships. We wanted to write something people could relate to and have something to say, you know, dig deep and make it sound real."
He said the track was doing well so far, and the song "Wabble" was getting a lot of positive feedback. "The overall response has been great – people are liking them," the frontman says. "There's something for everyone of this record. It's aggressive and 'dancey' with some serious stuff, more personal."
When asked what his biggest rock star moment was, Soul Glow immediately thought back to a tour they had completed, "We did a festival in the U.K. where we played with metal band Rammstein and the next night we played with MIA, who is more pop hip-hop. Both of those shows were drastically different yet had the same great vibe."
He admitted that although they had played in front of 20 to 30,000 people before, it's the small things that feel the best. "One time I was driving through a Starbucks and I got a free coffee because the kid told me he loved my band. It was so cool."
Soul Glow says one of his biggest failures since being in the band is a tour they went on in 2008. "I didn't like the tour and I wasn't feeling the crowd."
Switching topics, the Christian Post asked Soul Glow "What's one thing the world should know about you guys?"
"We pretty much do everything on our own. We do the artwork, videos, directing, and photo shoots. It's fun to say that – [we are] excited about creativity," he replied. "We are creative idiots."
On possible dream collaborations, the singer said he'd love to work with Justin Timberlake. "Justin stop making movies and come back to music! I wasn't a fan of N*SYNC, but I love his solo music," he said.
As for the immediate future, FF5 releases “III” on Oct. 18 and will embark on their It's All Gold Tour followed by a short Christmas tour. In January and February they will be heading back to the studio to record a few more tracks for their deluxe edition of the new album, calling the addition, “3.5.”
In five years time Soul Glow hopes to be on an island having "massive dance parties."
"Justin Timberlake can come too!" he said.
