Music that creates an atmosphere of worshiping the Lord, is music we all need to be exposed to. Meet the Ember Days

There are very few bands that put out music that I can listen to nonstop.  I have a pretty large music collection, but this year it seems like only about 8-10 bands have made my playlist consistently, all the time.  The Ember Days have become more than just a band that I listen to, their music has become a part of my life.

Powerful instrumentals, haunting vocals and an incredibly evident passion are all pieces of the intricate, yet natural, makeup of The Ember Days.

The music of the Ember Days is something I put on, whenever I’m having a rough day.  Ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go right?  When it seems as though the world is against you, and you get that feeling of despair rising up in the pit of your stomach? it’s very easy to lose focus when those days come.  The Ember Days have a way of always bringing my focus back where it needs to be: at the foot of the cross of Jesus.  Their lyrics always take me to a place of prayer. Their music has become a soundtrack to many of my days over the past year.

Seamless -  Perfectly consistent.  Each song blends into the next, and each one builds upon the other.  It has pushed me to worship, even when I didn’t “feel” like worship.  Their music has challenged me to really dig deep into what was going on in my heart, and just trust in Him, whether it made sense to or not.  Haunting melodies, soaring vocals, and a lyrical focus of one purpose: Glorifying God.  Vocalist Jason Belcher says ““We want to just write sincere and honest worship,” Jason says. “We strive to write music that is inspiring.”

There are many days that I find their EP “Finger Painting” on repeat, for hours on end.  A mostly instrumental EP, minus 2 songs, it’s hard to describe into words where this cd has taken me over the past year.  This is the cd I listen to whenever I start writing.  If I ever want to be inspired, I start off listening to the beautiful instrumental Hope, and end on Simple Song – a beautiful simple song of worship.

The Ember Days have been on my list of bands to see in concert for quite some time, so I was very excited whenever I found out they were going to be playing at the Anchor Fellowship.  Aside from starting out from some technical difficulties, I thought about all of the ways which I could describe the band, and their performance, and as I started putting this article together, I realized I couldn’t put it into words that hadn’t already been written in Scripture.

So I wanted to share this verse with you.  If you want to know what it is like to see The Ember Days in concert and experience what it is that they have to bring, you need to look no further than this verse:

You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You. (Isaiah 26: 3)

It was a peace beyond all understanding.  To watch them worship, to see the joy on their faces.  Janell and Jason pull off an amazing duo, and just seeing the way the band interacted with each other was inspiring.  After just 2 songs it was pretty evident to me, that they didn’t even realize they had an audience out in the crowd – they were playing for an audience of One.  The last half of their set was simply incredible as they sang Yeshua, Simple Song, and the most Spirit-led instrumental song ever played – Finger Painting.

The Ember Days are one of bands at Come&Live that I see are living out the mission statement to Give, Love, Share, and Revive.  If you aren’t familiar with the “business model” of Come&Live, the artists give away their music for free, as a gift to you.  For many of you that simply translates into “Free Music”, but after connecting with these bands I felt as though God has been telling me to give back to them.  After watching The Ember Days perform live I made a decision to start supporting the bands that I love financially through Come&Live.  These guys are giving us their everything, and God is telling me that it is time to give back to them.

Throughout this month our ministry has been promoting and supporting Come and Live, and many of the musicianaries who are serving with them.  I emailed Jason one day asking if they’d be interested in doing an interview knowing that they were about to embark on a tour, and he was gracious enough to say yes! (Thank you Jason!)

Interview with Jason Belcher of The Ember Days

Tell us a little about the members of the band.

At the moment The Ember Days has 6 members, Colin Carter plays bass he is from Nashville. Jedidiah Lachmann plays violin, keys and guitar. Logan Mackenzie plays guitar and his brother Jordan plays drums. Both of the Mackenzie boys are from Auckland, New Zealand. Janell Belcher plays keys and sings and Jason Belcher (myself) plays guitar and sings as well. And we are from Auckland, New Zealand.

How did you meet Come and Live?  What were your thoughts about their business model?

We met Come&Live! when we met Chad Johnson, and we met Chad Johnson at cornerstone. We had a very similar vision and so we committed to Come&Live! even before it was called Come&Live!. My thoughts on the business model of come and live is that there really isn’t a business model. There is more of a missions model, over a business model. Basically 100% of the profits go to charity and the bands give away a lot of music so as far as a business model, I think its not very good on paper. But practically the Lord provides in amazing ways. We give generously and so does he. I love working with come and live… its all backwards and God is moving it forward.

You guys recently came back from a trip to New Zealand with Come and Live.  What were some of the highlights of your trip?

The highlights that I will remember the most, were swimming in the rain on the west coast of the North Island with the C&L! crew and Ascend The Hill, It was amazing. Eating amazing food with Joel and Amy Davis (ATH) at a vineyard on Waiheke Island. And then the amazing miracles that took place all along the way. People healed and delivered… so awesome.

You guys have such a rich and intense atmosphere in your music.  What are some of your influences?

Sigur Ros, The Foo Fighers, Coldplay, Copeland, Jimmy Eat World, This Will Destroy You, Explosions In The Sky, Thrice, Kings of Leon and many more.

I loved watching God at work, whenever your van broke down.  You guys put out a campaign on Indigogo to raise $12,000 and it was amazing to watch it all come together in the last 3 days.  What are some other challenges that you guys face as a band?

Yep the van was a big one, and thanks to the people that helped with the indiegogo, we have are looking for a new van at the moment! The main challenges we face are financial. Free downloads is a sacrfice. We have given away over 15,000 of our last EP. Donations for that record on Come&Live! was less that $300 so it kinda makes it hard to think about recording another record when you have made very little towards doing your next one…. But then again I know the Lord will provide for that. Sometimes I wonder about the balance between generosity and stewardship, we are working understand that as a band.

The music on the Finger Painting EP is beautiful.  Every song seems to flow right into the next one, the melodies and the vocals are perfect. What gave you the idea for the Finger Painting EP?

Thanks so much! The Finger Painting EP was actually going to be part of a huge double disk release but instead we thought it stood well on its own. That EP is what we played live for a good 6 months and the songs do flow so well into each other. It was really a cool time of writing for us. Finger Painting the instrumental song just actually happened one day spontaneously at band practice. Its is a very special song to us because there was something more than us involved in the creation of that song. We are thankful to have had such amazing experiences with the Lord in that song.

That would explain why it was so powerful during your show!

What has been one of the highlights of your career so far?

I think just watching the goodness of God continually unfold in our lives is amazing, it never ceases to amaze me.

Be the Domino that God uses to touch the lives of others (think domino effect)  What does that mean for you personally?

Honestly I hope our band, through the power of the Holy Spirit inspires other musicians and artist to step out and do what they have been called to do.

Thank you so much Jason for taking the time for this interview.

Come and Live is our featured ministry this month.  You can read our interview with Chad Johnson here

Tweet