:: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 ::

Building 429 Interview
by Randy Brandt

Randy and Erika Brandt interviewed Building 429 on Tuesday at GMA 2005 in Nashville. The band consists of Jason Roy (vocals/guitar), Scotty Beshears (bass), Michael Anderson (drums), Paul Bowden (lead guitar) and newest member, Jesse Garcia (guitar, piano).

Note: Click for Randy's review of Building 429's CD Building 429 Extended Edition.

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The Interview

Michael: My name's Michael. I play drums for the band, and I've been in the band for almost three years now.

Scotty: I'm Scotty. I play bass, and I've been in the band since the beginning.

Paul: I'm Paul. I play guitar. I've been in the band for almost four years now.

Jesse: I'm Jesse. I play guitar and keys. I've been in the band for about eight months.

Jason: I'm Jason. I sing and play guitar. I've been there since the beginning, I think about five years.

Randy: Jason, you mentioned your son earlier. How old is he?

Jason: He's twenty months.

Randy: Twenty months. So, he was a little baby last year at GMA.

Jason: Yeah.

Randy: Things have probably changed a lot around the house this last year. With the band, it's obviously taken off since last year when I was going, "What's the banner?" (referring to the biggest banner at the GMA 2004). Then you get home and every time you turn on WAY-FM or whatever and you hear (Glory Defined). Were you touring a lot before it all hit? Did it make much of an impact? Have you picked up more dates, or found you've been gone from home a lot more?

Jason: We were touring quite a bit before it. We've definitely gone into turbo drive since. I don't know how else to say it. We were moving at a pretty quick pace. We'd just come off a tour with SONICFLOOd as an independent act about the time GMA hit, I think... I don't even know.

Scotty: That was our first signed tour, last spring.

Jason: During the spring was our first signed tour, so the fall before was the independent tour. Anyway, we've been busy, but obviously Glory Defined did what it did and it really kicked us into a higher gear. We're really playing a lot right now. The number I keep throwing out, and I'm pretty sure I need to go back and check, but I think since July, we've done probably near 130, 140 shows. We've been pretty busy, out on the road.

Scotty: Before we got signed, we played a 100, 120 shows a year. Then after Glory Defined, we're probably doing closer to 200.

Randy: About one a week more, plus some twos?

Jason: Yeah.

Randy: Anyone else have kids?

Scotty: Jason's the only one.

Randy: Jason's the only pop, huh?

Scotty: We have pets. Like cats. We don't have to change diapers!

Randy: Even if you miss them as much, it's not the same.

Scotty: Four of us are married. We do have families.

Randy: I imagine their schedule gets too crazy for them to come much.

Paul: They pretty much have to stay home and do full-time jobs.

Jason: We're still working really really hard to etch out a living. Hopefully we'll see that change in a bit.

Randy: And everyone in between who hears you all the time thinks, "Oh, look at those guys, making all the bucks." But really, you're just trying to get over the hump?

Scotty: We're still figuring out how we're going to pay rent.

Everyone: (laughing)

Jason: I think it's been good, though, because we've worked really hard this last year. You find out if you're really in it for the right reasons when you go out there and you play 200 shows and you're still barely making it. You find out if you really are in it for the ministry, because I could go work at the McDonald's and make more money.

Scotty: A lot less hours! Actually get a vacation.

Randy: Free Big Macs.

Scotty: Free Big Macs, there you go!

Randy: I almost didn't make it to GMA. I got stuck in a blizzard in Denver. I got stuck at the airport. I didn't come in until five in the morning. I thought, "This is probably the life of some musicians. Sitting at the airport at midnight, hoping the plane will roll out." That could get old really fast.

Jason: That's actually reality. Our bus broke down Saturday night. We were supposed to be here on Sunday and it broke down. That's pretty normal.

Randy: Are you guys playing this week?

Paul: We played last night.

Randy: Which showcase?

Scotty: World Vision.

Randy: There's so much going on it's hard to keep track of when people are playing.

Scotty: That's my favorite part of GMA--all the showcases. You get to see all your friends you've met in past years and stuff. The showcases are cool stuff.

Randy: The tough part, though, is like, "OK, my favorite band's here, my second favorite band is here," and it's like, "Who do I go see?" That kind of thing can be tough, but there's a lot of good bands. We're leaving early Wednesday; we're not sticking around for the awards, but I imagine with four nominations, you guys feel a obligation to hang around Wednesday night.

Scotty: We're actually presenting some awards, too.

Randy: Then you know you've almost arrived.

Scotty: We'd go anyway.

Jason: Paul, have you ever been to the Dove Awards before?

Paul: No, I've never been.

Jason: So the only person in the band that's ever actually been to the Dove Awards is Scotty.

Scotty: Yeah, I was nominated for like three last year.

Everyone: (laughter)

Randy: You and Jeremy Camp were fighting for that one award...

Scotty: Bassist of the year. Vocalist of the year.

Randy: I remember that. I was backstage last year. The buffet wasn't that great, so I thought, "I'll go back to Denver."

Everyone: (laughter)

Randy: I was noticing the song of the year, I have a pretty good idea which song they have in mind there, and the new artist, I would think Jeremy Camp would be nominated because he's been around for three or four years, and he got new artist.

Scotty: He's always awarded it.

Randy: Yeah, he's always up for new artist, kind of a defending champion.

Scotty: He won it last year.

Randy: I thought it was kind of like the Master's, where you try to keep the green jacket.

Scotty: Just keep getting nominated until you win.

Paul: For some reason, it seems like it is that way.

Randy: Yeah. It's like you have to be really established for a couple of years, and then you get new artist nomination. Of course, song of the year and album of the year--do you guys have any ideas or hopes, which one would mean the most to you? If you did get one of them or more, which category would be the most, or would just the idea of going up there be satisfactory, or do you care?

Scotty: I would think, just speaking for us, for Jason it would mean a lot to get song of the year, just because that would be a boost in his confidence, saying, "Okay, maybe I can write a little bit."

Randy: Are you saying he needs that?

Scotty: Jason's definitely a very gifted and talented guy, but he struggles just like everybody else, like with our own insecurities like, "Man, I don't really like my voice," for me, like, "I don't think I'm a very good bass player," or anything like that, but just to say, "Hey man, you're a great writer and here's some proof," I think it would mean a lot for him to win that. I think it would mean a lot for us as a group, to say, "Hey, you've got a gift there."

Paul: And it'd be an honor to get any of them.

Scotty: Honestly, I don't think we'll win any of them. Everybody that we're up against, not to say it's a competition, because we're all playing for the same team, but there's some great people out there that we really love and we'd love to see any of them, we'd be happy for any of them.

Randy: What are you guys presenting?

Jason: We'll find out tomorrow.

Scotty: It's most secretive. It's mucho hush-hush.

Randy: Only the auditor knows.

Scotty: Right.

Randy: I want to talk a little bit about Redeem the Vote. You guys were involved in that. I don't know if it was a whole band thing, or just one or two of you, but tell us a little bit about the Redeem the Vote program, project, whatever you want to call it. How'd you guys get involved with Redeem the Vote?

Jason: I think we've always been looking for ways to get involved outside of our music, and impact culture, and to always empower those that have our faith to go out and speak their hearts and be unashamed of who they are and what they believe. We heard about the Redeem the Vote thing that was going on. I think we were all excited about it because it gave us a chance to say, "Yes, what you say does matter. And this country is what you make it. If you go out and vote then you can make it what you want it to be." We've grown up and heard all of our lives how, "I can't believe what this country's turned into. I can't belive this is happening or that is happening." Well, how about you just do something about it and stop whining? That's something we really feel like for us, in particular, it's just an extension of our ministry to go out and say, "Hey, you have power. It's in your hands. Just go out and use it."

What's crazy about it is that somehow, we actually saw results from what we did. While I was doing it, I was pretty passionate about it, while we were doing it, we were pretty passionate about it, but I don't know that we even really thought that we would get tangible results from it. We were just raising awareness. Pretty amazing, actually to see results come out of it. I'm pretty excited about the opportunity to do it again the next time it comes around. We don't jump on everything. There have been lots of different things that have been thrown at us, with someone saying, "Hey, this is pretty cool. What do you think about it?" It just happened that that was one of the things we were pretty passionate about, so we stood on it.

Randy: It was worth getting behind that one.

Jason: Yeah.

Randy: Are they doing it basically every four years or are they an ongoing organization with lots of stuff going on in between, working behind the scenes?

Scotty: They do a lot of local stuff, like the local elections and all that, which goes on every two years.

Jason: They're working on an education program right now just to encourage kids with education. It's another extension of Redeem the Vote.

Randy: Where are they headquartered?

Jason: Alabama.

Randy: Are you guys originally from there?

Jason: We started in North Carolina.

Scotty: Jesse's from Texas and Jason is...

Jason: Dual citizenship.

Scotty: ...he's got Texas and North Carolina. He kind of spends time in both places, which is how we know Jesse.

Randy: Both places you've got the pickup truck with the gun rack.

Scotty: Yeah, right!

Randy: You never know what the guy's packing beneath the seat.

Scotty: Even if you don't have a gun, you have a gun rack with your umbrella up there. It's just common sense.

Jason: We went country there, didn't we!

Randy: Well I figured from the press kit with Scotty, I think he made a comment in one of them at some point about being just a good ol' country boy.

Scotty: Well, if you listen to me talk, you can kind of tell.

Randy: How many generations back to find the moonshiners?

Scotty: About two.

Everyone: (laughter)

Scotty: If you look really hard, maybe one.

Randy: Poking around the old farmstead...

Everyone: (laughter)

Randy: Speaking of songs, and song of the year and that, I just wanted to talk about the songwriting process, how involved you guys all are in that. Music first, then the band comes up with something, and then you come up with lyrics, Jason. Is that kind of how it works?

Jason: It's been very different.

Scotty: I would say on the first project, like I said before, Jason's a very gifted writer, and he came up with pretty much all of the ideas, and then he would bring them to the table in the rough form, basically, a basic core structure and melody and lyrics and all that, and we kind of work them out as a band, just adding our different parts. The structure was pretty much already there on the first album. The second album's a little bit different. It's pretty much the same concept, but you have a lot more ideas floating around, but Jason's still the main, primary writer.

Jason: It's kind of neat on this project in particular. There's a lot of stuff, like he said--not a lot, but I do a fair share of stuff on my own, bring it in and say, "Okay guys, what do you want to do with this? We actually did a session not to long ago where we went to a studio, rented it out and we just took two days and said, "Okay, what you got?" And we kind of looked around the room and came out with ten rough songs for a record. We're going to have around thirty, maybe thiry-five songs to choose from by the time we're done.

Randy: When are you getting serious on that one?

Michael: We start recording in May.

Jason: It's pretty serious right now.

Jason: We got three weeks to get it all figued out what we want to put on the record and everything. It's kind of exciting. It's different. It's a new day, it's a challenge.

Randy: Was the first album a lot of stuff that had been accumulated over the years, or was it pretty quick for Space In Between Us?

Jason: I'm pretty sure it only has two songs that were songs that had been around.

Randy: I meant on Space In Between Us. Was that one a collection, or new stuff, or was that what you were referring to?

Jason: That's what I was referring to. It has two songs on it--Show Me Love, and Spirit Lives On. Those are the only two songs that written six months before.

Randy: So, unlike a lot of bands where the debuts accumulate over the years, and the second one you never know what to expect because things change so much in five years, or whatever...

Scotty: Well, what's funny about this band is, like, all the old stuff, we consider it old.

Jason: We did some independent projects. We hear constantly, "What about that song?" We want to make an album, I heard Johnny Reznick say this, "An album is a picture book of where you are now." That's what that really is. That's a picture book of where we were then, that's what this will be again, when we make this next record.

Randy: Musically, are there some changes in the new one? You added Jesse, so...

Jason: He don't do nothing special, though.

Michael: He's not very good at the piano or guitar, either.

Scotty: We felt sorry for him.

Randy: It's like you're Redeeming the Vote, then you feel you have to put your faith into action to help the poor musician.

Jason: The music's not going to change, it's going to expand quite a bit. A lot of extra elements added on top of the core of what we started with.

Randy: Who's producing?

Jason: A guy named Monroe Jones.

Randy: Third Day.

Jason: Yup.

Randy: So he's used to working with good ol' boys?

Jason: Yeah. Oh yeah. He's used to turning in pretty good projects, too.

Randy: Is he in Atlanta?

Jason: No, he lives here.

Randy: Everyone in the band living here now?

Everyone: Yeah.

Randy: That works out well with recording, you get to see your family. Well, you get to sleep in the same house as your family, but you don't get to see them.

Jason: One of the things on the last project, we just worked crazy hours trying to get it done. And on this one, Monroe's very much a family man. We're going to try to keep regular hours, we're going to rent out a house and just camp out.

Randy: It worked for Third Day.

Jason: It worked!

Randy: Who came up with the name of the band? Obviously, it makes sense once you realize it's coming out of Ephesians 4, but whose idea was that?

Jason: My wife.

Scotty: The brains behind the man!

Jason: That's right!

Randy: The weird thing is, every time he gets a great idea and you try to ask for details, he's got to call home real quick.

Jason: We were looking for a band name, and she mentioned that, "You guys should do something with '429'." We were like, "Why?"

Scotty: We were actually like, "No," not why.

Jason: It wasn't why. "Another number band? No."

Randy: At least you didn't call it Blink-429.

Jason: What's really funny that we would name ourselves that and use it about a year, and then it finally occurred to me, "Oh my gosh, there's a band out there called Blink-182."

Jesse: Tree 63!

Randy: Hey, what counts is the music, right? A great name and a lousy band doesn't cut it. If they're producing good music, who cares what they're called?

Scotty: Like U2, man. What the heck...? People all the time ask us, "What is a building 429?" Believers and non-believers.

Randy: It's near Area 51, right? UFO thing.

Paul: We get to spout out some Scripture and say, "We stand behind this thing that's there to help lift up others."

Randy: That's a cool way to be able to pull in the Scriptural aspect of it. You get some kids even, just to look it up, you tell them it's Ephesians 4, and they look it up, that's progress every time they crack the Word. Let's talk a little bit about ministry aspects as far as, obviously a lot of Christian bands are concerned about ministry, or else they wouldn't be in it, or at least that's the politically correct thing to say. I think there are a lot that legitimately do want to minister to kids. You talked about that being your Mission Statement, but obviously meeting with kids, after a show or whatever, knowing that will have an impact, knowing there's kids struggling, whether they're high school or college or old people like me, music still has an impact on all ages. What do you kind of see as the core group you're trying to reach? Are you just trying to play good music and hope someone's influenced, or do you kind of have a demographic that you have a special heart for a certain age group?

Jason: The demographic that we try to focus on is the college-age, young adult age group, and sometimes that spills over into high school. That's where we focus, and I think the Lord has definitely given us the ability to focus in on other demographics as well, but that is our personal focus group. It's mostly because those are the times when people decide if their faith is their own. They decide if they believe what they've been told their whole life. If we can have some sort of an impact on them, steer them in the right direction through the music they love, that's what we want to do.

Scotty: We just try to be honest in our writing, and Jason with his lyrics, just trying to be honest and personal. There's a lot of things out there in the world that someone could grasp on to. There's a lot of voices running around. We're just trying to be one of those voices people grab on to and find something meaningful and hopeful.

Randy: Great!

Scotty: Thank you, Randy.

Everyone: Thanks!

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