Irish rock team CLAY were quizzed by Tony Cummings.
When Mike Rimmer did his survey of Ireland in Cross Rhythms 54, one band missing from that fascinating look at the Irish scene were rock team Clay. Now with the band set to make their live debut in England at the Cross Rhythms festival, this seemed a good moment to shoot some questions at the band's Rossy Alexander and James Adamson
Mike: Can you give a brief history of Clay?
(Rossy) "The band
started in the summer of '96. It was formed by myself, James, Michael
Blakeley and Davy Graham. It was a peculiar scenario due to the fact
that we were all guitarists! Davy volunteered to take up the bass,
Michael and James decided to split the lead vocal position and I
stayed on the guitar. The vacant spot for a drummer was filled by a
young lad called David Jamison whom we knew from church. The band was
formed simply to reach young people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The current line up of the band is James on lead vocals and guitar;
David on drums; Catherine Jamison, who became a permanent member
during the recording of 'We Can See', on lead vocals and backing
vocals, and myself on guitar. Due to our original bassist leaving the
band in February we are currently rehearsing with a new bassist and we
are hoping and praying that things work out with him that he might
become a permanent member."
Mike: The 'We Can See' album was a bit of a hit on Cross
Rhythms radio with the song "Big Blue Sky" getting some airplay. Did
you expect it to do so well?
(Rossy) "No! I think
initially we thought it was a good album but within a few weeks of
releasing it we all cringed every time we heard it. I think looking
back now I would say yeah, it wasn't a bad album, but we did make a
lot of mistakes that we have hopefully learned from. Soon after the
album was released Michael left the band. We then made the decision to
stop gigging and pour ourselves into prayer and seeking God. It sounds
very spiritual and pious but in all honesty it was a long, terrifying
experience during which our faith and dependence on God deepened
greatly. Our chief desire was that the Lord would make us into more
than just a band. We seriously desired to be a ministry and that
simply meant we had to please and obey him, and speaking reverently we
had to learn to 'perform' to him over and above anybody else."
Mike: Where did you get your name from?
(Rossy)
"Our name is taken from John chapter nine. It is a marvellous chapter
where Jesus opens the eyes of a man who was blind from birth, by
spitting on the ground and making clay with his saliva and the dust of the
earth and then anointing the eyes of the man with the clay. It is our prayer
that the Lord would take us as the dust of the earth and pour his
Spirit upon us and use us to open the eyes of many young people that
they might see Jesus, the real Jesus, the Jesus that heals and
forgives and gives abundant life to all who come to him."
Mike: How would you describe your music?
(James)
"I would like to think that our songs are 'in your face' both
musically and spiritually. There isn't really much room left for
originality within music these days but I think our style is varied
enough to offer something for everyone. Major influences in the past
would have been the early '90s 'Seattle scene'; bands like Pearl Jam,
Nirvana and Soundgarden.etc. Nowadays it would mainly be Rich Mullins,
Mitch McVicker, and Sonicflood, etc."
Mike: Tell me about some of the songs you are currently
performing.
(James) "Two songs which really stand out
for me would be 'Reality' and 'Make Me'. Both deal with the subject of
being broken enough in the eyes of God in order for him to have the
freedom to make you into what he wants you to be. Inspiration would
come to me from the pulpit or from reading the Scriptures, but I also
believe the Lord can open your eyes to a situation or a need within
somebody, and that can lead to a song being written that will touch
someone in a very personal way."
Mike: We get the impression on the mainland that there is a
lot of resistance in the Irish churches to Christians playing
contemporary music. Is that so?
(Rossy) "Yeah, I would
say there is some resistance to CCM in this country and I think that
Christian bands do have to accept some of the responsibility for that
resistance. If we aren't delivering a clear cut message then it's hard
to distinguish us from the secular scene which leads to the Church in
general forming the opinion that we're just emulating the world or
being part of the world. The Word of God explicitly states that we are
meant to be salt and light, and the Church is supposed to be founded
on that Word so they have every right to be wary of the CCM scene. But
it also works the other way in that there are bands going into bars
and clubs and being a tremendous witness to Jesus Christ and the
Church has a duty to recognise and encourage this. I think I would sum
it up by saying that if there was less of the profound and more of the
prophetic then the Church would have no choice but to listen and
consider."
Mike: What's your vision for the future?
(James)
"Our vision is simply to be more like Jesus, individually and
collectively, and that we could accomplish great things for the honour
and glory of his name. I think we have all realised that record deals
and world tours don't really amount to much if you fail to glorify the
name of Christ, and even though we do want all those things, we want
to be servants of Christ first and foremost."