Exclusive thebandwithnoname Interview

January 2004

On 21st January, 2004, word-on-the-web enjoyed chatting with chip K of thebandwithnoname. chip K - born in Florida but based in the UK - was fun to talk to, buzzing with excitement about his work for God, and he’s even going to be writing for word-on-the-web. To find out how thebandwithnoname started, how they came by that particular name and how they feel about the Bible, please read on…

On your new album, schizophrenix, there is a short track called “Prophecy”. Is that anything to do with the start of thebandwithnoname?

That is a recording of a prophecy that was given to me personally two years before I was asked to be in the band. Cindy Jacobs gave me the prophecy in January 1999 when I was in Uganda with my dad. She said I would be in a band that would go all over Europe and talk about purity and give kids a positive representation of Jesus. She also said we would be using a Roland in our recording. A couple of years later I found myself auditioning for this band. I went into producer Zarc Porter’s studio and I looked around and everything was a Roland. So I told him about the prophecy, and he said that sometimes God works in mysterious ways. Basically, thebandwithnoname is the touring band for a ministry called Innervation.

Why thebandwithnoname?

It started off as a marketing ploy. We somehow secured thebandwithnoname.com as a website and decided we were going to let our listeners choose a name for us. We had thousands of suggestions! We ended up putting ten of them on the website and we gave people a month or so to vote for one of the them. We put thebandwithnonmame up there as well, and 85% voted for it, so now we’re stuck with it! The name is good because as a band we’re not pointing people to us, we’re pointing to something bigger than us.

I noticed in the liner notes for your new CD there are references to Bible passages on every page. How important is the Bible in your ministry?

We love the Bible. It’s the best-selling book of all time. In our songwriting we will usually start off writing a song based around a theme, and that theme will usually be a topic that God’s speaking to us about or that our audience need to hear. That’s why you’ll find the Bible all over our liner notes. I solely rely on the Bible in so many ways. The Bible is like the bread of life. There’s so much depth in there. The Bible is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword. I can read a scripture one year and it means something to me then, then read the same one another year and it means something different. I know of no other book that is like that. It comes to life and it shapes you and can make you. I see the Bible as a great tool, the word of God that he’s given us, and I want to put it to good use.

word-on-the-web were co-sponsors of last year’s Revolution tour with yourselves, Yfriday and Steve. How did that go?

It was good. We really got to know those good, really brilliant guys, and a few of the guys from Steve sat down and had words of knowledge and prophecy for us. It became more and more like a family, especially towards the end. We managed to impact quite a few people on the tour, although we’re called to be an evangelistic band and most of the people in the audience were Christians.

Do you have anything coming up that you’d like our readers to know about?

We’ve got quite a bit coming up, especially festivals this summer. With the new album out, schizophrenix, we now have loads of new material that we need to choreograph and put together and decide how to perform. If people want more information on where we’re going to be, they can visit our website (thebandwithnoname.com). They could also go to Innervation’s website (www.innervation.org) where there’s details on how to audition for a schools band if that’s something they want to do.

chip K, thank you very much!

You can find a review of schizophrenix, and reviews of thebandwithnoname’s previous releases, at: our music review section.