Tree 63

By Julie Cook Hess  

To countless fans around the world, John Ellis, Darryl Swart, and Daniel Ornellas together are also known as the talented, three-piece band called Tree63.  The band originally hails from Durban, South Africa. They first rose to fame in 2001, winning awards within the Christian music industry. These Dove award-winning artists have weathered the ups and downs in a fickle industry.  Join us as we interview front man John Ellis and he shares the group’s story with The Christian Pulse.  Enjoy! 

TCP: Your group seems to constantly be on tour.  Do you find it difficult at times to be away from friends and family while you’re on the road?  What is tour life really like?
JE: To be honest, touring is fun when you’re young and single, but brutal when you’re an older, married parent. The older you get, even in the relatively tender early-30’s, the harder touring is on your body, health, spiritual and emotional well-being. And on your family, who always get left behind. There is absolutely zero glamour in touring, and anyone who tries to refute that is trying to sell you something.
 
TCP: Your most recent album is Worship Vol 1: I Stand For You which combines some previously released songs along with some new ones. The title clearly describes it as a worship album. With that being said, I noticed that “Blessed Be Your Name” was left off the play list.  Why was this popular worship song not included on the new CD?  Is it being reserved for a Worship Vol 2 CD?
JE: I made a conscious decision to leave our live version of “Blessed” off that album, mainly to point to the fact that there’s so much more to Tree63 than that song. We’re not a cover band, and we existed a long time before we had a hit with “Blessed.” We’ve had hits of our own so I wanted to remind our newer fans that we have a history, and that we exist apart from our version of a popular congregational worship song.
 
TCP: Tree63 has been blessed with numerous hits since the release of the first album in the early 2000s.  How has the growing popularity of your group and the success of your 4+ albums affected your songwriting along the way?  Do you feel torn at times between writing material to reach unbelievers and keeping your fans happy?
JE: Yes, very much so… good question! Unfortunately most of the pressure comes from the Christian music industry itself, where in order to sustain a career, a writer is asked to tailor his creativity to the demands of radio, which are very narrow. I definitely feel that I compromised for a few years, and I’m not really proud of a lot of my writing since 2002’s The Life And Times Of Absolute Truth,” which up until now is still our high watermark. However, our new album, Sunday!, is much more true to what we started with for believers and non-believers alike!
 
TCP: I’ve read that your name, Tree63, relates to your original band name, Tree and Psalm 63.  In Psalm 63, the psalmist proclaims his confidence in God while facing trials in the desert.  As a band, what have been some of the biggest hurdles you have had to overcome so far?  Have you faced any hurdles specifically because you are Christian artists?
JE: No specific hurdles other than being passed over specifically because we’re so-called “Christian artists.” There’s a bit of a persecution complex within CCM, and even a bit of pride that comes along with that, that the mainstream rejects Christian music because of Christ. The biggest hurdles our band has faced have been everyday ones: trying to survive in a foreign culture, trying to maintain relationships and marriages amidst the pressures of a very demanding job.
 
TCP: Has there ever been a struggle or failure that you have endured that has led directly to God writing a song on your heart?  And if so, what was that song and how have you seen God “work together for good” what came out of your pain?
JE: I’m sorry to have to be honest here, but it really seems so tasteless when artists mine their real life experiences for songs to make money out of. I’m grossly generalizing, I know, but I’m less and less comfortable with trivializing the deepest trials and tribulations of my life by turning them into pop music. That’s one of the many things wrong with modern Christian culture right now.
 
TCP: From time to time, I'm sure you've had fans tell you that your music has helped change their lives.  I imagine hearing something like that would be pretty humbling.  Can you recall one moment you would like to share with me that was particularly meaningful to you and your band?
JE: It’s usually older people, and usually moms, who’ve lost in life, either a job or a spouse or a marriage or a child, who are gently encouraged by “Blessed Be Your Name.” That song just reminds them that there is a bigger picture than their own immediate feelings of grief. Although I didn’t write that song, I’m great friends with Matt and Beth and I know what they’ve had to crawl through to write something like that and so I’m glad that our simple version of their song found its way into so many people’s lives and gave them a glimmer of hope, no matter how dim.

For more on this talented trio, visit: www.tree63.com and check out their inspirational music.

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