Charles Wilson of Advant Point
by Trisha

CS: Please share with us how your group formed.

CW: Advant Point was formed over a long period of time by two people: Charles {the Guitarist-Singer-Songwriter} and Rod Jurrens, {the Bass Player with the nice studio}.

CS: How long have you been together?

CW: As two people we have practiced and refined the music to these songs for over 10 years. This may seem odd, but some of this time was when Rod and I were in successful regional secular band together. It was then that Rod told me he was a Christian and we both talked about how much secular lyrics bothered us.

CS: How long has the group been in existence, not counting any possible changes in members?

CW: We were intent on doing a diverse array of original music that had only Christian Lyrics. We scheduled a few different people to try out. Some of these did not want to play in any 'Religious Venues' and some did not show up. In early 1999 we auditioned Kevin and that worked. In the summer of 1999 after two previous keyboard tryouts, we found our current Keyboardist. At first because of the difficulty in finding a keyboard player who fit in, Rod and I were not going to look for a fourth member. The third member, the drummer Kevin, really pushed for us to keep trying to find someone to play keyboards.

CS: What kind of relationship do you all have with one another? Are you one big happy family?

CW: All the positive and negative things about being human flows over into any band. The frailty of the human body, and sometimes the spirit, does not stop when you have a band. I try to be a mediator now. There can certainly be conflicts in bands. In ours there may be some about the music and musicianship, but I think we get along well. Four people are better than three people, because one can find another to relate to.... I think I have better relationships now with this band than any I have been in. But sometimes I am prideful ... pride is dangerous to relations....

CS: What is the main focus in your ministry? Teens? The lost? The hurting? Why did you decide up on this as a focus?

CW: Yes, all of that but right now we do not really have a specific focus for our ministry. All of our time and efforts have been spent on music and lyrics composing and refining. Our message is that a diverse musical journey can be intellectually fun and Christian lyrics can be interesting and moving.

CS: For those who have not seen your website could you please explain what your group's name means?

CW: Advant Point can mean Heaven, the Point at which Christ Returns, where God looks down from above; or other things.... the name may seem vague but it is meant to not limit our musical borders. ... We are dedicated to creating a fusion of Christian Music such as fusing Jazz, Gospel, Blues, Rock and other influences.

CS: Where did you come up with it?

CW: The name is a purposeful, confusing, play on words.... I thought about if for a long time and tried to come up with a name that may not mean anything much to the average person. WHY? Because a name can hold you within a genre of music. Since we use diverse percussion and rhythm in some Jazz, Blues, Rock and Techno, the word "POINT" was intended to hint at percussion and/or 'counterpoint' and a sort of a timing thing. The word 'Advant', well, can mean a beginning, or like ascend, or arising like Jesus did when he rose up from the grave, and maybe in an off the wall way, the name sometimes hints at a sport, Tennis - Advantage Point; Basketball Point Guard, or ART, Advant Guard, etc. etc

CS: Do you ever worry about getting caught up in the world of show biz? Will that success change your group?

CW: I don't foresee this as a problem because we are all married and have families and our Faith, Churches, families and jobs all come first. But I do think the experience in secular music will have a mellowing affect.

CS: What kind of relationship do you maintain with your audiences? Do you fellowship with them? Or do you remain distant as the performer?

CW: Sometimes I think I am one to try joke around I am very intent on making 'being cool' NOT IMPORTANT". One of our songs "To Be Saved ... You Don't Have To Be Cool" Talks about I cant Rock I cant Roll, I dance like a fool, but to be saved by the grace of Jesus I don't have to be cool. I try to find a common level relational scene. I believe we are all sinners and children. God's Kids can have fun and get forgiven. They are not given the adult sentence of death to the soul for sin, since we are all God's Juveniles???? (laughs again).

CS: If you could meet any one person, past, present or future, who would you meet?

CW: In the physical sense---- most assuredly I would want to meet JESUS?

CS: If you could ask Jesus any one question, what would you ask?

CW: How to spiritually and physically overcome pain as pain makes its way into our lives.

CS: When did you feel called to perform in a group like this? Have you felt God's hand guiding you towards this all along?

CW: Yes, I feel that God must want me and us to say something and to use our musical talents to touch people.

CS: What is the biggest thing God has done during one of your performances?

CW: I can't say right now sorry

CS: Where do you get ideas for your music?

CW: Fusion is what we try to do so ideas come from all various styles. For instance one song we do "Twisted Street" has a blues part to a waltz beat within a song that is almost all Latin-sounding in the main body.... Another song, "Between The Lines" has light vocals, and yet influences from Heavy Blues, Jazz and maybe some Power Rock!

CS: How would you describe your music style?

CW: FUSION all the way our songs all have at least two genres infused into them.

CS: Are you involved in your own home churches?

CW: Yes, we all are. Rod is also in SoulCraft another band that plays a lot of worship music, Ken works hard in his church on a bunch of different things, Kevin also does things there (they are from the same Church) I run a projection system in my church ....... IT"S FUN!

CS: What is your musical background? Did you take lessons to gain the musical skills you have now?

CW: Ken-keyboardist-probably has the most academic and literate musical background. Next, I would say Kevin the Drummer has a strong formal music background. Rod has learned to read music for bass and drums over a period of years. Me? In spite of my singer song-writer spot, I am almost musically illiterate (laughs), but by ear and knowledge of different things I have learned over 20 years in music, I know quite bit about composing and adding parts and I come from a musical family.

CS: How much time do you spend practicing as a group? How much time do you practice individually?

CW: Sometimes we only get in only three practices a month. Sometimes four. This makes for slow going. I do things related this project, such as communications, practice guitar and write parts each day.

CS: Do you have an accountability partner or prayer partner to keep you encouraged and uplifted?

CW: If I have one it is one of my pastors in church or in the Band 'Rod'.

CS: What is the latest news on your group? Any new CD's to be released soon?

CW: No, we are new in terms of progress, and busy people so this is going slow.... But we have hopes and dreams .....

CS: Any plans to sign with a major Label in the near future?

CW: We would like to, but if not, we will produce our own CD.

CS: Do you have any advice to give to the youth of our world?

CW: Being cool or trying to be cool and part of the elite Popular Crowd is a waste of time. I see the 'cool clubs' forming in schools, churches and the workplace. This can be sort of anti-Christian. But of course we can be forgiven. In a Christian sense we must ask just, "What is Cool?" Try to relate to someone who you don't think is in a cool group. Let it go.

Be humble think about how really important you are to Jesus just as you are a sinner, not how important you are to the world of over 4 billion people. Jesus could have had a palace on earth filled with servants. It seemed like the Roman's thought he was 'cool'. But he chose to walk the dusty roads with some very 'un-cool' people, some made a living fishing. He tried to bridge ethnic, gender, age and religious lines. "All of us are sinners", sinning is not cool, SO let those of us who have not been cool cast the first stone. Feeling better than someone else goes against the teachings of Jesus. We are equal in sin and in salvation potential. We are equal in riches and titles since in a way God is the master of everything and we are all his Children. Sometimes an analogy must be made to our physical lives here on Earth. Another way to look at it is that throughout the Bible we are called children old through New Testament. There is certainly a reason for this. Compared to the power and clear thoughts-as one-of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit even the wisest of us are still mere intellectual and spiritual children. Did you ever think your teachers or parents acted immature at a certain time? I did when I was a teen. Find the most successful and educated person in any country and any gender, I'm sure we could find something childlike about them.....