Fono
http://www.fono.net
by Trisha Bleau

CS: Please share with us how your group formed and any changes it went through after forming.

Fono: We got together about 4 years ago. We all knew each other from our home town. The only change to happen was that we were joined by Thom on guitar about 18months ago. He came over to London on Holiday and we hooked up through a mutual friend and we really hit it off.

CS: What is the target audience for your group?

Fono: People who like music

CS: You say you are not a Christian band in you FAQ page but you are all Christians. Do you try to minister to those in need through your music or share the Gospel through it? Do you find yourselves writing music that has a Christian edge or do you focus on more secular sounding music?

Fono: Everyone is in need of something I guess and whether they get help from our music is hard for me to say. Loads of people get in touch with us and tell us how a certain song has helped them or moved them but we just write the songs that come genuinely from inside us and how they affect people happens on another level that we can't control. We don't set out to write songs with any particular style, we just write songs for everyone to listen too. People freak out about us saying we're not a Christian band, but we play loads of mainstream shows and we wouldn't get a look in if we announced ourselves as a Christian band. We're Christians as people and we don't need to tag our band up to gain approval from other Christians, I honestly don't care how they feel because we're the same people wherever we play a club or
a church...

CS: Does the fact that you don't classify yourself as a Christian band affect the way Christian labels or groups look at your group?

Fono: Not at all, these are all people we know personally and they know who we are as people and what we're about so they don't judge us the way some people do.

CS: Where do you see the band in five years? Ten? The future?

Fono: Haven't got a clue, we just take it as it comes and whatever God has planned will happen.

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

Fono: No, we're all old enough and sensible enough to look after each other, as I said before we're the same people whether we're in a church or a club, besides our wives always knock us down to size.

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

Fono: I like to think we're nice blokes, we always come out after we play and hang out with anyone who wants to meet us and have a chat. We're in it for people and love to meet them.

CS: If you could meet any one person, past, present or future, who would you meet? Why would you choose that person? What would you ask them?

Fono: I like this British snooker player called Jimmy White he always looks like fun and a nice bloke and it would be cool to just hang with him for a bit. I'd probably ask him to teach me a few snooker tips.

CS: What is the funniest thing you have seen while touring?

Fono: Our bass player jumped off the drum riser one night and vroke his leg and had to be taken away in an ambulance.

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

Fono: Don't know, He didn't tell me direct and whatever has happened is personal to whoever experienced it.

CS: Do you write your own music? Where do you get ideas for it?

Fono: Yes we write all our own stuff and it just comes from life really, anything that effects us from things we see and feel to movies to experiences to whatever.

CS: Do you ever get criticized for your lyrics?

Fono: Not alot really. We love to listen to music where you listen and try and get something personally out of a song and that's the type of people we appeal to. The people who like things to be spelled out in a 'no brain required' fashion don't appreciate us.

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

Fono: Thom's the only qualified man in the band the rest of us are pretty much self taught.

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

Fono: Not too much because we tour so much we don't really practice until we're putting new material together.

CS: How do you fill your spare time while on tour?

Fono: Reading, writing and fun.

CS: Do you find it strange to hear yourself singing on the radio or to see yourself in a video?

Fono: It was weird at the start but you get used to it. It's like you detach yourself from it and listen to it as though it's another artist.

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

Fono: We're working on new stuff for another record, which we'll start at the end of the year, we are talking some major labels right now about a deal also so we'll see what happens there.

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

Fono: See above

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

Fono: BE GOOD!!!!!