CCK Life blog

Home-grown talent, Lou Fellingham has just recorded her third solo album, ‘Step into the Light’ which will be available for purchase on May 17th. Lou sits down with Emily Sneyd to chat about the album and the upcoming album launch gig on May 24th.

Hi Lou! Everyone’s very excited about the new album, can you tell me a little about what to expect?

With my albums, I usually want to get a balance between songs that can be easily sung in Church, and songs that encourage people in their personal walks with God. I’m a real gospel girl; I love to sing about it and to see people responding to it through worship.
It’s an exciting album for me, as Nathan and I worked with the fantastic Gary Sadler to do the actual song-writing, then we recorded it in Eastbourne and it was mixed in America. I also invited some friends who are members of CCK to form a small choir to do backing vocals on some of the tracks, which was great fun to record.

Tell me about some of the tracks!

The album kicks off with the track ‘There is more’ which is a song about the gospel, and about the riches we can discover in Christ, if we respond to God’s call.  There are a couple of tracks which are great for Church worship like ‘Holy holy holy’ and ‘To God be the Glory’, which is a re-vamped, up-tempo version of an old classic.

‘Our God cares’ is a wonderful song that I actually wrote for a recently bereaved friend of mine. She isn’t a Christian, and it was so hard to watch her suffering and not know what to say, so I told her what I do know, in song; that God cares very deeply when we’re struggling through times of hardship and he yearns to comfort us through those times.

‘This is the day’ is about making time to be still and to bring the day before God in praise, before launching into it, and ‘To him who is able’ takes wonderful scripture from the book of Jude about our complete salvation and how amazing it is that we can come into God’s presence.

‘Step into the light’ is a plea for Christians to not let sin win or get bogged down in guilt and shame that results from that- it’s a realisation of the freedom that we have in Christ and the incredible love and forgiveness gifted to us in that.

There are some very relational songs on the album, of which ‘Christ in me’ is one, which speaks of the truth of who we are in God, and being assured of our hope in him through every circumstance.  ‘Amazing God’ is a new arrangement of a song written by my husband, Nathan, and ‘Let it Shine’ is a fun, up-tempo one about living for God now. It’s been so blindingly evident to me over the last few years that life is so fragile, and over so quickly that we need to immerse ourselves in the light of His truth.

Do you have any favourite tracks among them?

No! I actually love every single one for completely different reasons. Any friends of mine would tell you that I’m just terrible at picking favourites- even with my shoes! I think that with this album though, I would recommend people listen to ‘Our God cares’ as it’s such an important message- we sometimes forget how much He loves and cares for us when times are hard.

How do you go about writing your songs? Do the words come to you first, or the melody?

It’s a bit of both really. I tend to get the beginnings of a song – maybe a chorus or verse  in my head as I’m walking along or in the car, and then I sing it into my phone so I won’t forget it!  Then we sit down to concentrate on developing the song from that start point.  I always have an idea of what the song will be about, but I have a lot of creative input from others, which in this case was Nathan and Gary. I would definitely call it my album but they helped a lot to shape the songs and the album as a whole and it’s a real team effort -we wrote 9 songs in 3 days this time around!

Sheesh! Much coffee was needed there, I imagine. And how would you say this album compares to the other two in terms of style?

I think the feedback so far has been that it sounds fresh- perhaps slightly more raw than the last two albums.  It has been really fantastic to work with someone like Gary to get the songs really strong in the first place and then Mark Edwards (who produced the album) to get the arrangements really solid. We’re so excited to see what God does with it. I really hope the songs get used in churches and that God speaks to people through them.

How does it work with splitting time between working on solo material vs. working on stuff for Phatfish?

When it comes to recording albums, we generally alternate between the two, and we’ll be hoping to start work on a new Phatfish album later in the year as well, which we’re looking forward to. When playing live, it’s always the six of us (Phatfish) who play, whether we’re doing a ‘Phatfish’ event or a ‘Lou Fellingham’ event and we’ll often mix the songs up as well. It’s really all the same vision and heart – like two sides of the same coin.  In reality, most of my time is filled up with mum stuff actually as Nathan and I have two young children!

And you’re also 8 months pregnant! Are things going to tone down for a while when the new baby arrives?

In a word…no, not really! We’ve got lots of conferences coming up throughout the summer, including of course Newday, which is in August. We’ve got lots of gigs booked for the autumn too- I think every Friday night is booked in-between September and December! But God’s blessed us with such a great support network of friends and family who help us out a lot; I couldn’t leave the kids with just anyone- they have to be people that the kids trust and love. We really work hard to work the diary in a way that serves our family – and the kids love coming away to conferences with us.  We also make sure that Nathan and I both take holidays off to spend quality time with the kids.

Tell me about the gig- why should people buy tickets!?

Well, the Komedia is a great venue, and it’s going to be such a unique event. We’re going to play the entire album which is a rarity in itself, and the first time that songs are played live, there is such a buzz in the air! The arrangements of the new songs have all been done by Mark Edwards ,  so we’re really looking forward to recreating all of it live. It’s going to be a real celebration with some old favourites being played too- I’m so looking forward to it! I love singing live -  to be honest more than recording – because you can really engage with people, and that’s when the songs truly come to life.

Well, I can’t wait!  Thanks so much for your time, Lou.

If you want to purchase tickets for the album launch gig on May 24th at the Komedia in Brighton then please follow this link: www.phatmusic.net/tickets

Excerpts from the article:

“We want young people to enjoy church. That might seem a weird thing to some people, but we’re seeing more and more young people from teenagers into their 20s wanting to get closer to God,” he added.

Thousands of young people from Norfolk and across the UK are expected to descend upon Norwich for the six day festival, with highlights including music and preaching from Simon Bradling, Lou Fellingham, Adrian Holloway, Phatfish and Matt Redman.

Newday was set up by preacher Joel Virgo with a vision to restore the Church to a worldwide audience through the eyes of young people.

To read the complete article, please click here.

Yohaan Philip will be live blogging during Newday on the ccklife blog.

Stuart Townend is known and respected around the world as one of the leading worship songwriters of his generation. Some of Stuart’s songs include In Christ alone, How deep the Father’s love, The Power Of The Cross and Beautiful Saviour. If you’ve heard any of his songs (and there’s a strong chance you probably have!) you’ll know that there’s a theological richness to his lyrics as well as a depth of understanding of the Trinitarian God who we are called to worship. Stuart regularly attends and leads worship at Church of Christ the King. He is married to Caroline and they have three children – Joseph, Emma and Eden. Yohaan Philip, chief editor of the ccklife blog, recently had the privilege of interviewing Stuart and writes:

The first time I listened to In Christ Alone is still such a vivid memory in my mind. It just opened up the cross of Christ to me. It was one of those moments I’d cherish all my life. What a song! There’s something about engaging with glorious truths about God that leaves you awestruck. It’s tough to describe what’s going on in that moment. Stuart’s songs are soaked with doctrinal truths that leave you with a sense of wonder at the majestic God who is mindful of us. When you interact with Stuart, you can’t help but being caught up in his love for Jesus. I want what he has! Stuart’s oldest son, Joseph, is a dear friend. We often have ‘theological discussions’ (when he’s not making you laugh with his wit that is!) and there’s an understanding of God that this young man has which is testimony to the input his father has had in his life. it leads me to my first question..

YP: It’s been great seeing Joseph and Eden play along side you on Sundays. They’re both top quality musicians. You must be a proud dad!
ST: Yes, I am proud of them. Joseph has been playing drums with me for some time now. He’s always been a very solid player, but he’s grown a lot in the last year in terms of sensitivity to the dynamics of a worship time – when to play out, when to pull back, and so on. Eden is only 13, but he’s already showing a tremendous dexterity and sense of rhythm in his playing, so I’m
looking forward to getting him more involved. And I haven’t used Emma at CCK yet, but she’s a pretty mean keyboard player…

YP: Your song In Christ Alone, has touched lives all over the world. How did you come about to write the song?
ST: The song began in a very ordinary way. I had just met Keith Getty for the first time over a coffee at a conference, and he promised to send me some melodies he’d written. So when the CD arrived in the post, I put it on, and was really bowled over by the very first melody; it had a hymn-like stateliness, but a very powerful dynamic and a beautiful celtic feel that made it really memorable. So I immediately decided this ‘timeless’ melody needed a timeless theme, and got to work on a lyric that would take us through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, and what that means for us. It was slow going at first, but I have to admit, by the time I got to the fourth verse I was getting very excited!

It is astounding to both Keith and me how the song has been received. We still get lots of emails and letters about how the song has helped people at times of crisis in their lives, and it’s very humbling to know God is still using it.

YP: The In Christ Alone tour looks very promising! Can you tell me more about it?
ST: It’s actually the continuation of a tour we began last year, which took in venues like Liverpool Cathedral, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, and the SECC in Glasgow. This time we’re at The Waterfront, Belfast, Londonderry, Chessington, Ipswich, Dundee… And our very own Brighton Dome on 27th June! For those who want to come, tickets are available from the Dome box office,
or http://www.brightondome.org, or by phone on 01273 709709. Details of other gigs are available from the www.gettymusic.com website.

YP: You are quite involved with the CCK album, ‘Have You Heard’ which is being launched in July. There’s quite a buzz going around CCK about this new album!
ST: I have to confess I haven’t heard the finished mixes, but everybody who has seems to be raving about it! Simon Brading, Lou Fellingham and Phatfish, and myself all led worship over two nights at CCK, under the creative eye of producer Mark Edwards. It’s fair to say that we are all used to arranging and playing on live albums, but I think Mark helped us to take the songs in a fresh creative direction, and the result is an album that, while capturing the vitality of a worship time, has a musical edge and creativity that makes it a bit special.

YP: We see Stuart the worship leader. Can you tell me more about your personal walk with Jesus?
ST: My Dad was an Anglican vicar, so I was brought up going to church, and understanding what it really meant to be a Christian, because I could see the reality of it in my parents’ lives. But as I became a teenager I began to realise that, although I was surrounded by lots of Christian ’stuff’, there was no internal reality to it – I felt I was still on the outside looking in, if you like – and I knew I had to give my life to Christ. And that’s what I did, and the reality of knowing Him personally completely
turned me around.

And since then, in all the ups and downs, the joys and the sorrows, I’ve found God to be constant in His love and faithfulness, and I can trust Him with every day, whatever the situation.

Phatfish are back! With the release of ‘In Jesus’, their latest album, comes the welcome return of the Brighton based song-smiths and a return to the youthful and vigorous sounds that made their 2001 release Heavenbound so successful; due in part to the injection of two new guitarists, Jos Wintermeyer and Ben Hall.

The album is yet another uplifting demonstration of the bands faithful commitment to presenting the truth of Christ, and is arguably their best work yet. This is the next chapter in the success story of this prolific band and is sure to contribute another set of soul-strengthening songs to fans old and new. From the blues-rock title track In Jesus, with its grungy rock guitars, chunky Hammond and shatteringly lucid presentation of the gospel, to the equally driving and compelling Mission - the album travels and journeys through a diverse soundscape with the ease and dexterity that fans have come to expect. Lou’s vocals are as soaring and accomplished as they have ever been, negotiating this fresh set of melodies with perfect clarity, while the rest of the band play with a zeal and energy that belies any assumption of the bands slowing down. This is Phatfish as we know and love them.

The lyrics are wonderfully potent; free from over poeticism and needless embellishment, they present the truths of scripture in the typical no-nonsense way that makes their work so edifying to listen to. A lyrical highlight is Lou Fellingham’s If I Have Not Love, a song that unassumingly echoes Paul’s sentiment in 1 Corinthians 13, and brings an honest, down to earth concession of our need to love and serve with Christ as our great example. Mike Sandeman’s Pardoned is another real highlight, and is the most anthemic on the album. With its quasi-hymnal passages and huge sound, the song is another spectacularly clear declaration of God’s great salvation plan. The final 2 minutes of the track are about as epic as you can get, with stunningly ethereal guitar and powerful drumming underscoring Lou’s inescapable line “All my sins are washed away, through your death, the price you paid”. A special moment in a fantastic song.

This album, amidst the currently dogged generic Christian music industry, comes as a bracing departure into new musical expressions and genres. No one Like Our God with its swirling retro synth sounds and the phenomenally hard-hitting proclamation of He Watches Over Me (my favourite track!) is a production tour de force and is rich in the kind of detail and flair that ranks this album among Phatfish’s best work yet.Buy this album.. it will do you good. After all this time, Phatfish are somehow still capable of offering superb songs, skilfully executed and packed with great biblical truths that will feed and strengthen individuals and churches alike.

•‘In Jesus’ is available now, and details of Phatfish tour dates are found at www.phatfish.net.

•Phatfish have a tour-date at CCK, in Brighton on June 13^th, supported by Seeker, doors open at 7pm. Tickets available here.

Don’t miss the chance to see Phatfish live at Clarendon Centre on Saturday June 13th.

Their Brighton gigs are always stand out events and this one will be no exception. With their brand new album – ‘In Jesus‘ – being released on June 4th, Lou and the boys are on top form and excited to have the opportunity to play their brand new songs as well as the Phatfish classics from over the years.

The event will be very much suited to bringing friends along to who may not yet have encountered Jesus or responded to the gospel.

You can buy tickets  online or from the CCK bookshop. Tickets are priced at £8. Concession tickets are available at £5 for under 18s and students.

You can also download an MP3 of  the title track from the brand new album ‘In Jesus’ from this link. Don’t delay – the offer runs out on June 1st!