Amongst The Giants released their debut album Obscene a few days ago. While they’re still a young band Brian Boyd, Marco Pera and Blaise Rojas have been making a solid name for themselves on the touring circuit, have a wealth of experience behind them being on Joseph Rojas’ Rockfest Records and have an ever growing fan base. The future looks bright for Amongst The Giants and we had the chance to connect with them just before the album release to have an ‘Obscene’ chat with them. Check it out.
[JW] How did you guys meet and why did you form Amongst The Giants?
Marco: Me and Brian have been playing music together for a really long time. Since before I knew how to actually play guitar to be honest. Last year we were sitting on a lot of music that we hadn’t used yet, and we decided to bring it to Jeremy from SDS to record with him. We finished the songs, Joseph got wind of it and signed us, the rest is history.
Brian: Marco and I grew up together and started playing music together when we were teenagers. We met Blaise on tour when he was just 12 and we remember when he used to play one song a night haha. Now he’s the drummer for Seventh Day Slumber and Amongst the Giants. We grew up listening to metal and really wanted to get something awesome started so we started writing some awesome metalcore music and recorded an EP with Jeremy Holderfield. Of course, Joseph Rojas got wind of it, signed us to Rockfest Records and the rest is history.
[JW] What would you say your main aim is with your music?
Blaise: We want to let people who feel like there’s no hope or feel like they’re alone know that they are NOT alone, that there IS hope, and that there are people who love them so much. Most importantly, there’s a God in Heaven who loves them so much more than they could ever imagine. And if something that we say in our music or in person leads even one person to Christ, that’s all we could ever want and ask for.
Marco: We want it to be a call to transparency and honesty both personally and in our community. I truly believe that in order for us to be the best that we can be, both in Christ and as people, we need to be honest and transparent about the issues we struggle with. A lot of this record has a lot to do with that honesty, with ourselves and others.
[JW] You guys are releasing your debut album Obscene this week, what will it mean to you to have your first project officially out there?
Blaise: We’ve been working so hard to make this music for you and we can’t explain how ecstatic we are for you to hear it! It’s such an amazing feeling to finally have our music out there for the whole world to hear.
Marco: We are beyond stoked for everybody to hear this. We have definitely put in the hours, sweat and tears for this music and we can’t wait for people to hear it.
[JW] What’s the story behind the album name?
[ATG] We picked the name “Obscene” because there’s so many things that the church will shy away from talking about because they’re too “obscene” and this album brings up some of these things. Things like: Pornography, false teachers, betrayal, being trampled by anxiety, becoming so desensitized to tragedy that we forgot what it feels like to truly care about people. This isn’t just an album all about pain and hurt though, we have songs about hope and coming out on top. We just want people to know that they are NOT ALONE. There are people who are dealing with the same stuff they are, there are people who are willing to talk to you, what you’re dealing with isn’t too “obscene,” and that there IS a way out. His name is Jesus Christ and He sent His only Son to die on a cross for all of our sins… no matter how “obscene” we think they are. Nothing is too big for our God.
[JW] Which track on the album means the most to the band/each of you?
Blaise: I would say the track that means the most to me personally is the title track “Obscene.” I actually wrote the lyrics to this song and it means so much to me because I wrote it about pornography which is something that I’ve honestly dealt with myself. It talks about how it can destroy you and distort what true love really means, but it also talks about overcoming that, which I think is really cool.
Marco: My favorite track musically is Ex Nihilo. We put a lot of work into all the parts in that song, and I was really really excited at how it came out. Lyrically and overall as a song, I’d have to say Tomorrow is my favorite. There’s a big story behind that song and we all felt it was equally satisfying getting those words in a song.
Brian: It’s so hard to pick just one haha. Honestly I would have to say Tomorrow just because it’s a hard hitting song that sounds incredible but also has a tough message. It’s a song about false teachers and a betrayal derived from personal experience and it honestly kinda serves as a warning to anyone who considers themselves a church leader not to lead people astray.
[JW] One of our favorite tracks is Ex Nihilo, what’s the meaning behind that track?
[ATG] This is a song that is pretty much about how God created us out of nothing and how no matter how much fall, God will always be there to pick us back up and His grace is more than enough and more than we deserve.
[JW] What can fans expect from an Amongst The Giants show?
[ATG] They can expect a lot of sweat and running around hahaha. An energetic, action packed concert with heavy breakdowns! Really incredible drums and screams. A lot of focused faces on me trying to play my parts properly, and the occasional guitar solo haha. More important, they’ll hear about a God in Heaven who loves them so much.
[JW] Which two bands would your dream tour be with?
Blaise: there’s SO many bands that I would love to tour with so that’s a really hard question. Maybe Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. Hahaha.
Marco: For me, I would love to tour with Underoath, August Burns Red, Oh Sleeper, Memphis May Fire, pretty much any band that inspired me growing up.
Brian: Honestly there are a lot of bands I would love to tour with. If I only had to pick two I’d say maybe Underoath since they were one of the first bands I listened to when I started getting into metal, and just for fun, Twenty one Pilots. I feel like that’d be fun haha.
[JW] And for the most important question of this interview, does pineapple belong on a pizza?
Blaise: 100% no.
Marco: Never in a million years.
Brian: I mean I won’t judge if that’s what you like but it’s definitely not for me.
[JW] Lastly, how can the JesusWired readers be praying for you over the coming months?
[ATG] It would mean so much to us if you would be praying for safe travels as we go out on the City RockFest Tour this Spring!
We will certainly be praying for Amongst the Giants and the other bands on that tour, and we hope you’ll join us in that too. Go and pick up their debut album Obscene and let us know what you think. A couple of lyric videos are below.
Buy Obscene on iTunes here
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