by David Dodd

They weren’t planning on being a band. 

But God had other intentions.

Years ago, John Ellis heard a fellow musician

had changed his lifestyle, direction and gave

his life to the Lord.  Ellis called to congratulate him.

It was a fitting task on his part, considering he was

fighting several demons at the time as he searched

for answers in his troubled life. 

The phone call opened a conversation and cemented

a friendship.  The Holy Spirit began His work and Ellis

and the fellow South African musician, drummer Darryl

Swart continued to talk about music, transformation,

and the Lord.

Some time later, Tree 63 was planted and born.

It was the first Christ-centered venture for these former secular

 musicians who agreed that every note of

every song would glorify God.

We sat down with Tree 63 vocalist/guitarist John Ellis who

talked about their new project, Sunday, and many

moments in his life where God’s presence and

perfect timing drastically changed his life.    

There’s a number of very bold and promising elements woven throughout your latest record. 

On one level, some of the songs have been hanging around for a couple of years.  Most of the songs fit into a cohesive theme that the record has which has been strong in my life and in the band generally.  We’re pretty fed up with the direction Christian culture is taking and pretty fed up with the direction Christian music is taking.  We don’t feel obliged to tow the line anymore. 

It’s important for Christian artists to start speaking the truth rather than doing what they need to do to keep their careers going.

It takes a bit of boldness and some courage, and possibly a bit of risk because it’s not always the real popular thing to say, but it’s important that the church start saying what it needs to say and not what it thinks it has to say.

The other theme on the record is the focus of hope.  We live in tough times, we live in hard times, our hope is in Jesus and that’s what we should be focusing on. 

And that’s the only place we should put our hope, in Christ, that’s it. 

Totally.  The other thing is if we’re not there, and we’re jumping around talking about so many other things, we’re missing the major focus from the equation. 

You mentioned a bold move lyrically but I also think it’s a bold move in these times when you want full music and a full live sound for you guys to remain a trio, especially live.  You could easily add an additional guitarist or two live but you choose not to and you continue to produce full power live.

There’s a lot of bands we know that started as a trio and they’ve added one or two guitarists as the years have gone by.

In these days, things are getting so bloated and so out of control with these multi-million dollar productions but we’ve managed to get the full sound with the three of us, that one little three-piece making enough noise to blow the roof is something I’m quite proud of in a Christian proud sense of way.

 I love how your song, New Creation brings Scripture alive with a rock beat and great enthusiasm. 

That song is an out and out theology song with the literal word from Scripture.  But as much as it’s a theology song, for me, I’ve been a Christian for ten or eleven years now and I know what it’s like to be old…and new.  I can sing that kind of lyric with some integrity and some authority having been one thing and now being something else.  I’ve felt that transformation in my life and this incredible miracle and it’s a wonderful thing to sing about.  That song is really upbeat and I like that with the lyrics because to communicate that positive message we need to be upbeat and excited about it, it really makes sense. 

Putting the musical elements aside, you guys have a lot to scream and shout about, going from the old life to the new, all because of Christ. 

Absolutely.  We as a band became Christians later in life, and so we spent many years indulging in things that aren’t of God to try to fill that hole.  We thought those days that love consisted of that next bottle of wine, or that next sexual liaison, or that next great movie, or something.  Back then, those things were desirable but they weren’t life itself, and to find out that Jesus is life itself is a whole new world. 

I want to go back because long before Tree 63 existed, you were in bands and had a solo career in your homeland of South Africa having some musical success as a secular artist but something wasn’t right. 

No.   I was a miserable, depressed young man.  I didn’t have any inclination of being even vaguely a Christian; I was just living my life trying to be the rock star I thought I deserved to be.

But there were other situations involved in my life behind the scenes going on all the time and it eventually came time for me to make a really serious decision that had nothing to do with my career or where I was going, but about staying alive.  At some point it was touch and go for me. 

You know I think for everyone, if we don’t have Jesus in our lives it’s always touch and go.

No, you’re right.  It really is.  There’s no way around it.  It’s gotta be Jesus or nothing. 

Take me back and walk me through the initial phone call you had with Darryl.    

Yeah it’s amazing. There was never any intention of being a band.  Both Darryl and I came out of band situations that were really negative and destructive and we became drinking idiots. When we finally came out of that situation, I remember hearing about Darryl, he had made a decision on his own, based upon a conversation he had with his brother to stop his behavior and his direction of music and focus on the love of Christ.

So I called him out of the blue and I said, I heard about this decision you made, I don’t really know you very well but I really want to encourage you to stick to that decision and God bless you. 

That was the start of the friendship; it really was a friendship as opposed to a career move. 

Then you had a guy come into your life almost as a mentor – Matt Redman – because I was thinking about how you had success on your own but you didn’t have peace, then you had peace and you weren’t sure where your career was headed then you met Matt and played guitar for him.  Tell me how much of an influence he was for you. 

I just met Matt as a brand new believer and I was just a guy trying to work out everything.  I got a copy of one of his records and the music touched me like nothing else.   

I had no intentions of meeting him or trying to play music with him, I just wanted to tell him how much his music meant to me.

But God has these amazing ways of putting things together.  Matt and I met that same year and now we’re really good friends, we’ve played on each other’s records, written songs together.  It’s an amazing friendship that God’s preserved. 

You know John there aren’t many Christian artists who were secular guys before Christ came into their lives, so I want to take a moment and talk about this incredible peace you were given, that peace, as the Bible states, that surpasses all understanding.

When was it that you were overcome by the peace from Christ? 

I came to being a Christian in a very extremely unpeaceful situation.  I was very depressed and having anxiety attacks.  I was a real mess in my head and the last thing I could ever ask for was peace because I had this terrible anxiety and fear.  And I remember, I tried a whole lot of things to deal with that, I went to a psychologist and was put on more drugs and did whatever it took to calm myself down.

I remember the one time I went to the Methodist church that we had gone to as kids.  Something in that evening held out a promise of peace to me and it was pretty interesting.  

A few years later I got down on my knees and said, ‘God, I don’t know much about You, but I need You to save me from this day,’ and I felt this overwhelming sense of peace.  That’s when the journey began because when you’re in an extremely stressed out situation, you’re really able to appreciate peace when it comes; it was a pretty memorable time. 

I think this society, especially here in America, we’re so overwhelmed by the fact that if you’re depressed you need to take pills, you need to take this medication, and all this.  I understand some people need medication but I also think many people have other alternatives.

I don’t know of any doctors who would diagnose your anxiety attacks and say, you know what, why don’t you read the Bible, why don’t you invite Jesus in your life.

No way.   That’s never going to happen.  Depression and anxiety is a 100% spiritual problem, I really believe that.

We’re just empty, empty people.  And we’re distracted all the time.  We try to use all this junk to try and fill the gap, but the gap can only be filled by having Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.