Exclusive Rock 'N' Roll Worship Circus Interview

November 2004

On 18th November, 2004, I had the pleasure of chatting over the phone with Gabriel Wilson, lead vocalist and co-founder of the unusually named rock band, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Worship Circus. They had just returned to the States after a hugely successful UK tour with Delirious?. Here’s what we spoke about.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Worship Circus is certainly a unique name for a band. How did you come up with it? It sounds a bit like Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

It came during a time when our church in Longview, Washington, was going through revival. We were located downtown next to a homeless shelter. Lots of poor people lived around our church, and we had lots of drug addicts coming in, drunk kids coming in. A mixture of different walks of life came into our church. Inevitably, someone would have their lives get changed, so we started inviting people to our “worship circus”. It’s like a service, but it’s pretty crazy. When we started travelling as a worship band, we didn’t want to call ourselves the Evangel Christian Fellowship worship band. So we called ourselves the Rock ‘n’ Roll Worship Circus.

Would you describe your act as rock and roll, worship or a circus? And how do you combine being rock performers with being involved in worship?

We have an understanding of what we believe leading worship to be. Leading worship doesn’t necessarily mean leading congregational singing; worship is creating an atmosphere so that people become aware of the presence of God; and when people do become aware of the presence of God, we point them to him.

Being a big fan of classic rock, I think your latest CD, The Listening, is outstanding. But why is it just an EP with five songs?

We wrote these songs in the spring, in March. We had a few member changes and we knew we were going to be touring with Delirious? in the States, so we met in March to practise and the Lord gave us these songs in the midst of the rehearsal. We never even rehearsed the old stuff! Four days before we left, we thought we’d better practise our other songs. On the tour, we began throwing in one or two of these new songs a night. At the merchandise table people kept asking for them, so we got back home at the end of April and jumped in the studio and recorded them. We did it just for the fans, for the people coming to our live shows, but then Delirious? got a hold of it and they invited us to come over to the UK. We wanted to sell a CD, and those are the songs we had.

As well as going on tour with Delirious? in the UK, you also did a few dates across Europe in the summer. How do you find the audiences in the UK and Europe compared to the States?

I love playing anywhere. However, we felt we instantly connected with our European audiences. It’s the most wonderful thing. I love it. We still like playing in the US, but we didn’t want to come home - we wanted to stay in the UK!

How does the Bible help you, both in your personal life and in your ministry?

I love the Bible. It helps me in my day-to-day life, and I incorporate it into my songwriting. A lot of time I’ll pray and ask the Lord what he wants in a song. One time I felt him saying to read Song of Solomon, so I read it and then wrote a song. I write scripturally, and I love writing about the fear of the Lord. The Bible is a wonderful source of inspiration for life. It’s always relevant.

Who are your influences?

Definitely Pink Floyd and The Beatles. Imagine that those two bands got together and had a baby, and that baby was adopted by T-Rex and then became a Christian!

For those who’ve read this, and they’re kicking themselves that they’ve missed you on tour, where will you be turning up soon?

We have a trip to Europe in two weeks, and we’re going to go and fly through London and spend some time with Delirious?. Then we’re visiting Europe in March next year, and we’re doing a festival in France. We plan to play Europe and the UK in the summer of 2005. Then we‘d like to do our own tour in the UK in the fall. Thank you to those in the UK for giving us a second home!

And thank you for talking the time to talk to word-on-the-web!