Tree63 - Sunday Has Come!

South Africa is a country more likely to be visited by a church group on a mission trip than an internationally known rock band. But that is exactly where Tree63's John Ellis took his family for vacation. Of course, Ellis (lead vocals, guitar) and his Tree63 comrades, Daniel Ornella (vocals, bass) and Darryl Stewart (vocals, drums) are all native South Africans, hailing from the coastal city of Durban so a visit home makes sense. It was during this visit that Ellis began thinking about the lyrics for his song "Alright", one of the many influential songs off the band's latest album Sunday! "I remember sitting in South Africa on vacation, I realized that the lyrics had a lot to say about the current situation in South Africa."

Passionate about his roots, Ellis explains, "So many South Africans are dying of AIDS. South Africa is such a mess and you wonder if it's ever going to become okay. No matter how bad it is right now, someday it's going to be okay." For more than 20 years, the turmoil in South Africa has made international headlines, yet Ellis finds that many Americans he encounters haven't even heard of his home country. "Somebody asked us recently where we were from and we said, 'South Africa' and they're like, 'Oh, cool, what country?' And we're like, 'No, no, South Africa. It's actually a country," he laughs.

MISSIONS TRIPS AFRICA

Since finding success in this country after releasing their self-titled album on Inpop in 2000, Ellis and the rest of the band now reside in the United States. Yet their arrival in the states helped put the country of South Africa on the map for some in the Christian music world, "We're the first South African band to come to the states. There were lots of firsts for us, back in the day. We were also the first South African band to win a Dove Award." Now celebrating their tenth year together as a band as well as the release of their fifth album, Sunday!, Tree63 is far from home.

Despite his life in the U.S., Ellis can't help but be struck by the poverty that still surrounds many in South Africa, "There's big cities-all the stuff you would find in a big American or big European city. But just outside the city, there is a lot of real third world poverty. It's a very strange mix of incredibly technological advancement and incredible poverty." Yet South Africa's white minority that has long controlled the government and its wealth has also made the country different from than of other countries on the continent. But Ellis is also concerned about the problems facing Christians in the United States and throughout other parts of the world.

"It's very affluent, Christianity here. It's great on one level. There are lots of Christians that are focusing on the fact that Christianity is meant to be about other people, not just us, so that's good. Sometimes when there's lots of money in the church, it tends to focus people on themselves," shares Ellis. "All the culture around us focuses on improving yourself, thinking about yourself, and making you the center of attention. You're getting bombarded with messages all the time-you, you, you!"

That's where Tree63's title track, "Sunday!" comes in-it's a song that allows listeners to remember that there's a bigger reality-one that's not so far away. Based on the title of Tony Campolo's famous sermon, "It's Friday, but Sunday's Coming", the song "Sunday!" is about finding hope in the dark realities that are currently facing our planet. "People are just looking at the church and going, hey, you know what? It's great to be a Christian and go to church on Sunday, but if that's all there is, then that's kind of boring. There must be more to following Jesus than being a cool looking Christian," says Ellis, who adds that Christians need to realize that following Jesus also means being concerned about the poor, about the oppressed, and about our neighbors.

Yet he also sees a shift in how Christians are relating to others, "All around the world the church is starting to focus on social justice and social change-looking for ways that Jesus actually makes a change in people's lives, not just gives them cool looking cars." Tree63, known for their praise anthems, is shaking things up a bit with Sunday!, which has splashes of social commentary. "That's a huge part of Tree63-not just being Christians, but being social advocates."

When writing the songs for Sunday!, Ellis, an avid reader, was also digesting some of what he read in Shane Claiborne's popular book, The Irresistible Revolution. "Shane and his book had a big impact on Tree63, and that's a lot of the reason the new album sounds the way it does," says Ellis. Then he adds with a laugh, "He probably doesn't even know who Tree63 is."

Yet there are many who do know who Tree63 is, especially in South Africa where the band is heralded by secular media, Ellis says, "We have a lot of big hits on mainstream radio. They know we're Christian, but we're more of a rock band." Coming to the United States, Tree63 had ideas on what they thought success here would look like, but Ellis transparently admits, "We haven't really been as successful in this country as we thought we'd be.

"Foolishness" is a poppy ballad that meditates on the seeming foolishness of God as compared to the false wisdom of man. Ellis reflects on the song, "Christianity is all about losing your life to gain it-it all seems backwards and upside down. That's one of the huge parts of being a Christian-that we trust this unseen God and He proves himself in strange ways. It's a real mystery. We have to trust God that wisdom is what He says it is."

The theme of foolishness is continued in the song, "Not As the World." One of the lines in the song, "I struck the rock with anger", is especially poignant to Ellis, who alludes to the story of Moses striking the rock in the Old Testament, an act which cost Moses entrance into the Promised Land. "Moses is beating the crap out of the rock to try to get his own way, and God's like, 'Hang on, that's not the way to do it'-even though that seems the most logical thing to do and God's way seems foolish."

The aforementioned song, "Alright", is decidedly mellower than the rest of the album but also encompasses the overall theme of the album. "The bottom line is the reason we know it's going to be okay is because our hope is in Jesus and we have faith in God. He won't let stuff go on and on forever and ever. We have faith in a good God who's fair and will one day sort it all out," promises Ellis, who also says that album has a lot of "hang in there" songs. "We're holding out for something that we know is going to come right eventually-that's the key to the record."

Even as Ellis considers the difficulties in his home country of South Africa and life here in the States, he muses that Sunday! is an album of hope in the present and excitement in future glory. He shares, "If you write a whole album moaning and groaning about how things suck, it won't help anybody. It's just going to reaffirm how bad stuff is, you know? As Christians, we need to have hope and have something to hold on to, to have something to believe in for the future or we're all going to go crazy." Tree 63 reminds us that Sunday's not so far away, after all.

Tree63 - Sunday Has Come!

MISSIONS TRIPS AFRICA