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"Why's A Chick Playing
the Bass in a Rock Band?" (Editor’s Note: ninetyandnine.com will be publishing periodic articles on Apostolics who are pursuing non-traditional channels to share the Gospel. If you know of anyone who is doing this, email us a short bio/description at editor@ninetyandnine.com.) As a female bass player, Annette Sheree Carter is an unexpected trailblazer in Apostolic music. She wasn’t looking to represent this break from tradition, she was just desperately trying to learn the bass guitar in four weeks so she could complete her brother’s new band. Plan:Be’s success has placed her in an unexpected spotlight, one that she finds both disarming and heartwarming, as this interview proves. She also sounds off on females pursuing non-traditional ministries, how people respond to her on stage and off, and why some non-Christian bands are great, but misdirected. This interview was conducted over August-September, 2003.
90&9.com: So how did you end up as a bass player, a non-traditional Apostolic musician in a non-traditional Apostolic band like Plan: Be? ASC: Truthfully, I had never considered the bass or ever being in a band before my brother, Travis, and Tony asked me to join. I didn’t even know how to play the bass! But the idea intrigued me and I agreed after a minute of thought. I had to learn how to play 12 songs in four weeks. Thank God for Tony, who taught me, and God for giving me ability. I learned and played my first concert in four weeks. I had no idea where this band would go, how radical of an idea this ended up being, and how much of an impact and influence I have as a female bass-player—an Apostolic female bass-player! 90&9.com: What’s the response been to this non-traditional role? ASC: In a role that is usually gender-specific, it hasn’t been easy to keep up, but I find that the response has been rather overwhelmingly good! No one has ever commented about me trying to be a man, or what I am not by playing the bass. Not girls especially, but guys as well, have told me that they are encouraged and inspired seeing me up there just being what is apparently myself. When someone hears that I’m the bass-player of the group, what usually happens is they look over at me, bug their eyes as their ears hear the news, jaw drops, and then this huge grin follows with an “Aaaawesome!” This has been the normal response in both Christian and non-Christian circles. What’s tough is not letting all of this go to my head! Heh. 90&9.com: Do you see other females in non-traditional roles like this? ASC: A few yes. When we played a youth camp in Wisconsin, I met an amazing girl who was a jack-of-all-trades, among her trades was the bass. We also played a battle of the bands not too long ago, and there was another girl bass player in a rock band. Needless to say, we instantly connected and it was rather encouraging to know I’m not the only one out there. Despite the novelty of being a chick bass-player, it actually gets kind of lonely and you begin to wonder, “Am I the only one out there?” But it seems the more I get around, the more I see females just stepping right out there and taking on the challenge. It’s not as uncommon as most people think, although it is still the minority in the music world. More than once family members of girls have come up to me to tell me that now their sister or their daughter want to play the bass. Pretty neat, huh? 90&9.com: Do you see Apostolics breaking out of the traditional channels? ASC: Although not exclusively among the Apostolics, I definitely see young people breaking out of the mold a bit and just trying different things.. or trying to put a band together as a direct result of Plan:Be’s influence. We completely and totally encourage young people especially, but all ages really, to be who God has created them to be. We have a very creative Creator and He has made us creative individuals. Two friends from Wisconsin want to get their own band going as well. Any Apostolic band that is original is going to be a pioneer, breaking new ground, in some way because it’s not always as readily accepted as say a “praise and worship” band. Every place we have been to play just about has been an eye-opener to the many that are finally breaking out, trying new things. At Youth Congress 2003, there was a drum ensemble full of teenage pioneers led by a female drummer! That in itself was new and exciting to see. God is moving in a mighty way, and I believe we are going to see so many more young and old start to break out of the mold and be different by simply being themselves! 90&9.com: Do you sing back up for the band? ASC: I haven’t yet. In my opinion I cannot sing very well. My voice is rather weak and inconsistent. But in the future, who knows? 90&9.com: Can you name your musical influences? ASC: My brother Travis. Anything he played in his stereo in his room I would listen in on. Others came from what my sister played on her set (the more mellow styles). And also the various music teachers/mentors I’ve had down through the years. The one who influences my music the most is the Lord. I want what I play to reflect Him. And I want to give back to God what gifts He gave to me in that way. It’s almost like a 2-way radio that never stops in its cycle. Up to Him, down to me, up to Him, down to me, up to Him... 90&9.com: Do you play at your local church? ASC: I play the piano at my church at every service, although they try to occasionally break me in on the organ. I have been playing the piano in church for about 3 or 4 years now and love it. It was my first instrument; second was the guitar, which I play with my Sunday school kids or for myself if I do a special in church, but it’s an occasional thing. The bass I play in church if it’s with the band. Because on occasion my father (my pastor) will request that Plan:Be do a few songs during a service...Sunday night service usually. I’m still learning with the bass and most of the time in my church a piano is more needed than a bass. 90&9.com: What do you see as the future for females and Apostolic church music? ASC: Well, what I would like to see is more of it! More females in non-traditional roles, breaking out of their “designated” roles and trying some new stuff. It doesn’t have to be in musical instruments even. Just in daily living—break out!—and who knows where Apostolic church music will be 10 years down the road! To me, it has changed so much in the past 10 years, even 5 years, so I can’t even imagine where it will go in the future. But again I would like to see a move toward a vernacular form of message so that when someone who is not Christian listens to the song they can understand what it is saying. Most of today’s church music uses what we call “Christianese” statements, cliches that the world does not understand. 90&9.com: Should they/are they branching out? ASC: I think females and Apostolic music, as well as females in Apostolic music are off to a good start. Naturally new things take time to find their place and be accepted. Breaking new ground was never popular or easy. But I would definitely encourage more of it if I could! 90&9.com: Now let’s turn on your powers of prophecy. <Smile> Will we continue to have top-40 sounding power ballads to make us worship or can we worship to more earthy, rocking music? ASC: Music is more of the catalyst that can often jump-start worship, because worship is an emotional reaction, music is therefore emotional. I say all of that to say that different music tends to affect different people. “To each their own” as they say. However, many are too quick to judge “their own” and discount the incredibly powerful and awesome effect that the more earthy, rocking music has and how God uses this type of music and the real down-to-earth lyrics to reach that deep and earthy side of every human being. After all, what are we made of? Earth! Plan:Be has a song called “Persuaded” on our debut release. Each time I play it live I am so moved and can feel the presence of God so strong as I worship him through that song. It simply quotes the word of God (Romans 8:38-39). It’s called worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth. Punto! 90&9.com: Tell us about your Youth Congress experience. ASC: Youth Congress was incredible! We thought we were going to go play for only 10,000 kids. We get there and our jaws dropped as we realized there were quite a bit more people than normal…just a few thousand more! Ha! There were a few mix-ups and what-not, but all-in-all it was fabulous to not just play on that stage surrounded by a sea of people, but to actually meet quite a few out of that sea. Before and after we played we spent most of our time at the promo table meeting people from everywhere and from almost every kind of background. We encouraged some and some encouraged us. It was awesome! I would dearly love to do that again. (I say that now that I’ve forgotten how it feels to be on my feet all day! Heh!) The smile on my face was hard to remove after being in Nashville! 90&9.com: Tell us about your contest-winning gig. What went on there? ASC: The contest was held in a hooked-up gym with a stage. (Hooked-up meaning “wired for sound”). There were five other bands there competing to win a paid headlining gig at the beach there at Ocean Grove, NJ. They were all Christian, but had a few slightly different styles. We were judged by lyrical content, originality, crowd participation, and crowd approval (the audience was allowed to vote and grade on a scale of 1-10 and this would have a bearing on what the judges decide), and a few other things. As always, I was a nervous wreck before Plan:Be got up there to play. Honestly, there was only one band that was really liked well by everyone. Plan:Be was the last to play, but once we got up there (as usual) I felt at ease and just played like an ol’ pro. Heh. Well, at least I felt really good about how we played and how we were received by the audience. 90&9.com: So, how was Plan: Be received? ASC: Honestly, we were the best received. I don’t know whether it was because we were the last band and by that time everyone has loosened up and was not afraid to cheer and get into the music a bit or because we were probably the only band where people could understand the lyrics. Being last had its advantages because we learned from the other band’s mistakes, both sound system-wise as well as performance-wise. Whatever it was (most likely the hand of God Almighty!) the crowd went absolutely wild when we finished! They really enjoyed it. And everyone knew (except me) that we would win that contest. When they announced our name, I felt like I was on a TV game show! 90&9.com: That’s great! How do you pay the bills? ASC:I am working full-time as a manager of a very local Christian bookstore in Staten Island, NY. It's called The New Jerusalem Christian Bookstore, and it's owned by a Messianic Jewish man. (By the way, if anyone comes in the store and mentions this little plug for the store they will get a 10 percent discount!) Heh!! I'm working there to increase the digits in my bank account while I take a year off from college to find a clearer direction of the career path God wants me to go down. As always, waiting on God is the hardest part of the Christian walk! 90&9.com: So, who are some of your favorite bands. ASC: I have a lot of favorite bands, mostly Christian, but some are not. Good music is not exclusive to Christians, but I do believe that those who are not Christians and have good music are just misdirected. Surely you cannot deny that God gave them that talent. It’s just that they have not given that talent back to Him either on purpose or in ignorance. Some of my fav’s are: Norah Jones, Five Iron Frenzy, India Aire, Pax217, Pillar, Plumb, POD, Relient K, the Benjamin Gate, Josh Groban, Dean Martin, Coldplay, Evanescence, Fleming & John, MXPX, the list goes on and on! As you can see, my tastes are wide in range. I like anything from opera to jazz to punk to hard rock/rap-core. 90&9.com: What are you hoping to accomplish next? ASC: Next I think I would very much enjoy focusing on being an expert in one field. I’m rather a jack-of-all-trades and master of none. Next on my list is most likely returning to college after my current time off (but working full-time) to accomplish a degree in the career of God’s choice. Also, sometime in the future I would dearly love and enjoy going on yet another AIM (Associate in Missions) trip to Europe.
ninetyandnine.com © 2003, ninetyandnine.com --------- Kent d Curry is an executive editor of ninetyandnine.com. ninetyandnine.com will be reviewing Plan:Be’s self-titled CD next week. Their web page (www.planbemusic.com) is under construction, but their album can be purchased through: http://indieheaven.gospelcom.net/view_artist.idh?artist_id=61872 |
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