Canadian worship group Lightfall has already seen some tremendous grass roots success, with their self titled EP charting impressively high both on iTunes and on Canadian music charts. The group's special fusion of multiple musical influences is resonating with listeners, in the band's home country and beyond.

Ryan Hammond (guitar), Mark Chown (drums), Nathan Hamilton (guitar) and Marquis Murray (bass) took some time out of a rehearsal to talk with NRT about the unique circumstances surrounding the band's formation, their inspirations, their struggles and above all their heart to connect listeners to a powerful encounter with God.


Tell us a little bit about the band. How did you get started, how did you get connected to each other?

Ryan: It was honestly a very God thing. I was working with Marquis, doing just some recording. It just wasn't resonating with me, so I put it aside and started praying "God, what more would You have me do?" And I really felt like I needed to start a worship team.

I was like "OK, but I don't know anybody that plays instruments anymore." So I really prayed about it, and I was on Kijiji, which is basically like Craigslist in the States. And I saw that Nathan had posted an ad, that he wanted to be in a worship team. So I messaged him, we met for coffee, and we started chatting. He was on board really with the basic vision of "let's do something for God."

I'd gone over to my brother's church on a Sunday, and Mark came up to me and started chatting afterwards. I was driving back home and I heard the voice of God saying "he's a drummer." And I'm like "no way." I don't hear God that clearly most of the time. So I asked a couple people "he's a drummer, right?" before I called him. I somehow sourced his phone number, called him, chatted, shared what I was thinking and what I wanted to do. And Mark was on board.

He invited me to a young adults barbecue where I then met Renz. And from there again, I just kind of shared my vision, and he was leading worship at the church Mark was at and looking for just kind of a change in his life.

Marquis I've known for years. So when I presented this to him, to play bass in this, he was game as well. So that's kind of the basis of how this got started, and it's just kind of grown from there.

So pretty much all of you have had experience playing in groups before?

Marquis: All of us have played in church pretty much our whole lives, but we've also been involved in different side project bands. I was in two on and off garage bands, and Ryan was in a few as well. Nathan dabbled, Mark was the same. So we've all been around music.

Mark: I grew up Salvation Army, so I learned how to play brass instruments. I started on the trumpet. I ended up working at a sleepover camp, and we started a little worship team and put on a worship concert every night for kids. I've had experience playing in musical theater, playing churches. I used to play in a 90s cover band with my older brother, so a lot of Pearl Jam and stuff like that.

You guys are bringing some diverse experience to the table then. What unifies you musically? What kind of sound are you going for? Who inspires you as a band?

Ryan: I think everyone has so many different inspirations. If you ask "what's your favorite band?" we'll all say something different, even a completely different genre.

Marquis: We all like different styles of music, so we can all bring a little bit to the table. I think we can agree that at one point in our lives we all liked metal and hardcore music. Mark would tell you that some of his influence comes from Metric and bands like that. As a group, Parachute Band is someone that influences me. Switchfoot as well.

Mark: It's cool to see how different influences and genres come out in the writing process. We just released our EP, and it was fun to get it out there, working with a producer. We plan on working with him to do a full length sometime next year. So we're sort of excited to develop a sound.

I always hate using that word when I talk to people, I feel like I sound so snooty! Like, "we're really trying to develop our sound."

But for sure, you guys are working on finding your place.

Mark: Yeah. Like Nathan really likes dark guitar tones, Black Keys and that kind of stuff. Ryan really loves metal. Renz is big into folk music. And I'll listen to anything under the sun from like jazz to Iggy Azalea, if you want me to admit that!

So you mentioned the EP. As far as that goes, what has the response been like? Are people resonating with the music?

Ryan: We were blown away by the response. We went number 1 for inspirational album on iTunes almost as soon as we released it. A pastor actually messaged us, "did you know you're the number 5 best selling album right now?" And I was like "no we're not!" So I check, and I was like "oh!"
Mark was checking and giving us updates it seemed almost hourly, "we're still number one!" That carried through for us for a few days, I think almost a week.

Everyone seems to find something on there that they like, that they can worship to. We even had a secular review done on the album, and I was kind of leery of what they would say about us because obviously we're a worship team. But what they had to say wasn't negative.

Mark: It was actually pretty positive.

Ryan: Yeah! I guess I just feel in shock. They had really nice things to say about us.
Marquis: And the really cool thing is when we were recording and getting it out, we had no idea that any of that would happen. We were just thinking "finally, we have something we can sell to people at events because they've been asking."

So it really took us all by storm, and we were just so pleased by the results that it fired us up even more and kind of confirmed that we were doing the right thing, and we are in the place we need to be.

Nathan: Even with the response we got, which was really great, a lot of people have been saying that the EP is too short, that four songs goes by really quickly. And they were wondering if more music was coming out. So that makes us look forward really to putting out more. It's just an appetizer to the main course.

Mark: It's funny too because none of us were the ones that realized that it was climbing the charts or doing anything. And all the sudden a friend of ours went and bought the album and noticed it was actually charting. And it just kind of took off from there.

Ryan: I think we even hit top 50 in Canada, right?

Mark: I think it was 36, actually.

Ryan: So yeah, the response-- we kept on saying "this is a God thing." And radio stations from across Canada are playing the song "Promise of the Father." We're not sitting back like "we did all this!" We're completely saying "this was God."

That kind of momentum helps I'm sure leading into a full album, which you said is a goal for next year?

Mark: We actually just met with a friend of ours who's working with us to get an indiegogo video together. As an independent artist, in Canada, as Christians-- as an independent artist period, it's tough to make music. It doesn't doesn't come cheap. But we're hoping that the support that we've seen through the EP will carry forward like you said, and we'll see that momentum help us release a full length sometime next year.

The plan is that us as a group, as a band, will match dollar for dollar everything that comes in through the indiegogo. We're not just going to expect people to pay for the album, sit back then go in and record. We obviously believe in what we're doing, we believe in what God has called us to do. And because of that, we're going to stand behind it financially as well.

That is an awesome approach! Are there themes that God has given you that you really want to sing about as your music continues to gain a following?

Mark: We joked initially during the early writing process that every song we were writing had something to do with love with it. We were like "OK, God is love, that's obvious and important. But we need a different theme!"

But definitely the love of God shines through in everything we do, whether we use that word or not in a song. And I know a big thing at least for me personally when I write is hope. It's something really prevalent in my life, sort of that eager expectation of what God has in store for me as an individual, but also for the church as a whole.

Marquis: The theme that our music has taken would be the telling of a story. We all came together from different paths, different backgrounds. And we all had our own story of what we were dealing with at the time, what we'd experienced. So all the songs on the EP right now, they're taking you down this path talking about something specific, whether it's from the Word, or something one of us was feeling inspired by the Word. All of our songs come from that place where there's that heart of worship, there's that longing for more of God, being thankful for what He has done and recognizing that.

None of the songs we have right now have just been fluff. We don't need them to rhyme per se, and they don't have to be pretty. They come from the scriptures, and they can speak to anybody at any time. I think as long as we never forget that, then that will be our theme, and our theme will be God.

Mark: The gospel message is such a messy thing to begin with. I don't think, like Marquis said, our songs have to be pretty. We're not out there to sugar coat anything, and we aren't here to be some number 1 chart topping band. At the end of the day, our goal as a ministry, and that's how we view ourselves, is to worship God and help people encounter God in their own lives.

Ryan: To add onto what Mark said, when we started playing, we said it doesn't matter if we play for five or five thousand or fifty thousand: we're playing for God. And that's basically our hearts too: every time we've taken something live, it's not a performance, it's not a show. It's "we're here to encounter God."

So what are some of the challenges you guys face? Is there a support system for you guys there in Canada?

Ryan: When we first got started, there were not a lot of people that stood behind us. It's entirely different now. It's been two years now, and we're booked up. We're already booked all the way into the new year now.

Marquis: As far as support, the biggest thing for us that makes this really difficult is that we all have jobs. Sure, we could quit our jobs and go do this full time and just grind, or we can be realistic about this and let God do the work and see where it goes. But the support level has grown.

I guess we're going to see how far that has spread in the next month or so with our indiegogo campaign. Financially is really the biggest thing. And because we don't come from the same church, there isn't that home church feeling where they're backing us either. But we know that there are pockets of people who really believe in what we're doing and have made that very clear.

Mark: It's difficult not having one church where we belong, not having one place backing us. But at the same time, that's almost a benefit. Because it means that we aren't tied to one specific church. So all these different pastors and youth pastors and friends and family members who belong to different congregations help us as a ministry to expand our reach. So it is difficult in one sense not having that central hub, but it's a blessing on another hand because it expands our reach a little bit.

Is that reach still mostly confined to Canada? Have you guys played shows in the U.S. yet, or is that on the agenda?

Marquis: We've gone to the States on two occasions. We went down last June to South Dakota for the Hills Alive festival, then we were in Rochester for Kingdom Bound last year as well. Our network is not large down there by any means.

Nathan: But we're working on it.

Mark: We're taking the command of Jesus: "from Judea to Samaria, then the ends of the earth." So we've been working on Ontario, we're expanding through Canada. Then the ends of the earth-- we'll make it to the States sometime!

Nathan: We are making it down to Kentucky in a month for an awards ceremony, so that should be good.

Marquis: At the tail end of the album release, we plan on setting up a tour to go to the East Coast, doing 8 - 10 stops to spread our music around a little bit, to gain that exposure. But right now it has been predominantly confined, for lack of a better word, to Ontario.

Mark: And it's crazy too, because we are still relatively young as a band. So to see the response and the kind of support we have had thus far in a smaller geographic area, I think that at least sets us up for when we do start to expand and reach out and kind of spread our territory a little bit.

How can people be praying for you guys as individuals and as a band as you're facing this admittedly kind of challenging process of getting these songs out there and finding your footing?

Ryan: I guess that God would continue to favor us as we do this, that He would use us for His glory. At the end of it, I think Mark said it best-- the point of this band is "let's make Jesus famous."

Marquis: Any support is going to be great. Like I mentioned before, we all have lives outside of this with us working, and Nathan and Renz are both in school right now. That has its challenges.

Mark: Some of us are married.

Marquis: Yeah, and that has its challenges. So I guess if people were to pray, just for continued unity in the band. There's times where stuff happens and it kind of throws us off a little bit, and maybe we question things and doubt and get discouraged. So pray for clarity, for opportunity, for continued unity and that we would continue to grow and just have this ministry be what God originally intended it to be.

Mark: One of the biggest things as a group at least is if people can pray for continued humility. One of the biggest things we've talked about is that when we stop doing this for God and start doing it for ourselves, it's time to give up, because realistically then it's lost all meaning. We've seen a little bit of success with the EP, and we've realized that although we made the music and put it out there, ultimately, five nobodies from a small suburb outside of Toronto don't really deserve that kind of blessing.

So just pray for continued humility and recognizing that this is ultimately God's group, God's ministry, and we're just here to sing songs about Him.