Xanga Archive

Ok, I just read an incredible, incredible interview… and anyone in the least bit familiar with Zao needs to read it.  Especially if you, like me, had never heard of Zao back when Shawn Jonas was in the band… and as a result never really got to see what their line-up was like pre-Blood and Fire.  Anyway, it is an interview with Jonas and it is really really good.

Oh yeah, and Jonas is starting up a new band called Symphony in Peril.  Sounds like it might be pretty cool stuff.

The whole interview can be found at http://www.hxc.com/interviews/index.php?view=details&id=5, but here is an exerpt:

“When you look back on your time with ZAO, is their one memory that stands out the most?

I guess it would be, there’s one thing that really stands out, and it was just the truest state of ZAO, and it was just we were playing a show in Sacramento, CA. The show was with Strongarm, Focal Point, Training For Utopia, and ZAO, and before the show started I remember that I went off by myself and I prayed, and I did that before every show, I always tried to get off and pray and seek God’s face before the show, and I went out and I remember Jesse, Roy, myself, Kevin, and Ron were all just standing there, and Jesse said, ‘Guys, let’s play this show for God tonight. Let’s not care about the crowd. Let’s not think about the crowd. Let’s play for God tonight.’ And I remember, we played that show like men possessed by something, and it was just incredible. We played the best show in our life. And when the show ended, when the last note was heard, I remember that we sang the lyrics, ‘There’s no other way to explain for what He has done for me / He gave me such a holy way / such a way that I would die for it.’ You know, we sang it, and the whole crowd was singing it right with us. I mean, it was just blaring in the place. And the only member in ZAO that was standing – Jesse was already out on the floor, he was just like crying, Ron was crying, Kevin was crying – and Roy was the only person in the whole entire place – the whole crowd was laying on its face, just crying – and Roy was the only person standing in that room, playing the guitar part to that part of the song, and I remember kids were just so . . . it was like a church service or something. The kids were just so touched by God, and I remember that after the show there was just such unity, and there was such love for one another in all of the members of the band, and I feel that was the truest sense of the way ZAO was when I was in the band. And I will never forget those time. That moment in time was one of the most life-changing things, up to that time in my life. I will never forget that, you know, I’ll never forget the guys in ZAO, I’ll never forget what we did in the music industry, I’ll never forget the type of music that we produced, and, you know, beyond our recordings, there was nothing like our live show, because we just poured out our hearts. And that’s what I’ll never forget. That’s the truest memory of ZAO, just us in love with God, and playing our music that we were wanting to help change people’s view of God. We didn’t want to shove God down anyone’s throat. We wanted people to have an encounter with Christ through the outlet of music.”

I want a live recording of that concert 😉