Toughing it out in the mainstream, while keeping their Jesus focus, is the aim of INDIGOECHO. They spoke to Tony Cummings.

Clive Parnell

Clive Parnell, lead singer of Edinburgh musicianaries lndigoecho, is understandably excited about the response to the band's acoustic rock single "Fade Away". "It has been selling well. We sold a lot in the first two weeks and got into the top 10 at Virgin Megastore, Edinburgh. We have it in shops all over the UK and reports are it's doing well. The launch was great. We had a stage set up for us in Virgin Megastore, Edinburgh right near the window! We had people all over the shop and up the stairs looking down on us as well as passers by standing in the door way. One great thing happened, this woman came up to us after a short set of five songs and asked, 'Are you Christians?' We said 'yes' and she said, 'Cool, that is so great that a Christian band is able to play at Virgin. I'm a Christian and I am so encouraged.'"

Another highlight for the band recently was their appearance at the Edinburgh Festival. Enthuses Clive, "It was a great night and we knew something was brewing. We played with Switchfoot. We met them, checked the venue and headed down stairs. When we started talking we had this expectancy and excitement that something great was going to happen. We could not help praying - it was a real 'God moment'. When we got to play it was electric - 700 people just so up for it. From the first chord people were singing along and clapping and praising God. We saw people from all over the country who had been at gigs as far north as Aberdeen and they had all been brought together. It was as if God was saying, 'Here are all the people you have played to - go and enjoy it!' And we did. Switchfoot were great too, laid back guys."

Since Indigoecho were formed, with Clive Parnell (vocals, guitar), Rik Brown (guitar), Gary Francis (bass) and Andy Weir (drums), the band have become more conscious of the spiritual dimension of what they do. Comments Andy, "I guess we are more acutely aware that we have something to offer, that is more than rock out for an hour and feel good. We can still do that in the right situation, but we are not rocking out to feel better or exercise our anger! I know that we are now able to minister through the music in a more effective way - that has come through both listening for the Holy Sprit and also by fellowship with one another! I have seen how far God has brought us from when we started. One thing that has really helped has been taking on different roles in the band based on our areas of gifting...we are not all prophets..."

It's a painfully slow process hauling yourself up from grassroots obscurity to make the smallest dent in national consciousness. Through their hard gigging and their 'One' album and now the "Fade Away" single, definite progress is now being made. Comments Clive, "We see breakthroughs in many ways. We see more interest from the media. We have people into our music at Smash Hits, Q magazine, local radio and Scottish TV. We see breakthroughs in young people's lives. We see lives being changed, people who are Christians encouraged and things are moving on.

We are looking ahead to next year and planning a UK tour in March and an American mini-tour in April/May (we have a lot of interest from the USA). We plan to do our second full CD album but who with we don't know. Watch this space - all will be revealed."

I pitched a final tough question at Andy Weir. Could he imagine Indigoecho getting signed to EMI Christian Music Group or somebody, and spending six months in every year touring the USA? "Quite simply not really. We have our roots here in Scotland, which is not to say we are not open to the Lord's leading, but we have made a conscious effort to be involved in the Scottish (and British) scene as this is such an exciting time. We would love to spend some time in the US, but we have our ideas of where we need to be for the next wee while. Let's hope we've heard right!"