Glass Darkly Interview & Bio - ChristianMusic.com
Glass Darkly's Lyrics * Review * Glass Darkly's Video

MISSION STATEMENT:

"The band’s passionately held vision is to show people a glimpse of God’s glory through their songs and lives. They want to reflect something of the wonder and power of God and to inspire people to go deeper into relationship with him. Their songs, whilst full on ROCK, have worship at their very heart."

"God wants to use us not only to bless the Church, but also to impact the lives of those who don't yet know him."

GLASS DARKLY got their name from 1 Cor 13:12.

“Now we only see God in part, as if looking through a glass, darkly, but that we will see him one day face-to-face and then we will behold His entire glory”.

"Can You See It Any Clearer?"

 

Current 2006 Members of GLASS DARKLY: FAR LEFT: Dave Painter, 2ND FROM LEFT: Jamfool,
CENTER:Graham Walker, 2ND FROM RIGHT: Martyn Casserly, FAR RIGHT: Tim Ebenezer

ABOUT GLASS DARKLY

HISTORY OF GLASS DARKLY

"The vision for Glass Darkly was conceived in late 1999"..............................

David Painter and Martyn Casserly met each other at their church, Church in the City, located in London, and formed a band in 1999. With Billy Brown on drums, Darren Kennedy on Bass and Esther Sharmer on keys, David Painter and Martyn Casserly played their first gig on New Years 2000.

The next four years brought both challenges and successes. Being in a Christian band takes talent, spiritual inspiration, perseverance, lots of time, dedication to the goal, patience, and a faith in the Lord, that He will open up doors and opportunities and creative ideas for the music performed for the band's ministry, which they felt called to be part of. Holding down 9 to 5 jobs, still managing to practice and create music, playing gigs and surviving 4 band "lineup changes" in the group over their 5 year history, GLASS DARKLY persevered in all of the categories listed above, and stepped out in faith, creating music and following opportunities which opened up to their ministry as a band; to show people a glimpse of God’s glory through their songs and lives.

"Can You See It Any Clearer?"

2000 - 2001 Step by step, they played, gained performance experience and eventually could cut back on 9 to 5 jobs, to just working part time jobs, "in response to prompting from God to start taking things seriously."

Their spirit filled Gospel rock / worship music took hold of people in a variety of places; including contemporary church services, youth camps and tours.

2002 - The Lord blessed them with songs which kept coming. After a studio recording session, GLASS DARKLY entered their song, "Perfect Love" into the Premier Radio Song search Competition 2002. Their song won the band the prize of a 16-track digital recording disk, which led to the next step for this talented group of Christians; to start work on a proper demo CD, in their unique alternative rock style.

2003 - Their gig and performance schedule developed a life of its own. "Gigs became more frequent and increased in size with the biggest being a support slot for Y Friday at the ID Event in Tunbridge Wells."

Early 2004: GLASS DARKLY made a new demo of their songs, mixed by Mike Sandeman of Phatfish. An even busier summer schedule of performing gave them plenty of experience, tightening their sound and message. Highlights included:
* Being the resident youth band at the Cliff College festival, located in Sheffield, for a week.
* Having a week-long tour of Guernsey, performing in local schools, an outdoor gig and a live appearance on BBC Radio.

Late 2004 - Early 2005: GLASS DARKLY stepped out in faith and competed in the "Ultimate Showcase Competition," where they competed against the cream of the crop of the UK’s unsigned Christian artists.

* GLASS DARKLY's driving rock anthem, "More Than A Song" earned them a place in the regional semi-finals in early 2005 where they won the audience vote on the night for best band.

Late in 2005 - GLASS DARKLY released their debut album, LOST PERSONS AREA. Since this album was released, their drummer was called to go down another path for the Lord, leaving them with 2 musician spots to fill. The Lord, however is faithful, and by March 2006 they not only had found a new drummer, but also a permanent keyboard wizard!

March 2006 New Members: Clive Matthew (Jamfool) and Tim Ebeneezer

Clive Matthew (Jamfool): The band's new drum player, known as Jamfool,
has plenty of experience and talent. Clive has been a session drummer
for many years and has played with bands like M people.

Tim Ebeneezer: The new keyboard artist for GLASS DARKLY fills the vacant position, bringing his talents to play for the ever developing sound of GLASS DARKLY.

Their first gig with all five members was opening for the band, SUPER HERO, in Bangor, Wales.

All five of GLASS DARKLY: David Painter, Graham Walker, Tim Ebeneezer, Clive Matthew and Martyn Casserly are committed to performing professionally and passionately for the Lord, pointing "to the glory and wonder of God through lyrics inspired by a passion for his name."

GLASS DARKLY look forward to continue in their music ministry, being led and empowered by the Lord. As we speak, David Painter and the band have been busy writing new songs for their 2nd album, for future concerts, and tours as well. They have invested some money in equipment, and look forward to future opportunities to not only bless believers but also to "impact the lives of those who don't yet know him."

Alternative rock / worship Christian music enthusiasts outside of the United Kingdom have discovered the music of GLASS DARKLY. GLASS DARKLY will come to the United States on their first American tour in the Fall of 2006.

Original Band Members of GLASS DARKLY who created this album:
GLASS DARKLY: Lost Persons Area

David Painter: (David Painter is far left, with really short hair. He has since grown it out.)
Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, lyricist & songwriter.

David Painter has been song writing since his teen years, when he composed songs for his father's church. He has a gift to express so well the messages found in these collection of songs.

Considered "the cornerstone of the band in many ways," always has new songs and lyrics formulating in his mind. Started to compose worship songs as a teenager for his pastor dad's church. "Currently works part-time for a press agency which helps to finance his long-term commitments to the GD cause."

David volunteers his musical gifts at Church For The City in London. David married the love of his life, Charlie, in 2001, and they have 3 young sons.

Martyn Casserly:(2nd left, curly red hair) Lead Guitar

Besides being in the band, Martyn writes for a guitar magazine. He is married to the love of his life, Naomi, who together lead a study group at the Church For The City and raise their daughter, Aisa. "My life is very busy, but I wouldn’t swap it for anybody else’s."

Musical influences include: Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Slash, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Edge, Bob Dylan, Talking Heads, Led Zep, Dave Gilmour, Gary Moore - plus pretty much any other guitarist with something interesting to play.

Spiritual Influences: "People I know – Pete Turnbull, who helped get me to church in the first place; Dez Gray, who helped me through the early ‘up and down’ years; Dave Nunn, the pastor of our church, and generally impressive Christian; Eric Biggs, a wonderful example of how any Christian should aspire to be, who sadly passed away a few years back."

Graham Walker: (Center, 3rd from left) Bass * He has the distinction of being the 3rd bass player in GLASS DARKLY's 5 year history. "Considered a bit of a musical prodigy…not only player of bass, but also guitar, keyboards, drums, sax, and trumpet."

His first instrument that he wowed people with was the trumpet in the 1980's. The former bassist for the group, Wednesday’s Child, Graham joined the band in 2004. He attends a London Church and is an active member. Graham married the love of his life, Kerry, in 2003.

Musical influences include: "Loads of 60’ acts - Beatles, Kinks, the Who, Stevie Wonder, U2, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Jamiroquai. Bassists – John Entwistle."

Roger Oldham: (In green shirt) Drums - A talented drummer who had been with the band for four years, providing immense contributions. Roger has been called down another path and left GLASS DARKLY after this CD was completed.

"Shortly before the completion of the album, God spoke to Rog about leaving the band. We respect his obedience and know that God's will is more important than our own desires."

More About Their Music

Martyn Casserly shares with ChristianMusic.com about their creative process in writing / composing songs: "Dave usually writes the lyrics and some chords. He brings them to rehearsal and we listen and then play around with the music to try and make something out of it. During the recording of our album we had, for probably the first time, a real opportunity to write the best parts for the songs that we could."

Martyn continues, "I found the process very liberating, because it can be hard to write something complicated when the other guys in the band want to press on and not spend the best part of an hour listening to me come up with a great solo. It just isn’t practical, so the recording process allows us that freedom, which is great."

Martyn reflects upon his favorite musical segments found in the compositions of these songs.

"There are a few parts I am quite proud of on the album. The end solo section on "King of the World" was done in one take, which I was very pleased with. I had spent the previous day fasting for that solo and thanked God all the way home after listening back to it."

"The intro to "Perfect Love" and the end section where all new and written late on in the recording process, as was the final uplifting riff in "I can hear". I think if we had recorded the album in a professional studio (with all the costs that entails) we wouldn’t have come with something as good as we have now. Time was the most precious thing that doing it all ourselves gave us, and we hope that we have used it wisely!"

A Closer look at David Painter * Graham Walker * Martyn Casserly

It is always encouraging to see how dedicated Christian musicians grew in their spirituality and gifts to the decision to be in a Christian ministry for the Lord.

Martyn Casserly, Graham Walker and David Painter share with ChristianMusic.com, their early life, and their individual faith journeys.

Martyn Casserly begins, "I was born in London, June 1972, and still live there today. The only child of Julie and Frank Casserly, we lived in a small council flat not far from London Bridge. My school was a local catholic one that had strong links with the RC church nearby. Both of my parents were Irish Catholics and I dutifully followed along, but never really had any real interest in church."

"I took up the guitar on my 17th birthday, when I bought one with money from my first full time job – working for a bank. It was a pretty cheap Hohner Arbor series Les Paul copy that, with hindsight, was not a very good instrument at all – but it allowed me to practice and make an awful racket in my bedroom."

Martyn continues his story about how he was a seeker himself and explains how he found the Lord, sharing his testimony with ChristianMusic.com.

"By this time I had given up my pretense of attending church and spent more time in the pub and just generally hanging out with my friends. I left the bank (which I had hated) and then spent the next few years moving from job to job (including: working in an animal lab, a telesalesman, a computer engineer, a garbage man at London Zoo, bookshops, record shops, and even a brief stint in the Royal Navy)."

"During this time I searched spiritually for something to believe in. I adopted evolutionary theory as my mantra for a while after reading Richard Dawkins’ books, dabbled in Buddhism, looked into paganism, and the occult in general. Each of these things held interest for me in different ways, but nothing really satisfied; they weren’t the complete package.

"My parents had split up a few years before, probably fueling my lack of certainty or direction, and maybe given me any excuse to live my life any way I saw fit. It was only after a couple of neighbors in a new apartment block I’d moved into invited me around for a coffee that things started to change."

"They were both Christians and were not apologetic about it, which I found kind of interesting. Although I didn’t believe their take on life, I found them decent people and we made friends. They had a guy staying with them called Darren Kennedy, who had been out playing football and came back in all muddy. I wanted to get back into playing again so I asked if I could join the team and he said I could and that he’d knock for me next week."

"The team turned out to be from the local church and I enjoyed both the football and the company, making good friends with the guys in no time at all. Gradually over the next 5 years, over various nights in the pub chatting and just through getting to know the guys, I came to see a difference in them to others I had met. They dealt with their problems in different ways, were consistent in their faith, and generally were just good people."

"In the end I accepted an invitation to witness a baptism at their church, and the meeting had a strange effect on me. I remember calling one of the guys (Pete Turnbull) and asking to meet up with him for a drink and a chat about what I had seen. I returned the following week and was struck by a preach about Paul, and how if he knew that Jesus wasn’t who he said he was, that he wouldn’t have been able to cope with all the things that were thrown at him. This made sense to me, and at the same time troubled me. I didn’t want to find this God, I wanted a more exotic and mysterious God. I guess what I didn’t want, was to find the truth, and then have to accept it."

"I went back again to the church with the promise to myself, and challenge to God, that if he was real he would have to prove himself to me – otherwise I wouldn’t come back. At the start of the meeting someone brought a prophetic word saying that God was trying to speak to somebody here, and that all they had to do was open their heart to him. I felt pulled by this, but didn’t know what ‘opening your heart’ meant, so I sat there and thought about this. Eventually while a song was playing I asked God if he was real I wanted to know – and then I felt a wave of pain and sadness wash over me, I felt alone and just started to weep. I guess God had answered my first real prayer."

"Jesus had revealed the pain in his heart of being separated from me, and this had overcome my arrogance and pride. I quickly surrendered my life to him and have lived in the knowledge of his love or me ever since. Amen!

Graham Walker - Bassist

"I was born in Aylesbury but grew up in Enfield, North London. My parents are both Christians and they dragged me along to church in my teenage years - but at that time Christianity never felt real to me. I was only going out of habit and to see my friends. At the age of about 16 I started getting into alcohol – going out to pubs/clubs/parties and getting drunk. At 19 I went off to University in Manchester and carried on living a hedonistic lifestyle."

Not to worry though, the Lord had his eye on Graham, not willing to let go, and patiently waited for Graham to come back on the reservation. Seeds of faith had been planted a long time ago, and the Lord personally reached out to Graham in hard circumstances.

Graham shares his personal testimony with ChristianMusic.com

"Even during these times was always something in the back of my mind that I couldn’t shift – that there was a God who was interested in me. And I remember some very specific times where I felt Gods presence and peace in difficult situations."

"Then when I came back from University there were certain things going on in my life where I saw people living their lives for God – even through real pain. I knew then that God was real and I had to recommit my life to him. That was about 7 years ago now. Since then its been still been a hard journey, where God keeps showing me parts of my life that I hadn’t given up to Him. Kerry, my wife of 2 years, has probably been my biggest source of guidance and strength."

David Painter - Vocals/Rhythm guitar / songwriter / Lyricist

David was blessed to be born into a pastor's home, with parents who loved the Lord, and who were great influences on David's spiritual development.

"I was born in Nottingham, Uk, 8th August 1978. This is where I grew up. My father was the Pastor of a church. I am the eldest of four brothers. I first remember making a commitment to Jesus with my dad when I was 5 years old. In my parents I feel blessed that God gave me great role models and over the years my faith has grown and increased as a direct result of their obedience to God. My parents aren’t perfect by any means but were never pretentious and their faith was and is one of the most genuine I have seen."

His parents lived their faith, practicing God's love in practical ways.

"We used to live in a big house with lots of rooms that they would let out free of charge. All sorts of folk from various backgrounds such as recovering drug addicts, prostitutes trying to get off the street, and pretty much anyone needing a safe place would be invited to stay with us. This was how my parents demonstrated the unconditional love of God and the practical example of Jesus’ passion for the lost that I grew up with."

David's love of music happened at the age of 13, when he was bitten by the guitar bug.

"When I was thirteen years old I picked up a guitar for the first time. I’d had organ and piano lessons when I was younger but I’d never had the motivation to stick at it. I began to play and just got hooked. I would practice for at least an hour a day but I was never that interested in playing for the sake of playing. More than anything I wanted to write and create songs."

Making and creating music gave David a wonderful way of expressing himself, and drawing closer to the Lord in the process.

"I was always a very shy kid and hated speaking in public or even in large groups. At school I avoided speaking aloud or voicing an opinion in class and would even physically clam up if ever asked to read aloud."

"All of a sudden I felt a new found confidence expressing myself through music. Music enhanced my relationship with God and also allowed me the privilege of ministering to others. I began to get involved in worship leading and initially wrote a few simple church songs that I introduced on a Sunday morning."

David's parents encouraged his musical gifts

"My father encouraged me in this and when I was 15 he told me that when I was born he and my mother had received a prophecy that I would be a psalmist like King David in the Old Testament. For this reason they called me David. I remember feeling at that time full of purpose and an amazing sense of security in the knowledge that God knew everything about me and had complete control over my future."

"I moved to London when I was 18 to study the bible and work voluntarily for an inner city church called City Hope. It is here that I met my wife, Charlie, who I married in 2001. We now have three children (yes, it is possible), Harry, Eli and Reuben."

Julie Carr for ChristianMusic.com

Visit glassdarkly.co.uk to hear these songs.

CD can be bought in the United States through I-tunes or online at glassdarkly.co.uk/index.html