Prince is a little possessive over his stuff. We know him by
all of his names (Prince, the Artist Formally Known As, that
symbol that they don't make a font for) because of legal issues
with his record companies. In the news recently, he got into it
with Radiohead when he did a live cover of their song "Creep"
and someone posted the footage on YouTube. His lawyer
contacted YouTube and the video was pulled. Radiohead
demanded the video be returned to its publically accessible
location. It was their song after all. Why bring up Prince?
Because Christian crunk-rock band Family Force 5 would be
known as the The Phamily if Prince hadn't cracked his
proverbial legal whip. "Prince had a band called the Family and
he's notorious for suing people. We love the dude, but he called
us up and was like 'Hey, man, change the name or I'll sue you?'"
guitarist Derek "Chapstique" Mount explains. "But we really
like 'Little Red Corvette'!" Eventually the band gave in and
changed their name to what they describe what Chapstique
refers to as a "Voltron-sounding name," Family Force 5.
Voltron is the sound behind their music too. "I think a lot of us
are really into science, and a lot of us are really into Voltron,
Transformers, Thundercats, and the future….Mad Max," says
Chapstique. Their new album Dance or Die, that is scheduled
for release August 19th, is inspired by the future. "It's very
apocalyptic. It's about bombs and explosions and lasers and
robots and centipedes and stuff like that. I think a lot of it is
that the guys in our band are all very ADD and very into sci-fi,
but not like nerds do sci-fi."
Family Force 5 consists of brothers Solomon, Jacob, and Joshua
Olds (a.k.a. Soul Glow Activatur, Crouton, and Fatty), as well
as Nathan "Nadaddy" Currin and Derek "Chapstique" Mount.
Why all the weird stage names? "We're from Atlanta and
everybody when Family Force 5 started had a really cool hip
hop name like Lil John and Big Boi and Andre 3000… Family
Force 5 needed to give it a whirl," says Chapstique. "It
all of his names (Prince, the Artist Formally Known As, that
symbol that they don't make a font for) because of legal issues
with his record companies. In the news recently, he got into it
with Radiohead when he did a live cover of their song "Creep"
and someone posted the footage on YouTube. His lawyer
contacted YouTube and the video was pulled. Radiohead
demanded the video be returned to its publically accessible
location. It was their song after all. Why bring up Prince?
Because Christian crunk-rock band Family Force 5 would be
known as the The Phamily if Prince hadn't cracked his
proverbial legal whip. "Prince had a band called the Family and
he's notorious for suing people. We love the dude, but he called
us up and was like 'Hey, man, change the name or I'll sue you?'"
guitarist Derek "Chapstique" Mount explains. "But we really
like 'Little Red Corvette'!" Eventually the band gave in and
changed their name to what they describe what Chapstique
refers to as a "Voltron-sounding name," Family Force 5.
Voltron is the sound behind their music too. "I think a lot of us
are really into science, and a lot of us are really into Voltron,
Transformers, Thundercats, and the future….Mad Max," says
Chapstique. Their new album Dance or Die, that is scheduled
for release August 19th, is inspired by the future. "It's very
apocalyptic. It's about bombs and explosions and lasers and
robots and centipedes and stuff like that. I think a lot of it is
that the guys in our band are all very ADD and very into sci-fi,
but not like nerds do sci-fi."
Family Force 5 consists of brothers Solomon, Jacob, and Joshua
Olds (a.k.a. Soul Glow Activatur, Crouton, and Fatty), as well
as Nathan "Nadaddy" Currin and Derek "Chapstique" Mount.
Why all the weird stage names? "We're from Atlanta and
everybody when Family Force 5 started had a really cool hip
hop name like Lil John and Big Boi and Andre 3000… Family
Force 5 needed to give it a whirl," says Chapstique. "It
kind of added a cartoon element to it and that's what we
wanted. "Cartoon is the best adjective to describe this band
too. Fun, full of energy, and hoping to make their audiences
joyful, they try not to take themselves too seriously. They
also are very fond of the fact that critics don't fit into them into
the Christian band mold. Chapstique explains, "We grew up
listening to a lot of great music and a most of it didn't have the
adjective Christian around it. I think Christian music had a
purpose and that was to be a safe escape from cuss words and
things that they thought were bad. We are absolutely Christian
and it's a huge part of our daily lives and it is very apparent in
some of our songs. But we think that the Christian mold was
terrible! It was a clone and an alternative to what was popular
in the mainstream media. Rather than be the Christian version
of Nirvana, like a lot of bands tried to be, we want to be Family
Force 5. Sometimes our music is about spiritual experiences
and sometimes it's about break dancing."
wanted. "Cartoon is the best adjective to describe this band
too. Fun, full of energy, and hoping to make their audiences
joyful, they try not to take themselves too seriously. They
also are very fond of the fact that critics don't fit into them into
the Christian band mold. Chapstique explains, "We grew up
listening to a lot of great music and a most of it didn't have the
adjective Christian around it. I think Christian music had a
purpose and that was to be a safe escape from cuss words and
things that they thought were bad. We are absolutely Christian
and it's a huge part of our daily lives and it is very apparent in
some of our songs. But we think that the Christian mold was
terrible! It was a clone and an alternative to what was popular
in the mainstream media. Rather than be the Christian version
of Nirvana, like a lot of bands tried to be, we want to be Family
Force 5. Sometimes our music is about spiritual experiences
and sometimes it's about break dancing."
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