So, what’s new about your latest album Faithful?

This album is really a pulling together of all of our most tried and tested congregational songs, with a couple of new ones as well. A lot of these songs have been used in our local church and at events like Stoneleigh Bible Week and Spring Harvest, but not recorded by Phatfish until now. Some have appeared on previous Phatfish albums but the arrangements are all new, and the sound is slightly different from our previous records. We’re really excited about it.

Have you heard any encouraging stories about how your songs have been used or how they have affected people?

We’ve had a lot of encouragement from people about how God has affected them through our songs. One that comes to mind was when the song There Is A Day was sung at a funeral in London. I heard many reports back of how the song lifted people’s eyes from the sadness of the situation, giving hope and excitement in the midst of a very hard occasion.

What has been the best moment for you as a band?

It’s very hard to point to just one thing, but one of the highlights was when we did our weekend of unplugged concerts. We had a great time playing the songs in a different way and we had three great audiences, Also we were able to see thousands of pounds raised for Hope HIV.

Many people will know you from your Stoneleigh days (and more recently from Spring Harvest). How has leading worship at events changed you as a band since your early days of gigging?

Being involved in worship has always gone hand in hand with gigging and I think more signif icant than the big events you’ve mentioned was the time we spent involved in the worship at our local church. When we first led worship at Stoneleigh, we were really just continuing what we’d been doing in Brighton, but obviously on a much larger scale. I think that it has definitely kept worship very high on our agenda, whether we’re involved in a more congregational setting or whether we’re doing a gig in a university bar! And over the years we have introduced more and more blatant worship songs into our concert set.

What have you learnt from working with other songwriters/worship leaders, such as Stuart Townend , Kate Simmonds and Matt Redman?

Every worship leader we have worked with has different strengths, so it’s been a real honour just to see the different ways that people work and see the diversity of gifts that people have. So I think the biggest thing we have learnt is flexibility and how to flow with the Holy Spirit in a worship time.

You all come from a large church with lots of worship leaders. What encouragement can you give to people who are maybe f inding it hard at a church which isn’t as lively?

It really depends on the situation. If you are convinced you’re in the right place, but you feel the worship life of the church is not where it should be, then the best way to see change is to lead by example and encourage people that there is more. Praying for God to move in a fresh way is likely to be more effective than moaning at the leaders! And beyond that, remember we’ve got heaven to come!!

How did you each become Christians?

We’ve all had the privilege of growing up in Christian families, and we were all pretty young when we became Christians. But we each have that clear memory of coming to a place where we acknowledged that God is the Lord of our lives.