I had the pleasure of sitting down with the frontman of The
TechnoFunkBoy recently about their debut release, Driver’s Seat. The band
allowed me to produce this album for them for a few reasons, one
I considered reviewing the songs individually here, like I
would any other album, but Kaenor Apana was very willing to chat about them
directly, so I thought that would be a much better and more interactive look at
the theology in these songs. The
interview will be posted over several weeks as we look at the songs in detail. This week’s interview will be an introduction
to the band and the album.
The album is free, so please
download it here and give it a listen!
Me: Let’s start from the beginning.
Why is the band called TechnoFunkBoy?
Kae: It’s from a who
once made fun of me, honestly. I was
born in a monastery in Hyrule, where my parents had had an illicit affair, from
which I was the result, and the monks and nuns there really just didn’t know
what to do with me. So they just raised
me. I taught myself organ in their
sanctuary, but I always had a very rhythmic style. One of the locals came by one day and
demanded to know who this young “techno funky boy” was. It sort of stuck.
Me: It wasn’t a
Christian monastery.
Kae: Absolutely not,
but someone along the way dropped off a Bible, and I read it and came to faith
that way.
Me: Your stuff is
very MIDI-based.
Kae: Much less so
than it once was. It was all I had
growing up. We didn’t have anything
except MIDI.
Me: And just for
those who don’t know, that’s because Hyrule exists . . .
Kae: . . . in
Nintendo games, yes.
Me: The other band
members, they are all programs as well, aren’t they?
Kae: Oh, yes,
certainly. We’re all from the worlds
inside the old Nintendo cartridges.
Me: Have you been
playing long in the gaming world?
Kae: A long
time. Time doesn’t pass in there exactly
like it does here. In earth terms, we’ve
been around for decades. In our world,
maybe a few years. You know, time just
stops in there when the Nintendo is powered down.
Me: But now you are
crossing over.
Kae: Yes, the better
sound capabilities of the consoles are allowing us to play in the real world.
Me: Let’s talk
about the album. Why “Driver’s Seat”?
Kae: Because it’s
about God’s sovereignty. The entire
recording is about how God is in control, and in perfect control. I heard about a bumper sticker that says “God
is my co-pilot.” I wanted this album to
refute that idea, that God is the one driving, not us.
Me: Why that theme?
Kae: That’s a funny
story. It was actually because of that
picture that you gave us for the cover.
Me: Really? I didn’t know that.
Kae: Yeah, it was
such a cool photo, and I really wanted to use it somehow. I had been thinking about themes for the
album, and had narrowed it down a little, but that photo made me decide on a
certain path.
Me: Man, I feel
like I should get some royalties then.
Kae: Since it’s a
free album, I’ll be happy to give you a cut.
Me: Nice!
Kae: You gotta tell
the story about that photo.
Me: Wait a
second. I’m interviewing you, not the
other way around!
Kae: It’s a good
story, you need to tell it.
Me: Well, it’s
probably as good a place as any. I was
driving home, and there’s a nice wooded area near the road that I pass pretty
much daily. It had been raining that
day, and the area was very green and full of life. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a good photo,
because I’m driving and I couldn’t stop, but I decided just to snap something
to see if it came out. Why not, you
know? I could just delete it if it came
out bad. Little did I know that the
second the camera snapped, there would be a vehicle in my way, and the camera
was focusing on the raindrops on the window, the vehicle blurred behind that. It was just one of those chance in a million
shots that wasn’t even supposed to be anywhere close to what it came out to be.
Kae: Right. But it was the perfect instant. No way we could reproduce it.
Me: No, you’re
right. I really like that photo, and it
goes well with the theme. Which is my
way of transitioning back. You had a
very clear vision of the structure of the album.
Kae: Yeah, I wanted
to start it out with the doctrine.
That’s “Almighty.” But I didn’t
want it to be just doctrine, as critical as that is. I wanted to also take a somewhat pastoral
approach. “Cross” is taking that
doctrine and applying it to tough situations, and then “Valley” is even more
personal, applying the doctrine to a particular moment and a particular
emotion, seeing how this understanding of God really plays out. Finally, “Robot” answers some direct objections
to the doctrine itself.
Me: Why doctrine
first? A lot of people feel like that’s
the boring part, while the practical part of the Christian life should come
first.
Kae: Because that approach
never works, as many times as it is tried.
It’s usually the wrong time to talk about who God is and His promises
when someone is torn apart emotionally and not sure how he’s going to make
it. That’s not when you do it. When you reach that point in your life, all
you have to lean on is the doctrine that you already have about God. And if we’ve spent our lives avoiding good doctrine,
which is nothing more than what we believe about God, then we are left
wondering where He is and who He is when the road gets rough. If we learn who He is before the crisis, we
are better equipped to handle that crisis.
Me: So when people
look at this, the album is constructing in a very deliberate way, and the two
instrumentals bookend the project.
Kae: Yeah, the
“Prelude” and “Postlude” is stuff we use to play all the time when it was just
MIDI and that was it. But they provide
us with a frame that pushes the album together as a whole.
***
Join us next week for the second part of this interview, and
get Driver’s Seat for free here.
