Last week I spoke to the guys from Informants, the GMA winning band from Newfoundland. Talking to them over phone, I spoke to them as they made their way to the recording studio in St. John’s. They are currently working on their third album, writing the music, and lyrics to all of their songs.
“We do everything ourselves,” explained Joshua Parmiter. “We’re like a ministry, we also book, and contact churches and festivals ourselves.”
This release was partially funded through an IndieGoGo campaign that was kick started after their GMA win last year. So far they have raised $16,385, which will allow them control over their message, as well as help them keep creative control over their music.
“When we first started I was originally writing all the music,” said Christian Victory. “But now with this album, we’re giving room for more input in the [writing] process. We spent a week at a cabin, and any ideas about songs we had, we brought them all together and came up with all the different instrument parts.”
It was humble beginnings for Informants, and actually a quite serendipitous one. All of the band members started playing music at a young age, and honing their craft as they grew. They came together by chance and really first started for fun. They played a couple of local gigs, and came to the decision that YC Newfoundland would be their last gig. Then an opportunity came knocking on their door, that no one in the band could pass up.
“We got invited to go on tour with Bluetree Band,” said Christian. “We made a demo and the drummer of the band offered to mix it for us. And that is what Ezekiel is. We had this really cool opportunity, and felt that God wanted us to go through that door.”
Informants put in the work and soon they had released two albums, toured Canada and the U.S. and won a GMA for Best New Artist last year. But with these successes comes hard work and dedication to their message. Their music can best described as worship music yet you can hear hints of classic rock in their songs. Spreading God’s message is key to the guys in Informants, but they are okay with not sounding like the music at a usual Sunday worship service.
“We listen to Switchfoot, Bruce Springsteen, The Killers and Coldplay,” explained Micah Sheppard.
“We want to push boundaries,” continued Dion Jacobs. “We want to push ourselves to create music that we believe in.”
While they work on their relationships within the band and with God, people in their community and beyond have helped them along this journey. They were able to reach their goal in their IndieGoGo campaign, and get their very own tour bus for next to nothing thanks to a generous friend.
“We are able to build the relationships with human effort,” said Christian. “But we know that God has a hand in it.”
“We have obviously had to work hard,” explained Joshua. “But it all started to happen organically. You have to put some faith in your life and just trust in God.”
With all of these blessings the guys of Informants know the importance of giving back. They have done collaborative missions trips to Guatemala, and their song “Start in Me,” was used for a World Visions Artist Collective promotional video.
When it comes to the future for Informants, they are focusing on one day at a time. They hope to release their new album this fall and kick off a North American tour shortly after.
With Informants’ strong sense of responsibility to each other, the community and foremost, God, there is no doubt we will be hearing more from them for many years to come.
