"In some ways, getting into Christian music (like this) is the hardest thing, we have ever done. We don't get to see our families a lot and we have all lost girlfriends because of this," said Tom Pellerin, lead singer of Overflow, a band that takes their name from Psalms 23:5. "In some ways it seemed easy. It seemed like as soon as we left college, our path was laid out for us," he said, recounting how God just seemed to reaffirm to them all where he wanted them. "We didn't have any idea when we started this we would be doing this. We started the band in high school and it turned into this," Pellerin said. "Having a record contract is a dream come true...we can walk into a Wal-Mart halfway across the country and see our album on the shelf."
This is a far cry from the four boys who formed a band simply for fun between their eighth and ninth grade year of high school. Then, they recruited their road manager to play bass guitar. After being together eight years, this five-member band never dreamed they'd play at least 100 concerts a year, tour with Third Day and recently be named to the WinterJam Tour lineup of artists. Add to that the fact all the members are in their mid-20s and have already had a hit, "Better Place," which grabbed the number 30th spot on CHR charts and it's clear: this band's name truly fits the outpouring of talent that just overflows.
"This is a new experience, something we aren't used to," Pellerin said, regarding the band's seemingly sudden thrust into the spotlight so soon after releasing their debut album, A Better Place, in August 2004.
Whether fate or God's infinite design, this boy band suddenly found itself in a league of its own. Winning a talent contest, the boys found themselves recording with Scotty Wilbanks, who shared the band's songs with Mac Powell, of Third Day. Liking what he heard, Powell helped executive produce the band's album through e-mail correspondence and even nicknamed the group a "young Third Day." But these boys - Tom Pellerin, Mark Breazeale, Josh Cromer, Will Carter, and Matt Hayes - aren't basking in the starlight quite yet, without trying to make the community (and possibly the world) a better place.
They could only do that, for now, by being willing to get some dirt on their hands.
"A Better Place Foundation is an idea that we and our manager came up with several months ago that is still in the beginning stages. We want to find out how we can help people in the community, show up early (to a concert) and do some activity to make the world a better place so we aren't actually just singing about it, but doing it," Pellerin said, softly. "We want to show others how to do it, too."
