Joseph Rojas (Lead Vocals/Guitar)
Rhino (Drums)
Joshua Schwartz (Bass)
Jeremy Holderfield (Guitar)

Ken - Tonight is the opening night for the Beautiful Glow tour. How busy have you been up until this?

Joseph - We've been staying real busy just doing our own shows. We've had several opening bands that have come and opened for us, and we kind of been tour all across the country playing different churches and clubs.

Ken - So things have been going real well since the debut in April?

Joseph - Oh yeah, we've stayed busy doing 200 dates a year.

Ken - How long has SDS been a band?

Joseph - We have been doing it since 1996 and we signed on to a independent label in 1997, or around 1998 or close to that. We (released) "Matthew 25" and the we signed to another independent label called Mercy Street Records, which was distributed by Pamplin. After that we signed with Warner Brothers' - Crowne Records.

Ken - When Pamplin closed their doors did that end the second signing?

Joseph - We barely released a record (with Pamplin). We sold 15,000 copies on our own playing concerts and Pamplin only sold 4000 in stores because they closed their doors. We were kind of bummed out but we had to keep going. That's why this (new) record is called "Picking Up the Pieces". That's where the title came from. Because there were so many distractions and so many things happening and we had to pick up the pieces. From that Jeremy came up with the name of the record and a the title song.

Ken - "Picking Up the Pieces" is a very bold CD and it was released at the start of a trend of new rock music. What do you think about the whole rock movement that has been taking place since last spring?

Joseph - I think it's real cool. Honestly there are a lot of bands like Kutless, Rock and Roll Worship Circus and others that are great sounding bands. Now days there is good, quality christian music out there. I know for us we've been doing this style of music since 1996 and it was real cool that this wave hit and allowed us to do more touring and get more involved in the ministry aspects of it by staying on the road constantly. (Jokingly) Plus paying the bills is always nice.

Ken - Do you see a line between your ministry and entertainment? Do you think there is a blur between ministry and entertainment?

Joseph - I'll tell you like I tell everybody else, we don't consider ourselves entertainment. We are ministry first - music second. I know that's a lot different than other bands and were not judging them but we have our own thing. From the lifestyle I came from I can't afford to just be out playing a bunch of rock concerts. God has done too much for me. God has given me so much, and God has saved my life that I owe Him more than I could ever repay Him. For me to get up on stage and do concerts without talking about Him, which we have seen in the christian music field, it's kind of like "our music speaks for itself" - no!

For us our lyrics are powerful but there is something to be said about a person being on stage (testifying) "I stand for Jesus Christ". I'm not judging other bands but I can only tell you that we want to entertain people, we want them to have a good time at our concerts, but our main reason for doing concerts is to use the concerts as a tool to lead people to Christ. Period!

Ken - So you met in Texas at a Bible college?

Joseph - Josh and I met at Christ for the Nations. Jeremy went to another christian school.

Jeremy - Lee College.

Joseph - He (Joshua) has been in this band a long time. I met him at college but he wasn't going to college. His parents were going to college with me. He was in the academy. More like in the nursery. I got him out of the nursery and he had just gotten off the pacifier.

Joshua - I switched from diapers to under-roos.

Joseph - I knew he was ready to go on the road then.

Ken - So Josh is your Rebecca St. James of the band? Promoting sexual purity.

Joshua - I'm just saving my first kiss for my wife and I want to honor God that way.

Ken - Do you get a chance to share your testimony with people after the show?

Joshua - Yeah it's really cool. Joseph tells my story on stage and I get to meet a lot of kids after that are taking a stand also. It encourages me too, so it works both ways we encourage each other.

Ken - Have you had any issues with parents who doubt the bands intentions?

Joseph - We get that just about every show. You can't tell right now but we've got tattoo's, earrings, and our hair looks a little weird. First people see us, and then we open up our concerts and we jump around quite a bit and go crazy and it looks like - "who they just let here in the church, they let the devil in the church." Then we break it down, and we start ministering.

First of all those people are standing around just so they can judge us toward the end of the concert and they can go - "See, told you about having them boys in. There is no ministry going on." They want to let us know so bad at the end of the concert that we didn't minister, or they want to tell the youth pastor. Of course they have to wait until the end of the concert so they don't speak before they know, and by the end of the concert 150 kids get saved. Their weeping at the altars, crying out to God to save their lives and we're praying with every kid. We don't jump in our tour bus until the last kid is prayed for or talked with. When they see that, and they see this band is serious about ministry it changes minds. We've had many people come up to us after the concert and say, "I judged you the minute I saw you, but half way through your concert I saw your heart." Fifty year old ladies saying I'll pray for you every single day. We have never had a bad response after playing the concert.

Ken - One song that I really like is "When the Children Cry." Why did you choose to remake that particular song?

Joseph - It was one of those things where September, 11th had just happened and we were thinking about all the motherless and fatherless children there was going to be. At first a lot of stations were reluctant to play it because they thought it was promoting new world order. We just said the heart of our band was to release this song because of the hurting kids and the kids that are crying every day and we just wipe them under the rug.

Ken - Well thanks for the interview and I'm happy to see you here in Monroe, WI.

Joseph - Tonight their hoping for a good crowd and we just want to be a part of it. If five kids show up were going to play just like if five thousand kids showed up. We're going to give it our all every single night and help to get these kids saved.