Plus One keeps adding to its musical influences

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Plus One — Gabe Combs, Nathan Walters, Nate Cole and Jeremy Mhire — heads for Honolulu for two weekend concerts.

"Have you heard Sigur Ros?" queried Cole, in the middle of a comparison of our CD collections.

Yup, got 'em already.

Coldplay's "Parachutes" and "A Rush of Blood to the Head" CDs, Radiohead and Muse?

Got those, too, Nate.

Derivative pap — Christian or secular — is bound to eventually steer you toward really good music, or kill you trying. And Cole is listening to as much of the good stuff as he can find and genuinely loving it.

No, Cole and his partners in Plus One will not be doing selections from "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" at their two Hawai'i Theatre shows this weekend. But Cole did promise that Plus One's live show would reveal more shades of the modern alternative rock that the band has grooved to of late than the dance-pop that won them four consecutive No. 1 singles and a No. 1 album debut on the contemporary Christian charts.

"It was just time for us to grow," said Cole. "Which is cool, especially at our age. When you're 18 to 25, that's when you're changing the most and trying to find out who you are. I think the music we're playing ... reveals more of our influences musically."

Plus One was formed in 1999 as one of several Christian answers to mainstream pop's boy band onslaught. They danced. They sang. They eventually wound up hating every minute of it. That contempt grew when mainstream music trends started changing, and the band's tastes along with it.

"In some ways, for a Christian band, people could really care less what you do musically as long as you're still standing up for your faith, which is kind of a plus," said Cole. "But at the same time ... bands can take advantage of that, know that it's going to work for Christian radio and the Christian market, and all they have to do is throw a couple of 'Jesuses' and 'Gods' into the songs and people will like it."

Plus One has tried to make its change more organic, hoping its fans will sense its real commitment to the music. The band recently began playing their own instruments on stage (members Gabe Combs and Nathan Walters were musicians before joining Plus One). The foursome's next CD will feature, for the first time, material written entirely by the band.

"We have some really great songs that could work on (mainstream) radio, which, I know, is going to be a struggle," said Cole. Christian radio might also prove a challenge next time around, as lyrically the new songs don't have "a whole lot of 'Jesus' in it ... as far as the actual word 'Jesus.' "

"It has nothing to do with us shying away from that," said Cole, who, by the way, does foresee a day when he and/or the band goes completely mainstream. "But it has to come naturally and has to really fit."