Rookie (L to R): Sam Williams (drums), Andrew Whitaker (lead vocals), Nathaniel McManus (guitar) and Phil Moore (bass). “Whether we’re singing about relationships with girls or a love song to God, either way people can relate to that. We have our fun songs, our tongue-in-cheek songs about (tennis player) Anna Kournikova...but at the end of the day, Rookie is a tool we’re using to minister to people with and just show then that the stereotype of a Christian isn’t what most people make it out to be. It’s just a relationship with a God that loves you and we want to make sure that we can let as many people as possible know that there is a God who loves them - that they’re not on their own. If we can show a little bit of that, well then we’ve done our job.” - Andrew Whitaker

29th October, 2004

DAVID ADAMS

There are days when Nathaniel McManus, guitarist with Queensland band Rookie, wonders what he’s doing up on stage performing in front of hundreds of teenagers.

And then God reminds him.

“The next day, we’ll put on a show and hundreds of kids will get saved and it’s just, like, that’s why we do it,” says the 25-year-old known to the other band members as 'Macca'.

A recent concert at Wollongong, for example, attracted around 1,200 teenagers with 150 of them asking Jesus Christ into their life.

“You see the evidence of God moving in the ministry and it just blows me away,” he says. “It just makes it all worth it.”

Rookie was founded around four years ago when McManus and bass player Phil Moore were in a studio doing an assignment on recording. They recorded a couple of songs and were asked to play at a festival.

“We just started from there. We had to start a band and we had to get enough songs and a band together in, I think it was like five weeks or something, to play this festival,” says McManus.

Despite their own reservations about their initial performance, they were invited back the next year. Since then, the band - despite changes to its line-up including dropping from five to four members - hasn’t looked back, going full-time nearly two years ago and releasing their debut album, Peach Pit Politics, around a year ago. They’ve been travelling around the country ever since performing their unique blend of pop, rock and rock and clocking up thousands of kilometres with vists to most capital cities.

Moore, 24, says that taking the “step of faith” in going full-time, the band has been much more “serious and organised” about it’s mission.

“It’s not only our ministry but it’s our livelihood as well now so we want to try and be professional and relate to the kids as much as we possibly can,” he says.

“I guess back in the early days there it was all very much a fun thing, a hobby (through which) we could input into the kids and just have a good time and now that we’re full-time, we really want to try and make a difference.”

Andrew Whitaker, lead vocalist and, at 28, the band’s oldest member, says that while the band was initially formed to play a festival - “and we didn’t think it would go much further than that” - Rookie now see their music as a tool to meet kids at their level.

“We can take a sound and music that they’re listening to and turn it into something with a message; something that can be used for the glory of God, I guess, and the Kingdom,” he says.

“Whether we’re singing about relationships with girls or a love song to God, either way people can relate to that. We have our fun songs, our tongue-in-cheek songs about (tennis player) Anna Kournikova...but at the end of the day, Rookie is a tool we’re using to minister to people with and just show then that the stereotype of a Christian isn’t what most people make it out to be. It’s just a relationship with a God that loves you and we want to make sure that we can let as many people as possible know that there is a God who loves them - that they’re not on their own. If we can show a little bit of that, well then we’ve done our job.”

The band are also aiming to break down the stereotype of what a Christian artist is. Not that it means they’ll sell-out or compromise their message in any way.

“We just want to see the broadest range of people touched and to get out message across to the most people possible,” says drummer Sam Williams.

Does that mean trying to break into the secular market?

“First and foremost Rookie is a Christian band and our goal is to stay that way,” Williams, 20, responds. “But we’re always willing and open to see God move through us and if God’s plan for our band is to cross over into the secular scene - if that’s the way we’re going to get our message across to more people - we’re definitely willing to do that. But at the moment, we’re all agreed that God has got us in this time and place for a reason - to be a ministry completely - and until God tells us any different that’s what we’ll be doing.”

The others add that they are seeing Christian music being accepted for what it is within the Australian music scene anyway - witness Guy Sebastian and Hillsong's ARIA success - a trend which could see them naturally gaining a wider audience.

While it was harder to see in the early days, Moore says that looking back now, he can see God’s hand in bringing the band together.

“We’ve been so blessed and even though we’ve done stupid things, God’s has been in control and His vision for us has always been much bigger than we thought it was. We’re still picking up the ball.”

“Playing to schools and all that sort of stuff - it wasn’t that long ago that we were there and we were going through the peer pressure and substance abuse and all that sort of stuff. We know where these kids are at and we just want to relate to the kids say ‘Hey, we weren’t there all that long ago and we just want to show you that there is an alternative that’s so much better. If we could have learnt that back when we were your age, then we’d be all the better for it.”

Whitaker, who recently announced he and his wife Carla were becoming parents, adds that the band is careful not to force their message.

“We don’t force it down anyone’s throat. This is what works for us. If this can help you out in a way which we know it’s helped us out then so be it - find out more, ask the questions. It is just about helping people out - whether they take it or not, it’s up to them.”

“A lot of kids think that if you become a Christian then you’ve got to be perfect all the time. I guess we never try and put ourselves across that (way). We’re far from perfect...we still maker mistakes, we’re still struggling to get there. A lot of kids think, ‘God won’t love me because I’m not perfect’. Well, it’s the total opposite - we’re just trying to let them know that and know that church isn’t a place for perfect people either. The church is there to grow people in. Church should be a place full of people with lots of problems because that’s where they work them out, not a place for perfect people to sing about how good they are...It’s about unperfect (sic) people.”

The group have started work on their second album - to which all are contributing songs - which they say will be different from Peach Pit Politics but still contain an “element of Rookie”.

“To be cliché, we’ve sort of matured as people...” says McManus. “But that’s not to say this album is going to be all serious and deep - there’s still going to be some stupid stuff on there ‘cause that’s just us.”

Next January will also see them touring Australian capital cities as the support band for US giant Third Day. It’s an experience they hope to learn from.

“I think the biggest that for me about getting that tour...was just the amount we could learn from bands that have been around for years and how they’ve done it,” says Williams.

“One of the things I’m going to be doing is just trying to be a sponge...I think its going to be a massive learning experience for us musically and spiritually and I’m really looking forward to the chance to hang out with those guys and just learn from them.”

Asked what advice they might have for bands just starting out, Rookie don’t hesitate.

“Keep God the centre of everything.”

Rookie will be touring with Third Day in January. For tour dates or more info on the band, see www.rookie.com.au.