Planetshaker’s EP – Momentum (Live in Manila) – and its lead single, I Know Who You Are, have been kicking goals on the music charts. DAVID ADAMS speaks with the multi-talented Joth Hunt about the band and its mission…
Joth Hunt may only be 30, but he’s already a veteran. He was just 18 when he went on his first tour with the Planetshakers Band back in 2004, having attended the Planetshakers annual conference since he was 13.
“I went as a young kid attending the conference and then just fell in love with it and (having) the dream to one day join it and be a part of it. And here we are,” says the Melbourne-based singer, songwriter and guitarist, who also is the band’s creative director.
The Planetshakers Band (with Joth Hunt, centre).
“We’re not trying to build some famous brand or anything like that; at the core of who we are, we’re just some guys from a local church who serve the church…We’re not trying to be rock stars or anything like that…”
– Joth Hunt
Mr Hunt is among the artists featured on Planetshakers’ first EP, Momentum (Live in Manila), which was released back in March and comes in the wake of the church’s 30 full length live and studio albums.
The EP has become Planetshakers’ fourth top 10 release on the Australian iTunes chart, peaking at number four – the highest position a Planetshakers’ song has had on the chart and equalling the success of the band’s earlier song, Endless Praise.
Lead single, I Know Who You Are – written by Mitch Wong – another member of the massive music Planetshakers’ team – has been described as the most successful track the band has had on Australian Christian radio for more than 10 years.
The ballad, says Mr Hunt – who was also executive producer of the EP, is all about relying on God through life’s journey.
“We all go through ups and downs, we all go through the valley, we all have moments where we are on the mountain, but the thing that gets us through it all is trusting in God and understanding that He is our Lord, our Saviour, and He’s the One who gets us through. So the song is a real declaration of that (and) that can really relate to any person, no matter what they’re going through…”
Its the message, he says, which has led to the song’s popularity. “And people generally just love to lift up God; they like to declare that He is greater. Some…songs out there are very deep and they’re probably not very obtainable to some people – a lot of people can’t grasp the concept of the things they’re saying, but this one is very clear, very simple and that is one of the reasons why people have caught on to it.”
Momentum came about when the band decided to release an EP featuring a couple of songs they’d recorded during a concert in the Philippines including Momentum and Nothing Is Impossible and included a number of studio-recorded songs – I Know Who You Are, Face To Face, and, Come Right Now – that they’d been singing in church.
“We thought I Know Who You Are would be a great song to send around the world and help people encounter God through it,” says Mr Hunt.
The musician (whose real name is Jonathan, ‘Joth’ comes from his brother’s mispronunciation of his name when they were younger) grew up in a Christian home and music was always part of his life – his parents were both music pastors.
“My parents placed a great priority on church, so every Sunday we were there, morning and night, all day, and I just grew up with a love for the ‘house’…” he says.
He knew early on that God had given him the “gift of music” and says it was simply a matter of giving back his gift to God so He could use it for His purposes. The result has been a life in which he’s just “living the dream”. “It doesn’t feel like work at all to me. I love what I do, you know?”
Mr Hunt, who is married to Racheal and has a 16-month-old son Josiah, says he spends about one-and-a-half to two months touring with the band every year. It’s taken him across Europe, to the US, South America and South Africa as well as to Asian nations like the Philippines.
“It definitely has its challenges but it is an amazing privilege to go around the world…and see what God’s doing in different nations,” he says, although he adds that he prefers recording in the studio to touring. “For me personally, there’s no pressures in the studio, you’re just free to create…Being in a studio, you can really just dream up and create something amazing.”
FIRST EP: Momentum (Live in Manila)
Mr Hunt says one of the things which helps to keep the band grounded is the fact it’s made up of members of a church (the Pentecostal Planetshakers Church now has four campuses in Melbourne as well as in Geelong and, overseas, Cape Town in South Africa, Geneva in Switzerland, and Austin in the US).
“We’re not trying to build some famous brand or anything like that; at the core of who we are, we’re just some guys from a local church who serve the church…” he says. “We’re not trying to be rock stars or anything like that…”
To that end, the band – who will release their next album in September – call themselves ‘musicianaries’ – a cross between musicians and missionaries. “That’s how we go on the road,” says Mr Hunt. “We don’t want to be known just as people who play music, we want to be known as men and women of God who happen to play music.”
One of the highlights for him – and one of things that makes touring, an experience he described as very physically taxing and “not glamourous at all” – more bearable – is seeing people’s live changed after listening to their music.
“When we travel around the world – even just on a Sunday, when we’re worshipping at some church – and I see people cry in the presence of God and they’re having a great encounter with God and they’re singing a song that I wrote, it’s just an unbelieveable feeling to go ‘I’m helping to facilitate your encounter with God’, just in the same way that a preacher or evangelist – or anyone for that matter – would lead someone to Christ. What a great feeling that is.”
His advice for someone who may be part of a church worship team is not to worry too much about about all the “sound and lights and production”.
“At the end of the day, we rely upon God’s anointing to have an amazing time. So (my advice would be) just relying on God’s empowerment in that regard. And, also, giving your best – we really encourage everyone to give their best…so obviously practice is very important.”
