Episode 183 // Elevation RHYTHM

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Ryan Loche
Welcome to the church collective podcast. In this episode, I had the chance to talk with the guys from elevation rhythm. And there is just a ton of insight to be able to be gleaned from this episode. I hope you enjoy it. Here we go.

Davide Mutendji
It’s fun time, or innovation rhythm. We just dropped our very first project, titled growing pains, we dropped it on April 1 of this year, this is after about 11 singles in two years of just kind of testing out like what people love and you know, growing within our own writing and producing abilities. So like now, we just dropped our first 12 Song project. And it’s been really, it’s been a really crazy time just watching people experience something that we would have been working so hard for behind the scenes. And so, yeah, it’s exciting times for elevation rhythm.

Ryan Loche
Yeah. What I mean, so this was all created during lockdown. Like, maybe talk a little bit about my goodness, like I’ve all the time, it’s like, what was that? Like?

Josh Holiday
Yeah, we? Well, I think a shift happened, I guess with elevation rhythm when we wrote quiet. Or one of our singles, we wrote it during maybe like two months into the lockdown. Yeah. And I think that that is when the shift started to happen with the sound and with like, what we wanted rhythm to really be and what God really kind of showed where rhythm was headed. And it really shifts like kind of like molded our songwriting process to really be looking thinking through the lens of like, oh, man, what are people really going through right now? And what do they really need to hear? And for us, not really having service we’re really able to, to develop, develop our own skills, and really like the really almost gave us like, the luxury to dream a little bit bigger, and to explore and like what oh, man, like, because sometimes I think we think through the lens of like, okay, we have, we have service coming up. So we need to be writing things through the lens of like, okay, this context, but knowing that context can change all the time, we kind of broke that barrier of thinking through that lens, and really just being even more open handed, with like, what what we could do, or what it could possibly be

Davide Mutendji
1,000%, because we didn’t have to worry about well, the new song needs to be predictable, because the roommates able to sing it because there was no one in the room. And so it was like, essentially, all the awkward moments are just going to be between us if we didn’t know this properly. But now we get to present them in a way that’s authentic to the way we wrote them in the room. And so that was really a special weird time to be writing music. Just, it took all the limitations off of kind of like what we’re so used to presenting to church.

Ryan Loche
Right? Talk a little bit about, like, let’s start with quiet like, what were you guys feeling when you were like, putting that song together for the church?

Josh Holiday
Yeah, it was, it really came from the the feeling of like, God wanted us all. I mean, God had us all in this state of isolation, where we couldn’t really do much. It’s not a punishment, or it’s not like like a prison. It’s really just a moment that we could actually utilize and like, really exercise Be still and know that I’m God like that. The scripture of just like being still and really getting him to really, us to really like kind of grasp, like, oh, my god like this. I want to know you more. And sometimes to know you more, I just need to be still and be quiet. Yeah. Quiet, the noise, quiet, the anxiety, quiet all the things and really just like, understand, like, This is who God is. And this is who God is. This is who he needs to be in my life. This is what he’s to do in my life. And I think that that was really like the, the heart behind quiet is to really know that we were going through that. And we needed a song like clay and our own state of like isolation and almost like the self dialogue on the inner dialogue we were having, but then knowing that, like if we needed was knowing that maybe more people need to hear this song as well.

Ryan Loche
Right. And I mean, the message still stands today that doesn’t require a lockdown for it to be applicable.

Davide Mutendji
Right? Yeah, it felt like a like a great reminder that, like our homes are starting to feel like a prisons, because we couldn’t escape from it. But then we’re like, what if we look at our homes, not as a prison, but almost like a palace in the perfect place for God to speak to us? It’s like, well, maybe isolation isn’t meant as a punishment, present privilege, if we just kind of changed the way that we look at it. And so that’s why the verses kind of feel so chaotic that they that just kind of feels like oh man like this, all this noise that we’re being so focused on. But now it’s all being stripped away. And it can either be lonely or it can really just help you channel your focus into actually this is what I need to be listening to. And so God you speak, and I’m willing to take the time to listen to you.

Ryan Loche
Yeah, well It’s good. I’d love to like, because there’s definitely like, you guys are putting musical elements into the stuff that are like, say musical, everything’s musical, but like you’re putting, like, you’re conveying meaning through the music that you’re putting in there. I know like, in a lot of ways when we’re trying to write worship music, it’s almost like the singing ability and the anthem mech nature of it is key. Could you maybe talk about that tension of like trying to write stuff, knowing full well, that it kind of strays? From you know what, I guess we all consider norms at this point?

Josh Holiday
Yeah, I think it’s, it is a little bit. It’s kind of like tempting a lot of times to like, always want to be like, I just want something that the masses can seeing, work and seeing. And I think that what we’ve learned a lot is that like, sometimes when you just focus on one, you actually like, it actually, like resonates with way more people that you think I think when you try to focus on the masses, then you’re almost like you’re casting this wide net, and hoping that you can at least get something but it’s just like, well, some of these songs, we didn’t really try to cast such a wide net, we really thought about specific stories that we may have heard from, like different age groups, or like from different people who are walking with people really kind of kept it. Sometimes we kind of try to keep it as singular as possible. And whether it’s personal to us, or it’s like something within our community. And I think what happens is, it actually does the same thing. Like it’s still reaches multiple people. It’s still reaches and and I think that that is when it’s a different mindset to have when it comes to writing because we’re like you said, like, we’re so used to being like this is this is gonna go crazy on Sunday morning. Most of our songs aren’t, that’s not what we’re thinking through that. It takes a lot of takes a lot of selflessness to like to not think through that lens. Because you obviously you want things that people can sing right back to you. Yeah, because it almost gives you like this instant affirmation, like, Okay, this is seems like you like it, because he’s back to me. But when we’ve seen these songs, and a lot of times, they just kind of sit and listen, and kind of get that response that outwardly expressed his response. But it does not mean at all that is not resonating with them is just honestly, they’re just really letting it speak to them.

Davide Mutendji
Yep, yeah, we, we’ve almost adapted the sense of like, embrace the awkwardness, thing, where it’s almost like we’re teaching, and I don’t want to say a new way of worship, but a different way of worship, I think we’ve been so cultured to look at worship as a genre, or as a style, when for us, it’s really a posture of your heart. And so we’re we’re okay, with understanding that, you know, some of our songs, people aren’t going to know how to move or how to clap their hands, they’re going to want to watch, but maybe they’re not watching, but they’re actually taking in the lyrics. And they’re taking in the content that maybe they would have missed, because it will be just so Oh, four on the floor, you know? And so, like, so we’ve just embraced the openness of understanding, hey, this is a new way that we’re trying to give people just a new glimpse of what worship can actually be in take the limitations or maybe what they’re so used to experiencing in church.

Ryan Loche
Yeah. I mean, I love that you guys are like working that through. Do you have any advice for I mean, the worship leader, or I mean, probably the senior pastor that’s hearing this is like, No, not at my church. Like, it’s got to be full participation all the time, like the what? What would you encourage them? Because I mean, I love like, worship is so much more than just being able to sing along. I mean, any whether you sing along or not, like you can digest the lyrics and still worship the Lord through that. But I mean, I can hear the worship leaders being like, like, No, it’s not gonna work here. Advice for them to like, move towards some of that.

Davide Mutendji
Yeah, I mean, the biggest advice is like, hey, like, I think it’s not just meeting people where they’re at, but also leading them somewhere. And if all of your leadership is always kind of keeping your church comfortable, then are you really leading them or are you just kind of, you know, just being good to them. And it is so hard. And so the way that we try and kind of manage that tension is by putting in all these like new songs or songs, or maybe different in the middle of songs that we know that they’re going to sing. So it’s okay, we’re going to start with like, a song that we know that you know, we’re going to maybe go into a song that you’re a little bit unsure of, but then maybe pair it up with the old classic, Old Faithful, you know, like a hymn to tag onto it today. Now, people feel a little bit more like, oh, I kind of think I know now what the song’s about, and then hit him with another song that they fully know. So it’s really all about like, where you position them to maybe help with that kind of bridging that gap of head. They’re not going to sing it but we’re going to give them a little bit more something to look forward to towards the end. But we’re always kind of like, hey, we believe that in the next 10 years, the songs that people are finding hard to sing to are going to be the normal songs that they’re actually singing in the churches. Like, if you if you want to do it, if you want to be a pioneer, you’ve got to embrace that awkwardness. It is great.

Ryan Loche
It is great to talk a little bit now. I mean, so you started from like the quiet and now you guys are, you know, back fully going, what does it look like now? I mean, you’ve kind of described a little bit of it, but maybe just speak to the, you know, now that some of the songs came out of that time. And now they’re all in a corporate setting like what’s what’s church look like for you guys right now?

Josh Holiday
Well, I think well, first off as a team, I think we’ve grown as a team, I think when quiet came, it was like three of us. And now there’s like 12 of us. Like, we’ve come out of this as a bigger group and more of a collective and, and so I mean, church. I mean, obviously, we’re back in church every Sunday. Most of the people were part of rhythm, we’re a that different locations are different campuses leading at those locations. We were starting to implement a couple more rhythm songs into our Sunday mornings. Like as they come like we like we said before, like not all our songs are meant for Sunday mornings. And so but the ones that are like, we’re, we’re definitely doing them on Sundays. And yeah, we’ve just been, we’ve just been back into back in a groove. It’s a new groove. But it feels good to really be back into a groove and rhythm. Yeah. And so trying not to do I’m not trying to say that, but back into the groove of things. And

Davide Mutendji
yeah, it’s, it’s been cool also, because our main avenue for rhythm is our youth worship nights that we kind of do at our church. And it’s been really fun to to see that like, now that we kind of took them on a journey of hey, like, these are the songs that we’re going to be doing. And now I just seem so normal within our contexts that even the songs that we didn’t necessarily write to be done in church, they bake for they like, Hey, give us meant to be like, because, you know, give us has anyone left you high and dry, which were songs that were just like, you’re probably just going to be more studio listening songs. But those are the songs that go so hard in a youth service. And so it’s been fun to kind of see honor, like, when they trust the people leading them, they’ll follow no matter what it sounds like, and they’re okay with kind of being taught a new way of worship. Yeah,

Ryan Loche
that’s great. Talk a little bit about like, your style, are you? What are you pulling from? Like, what do I guess what’s inspiring? Everything? It’s got to kind of figure that answer.

Josh Holiday
Yeah, I think I mean, I, our goal is really just to understand when you when you’re, when your demographic is young, and young adults, and our genres play around, like in the puppet side, you have to stay flexible, and you have to stay open ended with it. And so we try not to dig too deep into too many different styles and lock ourselves into it. Because the moment you do that is the moment you kind of put a date on whatever you’re doing. And so our style is, is is really going to always be based off of who like when we when we are leading, who do we see in front of us, because our responsibility is to lead is to lead the people that we’ve been entrusted to lead with our youth and our young adults. And so right now, we look out there and we see kids who love hip hop, we see kids who love Robinson kids who look like singer songwriter stuff, and so we’re going to meet them where they are, and we’re going to make music that they can relate to. And then 10 years from now, we’re like making robotic techno we’ve got to do it, we got to do it. Yeah. So obviously we have our we have preferences, and we have like styles that we bring that we pull from. And I mean, it ranges from like, obviously, of course, like elevation worship, and that’s just Steven in the house. There’s like, the house is kind of like built on those types of songs. And then the Kurt Franklin’s in, and how he kind of like transcended through like, I was just just another day and he kept saying like, Oh my young people, oh my God. And so just like even like how Kurt Franklin kind of got started with like, really kind of like going for the next generation. And then on the other side, like I love Kanye West. I love his production style. And I love well. And yeah, what do you what do you

Davide Mutendji
like? Yeah, I mean, one of my biggest inspirations definitely is like John Mayer and just his writing how he’s just able to tell stories, but they also love the pop influence of Justin Bieber and his band. And so like, we’re stylistically our team is just we love so much different genres and different types of music and getting in the room and creating music that we all love. Is kind of like the picture that we try to create. It’s almost like, like we’re trying to almost blend Christ. Christ right iced revelation with like, cultural relevancy. And so whatever that kind of looks like, in the, in the moment and in the times like we were just trying to meet people where they’re at.

Ryan Loche
Yeah. Which I mean, that’s biblical. That’s all through Paul did a lot of that throughout the New Testament. Yeah, that’s awesome. You mentioned like elevation worship, I’d love to hear just what’s the, I’d say tension. It’s not really tension, but like, what does it look like to have elevation rhythm and elevation worship? Like, just what does that look like practically for your church? So hard?

Davide Mutendji
They have Grammys, and we have Grammys.

Josh Holiday
Like, I think we were more different than we’re very much alike, but we’re also very different. And so a lot of crossover just because it’s like, We’re all under the same house. So and then so but I think their elevation worship is, has established itself in a way over the past like 10 years. And we’re such a, such a baby, it’s even kind of even weird to even like, like, try to like, be like, oh, yeah, we’re, we’re in the same situation, the same thing. And so I think we love to embrace the we love to embrace the fact that we have the opportunity to do a completely different. And but we also have the blessing. What a blessing is to have such a ministry that paved the way, and has learned a lot of lessons that we don’t have to learn now. And they’ve opened up doors that that we don’t really have to open up and we get to follow behind them. And I think but it’s our mission to also just not to not to take that for granted and just become like a carbon copy of it. But to really like, honor that by pushing even further and being like, hey, like we’re going to, we’re going to honor the the all the work you have done and we’re not going to repeat the same things I did. But we’re really going to see how we can even help elevation worship by kind of going into lanes and going into spaces that they’re not really in yet. And so it’s we partner up with them, but it’s definitely like big brother little brother. It is

Ryan Loche
awesome. Well, um, so the album’s been out for a little bit like what, what kind of feedback are you guys seeing on it? At this point?

Davide Mutendji
It’s been incredible to just see, like, how many people are loving all the different types of songs. So I think usually, like, on a normal project, you have like, one or two songs that everyone constantly talks about. But it’s been really cool. Like any kind of the teenagers that we kind of speak to, and a lot of the audiences that we have connections with. It’s always a different song. It’s always like, Oh, I love you know, over and over, those are for like the, you know, 16 year old girls who just love worship, and he just loves reading the Bible. So, you know, Spotify, it’s like, Oh, I love over and over, then we have like some of our like, 16 year old boys who just like love rap, and just like love going to parties, and they’re like, oh, man, back then is my song. And then we speak to someone who’s just like so much more of a chill person. And like, I just love the way trust ministers. And so it’s been really cool to not just have like, one specific one or two songs that are like make the project the project. But to hear people always just pick out a different type of song is very helpful, because we wanted the entire project to almost be like a playlist, where like, we’re part of the playlist generation where these, you know, these kids are on Spotify on Apple, and they’re combining, you know, like Kirk Franklin, and Jesus culture and Bethel. And we also have Justin Bieber, and Billy Eilish, all on the same playlist. And our project kind of does that for them. And so that’s been like a great highlight so far.

Ryan Loche
Have you guys had like a? Did you have like a launch worship night or anything like that to go with it? How’d that go? Yeah.

Davide Mutendji
So we we had a listening party about two days before the project actually dropped. And so it’s our, it’s our rhythm nights are kind of like our main youth nights. And so for that specific night, we actually, we turned that whole auditorium into a listening party. We didn’t have the band on stage. It was literally just the album that we played. And it was the first time that they got to hear back the project that we recorded in December. And they went wild. It was crazy. We were so afraid because it was again, something new always trying to break the boundaries of like, okay, well what’s a listening party supposed to be like our worship my wall band has to play well, like what if the band has nothing to do with it? I mean, literally just play the album front to back and they left.

Ryan Loche
And so the song was literally just room, nobody on stage, just play the album. And then we’re talking we’re talking like teenagers, right paying attention.

Davide Mutendji
We’re talking 800 Teenagers put on the floor and one of our campuses we kind of syrup like a little stage on the ground, but it was just kind of just with like us helping kind of keep the energy going. And they listened to every song, the worship songs, they were worshiping hands raised, the songs that they needed to jump up and down, they were jumping up and down. So it really was like, man, like, if this is the same experience someone else can have in their car, or in their dorm or in their kitchen. Like that they’re having in the same room. They were getting listening. They were listening to the plug in. That’s honestly like the goal of the songs.

Ryan Loche
That’s cool. What advice do you have for like a younger worship leader trying to lead this broad? I mean, like you said, Everybody’s play this generation, like, what advice we have for the guy that’s in a youth group with just 100 teens, trying to lead them in worship? Like, what would what should they do?

Davide Mutendji
Yeah, I think for me, it’s like, I try always lead from a place of like, knowing who I’m leading. And so the place that we always started, like, all the songs that we wrote, were from the conversations we’re having with our teenagers, like, quiet came from us getting in a room, and it’s like, man, like, we all need small groups. Hey, like talent. It’s like, what was your last small group about via zoom, because that was what we’re kind of doing. You know, it was just like, man, our kids are just alone. And like, they’re just struggling. And they, they want to try and figure out like, well, things go back to normal. And so we’re always trying to write and lead from a place of knowing the people that we’re leading. And so my first thing would be like, hey, it’s so much easier to lead teenagers when they trust you, and they know you. And so if you can find a good way to do that, even if it’s just like knowing 10 of them, and then those are the 10 that help lead the rest of the room with you, that makes a massive difference, but then also to lead from a place of vulnerability. And so when you’re sharing why we’re singing the songs, and why we’re leading them, and why we’re doing this, that kind of opens them up, because they they’re more open to see transparency than just being told what to do. And so those are like two great places to start, and then be confident in what God has given you. Because like, no one else can do what you do the way God has called you to do it. And people will follow you once they see that you’re being true to who you are not just trying to be someone else.

Ryan Loche
Yeah, that’s really good. I’d love to hear what’s your guys’s story? How’d you get involved with all this?

Josh Holiday
With all like with elevating, like, yeah,

Ryan Loche
just like how did you get into worship leadership? And then now at elevation? Yeah.

Josh Holiday
Yeah, I mean, I’ve, I’ve been producing since I was a kid, almost like 1617. Yeah, way more work in the pop in the hip hop world. And I just kind of, it’s a pretty lonely music industry. And so long story short, I just kind of didn’t really feel I didn’t really feel like I was really getting getting developed. As a as a man, I just felt like I was being almost like glorified for my acts. But no one really like is like, no one cared beyond whatever I was doing. And I think it was felt empty. And so that’s when I started just kind of wanting to slip everything and started going to church. And I was going to church for maybe like three or four years, not really doing much. And I think I met you guys, maybe like two years ago, and I met VT and Tiff. And we had a writing session. And that was probably when the first times I started like, making music again. And it was the first time I make music that was for the Lord. And it was just so different. But it was different in all the best ways. Like it was we before we even made a song we talked for hours. And I think that that’s just like, it was like, oh, it’s deeper than just about what what I’m here to do, which is to make a song. It’s about like, who, who we are Yeah, like where our hearts are. And I think that we connected on a heart level, before we even made a sound. And I think that’s, that’s what really, to motivation, rhythm and, and the fact that they just embraced me in my in my craziness. I didn’t know how to make worship, music and guitar. And so I was kind of coming in with just beat houses. And they looked at as like, let’s go. And so that’s kind of like how I kind of hopped on to

Davide Mutendji
the rhythm team. And he’s been such, yeah, he’s been such an integral part of the metamorphosis of where rhythm is, is it was very important for us. If we felt like man, we’re trying to reach the next generation and we’re trying to do it differently. And so we needed to find someone who is different and Josh is definitely different and I’m sure you hear in the music that we’ve kind of been creating and producing. For me. I come my wife and I moved to America in 2017 to be a part of a revelation church. We kind of were from South Africa and We just stumbled upon elevation worship on YouTube one day and fell in love with just the ministry and the songs that were just impacting so many people, we happen to be one of those people. And my dream. I grew up in my parents church, and my dream was always just kind of be a part of like, just the next wave of hate, like what is worship look like for the next generation. And so being able to then kind of into our youth ministry here at elevation youth and being able to serve under Pastor Steven and Tim summers, our youth pastor who just, they so much believe in like, hey, like, we believe that our church is called to keep on pushing the ministry forward. And so they’re just interested as to just start with re mixing elevation worship songs, that’s where innovation rhythm started. It wasn’t just like, hey, like, we want you guys to write songs. It was just like, hey, just do what you think the next generation in our church needs. And it just started with remixes elevation worship songs, and in writing little choruses and bridges here and then then kind of became like, hey, writing our own songs, and then it became, oh, what are you doing with the song that you’ve written on? Let’s create something and so rhythm wasn’t always like, hey, like, this is going to be for the world. It was this is going to be for our youth and our teenagers in our church. And okay, that means that we get to put them on Spotify and the world gets to hear them. Awesome.

Ryan Loche
Yeah, I think it’s a really good place to start for writing for sure. Like think about like UBS said, like thinking about the people you’re actually leading rather than, you know, whatever lofty aspirations are for the Spotify plays, or anything like that. Thanks so much for listening to this week’s episode. As always, make sure to connect with us on Instagram, Tik Tok. Find us on Facebook, LinkedIn, we are all over the place. Can’t wait to chat with you.

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