Students balance band with life

The basic workload of a full-time college student consists of about 12 to 15 hours of classes, study time and a job.

Add in 10 to 15 hours of band practice along with preparations for a summer tour, as sophomore mechanical-engineering major Judd Jackson has, and time becomes something scarce.

Jackson plays bass in the local Christian band, “Enhisday,” with the purpose to bring the message of Christ to all those in need.

Originally a guitarist, he said his friends encouraged him to pursue learning the bass in order to try out for the band, which he joined in October 2009.

“I guess a week after I started was when we had our first show,” Jackson said. “I was pretty nervous because I had never been in a band or anything, and I was playing a brand new instrument. It was fun though.”

Joining Jackson in Enhisday is University graduate Britnee Wilson as lead singer. Wilson formed the band with the original members in January 2009.

“The band formed because I met a guy named Daniel Brousseau, and we sat out at the lake and played a song together, decided we wanted to start a band,” she said. “The original members only lasted a couple of months and started going off, one by one.”

Starting in August 2009, Jackson along with drummer Michael Monteagudo, speech-communications major at the University of Phoenix, and guitarist Thomas Hawkins, general-studies major at Tyler Junior College, replaced three of the original members.

By October 2010, they and one of the original members transformed “Enhisday” into a four-piece band.

“Having a small number makes it easier to get everyone together, but it’s a challenge for us because we have to become musically creative,” Monteagudo said. “There’s only four of us, and there’s only so much we can do with just us.”

The band members spend much of their time in one another’s company writing, practicing and recording their songs.

“Definitively with the band, life does get pushed aside because you are dedicated to practice, dedicated to the shows, and it takes us away a lot of times,” Monteagudo said.

Writing songs only takes an hour, but getting the song to its full potential can take weeks, Monteagudo said.

“Our music has developed a lot,” Wilson said. “It used to just be me at home with my acoustic guitar. Now to be more musically progressive and dynamic with the stuff that we do, we write all of the music together.”

Monteagudo said writing the songs often started with Wilson getting stuck on an idea and the band figuring out the beat to go behind it.

Together the members have written enough songs for two released albums, “Beautiful Offering” and “Let Go, Let God,” along with the album, “I Am Pilate,” due out in February.

“Recording is pretty cool,” Hawkins said. “It’s a new experience that I’ve never done before now. I may have recorded a little something at my house on a recorder, but to be doing something professional is really cool.”

Wilson said the first two studio producers “Enhisday” recorded with helped to start them out. The more recent one, Rosewood Studios, was a professional recording studio that has recorded artists like LeAnn Rimes.

“The equipment and the expertise is what you’re paying for,” Jackson said.

He said the opportunity to work with a more professional studio was possible through the generosity of friends and family who support the band.

“It’s a little scary also being at the bigger studio because of how we’re not used to it,” Wilson said. “We’d never be able to record there if it wasn’t (for) the generosity of the church body.”

While pursuing the life of a musician, each member continues his or her schooling and part-time jobs. Hawkins is a barista at Kickerz Coffee Shop, and Wilson is a student teacher at Whitehouse. Monteagudo works for CPS medical, and Jackson works at Potter Minton Law Firm.

The members have to balance time off work with planning their tour and recording.

“Being in a band is like dropping our lives for a while,” Hawkins said. “We’re not doing this just for ourselves. We want to serve God, but like family life, school and all that just goes to the side for awhile, at least while we’re gone.”

Wilson said the band plans to go on tour this summer with another local band, “Faithful City,” to play at two youth camps and various churches.
The band was introduced to the “Faithful City” through Facebook before beginning to play together, Wilson said.

She said, “They have similar hearts as us and are really cool people that are serving God. We felt that our music and their music are similar enough that we could play together. “We became really close friends and God laid it on our hearts to consider starting a ministry together.”

Recently the two bands formed “All We Are Ministries,” or “A-WAM,” as a source to reach people in a way different from everyday musicians.

“We now play in two bands, “Enhisday,” the contemporary Christian band, and as part of a worship band in “A-WAM” with “Faithful City,” Wilson said. “It’s similar to a Hillsong-style worship where it’s more of a personal worship. This summer we are going with “A-WAM.” It’s kind of a three-part tour with “Enhisday,” “Faithful City” and “A-WAM.”

She said the “Enhisday” members hope to be able to experience a one-on-one relationship with their fans; and by connecting with people personally, they will impact more lives.