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An interview with the founder of the Internet Community for LDS Musicians

More at LDSMusicians.com

Brad Thompson, founder and creator of LDSMusicians.com is a member of the LDS Music World team of webmasters/musicians, working to bring the best in LDS music to the LDS online community. Brad is a performing songwriter who writes specifically for the LDS market. In late 1999, seeking to find other LDS musicians to write, perform, and record with, he founded an email group called LDSMusicians. Since that humble beginning, the LDSMusicians email group has grown to be a thriving community of LDS artists from all over the world. Brad now serves as webmaster of the group's website, LDSMusicians.com, produced the group's first compilation CD project, LDSstyles, and continues to write and perform LDS music.

LDS Music World: How did the LDS Musicians group get started?

Brad Thompson: I currently live in a very small community with very few performance opportunities, especially for an LDS musician. The idea for the group came to me while I was surfing around the internet. I was curious to know if there might be other LDS musicians who were interested in communicating, collaborating, and supporting each other via the internet. From there it was just a matter of finding a service to set up the group.

LDS: When did the the idea hit you to get a group of LDS musicians together to share ideas and promote music?

BT: It was a little discouraging to be a musician in a community that had no market for my music. I mean, once you've performed locally for a fireside or two, you've pretty much tapped the local opportunities. It was also a struggle to find local musicians to help me get my songs recorded. It's a little hard to convice the guitarist from the local heavy metal band to come in and play a track on a song of mine like "Yes I'm LDS". It's even harder to find non-LDS bandmates that are willing to turn down paid gigs at bars and the like. Being an LDS musician usually means being a fish out of water in the "music biz". Most of us can't jump in the VW Bus and do a regional nightclub tour. We've gotta be home on Sunday for the Sabbath, Monday for FHE, Wednesday for Young Men's activities, etc...

LDS: What is your background as a musician?

BT: It really began for me in high school. I attended Taylorsville High School in Salt Lake City for my junior year. I had always been in band (saxophone), but mostly for the trips to Disneyland and the easy credit! That year was different. My band teacher was also a singer/songwriter/keyboardist and played with a band. Watching his passion for creating music changed me. I had always loved music, but he gave me the love of making music. I started a band in my senior year of high school. The band was short-lived with everybody going separate directions after graduation. Since that time, I've written and performed solo.

LDS: What is your background as a webmaster?

BT: About three years ago, I taught myself enough web design skills to create a webpage for a mobile DJ business that I was running. After getting some great comments about it, I started getting requests from some local businesses to do sites for them. I decided to turn that opportunity into a business and built a flagship community information site for the town I live in, Ontario, Oregon. With the acceptance and popularity of that site I've been able to build sites for many more local businesses, and even had the opportunity to donate websites to local non-profit organizations that I support.

LDS: What is your instrument and your musical style?

BT: More and more, my instrument is the guitar. After years of synthesizers, drum machines, quantization, and midi synchronization, I've fallen in love with the pure and evocative sound of the simple guitar. I really only began playing guitar a couple of years ago. I had been searching for a local LDS guitarist to record and perform with to no avail. I finally gave up and decided to just learn to play the thing myself.... more out of need than interest. Now I can't put it down long enough to even turn my synth on! Like most musicians, it's hard to define your own style. My LDS-specific music is funny at times, like a John Bytheway, and at times emotional and moving, like a Michael McLean or a Kenneth Cope. I really try to gear it towards a wide LDS audience of all ages and genders. I'm very excited about a new project with a local singer/songwriter that I've found to work with. It is certainly something different from what people are used to hearing from me.

LDS: Can you envision the LDSMusicians group being successful without the internet?

BT: No, not really. We've managed to bring musicians together from literally all over the globe. That could never happen in the way it does for us without the internet. Our first compilation CD features a collaboration by a retired Air Force officer from Washington DC, a stay-at-home mom in California, and a 14 year old girl.... none of which have ever met face to face! Where else could that happen besides the internet?

LDS: How have you kept ldsmusicians.com growing into the vast community that it has become?

BT: The remarkable thing is, I haven't. It has truly become a living, breathing, growing thing on it's own. There is so much passion, so much committment from the musicians involved that it is truly a labor of love for us to promote and support this group, each in our own way.

 

LDS: What are your plans for the future with this group?

BT: Hang on for the ride? We are currently in the planning stages for three to four major LDSMusicians.com concerts per year, including one in Palmyra, NY to coincide with the Pageant. We also plan to release a yearly compilation CD featuring the best of the best from the group. The future of the group is very much in the hands of it's members. It is from them that the ideas, brainstorming, and implementation of the group's projects come.

LDS: What can musicians expect to find as a member of the LDS Musicians group?

BT: Musicians can expect to find an ever-growing group of artists who are committed to their religion and their music. At the same time, these artists are committed to furthering the cause and quality of LDS music in general through collaboration, critique, and support of each other's music. A musicians can also expect a good deal of email! It's a very active, very involved group.

LDS: What challenges have you found as the group has grown, and how do you appropriately manage the group and keep the goals at the forefront of conversations?

BT: The only real challenge has been to keep up with the pace of it's growth. We had to change the way our email group was configured awhile back because of the amount of email it was generating. That has gotten better. We do have some "rules of use" for being involved in the group that help to keep us on topic. We do not debate Church doctrine, and do not tolerate music, messages, or language that is not in keeping with Church standards. Although we are not an "official" representation of the Church, we take the responsibility of being LDS Church members in a public forum very seriously.