YMZ: Manafest has just finished a photo shoot for his upcoming ‘05 release on Tooth & Nail Records, and a string of shows including last nights concert with Hawk Nelson, Beaumont and Nifty. So with a new record deal, a new video “What I Got To Say”, a new radio single “Skills” and a constant buzz about his live shows it seemed like the perfect time to sit down and catch up. With so much going on in your career this must be an exciting time for you?

Manafest: Yeah, there’s a lot going on right now, more even behind the scenes that I’m not even seeing. Right now I’m hooking up with a management company, and booking agent out of Nashville so more of the business side can be taken care of. Really I’m just building my team so we can get the music out there and heard. I’m looking forward to the release of the new record through Tooth & Nail.

YMZ: You were recently down at Flavor Fest in Florida how was that experience? How does the scene down there differ from your experiences across Canada?

Manafest: Flavor Fest was dope; it was warm and sunny during November so that’s already one up on Canada. The people there are really excited about music, and supporting other artists. The event was in Tampa Florida at the Crossover Church, there were two concerts one Friday and Saturday night. They had seminars going on during the day, and there was also a skateboard park right beside the church where the event was held. It’s inspiring to see what there doing down there because Americans don’t just talk about stuff they just go and do it. I think that’s what we need to do down here more.

YMZ: Your new single “Skills” is making a lot of noise; can you tell us how the song came about and how Trevor McNevan from Thousand Foot Krutch became involved?

Manafest: Trevor and I were trying to hook up for awhile to do a song, and I had given him some beats to check out. It wasn’t until we actually went into the studio when it all came together. I had written part of a chorus and a verse, Trevor wrote the other half of the chorus and his verse in the studio. We recorded it that night, and took maybe one more session and the rest mixing, and it was done. Originally we were going to do a more hip hop sounding track, but the Rock just busted through. It’s one of my favorite tunes and will be the first single of the album with T&N.

YMZ: You mentioned in an interview with Virtual Frequency that you would like to have Eminem, critique your stuff, and hear what he had to say, can you expand on that for us?

Manafest: Eminem has had so much experience with writing lyrics, and producing songs, I’d love to hear what he’d have to say, good or bad. I’m always into making my stuff better so someone that I think is better than me, and respect, I’d like to get their opinion. If it’s someone I respect in the music business, I take it to heart what they say about a song, and really consider there suggestions to making the song better.

YMZ: You have expressed that you perform in both Heaven and Hell, in churches and the clubs. How are you received in one versus the other and do you feel called more to one than the other?

Manafest: That’s funny, yeah last weekend we performed two shows one in a church, and then we went to perform in a club in Toronto. It’s just the difference in atmospheres; you get two completely different crowds. The first show at the church was all mellow/quiet, a lot of younger kids just having fun. Than we went to this club, where everyone is smoking weed, drinking, and trying to pickup chicks. I think our music caters to both crowds, and we do change our set to best suit wherever playing. I don’t want to just stay in the church, and I don’t just want to play clubs either. People are people, and we all need God. We all just have different issues. A lot of kids in the church are just as lost as those in the clubs.

YMZ: How does your faith impact your music?

Manafest: My faith is who I am, so it definitely comes out in my songs. I don’t try to write a more Christian song; I just let what’s on my heart come out. I’m not trying to preach, I just want to be real with my lyrics, and relate to people.

YMZ: “What I Got To Say” is your new video, what made you select that as the song for the video? Is there something that you would like people to take away from watching it rather than just listening to the song?

Manafest: I thought that was the most commercial sounding song at the time, and it was one of the last one’s I recorded for album. I wanted people to see both sides of life, from a super stars point of view, to a lonely kid at home. Not everything on the surface is what it seems. It was meant to be a song of hope, and just having fun. We also pressed that song to vinyl/record, and a lot of DJ’s having been spinning it.

YMZ: What can fans expect from you in the near future?

Manafest: A lot of touring, I’m probably going to head out to the U.S for awhile. Were going to try and do another video, hopefully for Skillz, nothing confirmed yet though. I’m looking forward to the release of the album; it’s going to have 5 new songs no one has heard, so that will be dope. The songs seemed to be taking more of a rock feel, so I’m going to be incorporating the live band more at the shows. I’ll also be spending time just writing and skateboarding.

YMZ: Any last words that you would like to leave with?

Manafest: Yeah check out http://www.manafest.ca and look out for the new album March 29th 2005

Have a good Christmas, and rock out!!!
Peace, Mana

« Return to Previous Page