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Family Force 5 (whose name, which is often abbreviated as FF5, is derived from Fox Force 5 of Pulp Fiction) is a Christian crossover crunk rock band hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, comprised of Solomon "Soul Glow Activatur" Olds (vocals, guitar), Jacob "Crouton" Olds (drums, vocals), Joshua "Phatty" Olds (bass, vocals), Nathan "Nadaddy" Currin (keyboards, turntables) and Derek "Chap Stique" Mount (guitar).
The band has turned down many contracting offers from mainstream record labels because they wanted to also distribute their debut album (Business Up Front / Party in the Back) to Christian music providers such as Christian bookstores. This led to Maverick Records sharing a distribution deal with Gotee. Family Force 5 is often thought of as contemporary Christian music, because the band members are professed Christians, and because Solomon, Jacob and Joshua Olds are sons of Jerome Olds (a Christian artist from the late '80s). However, their debut album has been both disparaged and praised by Christian and non-Christian critics respectively for not containing overtly Christian content in any of its tracks (with the exception of "Peachy," which was apparently written to convert a friend to Christianity and calls God by name). And although "Love Addict" and "Replace Me" are not necessarily obvious faith-based songs, they are often praised by Christian critics for their slight Christian themes.
Family Force 5 has played at Creation Festival and the Ichthus Music Festival, and performed on the Underground stage of Cornerstone Festival in July 2006. Family Force 5 has appeared on mtvU's "The Freshman Class", DirecTV's CD USA, G4's Attack of the Show!, and CBS' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on 14 July 2006. Family Force 5 has also contributed to the compilation album Freaked! A Gotee Tribute to dc Talk's "Jesus Freak."
Controversy
Family Force 5 has faced controversy due to their video for "Love Addict," which contains females in hot pants, etc. While the content of the music video is considered immoral by some Christians, in an interview bandmember Soul Glow Activatur responds:
"To be honest, we've sent that video to churches all across the Southeast, and no one seems to have a problem with it. It's only people that have been so used to the Christian world and the Christian market, and they're used to seeing it packaged in a way that they've seen over and over for the past 15 years. They want Sandi Patty all over again. They want Amy Grant. And most times, it's people that don't understand new art, new videos.
When we're listening to Underoath, our parents say, "What on God's earth are you listening to?" So it's like, "We're listening to Underoath. Do you know what this is?" And they're like, "No, it just sounds demonic." And I say, "It's not demonic. It's probably better than the music you're listening to on the radio." So you've got people that have a closed mind. They have their Christianity and their way that Christian music sounds, and they put it in a box. We're here to tear that box to shreds.
The line needs to be blurred. This doesn't need to be a division thing. Good music is good music. There is music that is either for God and there's music against God. We want to make music that is for God, but at the same time, we want to make music that people enjoy and that they're not turned off by."
By these lines said, Family Force 5 wishes to be recognized as Christian Music, however, they wish to target secular audiences as well.
(Full Interview: *)
Late Late Show
They appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, preforming the song "Luv Addict." After the preformance, they proceeded with Craig Ferguson to demolish the stage, something similiar to what Bob Barker did (destroyed Ferguson's desk).
Discography
Business Up Front/Party In The Back (2006)
External Links
"Family Force 5"