Interview with AMP

Sometimes you need to hear something different, something still holy and Spirit filled that glorifies God while at the same time its fun and refreshing. This group who consists of CL, Sam Ock and J. Han is just that an ice cold glass of fresh anointing. Amp has a huge following among college campuses on the eastcoast and like all my interviews I found them online and just fell in love. Their one song "Humming Bird" is what caught my attention and if you listen to this song it will put you in mind of another indie, my good friend darnell levine. As I begin to listen to their other songs I felt Gods wonderful presence...we couldnt get an actual live interview because of tight scheduling but check out the interview we do have with these awesome dudes!


HS Sam Ock, J.Han, CL...Please tell us how did you all meet, and how long have you been together as a group?

AMP "See You in Heaven" was the first song that we did together as a group back in September. It wasn't until December of 2009 that we all decided to come together and create this record label and group.


Sam met J.Han through the magic of Facebook, seeing a video of him rapping a free verse to Lil’ Wayne’s “A Milli” instrumental. Sam thought James’ voice and flow were sick, and had a lot of potential, so he contacted him. A few weeks later, they met in person and made the song “Running”, establishing a connection between each other. Through J. Han, Sam met CL, and together they then created the song “See You in Heaven”. After this song, Sam Kim contacted the three with the idea to start A.M.P.


J. Han met CL through his youth pastor, who happens to be CL's cousin. They collaborated together on a track called “What You Holdin' To” and the rest is history. They continued to work together on several tracks and eventually teamed up with Sam Ock.


CL met J.Han through his cousin who pastored at their church which led to collaborating on a song called What You Holdin To and they have worked together ever since. CL met Skim (Sam Kim) at a KCM Retreat when Skim approached him with a willing heart to assist in his ministry. CL met Sam Ock when collaborating on the song See You in Heaven and now all 4 are together.

HS Wow that's interesting how God bring people together, like you I have collaborated with some wonderful people that I met on FB...so in your group what is the specialty of each group member?

AMP

Sam Ock: Producer/Engineer/Artist

J. Han: Artist/Speaker

C.L.: Artist/Speaker


HS I can see Christ is your inspiration, who/what are your other influences musically?


AMP CL: Lecrae's song “Praying for You” is what opened me up to Christian rap and seeing it as a great tool to reach the younger generation and Stephen the Levite


Sam Ock’s Artist influences: Mayer, the Reign of Kindo, TOE, Relient K, MuteMath, Damien Rice, Death Cab for Cutie, U2, Muse, among many, many, many others…


J. Han: The Roots, Outkast, Lecrae, Dynamic Duo, Drunken Tiger, Nas,


HS Sam "Hummingbird" is very unique and one of my favorites what's the story behind this song?


That is just how I was feeling at the time and I just wanted to capture the mundane things in life.


HS Cool you did a good job, its a fun song and all your other songs are beautiful I also love "See you in Heaven"...CL can you tell other indie artists the most important aspect of creating music?


AMP Express your heart and be yourself.


HS Well Said...You all have a huge following interested in your music and ministry and I see your schedule is with alot of college campuses, what are the challenges that you all face that other indie artist groups can learn from?


AMP I think one of the struggles we faced, not really a struggle, but something we had to understand was the balance between each other. As CL and Sam Ock have been doing this for a couple years individually, teaming together was something to get used to. At the same time in creating the music, we still were getting to know each other. Another struggle of course is working with everyone's schedule because as Indie artists we all go to school full-time or work full-time and serve in our churches, so always managing our time correctly is something we have to stay on top of.


HS I understand and that is good advice for other indie groups to learn time management...HerSoul is about encouraging Indie Artist to allow their gifts and talents to bless others, what sort of things has God placed on your hearts as a group to give back?

AMP We just want people to hear the message of Christ and hope they are encouraged and inspired to seek Him more earnestly.

HS Amen to us this is the best form of outreach telling others about Christ, thank you so much for your time, and Gods blessings to you! You can support AMP's music on reverbnation or go to http://ampmovement.bandcamp.com/