An Evening With Leeland

The group of four file out of the sanctuary. You would think they’d be tired, after a ‘quick’ sound check that lasted over an hour; or maybe from sandwiching an extra stop on their already hectic tour; or possibly from the upcoming date they have at the Grammy’s. Despite all that, there’s a definite spring in their step, an inner fuel that keeps the group pepped as they unwind long enough to check their MySpace page, call home, chat with deacons at the church they’re preparing to play at, and even take a sound byte for the local radio station. The four guys, cleverly disguised as at-or-near twenty-somethings with a worship hobby, step up to the mics for their voice over:

“Hi, I’m Jack,” “I’m Leeland,” “I’m Mike,” “I’m Jake,” “And we’re Leeland.”

The band from Bayton, Texas, has found phenomenal success. Within a few short years the group landed a record deal, and their very first album, Sound of Melodies, earned them a Grammy nod and explosive popularity. Their worship music is turning heads and turning hearts in the Christian community whilst giving the up-and-coming contemporary cultured a sound to look forward to. But possibly the greatest aspect is that every member of this group is under 25. Leeland Mooring, the lead vocalist and lyricist, just hit 18.

One has to wonder: how does a group like this get started?

Answer: Funeral homes and IHOPs.

“Leeland started writing music when he was like, 12 years old,” Jack Mooring, his older brother, recalled. “Out of that, we just put together a band to play with him. I hadn’t played the keyboard before, so I learned. Then Jake, our cousin, learned the bass. Then we met Mike at IHOP.”

Thursday nights Leeland and Jack’s church had youth and Mike’s had choir, and all convened at IHOP afterwards. That, and a mutual friend, brought the guys together. The group began as a youth band for their churches that their families had started.

“We realized we really liked playing together,” Leeland said. “We’d practice at his [Mike’s] dad’s church, which, at the time, they were meeting at a funeral home.”

“Both of our churches were,” Mike cut in.

“That’s where we get our ‘progressive’ title,” laughs Jake. “From practicing in a funeral home.”

From practicing and leading worship within their own churches, they began leading worship in other churches, even doing a few local shows and sometimes traveling to Houston to perform.

Leeland, however, wasn’t completely unaccustomed to traveling for his talent when the band started. He had already entered a talent showcases and made connections by the age of 13.

“I was telling my mom, ‘I wanna produce records’ and I didn’t even know what that was,” Leeland laughs.

By fifteen, Leeland was signed on as a writer for EMI Publishing by Kent Coley, whom they met at one of the showcases. His lyrics, and Jack’s as well, began to be farmed out to other performers, but the intense band feel gained momentum within the group. “It was one of those things where we decided we wanted it to be a band thing.” Leeland said. By age sixteen, the band signed a record deal with Provident

Instead of writing their songs for others, Jake and Leeland put their lyrics with their own band. Keeping an intense focus on God, they made not just music, but caught moments of pure worship.

From just a few shows (fewer than a hundred in three years) the band cut a record. “We got really lucky with the first album, especially because we got to play on it. A lot of bands don’t even get to play on their first album,” Leeland stated.

Almost overnight, “Sound of Melodies” became a massive success, capturing fans with their beautiful pure worship, their original sound and their reverent lyrics. Leeland was skyrocketed to popularity, selling copious amounts of copies of their very first album.

“It’s funny, when we started, we never wanted to make a cool sounding album or something like that. We wanted to make something meaningful, something people could get something out of.”

And people have. Songs like “Tears of the Saints” and “Sounds of Melodies” resonate the passion for God from which they were conceived.

“With ‘Tears of the Saints’, I just felt a great unction on my spirit to pray after church one day. This used to not happen, but it seems to be happening more and more lately. So I had my dad drop me off at the house and I just talked to God. Earlier I had heard, ‘If you were filled with God’s grief, how much more of an effective Christian would you be?’ So I prayed for that, for God’s grief. I began to think of all my family and friends who weren’t saved and I sat down at the piano, and just prayed with that thought. ‘Tears of the Saints’ just came out like, 10 minutes later.

“That almost never happens.”

“Sound of Melodies” the title track and a staple song for the album, was actually a last-minute addition. “We came in with like, 15 songs for the album and we were going to cut it to 11,” Leeland recalled. “I came in with this idea for a song and we just sort of worshiped with it, and ‘Sound of Melodies’ came out of that.” “Leeland sounded Irish,” Jack recalled.

Irish-esque or not, the song boosted the band further up, bringing success that most 18 to 23 year olds would let go to their heads.

Not these guys.

“We know we couldn’t have got this far if not for God,” Leeland explains. “It’s a total God thing.”

If anything is apparent of Leeland, it is their close relationship with God. They put on concerts that feel much more like worship than a just a performance. They don’t simply stick with their own music; the group mixes in hymns, praying during sets as they feel the Spirit leads.

“Whenever we get up there, its not about the songs,” Jack explains. “Its totally about worship. If it were just the songs, we’d be sick of them. But when we get up there we just ask God, ‘we know we haven’t been perfect today, our voices may not sound good, but just use me to minister as you see fit,’ Its completely a worship thing.”