James Hellings is soon to release his debut solo album - Agnus Vincit. About to depart to play at ‘H13 Worship Evolution’ in Costa Rica with a UK ministry team James dropped in for a chat.

When is your new record going to be released?
We haven’t got a date yet but it’ll be sometime towards the end of 2009.

How would you describe the style of music?
It’s rock with an epic feel, similar to some of Coldplay’s recent music. The producer (Andre Antonio) is really into Sigur Ros so there’s some of that in there too but in essence I just really wanted to make a great rock album.

How many months/years of work does Agnus Vincit represent?
Well, I started writing songs at Art School when I was 19 and wrote ‘What Love is This?’. I’ve been writing songs ever since - so I guess it’s 10 years of songwriting. As for the recording process, I spent six weeks in Vancouver, Canada in August 08 working with Andre on the arrangements for the songs and the overall sound for the project. Ed Carlile came over from London to record the drums and we used a big room at ‘Mega Noise’ in a place called Chilliwack which sounded massive. The rest of the CD was recorded either in the UK with Paul Burton, Trevor Michael and Matt Weeks or in Canada with Andre. The record’s being edited and mixed by Andre at Mega Noise as we speak and I’m hoping it’ll be mastered by a guy who has done some work for Pink Floyd and Dave Gilmore so in total it will have taken just over a year from start to finish.

What kind of experience has it been for you getting to this point?
Really exciting! When I first had the idea of making a record it didn’t occur to me that I’d need money to do it. However some funds became available and I started to think about what kind of band I’d need and began approaching the guys I thought would be best for the project.

How many people has it involved?
There’s a brilliant producer named Andre Antonio who played the piano, keyboards/synths, organ and percussion. Ed Carlile played the drums, Matt Weeks played the bass, Stu Garrard (Delirious?) and Brian Thiessen played the guitars. Stephanie Lang and Stephanie Antonio sang the backing vocals or background vocals as the Canadians put it. Brenton Brown has also sang a guest vocal and I sang the other lead vocal parts. Paul Burton and Trevor Michael recorded Stu G’s guitars at g2studios and the ‘Doghouse’ in the UK. Marcus Perkins (photography), Stew Smith at Smeezer (cover design) and David Gifford were all involved on the visual aspect of the record. It’s just been such a huge privilege to have worked with such a gifted group of people!

Are there any new songs?
Yes - the record is a mix of new songs and some songs that have previously appeared on various Vineyard CD’s.

What are you going to do now?
There’ll be a big launch event for Agnus Vincit and then I’ll be leading worship in a number of churches using the songs from the record. Then... well I’ll be writing some more songs and looking forward to the next album!

Why have you called the CD Agnus Vincit; what does it mean?
A few years ago I heard a sermon by Simon Ponsonby entitled Agnus Vincit. He spoke about how Christ had conquered death and sin through His death and resurrection and how in every circumstance of life Christians should look to God’s definitive victory through Jesus to give hope for today and for the life to come. The phrase really impacted me and has been a great help to me in my own faith. Agnus Vincit is Latin for The Lamb Wins...Simon told me if you add ‘Semper’ at the end it means ‘The Lamb wins always!’