Simply Three: Music—A Key to Expression

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Morgan Jones Pearson

Simply Three has traditionally performed string covers of songs by artists like Adele, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, and Michael Jackson. They are diehard fans of the band Muse. So what happens when they take on an album of hymns and what made them want to do it in the first place? The electrifying trio of Glen McDaniel, Nick Villalobos, and Zack Clark, together known as Simply Three, has been captivating audiences worldwide, with high octane performances since 2010. The Trio which has 1.45 million subscribers on YouTube, seeks the true essence of classical crossover with original works as well as innovative arrangements. Their new album "All Amazed" is available now through Deseret Book.

This is All In, an LDS Living podcast where we ask the question, what does it really mean to be all in the gospel of Jesus Christ? I'm Morgan Pearson, and I am so honored to have the three gentlemen that make up Simply Three with me today. Zack, Nick, and Glen. Welcome to all three of you.

Simply Three

Thank you. Thanks for having us. Hello, hello.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Well, this is this is such a treat to have you all on and to have you together. Thank you so much for being willing to do this. I want to start off the interview, Nick and Zack, you first met in the ninth grade? And I wondered, what do you think it was that caused you guys to hit it off and begin a lifelong friendship? And how have you been able to continue to build that friendship over time?

Zack Clark

Had been my good looks just right away? Kidding, I mean, I didn't have hair back then, though, you know.

Unknown Speaker

so

Nick Villalobos

It's true. He had a full head, a full head of hair.

Zack Clark

Yeah, we met in all state in ninth grade Arizona All-state Orchestra. So obviously, we both knew that we each had a passion for music, and we had made it an all-state in ninth grade. And so we had that in common and were excited and, you know, lower strings, cello, bass, you know, there's a little a little unity there, a little fellowship. But I just thought Nick was super cool. He also skateboarded and I was into skateboarding as well. And so we just kind of already hit it off. And the music thing, the skateboarding, we were both members of the church. So there's just a lot in common. And, I mean, I'll speak for myself, Nick has always been the easiest friendship. And I mean, that in the best of ways, it just was natural. And, you know, just always excited, always great conversation. I just feel like we always hit it off just understanding each other, just our personalities, I feel like it was always easy from the beginning. Maybe Nick will say something different.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Nick's like, absolutely not, it's actually been the hardest friendship.

Nick Villalobos

No no, I agree with everything that Zack said, maybe just a little more detail, though. And I'm sure other people have had this experience, too. When you meet somebody that is as passionate or even more passionate about something that you're passionate about. It's like a pretty special thing, I think, because I don't think that happens all the time. I mean, people have best friends for a reason, right? Because like there's something special that happens there. And I think I think that happened with me and Zack, when we first met there was kind of just like, an energy about music, especially. We were both in ninth grade and all in to music, you know, we were all about the strings are all about orchestra, learning the repertoire, being as good as we could, and always trying to push ourselves musically. And I think that's what that was like the main thing that that drew me to Zack was like, his passion for music and just his excitement for life and for music in general. And he gets excited about a lot of things and it's very infectious. And all of the other things he said too. We had we found out that we had a lot of things in common that made it even a better friendship for us.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Well, I found out when we first got on this call that Zack and Nick are also shoe collectors so I can tell that you guys get excited about a lot of things and I love that. Glen, I wanted to ask you did you have any hesitation because I think hesitation would be a very natural feeling when joining a trio were two of the guys have been friends forever. Were you concerned at all about that?

Glen McDaniel

Not particularly and I say that in the sense of it didn't cross my mind in the way of consideration when I was thinking about joining the group. It's something that I've noticed, of course, just being the newcomer, that these guys have a formidable bond that was first forged at a very young age. So there are things that yes, one notices. But I wouldn't say there is hesitancy because I think I don't find that to be a deterrent. I think, if anything joining something to where two people are that connected, especially when they are two of just three people in a band or a business or whatever. I think that's something that's nice to be to be a part of, because you are walking into something that has a solid foundation of trust established, at least in our case, two thirds of the way through, so no, not really any kind of hesitancy.

Morgan Jones Pearson

That makes a lot of sense. I love that point that you made. Did you have any hesitancy? Did you even know that both Zack and Nick were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when you joined? And if so, or if not, what was your impression of the Church before deciding to join up with these two?

Glen McDaniel

Yeah, I believe I grew to know that they were members of the Church. It had 0% impact of whether or not I wanted to be a part of this group, because someone's religious subscription, really doesn't have a strong bearing on what we're doing artistically. And even if it does, that's something that's just a conversation. So yeah, there was no regard for joining the group because of something like faith and what you tie yourself to. My impression of the Church before joining the group was, I mean, I was already familiar with the Church to to a degree anyway. So my impression was that it was just another kind of denomination, so to speak of, of Christianity. And that was really that I mean, I've asked so many questions since joining the group because you hear whispers of like, this is what this denomination believes, this is what they believe. And it's like, well, I want to I want to hear it from the horse's mouth. So I mean, I've asked the guys, I asked them tons of questions, just because I'm a curious person by nature. And then I am told, I asked probably too many questions, not by Nick and Zack, but other people in my life. And yeah, I just I love receiving information, because this subject is something that I'm fascinated by, regardless of like, what branch of the faith that it is regarding. So I just really love having these kinds of good faith dialogues.

Morgan Jones Pearson

And Glenn, you are a person of faith yourself. Tell me a little bit about your background as it relates to faith.

Glen McDaniel

Yeah, I mean, I'm a Texas boy. So it's probably not a surprise to hear that I grew up in the Southern Baptist Convention. I grew up in a Baptist church. A lot of charismatic experiences in that way. Yeah, I don't. I don't know what else to say beyond that. I mean maybe it's important to include include that my mother is South Korean. So I also experience my mother's expression of Christianity through her heritage, and that's also very interesting for me. So yeah, my background has been kind of a blur of this sort of southwestern, Southern Baptist Convention mixed with a very Korean United Methodist, I guess, you could say, upbringing.

Morgan Jones Pearson

And your mother Glenn, she's an immigrant to the United States. Is that right?

Glen McDaniel

Yes, that's correct.

Morgan Jones Pearson

I'm curious, how did that influence your growing up and your love for music?

Glen McDaniel

I mean, I think it actually had a huge impact. My mom came to the United States in 1976 and has only been back to Korea two times since emigrating and the first time of those two instances came, I want to say in 2014. So a very large gap between first immigrating and then returning to her home. But in South Korea in Seoul, which is where she grew up, music and the arts in general are just very—they're a focal point in a child's secondary education. So my mom has a very strong musical understanding of things. And so I actually got started in music, because she wanted me to. She loves the violin and piano, those are her two favorite instruments. And she just always wanted to play both of them. But she didn't have the means, her family was very poor, as you might expect. She has the classic immigrant story. And, yeah, she definitely molded me in the ways of wanting to learn the craft and learn the joys of expressing yourself through music. So my mother is the reason why I do what I do. Now. I say that with a grain of salt, because she's gonna probably hear this and rub it in my face, because she loves to do that sort of thing too.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Well, actually, and I love the way you said that she wanted you to express yourself through music. And I think that's something that having watched, especially Zack, I've had the chance to watch Zack perform in person. And so watching somebody perform music with the kind of emotion that Zack has, when he plays the cello, I think is just so cool to see. For the three of you, what role has your music played in allowing you to express feeling and emotion in a way that you might not otherwise be able to?

Zack Clark

Man I mean, that's a deep one. We're in the deep end now. I think that I mean, I kind of just want to say, like what you said, like, music allows us to express emotions that we couldn't otherwise. The thing I love the most about music and actually, I had this experience in ninth grade. Speaking of ninth grade, you know, meeting Nick in All-state, right before All-state. I was in regionals. You know, you got to do regionals first.

Nick Villalobos

It's like a show where they were singing.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Glee?

Nick Villalobos

So yeah, it's like Glee. They're like we gotta make it to regionals.

Zack Clark

Oh, yeah, exactly. Yes, that's right. I forgot like the whole first season was trying to get the regionals or whatever. Yeah, so gotta get the regionals—the road to regionals. And we played one of the most beautiful pieces, arguably ever written, Nimrod, which is one of the Enigma Variations, by Edward Elgar. And it was also like my first experience playing like a good orchestra, like it was better than any orchestra I played in, in my schools, or anything so far. And I just had an incredible experience. The conductor taught us like the background of that piece, and about all of the Enigma Variations, how they had an actual personal meaning to Eldar, but he wrote them for specific people and his life, and even wrote one for his wife and so that brought the music so much poignancy, so much power. And I remember playing that music and for regionals, just in that first rehearsal, and I had overwhelming goosebumps, emotions, I couldn't believe that music, that specific music could could bring me the feelings that Elgar felt all those years ago. It's like in a way music is like a time capsule. And preserves the exact emotions of the person who penned it. It could be decades, centuries ago. And it's pretty incredible to me. You know, that was my first real, profound kind of epiphany with music, and this incredible emotion that you can have these emotions that I didn't even understand as a ninth grader. You know, Elgar understood these things way better than I did, but I felt them. And that to me is the incredible thing about music is that you can feel these things. You know, we write music so we can feel things that we wrote, that came from us, but you can play things that you did not write, and you can, therefore feel things that perhaps you've never felt before. I mean, this is like a deep thing. But that to me, that's why I love music.

Morgan Jones Pearson

That's awesome. I was gonna say that I was gonna say it's kind of wild that you can feel something that like a ninth grade kid wouldn't know anything about but I think that's awesome.

Nick and Glen, anything you'd add to that about emotions and music?

Nick Villalobos

Yeah, everything that Zack said I've had similar experiences as well. I think I have different emotional experiences, listening to music and then actually playing music. And I don't know if one is better than the other. But I can tell you that they are very different. I've been in concerts listening to people singing or playing instruments and it's touched me to the heart where I've cried and smiled, and felt all those emotions. I think a lot of people can relate to that. But there's something very different when you are the one making the sounds. And like making the music and I'm sure Glen will touch on this, because we've talked about this before. But there's something very magical about playing with 100 people on stage, and like a symphony. And you're all like moving for one purpose. Everybody has different parts that all interconnect and intertwine to make like beautiful chords, and moments. And it's crazy that it's all stuff that you're actually doing, like the instruments themselves on stage don't do anything, they need to be played by people with emotions and with different experiences to make that performance happened. And it's an insane feeling. And, again, like the feelings within different ensembles are different, like playing with a symphony orchestra with, you know, 80 to 100 people on stage, you get different feelings from that as opposed to playing with just in Simply Three, it was just myself Zack and Glen, but I mean, it's amazing the feelings and emotions you get making the music as opposed to just listening to it. And if you can get involved in making music, I feel like it will be a great blessing to anybody who tries to do so because there's a lot to learn from making music. Obviously, there's like the discipline part about it. And all the I guess logistical things about music, making music, that makes people better people. But the actual feelings that come from making music with people, it brings people together in a way that I think very few things can. When you have that type of experience with people on stage, it definitely connects you, which is cool.

Glen McDaniel

So just thinking about your original question of how playing music or playing an instrument can help you express. For me, I think about this idea of vulnerability when trying to be expressive. And I think the way in which music helps in that way, is that it removes or it can help remove this sense of fear of how someone might respond to you. And when that fear is removed, a person I think is then able to be more vulnerable. So with something like a musical instrument, you're expressing yourself through a tool that simply receives. It doesn't respond because it can't respond back to you in the way that a person would. So with that, with something that you're channeling all of your sentiment and your emotional thoughts through and having just received that I think it allows you to be more vulnerable, because it removes that sense of fear of I might be I might be judged in return for whatever I'm trying to express.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Beautifully said thank you all so much those I love how your answers all kind of complemented one another. Zack and Nick, both of you have served missions for the church. And I wondered, as anybody that has done anything, whether it be athletically or musically knows, a decline in practice tends to lead to a decline in skill. So I wondered how did that affect your musical abilities? And were you able to practice or use your music on your mission at all?

Yeah, well, first.

Zack Clark

Yeah, I actually got lucky. My mission president decided to make a mission music group in the Christmas seasons. There happened to be a lot of musical talent that came out on my mission along with me. And our President recognized that and had the idea to start a mission music group, just for Christmas time. So it was a surprise, I'd been out for a few months and got a surprise that he had been in contact with my parents already and they had shipped my cello and I served in Scotland. So I was like, Whoa, like I've never shipped my cello anywhere, let alone overseas. But it's already been done and there it was in the in the office when I went to pick it up and so I was able to practice a little bit, just in the Christmas season. There were a couple other opportunities since I had to kind of play musical numbers throughout the year, but I would never practice. You're spending all your time trying to plan a meaningful activity every day and trying to follow Preach My Gospel and the white handbook. And, so I didn't practice at all on a daily basis. But two Christmases got to get it out. And I think that did help a little bit because when I got home after my mission, it only took me like a day, and I felt like I was back, like riding the bike, just like I'd left it. Like, it was very fast, getting back into it after mu mission. So, you know, I guess, there's no way of knowing if that would have still happened if I didn't have my cello at all. But, you know, I'm sure I'm sure it did help a little bit having it, having it there. I got lucky, for sure.

Morgan Jones Pearson

For sure knit.

Nick Villalobos

I didn't have very many opportunities to play the bass on my mission, I went to Orlando, Florida. But I would say that I was pretty involved with music just I was doing a lot of singing and stuff. There was a lot of elders, institutes that liked to sing. And they put little, little groups together to sing for different sacrament meetings and other events. So I did a lot of that I did a lot of singing on my mission, while I was like riding my bike, just thinking of songs and you know, whistling away and stuff. And I think I also wanted to not let people know that I was a musician, in a way just so I could like, I don't know, maybe like be a new person. They always say like, forget yourself and go to work. So I think I tried to do that a little bit. But it soon got out that I did. But I wasn't musician that I had been studying music in college. And there was one ward that said, one of them was like, "Oh, my son plays the bass, you should play, you know, musical number." And I was like, "Okay, I'll do it. But I just want to make sure that your son plays the bass, right? And not the cello. Like, it's the big one, right?" And they're like, "oh, yeah, it's huge." And I was like, "Okay, sure." And so I showed up for like the rehearsal, which is like the same day, it was on Sunday. And it was definitely a cello. So I was like, Oh, crap, I better figure this out. So I was playing just the melodies. So I played cello a little bit in high school and stuff. So I kind of figured that out. And I don't even remember if it was good or not, but they were appreciative of it. So I got to play the cello on my mission, and you got to play the cello on your Michigan.

Kind of like what Zack said when I did get back and actually got my hands on an actual bass, it wasn't a day for me, it was where I felt good. I would say like a week, like after a week, I was like, Alright, I'm back. I can play all the things I played before so I'm good about that. So I definitely came back quickly. But I think I think the more you think about something, you know, I was thinking about music a lot on my mission and being involved in, in music in a way. So I don't know, I never felt like I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm losing all my skills or anything like that.

Zack Clark

You mentioned like, in the beginning of this conversation about when you stop practicing, it tends to lead to stopping the skill. And so that was definitely a big deal for me to leave. I was at the Cleveland Institute of Music for my freshman year. And all of my, like, colleagues around me thought I was crazy. Like, they legitimately were concerned for me for putting the instrument away for two years. I even had some friends where I was like, I feel like you're not being a friend to me right now. I was like, I understand your concern. And that's good. But like, they were kind of like, you're crazy. Like, you're dumb. And I was like, oh, that's kind of a bummer but I mean, I can understand that when you're when you're super focused, you're in a conservatory or you're practicing every day, you're stretching, it's like you think even a couple days is gonna like kill you. You know, so they're like, two years? What are you thinking? So anyway, I had no question that I wanted to go on a mission. I made that decision long ago and so it wasn't a question for me and obviously, like Nick just described too like, we we came back and we just picked up right where I left off. I mean, honestly, if not better, because I feel like in a way like clearing my head and just getting life experience and coming back to it. I mean, most of any skill, obviously happens in your mind. You know, there are obviously some physical things to everything and some more than others, but mental practice your brain like the way you think of practice, how you organize your goals and what you're specifically trying to achieve. That's all in your mind. That's all. That's all mental man, like 95% of it, you know, so I feel like I was even just clearer and more precise with my practice when I got back for whatever reason, right?

Morgan Jones Pearson

Well, I realized that I should tell you that the decrease in practice theorem is actually a Spencer Jones. So these guys know my brother Spencer. And we used to play basketball in the backyard. And one day he was given me a hard time about something. And he's like Morgan, a decrease in practice leads to a decrease in skill. And so we've always joked that that is his theorem, but we may or may not have disproven it today. No, I'm just kidding.

Okay, I wondered, tell me about how this album that you guys have coming out kind of how it came to be, the idea behind it, why you're excited about it. And then I'm curious Zack and Nick, how you have been grateful for Glenn's willingness to participate in something like this that's faith based and working with a church-owned media entity.

Nick Villalobos

sort of question.

So I'm just gonna speak for myself. And I don't know, I don't know if I've actually asked Zack and glad about this. But I never thought that we would do a faith-based album. And for Zack and I hymns from the LDS Church. When we started this group, I think in the back of my mind, I felt like a lot of people were going to be like when are you going to do a hymns album, and you know, rightfully so. But I felt like I never really wanted to do it. I kind of wanted to have this group just not be a part of any type of faith-based organization, separation of church and state. Separation of Church and simply Three. So I was thinking like, Hey, we're just gonna do what we want to do. And our manager, her name is Gina Orr, she has worked with the church a lot in the past, she was the manager for David Archuleta. She's currently managing Nathan Pacheco, who has done several albums for Deseret Book. And I want to say about a year and a half ago, a year ago or so she like floated the idea by me kind of just in passing, she was like, hey, what do you think about doing an album with Deseret? And I was like, the hymns album? She's like, yeah, definitely would have to be a hymns album. I said, I don't know. Like, I guess she's like, I think, you know, it'd be a good, it'd be a good deal for you guys. And I think you guys would do well in that market. I know, the market. I know, the people at Deseret, I think it could be a really good relationship. And so I kind of thought about it. And I said, you know, I'll ask Zack and Glen see what they think. And talked to Zack about it first, I think I forget. I wasn't really like worried how he would react per se. But I think I was apprehensive about asking Glen to be a part of a LDS organizational based album, because in the past, I think he has expressed to me that he wants to make sure that he's not a part of our church. It's not that there's anything wrong with being a part of our church, but he's not. So he doesn't want people to think that he is. And so I kind of had that in the back of my mind. And when I did ask him,he was very much on board too, because he saw the opportunity to kind of go into a new market, do some new things. So that's kind of how it came about. It wasn't any of our doing, it kind of just came and kind of just was presented to us pretty much on a silver platter. I gotta be honest, this has been a very great relationship very, very easygoing. But people at Deseret are so nice. They're so accommodating and just willing to work with with us on an artistic standpoint, which we really appreciated.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Zack and Glen, anything you'd add to that? You don't have to!

Zack Clark

I was just gonna say yeah, I feel like Glen should. You know, that's like a good chance for Glenn to reply. But I do recall that, like he kind of just what Nick said, it kind of happened to us. And I know that I feel like Nick just kind of came to me and said, Yeah, Glen's cool with it. I was like, Oh, okay. So I also wasn't sure, you know, you know, what, how Glen was gonna feel about it. And, you know, because that was never kind of, like what Nick was saying, we were never kind of intended to do that kind of thing and he joined the band thinking we're doing covers, we're doing originals, you know, rock pop. So I was like, Oh, sick. Okay. Yeah, I mean, this is great. I'm down to do it, of course, and I was happy and and use the you mentioned grateful. Yeah, definitely very, very grateful for Glen being willing to do this. Because, you know, we don't we don't want people to get the wrong idea of anyone good or bad, so I was very grateful that Glen was willing to do it. And, and yeah, I'll let Glen jump in and speaks to all this.

Glen McDaniel

Yeah, I've always known that the guys have held space and have wanted to honor I guess, my lack of affiliation with the Church for transparency sake and that's a reason for me why, if there were an apprehension, I don't want to say there that there was, I didn't want to do something for an LDS entity and be broadcast in a way that would make people think that I'm something that I'm not or a part of something that I'm not necessarily a part of. And because that didn't speak to who I am in an honest way. And I really appreciate transparency. So if there has been hesitancy in doing something like this, it's been for those reasons. And I know the guys have always been sensitive to that when asking me my thoughts on pursuing anything that's affiliated with something that I mean, any of us are a part of, or are not a part of. So that's pretty much it.

Zack Clark

I think that came up with like, a game we played, you know, it was like a political thing. You know, so we were like, Hey, are we comfortable playing in this political event? You know, like, we do, we do make sure to discuss things, what Glenn is saying, you know, anytime there is, maybe the wrong idea, or certain feelings may be had.

Morgan Jones Pearson

For sure, that makes complete sense. Okay, so I'm curious, you guys have an Bart Olsen gave me a heads up on this one. I was trying to get intel on all of you from different sources. So my brother told me about the shoes, and then Bart Olsen told me that you're like, huge Muse fans and that you've seen Muse like a crazy number of times. So you have kind of unique music taste for a band of string players. And I think it comes through in your music when people watch your videos. And listen, they'll see that it kind of influences the way that you approach the songs that you cover, or in this case these hymns, but how do you feel like you're able to channel that emotion that we talked about earlier into an album of hymns?

Zack Clark

Oh, no, this is the question. Go ahead, Glen. I know we all have a lot to say on this one.

Glen McDaniel

Well, I mean, I think if I could be so bold in in this moment, speak for all of us. And the guys can also chime in and agree or disagree. I think the the energy that we always approach any album with not just this particular album, is how can we do this in a way that feels different? And how can we do it in a way that expresses what we wanted to express while also honoring artistic integrity? And for me, that's always been the approach for most things with the violin but then with this album Yeah, I think that is definitely how I dove in with a lot of this and I feel like just the influences that you have like Muse or any other artistry that's shaped your your personality just kind of comes along for the ride. And then the way you shape the album I feel like everything is just becomes a byproduct of all of those things.

Zack Clark

Yeah, and I want speaking of MUSE specifically, listen to "If You Could Hie To Kolob" by the way the album is out now. It's out everywhere worldwide. It's called All Amazed. And so you can go listen right now. But if you're hearing my voice, go listen to If You Could Hie To Kolob and if you know muse, you will feel some muse in there. And I want to I want to ask Nick to talk about his vision. He arranged If You Could Hie To Kolob and, you know, I'm pretty sure muse was a bit of an influence on that one Nick, but I know you just wanted to capture the grandiose feeling of the universe as well. And I know Muse has that a lot of that feeling as well.

Nick Villalobos

Yeah, I think I think we always try to capture some type of Muse-ness in our music. I mean, we think they're great.

Morgan Jones Pearson

AndMuse is your muse if you will.

Nick Villalobos

And I do and I will. Yeah, they're big inspirations for us, I think kind of to, to backtrack just a little bit when we were approached finally, like after, you know, Gina did her thing and then we had a call with Bart to kind of talk about artistically what we wanted this album to be. And both Glen and Zack and I were all of us were like, we want to do what we want to do, like if we, if they're gonna like handcuff us and make him have us make an album that we don't like, we're not going to do it. Like, I don't care. We want to make sure that we're happy with the music. So I remember when we asked Bart, like, we were kind of like, kind of giving him like softball questions about music, like, you know, what do you think about this? Like, could we have some drums in it? What if we did some electric instruments, and I was so relieved when he was like, We want you guys to do what you do. And we were like, oh, sweet, this is gonna be fun. And so, with that in mind, we kind of, we kind of felt free to do whatever we wanted. And we definitely wanted to respect the music. We weren't gonna go absolutely crazy, but we wanted to have some type of rock feel to the hymns. I think the the church hymns need a little kick in the pants sometimes and I'm glad we're able to do that. And with If You Could Hie To Kolob specifically, there was definitely a lot of MUSE inspiration. There's an arpeggiator in there. And right at the beginning of the verse, And Muse uses a arpeggiator a lot too. And I always get the feeling of like flying or like being in space whenever a song has like, especially like a fast arpeggiator, which this one does. And I really wanted to give the feeling of flying through space and seeing Kolob and like envisioned this our track of If You Could Hie To Kolob being like the soundtrack of what God was listening to when he created the universe, and like the Earth, there's a lot of drums, you know, if you're creating a universe and a planet, you're moving, like humongous things together and things are exploding. Who knows what went into that, but I think it was like a raucous event. There was violence involved, you know.

Zack Clark

Yeah. It wasn't like a reverent event.,

Nick Villalobos

They're moving monumental things around to create the universe, which is like the biggest thing that we know, right? And so I had a lot of fun with that one and it was great to be able to bring, bring that vision to life. It's always very rewarding to have something in your head actually come to reality. I don't know if anybody else wants to dive in on, you know, some other tracks or

Morgan Jones Pearson

Yeah, and I'm curious. Nick, would you say that that is your favorite track?

Nick Villalobos

No, it's not.

Morgan Jones Pearson

I want to get everybody's favorite track and then we'll get into our last question.

Unknown Speaker

I will say that this album is my favorite album that we've done. And it's funny because it's the most recent one too. And usually, that's everyone's favorite. But honestly, like, this is my favorite album that we've done. And I think it's because I grew up listening to most of these songs. We have some songs that aren't inherently LDS, like, How Great Thou Art, Amazing Grace. Glen knew those songs as well and he learned other other ones, specifically for this album, but I'm proud of this one because these are all songs that we grew up listening to in a certain way and we made them extremely different, which I'm very proud of them. I like all of them, to be honest. But if I were to pick a favorite, I know which one Glen's gonna pick, so I'm gonna let them have my favorites. It's funny because I'm probably gonna pick the one that Zack's gonna pick. My favorite is Amazing Grace. And I love this version. We also worked with our friend Drew Griffin. He did the arrangements for about half of the album. And he did Amazing Grace. And he's a very dear friend of ours. He's a violist and composer that lives in New York. We've worked with him on other projects as well. And he grew up knowing this piece as well. And I just think he did such a killer job with this arrangement. There's new chords and he combined Amazing Grace with My Chains Are Gone in such like a such a beautiful way. And I think for those reasons, Amazing Grace is my favorite.

Zack Clark

For those reasons I'm out. Actually, I was gonna pick a different one, Nick, but yeah, amazing. So I do agree with Nick like, this is just such a special album, especially to me and having grown up with the with the hymns kind of like what he was saying. I just got so happy when Nick was talking about how he was like, Yo, if they're gonna handcuff us and force us to do this out some some pretty little hymns album, you know, this is polite, nice music, you know that we're out. For that reason. I'm out. Like, we would have said that. I got so happy when he was talking about that, because I remember when Bart, love you Bart, by the way, so glad you brought up Bart Olsen. Bart has been just incredible. He's such a great guy. And just a pleasure to work with every step of the way. So respectful and polite. But I remember what Nick was talking about when he said, We want Simply Three, we want you guys to do your thing. Just Ready, set, go free reign, you know, like Nick said, we're not going to do like, a slipknot, or, you know, like some weird, we obviously knew, like Nick was saying, we're not going to be like sacrilegious or whatever to the hymns. And I mean, maybe some people would think we already did, actually, but you know, to a small degree, but you can't please everyone. But like when he said, We want you guys to do your thing. Oh my gosh, that was like such an incredible feeling. And so the entire time we're like working with Drew on half the arrangements. And then we're trying to do the other half, that entire experience was such a high point. For me. And maybe for all of us. It was such a high point, in a lot of ways. It was like a high point in creativity, we were so excited, like Drew would send demos of the arrangements. And I would just start laughing and just like hysterically, like I'm so excited. I was like, This is so sick, oh my gosh, it's so exciting. Like that was the feeling of making this album. And it's because Deseret Book, you know, Bart Olsen and, and all them, let us do our thing with it. And whoever needs to hear that, that's an important thing to have in a relationship between someone that's producing and someone who's creating. We were free and I feel like we also we reached a couple hurdles in the album, and we kind of had to have a deadline and a little bit of a push. And that actually kicked us into overdrive. And I feel like we really rose to the occasion. And our creativity, just like was maxed out it was like, not not maxed out. But like it went to a whole other level. And it was just oh my gosh, it was just such an incredible experience. So I just got so happy. I just wanted to talk about that. Because that's probably the best thing about this album is we really did put our stamp and our style on every single track on this album. And we're so excited and so proud of it. And like Nick was saying, kind of the whole point of this. What I'm saying is that seeing these these hymns in such a different way, and in such an exciting way with all of our musical flavor and taste and prowess, like all over them is such a satisfying thing. And I'm so grateful that we were able to do that.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Correct me if I'm wrong, you guys, but I don't think Zack has actually given us a song that's his favorite.

Nick Villalobos

I was going to say, which one is your favorite?

Zack Clark

I was about to say it and then I saw you we're gonna talk. So, my favorite, I do have several favorites. Amazing Grace is one of my favorites. But my favorite right now is Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. That's a really good one. It is oh my gosh, we had a Steve Gould, who's an incredible drummer record drums to this and we sent him like a demo, you know of what the drums were kind of supposed to be like, for reference. And he sent back his recording and he just soul laid it. And he added extra all these extra things and it is the most I think it's the most energetic and most fun song on the album and I love music that gives me that excitement anyway. And yeah, we call it that I think we've labeled it like a fiddle rock version. I think that's it. It's definitely wait Celtic rock, right? Is that what it is?

Morgan Jones Pearson

That's awesome. Well, I really quick before we get to Glen, I just want to say shout out to Bart Olson, who really is one of the best people in the world. There's this time where I was trying to help. My dad wanted to help this kid in our ward. And he had just moved to Utah. And he wanted to get into music. And I like mentioned it to Bart, and I'm pretty sure Bart like called him and gave him like a job the same day or something. So he really is like the best guy. So shout out to Bart. Glen, what song is your favorite?

Glen McDaniel

Well, before I dive into that, I just had a couple of quick comments, I wanted to go back and answer something you kind of asked before you were mentioning, Muse, and if there are any other tracks we could recommend, if anyone listening is fond of Muse or knows their music a little bit more intimately, you could also listen to I know That My Redeemer Lives, that one is filled with a lot of motifs and kind of compositional techniques that Muse uses a lot in their music in the way of interludes and, and motives and things like that. So that one's a lot of fun as well. Also, when I said earlier, I am a curious person. I know about half of the hymns because about half the album is filled with hymns that are that are kind of universal hymns, not just LDS specific, but there were many that I that I was very unfamiliar with. And one of them was If You Could Hie To Kolob and being the curious person that I am and not being familiar with pretty much anything LDS I came to the guys and I was like, Yo, I need to know what a Kolob is? Like, what? I don't know what this is.

Morgan Jones Pearson

If it makes you feel any better, a lot of people in the church probably also have no idea.

Glen McDaniel

So Nick told me what it was about. And then he had me listened to the arrangement. And the arrangement made a lot of sense, given what he told me about the idea of Kolob and this and that. So I was like, okay, cool. Gotcha. All that said Redeemer and Kolob, neither of them are my favorite, my favorite is Nearer My God To Thee. And it's my favorite for two large reasons. The first of which is it is completely string rhythm. There's nothing else going on in it. And that's my favorite sound that we produce just this large, lush, string sound. I mean, we're obviously biased with that kind of sound. And so it's probably not surprising that it's my favorite thing to hear coming from us. But it's just, there's just something so personal and so organic about the collective string sound. I think it's because it's the closest thing you can get to just hearing a person using their actual voice to speak or sing. I think that's why it resonates with me so much. So yeah, it's really beautiful in that way of string sounds, but it's also just such a great journey of what I believe faith takes a person through, which isn't always pretty, it's not sunshine, and puppies and all of that stuff there with faith and faith journeys. I feel like they're oftentimes a lot of cognitive cognitive dissonance. And I think this arrangement of Nearer My God To Thee really highlights that side of a person's faith journey, where you are filled with questions and filled with doubt, and maybe wonder quite a bit. And I just feel like again, because I I enjoy transparency and honesty that this is a very honest representation of a full arc of a faith journey. And it speaks to me in that way. So I think it will probably be in the number one placeholder for a while for me as it pertains to this particular album.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Well, I am so excited to listen now. My last question for you guys, is the question that we asked at the end of every episode of this podcast and I made sure before we started to make sure that everybody knew that this question is something that we've asked, not just members of our faith but members of other Christian faiths as well. And we wanted to have a question that was able to be answered by any Christian. And so the last question I wanted to ask, and I'd love to get each of your take on it is what does it mean to you to be all in the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Zack Clark

Beautiful. First, I might say something a little bit generic. But to me, it's the most important principle. And that is that we are all equal, every human being is just as equal as the other. And I think it kind of doesn't matter what your faith is. I think most of us humans believe that, you know, and when you get down to it, it's like the golden rule. You know, it's like, love your neighbor. You know, just love, all you need is love. I'm the biggest Beatles fan here. And I just think that I think that's truly what it means to be all in to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if I dare say, to be all into kind of any gospel or any faith, I think that it's just the older I get, and I think we all probably have had this experience to different extents, the more I've realized, I really worried about a lot of things that I didn't need to worry about. I've come to realize that a lot of things that I thought mattered, just don't matter. And, you know, I'm starting to go out into this big macro perspective on life. And, you know, what does it really mean? That we're on this earth, what is our purpose as humankind, and I just always come back to, we just need to love, everyone's here, just trying to do their best and just trying to make it work. And whether you're in the church or out of the church, I just think that it shouldn't matter. How we treat people, how we view people and how we love people shouldn't be the same. You know, we're all humans as humankind, you know. And I think that that's some of the most important doctrines that I that I have really come to feel are super important to really realize and really take that in.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Thank you, Zack.

Nick Villalobos

Yeah, man, that's really good. I guess I'm gonna say kind of kind of the same things just in a different way. I agree with Glen, I think there's and I can speak to this, as far as being in the Church and growing up in the Church, I feel like there's a lot of worry that goes on with being a member of the Church. And I know that kind of sounds like negative. And I don't mean it to sound that way. But there's a lot of people that stress out a lot about the things that the Church teaches. And you know, some people do, some people don't. But I just think that the worry is unnecessary, because it is about love. Like, that's the first principle of the gospel that I taught as a missionary, that there is a God, He is your Father, and He loves you. Period. It's not like He loves you, because you're a member of the Church, or you're Jewish, or you're Catholic. No, He just loves you. Period. And so if you always have that in the forefront of your mind, it kind of dictates the way you should live your life. Thinking of it from a father-child perspective. And like Zack, as I get older, you know, I have two kids of my own, and I just love them unconditionally. And it was when I had my first child, my son, that I realized that, that if I have this unconditional love for this person, I don't even know, I wonder what an all knowing all powerful God feels for me. And it's a thing you can't really comprehend but I feel like I got a glimpse of it when I met my son. Recently had a daughter too, same experience. And so I think that being all in the gospel of Jesus Christ is truly all about love. And we have a song that we did in our album that isn't a hymn, but it's a children's song from the Primary book. I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus and the chorus of it, I feel like speaks out what the gospel of Jesus Christ says, Love one another as Jesus loved you. Try to show kindness and all that you do. Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought for these are the things that Jesus taught. If you lead with love, you're all in. You're all in the Gospel of Jesus Christ if you lead with love.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Thank you Nick. Glen, we'll give you the last word.

Glen McDaniel

For me being in all in to the gospel of Christ. I mean, from a personal standpoint I, I struggle with even saying the gospel of Jesus Christ, because for me, it's not that I don't have faith in Jesus Christ, I just believe in the universality of the Christ figure. And I think that transcends most things, including the label of a single personhood. If that makes sense, maybe it doesn't. But I think to be all in to the gospel of just the Christ really just means being all in for humanity. Like Zack was saying, I think, if you are striving to advance everyone's person's personhood and their well being, what else can you do? I think we struggle so much with fear, and wondering where we're going to be that we forget where we are here and now. And I think that can be a deterrent for for most of us, myself included. So I think just remembering that everyone has their own kind of innate goodness. And if we can look into every person, and see that innate goodness that they carry with them, it becomes easier to serve humanity on a global scale. And so then, being all in for for the world, becomes a little bit more simplistic.

Morgan Jones Pearson

Thank you so much. Thank you guys so much. This has been so fun for me, and we usually don't have three people on at the same time. So it's been fun, it feels like a party. I appreciate you guys taking the time and everybody go out and listen to All Amazed. You can find it anywhere that you listen to your music, and you can find it at Deseret Book now. So thank you guys so so much.

Zack Clark

You're welcome. Thank you. This was so much fun.

Morgan Jones Pearson

We are so grateful to the guys of Simply Three for joining us on today's episode. If you'd like to hear their new album, which I highly recommend since listening to it. You can find it in Deseret Bookstores now or on any streaming platform. It's called All Amazed and definitely worth a listen. Big thanks to Derek Campbell of Mix At Six Studios for his help with this episode. And thank you so much for listening. We'll look forward to being with you again next week.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai