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Reverend Vince Anderson & His Love Choir. This is not your typical reverend or your typical choir. We had the pleasure of sitting down with Vince over tea at the Blackbird Parlour in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Why Music?

Good question, I started playing piano when I was 3 so it's always been part of my expression. It's also something that I actually returned to because I left it for a while, then went to the conservatory and then felt called to the ministry. So I kind of left music behind for a little bit.

Then when I went to seminary, the music called me again. I tried to say no, and it kept calling me back. When I got to seminary, I went to Union Theological here in New York, I found myself kind of done with music at that point. But I felt everyone calling at me, and they had a daily chapel service, so I felt like God was telling me that "this was the voice I've given you", there's more, but this is one language I've given you, don't not use it.

If I have any semblance of a music career, I took my first job as a music director when I was 12, at a start up church that met in a school, and they needed a piano player so they got me. It's always been a part of my sacred and secular expression. Music has always been a big part of my language.

Who were and are your biggest influences?

Johnny Cash. As far as what I do- playing music in bars and the combination of secular and sacred that I do. The kind of music I play, I call it "Dirty Gospel". Even though I identify myself as a gospel artist,

He gave me a certain kind of freedom, I don't have to be in that box, I always thought of Johnny Cash as a gospel artist, always, first and foremost. The more human he got, the stronger his gospel message got- to me. It just added more weight and more depth and breadth to it, like the deeper he got into writing about murder, drugs and bad times, the more powerful "How Great Thou Art" sounded to me, when he would go into a gospel song. He's one of my biggest influences.

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There's a whole mess of traditional gospel artists- Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sister Clara Ward, Professor Alex Bradford, Blind Willie Johnson, I tend to like gospel artists that veer on the blues side of things. Dorothy Norwood I like alot too, Shirley Ceasar. I also veer towards their 70's records. The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Harmonizing Four, there's countless, countless.

U2, which is an odd one, listing all the other references. But they too, I think are from the school of Johnny Cash in that they are not afraid to sing songs from a Christian perspective that recognizes that we're human first and Christian second. To me, that's the most important thing. It is deeper, we all come from a womb and we reflect that experience, and that makes the experience with God that much more meaningful.

What kind of music do you make and why?

Well, I talked a little bit about it earlier, it's called Dirty Gospel and it grows out of a gospel tradition, gospel and blues. It's very simple chord progressions, maybe a little r&b thrown in as well. I try to take the roots of gospel music and get to the human elements again. Strip away the piety of gospel songs to a degree, get em' back to the root, what is it about this song that really connects with people, and why does this song do it and this song doesn't. Or,

So, I'm interested in that. My music's got plenty of a rock and roll attitude thrown in there as well. It's definitely informed by a punk sentiment in a way, I just kind of go for it, I'm not the best singer in the world, but I got what I got.

Also, at our root we're a bar band, but a gospel bar band. We rarely play churches. That's where we practice, we don't rehearse so much, it's like that bar band work ethic, goin' out there and doing three sets a night, that informs the music a lot.

What's your instrument of choice when you make music?

Piano, and keyboard, I've introduced organ a little bit. But I still love the percussive element of the keyboard, and the piano, I really play it like a rhythm instrument- pound it as hard as I can. I'm a stomper too, so I guess my feet are an instrument of choice too, I'm happy when I get a stage that really sounds good, and I'm happy when I'm wearing the right shoes. Recently, I've thought of my feet as an instrument more and more- what stage, and what shoes go well with that stage.

How many instruments do you play?

Let's see, I play accordian, bass, bible school guitar- like summer camp guitar. I also play clarinet, that was my band instrument, and saxophone, but I haven't picked up any of those in years so...

Did you study under anyone?

Well, I was trained classically, at the Conservatory of the Pacific. I had this German professor named Wolfgang, his tie went way down too long and he was like Wince, Wince... and we would play in this studio that was two grand pianos, and I don't know how on earth he got those pianos in there because that's all that fit in there. I still think to this day that they built the building around it. So, that's been my only formal training, and years of study before that with different teachers. I'm starting to think I want to take piano again and some organ, but I haven't found the right teacher yet.

How many years have you dedicated to your craft?

Well, I started at 3 and I'm 37 now so...so I've been playing piano for 34 years. Professionally, I've been doing this for almost 13 years.

Are you planning on doing this forever?

Well, you know, until God tells me not too. I've had a hard couple of years so creatively, I've reached kind of a dried up point a bit. I wrote my first song in a year, about a month ago. But I feel the inspiration welling up again. And having the opportunity to preach again in a formal setting with Jay has really kind of stirred the pot a bit. It's an interesting time right now, because on stage the creativity really lives, but in the studio I'm having a challenge. The band is very improvisational- songs can develop and things can move. Songs can be written on-stage. As long as it feeds me and as long as I feel like God is leading me in that direction, I'll keep doin' it.

What keeps you excited about making music?

Playing with other people, and that moment that I feel the Holy Spirit has really visited, it's great when that happens in a bar in front of a bunch of people who may or may not be church. There's other times where it's just a good time. And there's that conversation where God has spoken to us, through us, and that we've spoken back to God. And when that happens, that sort of circular conversation happens in front of an audience, it's great. It can turn a very profane space into a sacred space and feel amazing. So, if that keeps happenin'...

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Apart from making music, what keeps your interest?

Baseball. I'm a New York Mets fan, the season starts Monday. So that's my other cathedral, my temple [laughs]. Running, I like to run. Preaching and doing pastor work too. Meeting Jay in the last year has filled out a certain part of what I feel I've been called to do and gave it a spot in which it felt full and real. I feel that God has given that to me and completed a picture that I've kinda waited for, for years. Preaching at Pete's I don't have to hide my bar work, that can be right there out in front, and it feels very real and organic, like I got God's promise.

What's your best advice for up and coming artists and musicians?

I was just talking to Jay about this yesterday. For all of my success locally- I've really had alot of success, in Brooklyn, I'm an established artist, so people just feel like I'm successful, but I don't sell any records, I don't have any distribution, so I don't know, I think right now, as far as advice on that end, for people who are tryin' to break in and establish themselves- I haven't done the best job of maintaining a career. But, I have stayed true to what moves me and I've followed that bliss. That's kept me performing for this long, and enough that clubs want us so that means somethin'.

I'm happy performing. As I get a little older, I wish there was a level that we're at that would sustain it financially for a little longer. But I don't think of that so often, maybe I should think about it more, my advice would be for artists to think about it. But more importantly though, that can't be what you're after. I still believe that I'm gonna be taken care of somehow. If this is what I'm supposed to be doing and God wants me to continue, God will take care of it so that we can do it.

It's more important for me really, to follow that bliss and to make sure that makes me happy. Performing makes me happy and bringing that Holy Spirit in the room makes me happy. So my advice would be to just follow that.

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