Interview with The New Divide

The New Divide 

I call myself blessed to know these guys. They are charming, funny, beautiful people who makes people’s hearts warm with their love for music and people everywhere they go. I’ve gotten to know Douglas the last (almost) 2 years and I haven’t met a guy who’s love for God shines more, so I decided to have a interview with him about their band and A Jesus Mission.

Who are The New Divide? 

The New Divide consists of Andy Ziesemer, Douglas Ziesemer, Aaron Olsen, Jonathan Shea, and Alen Garrison.

We are all from different cities in the USA, Andy, Douglas, and Alen are from the Portland Oregon area.

Aaron Olsen is from Denver Colorado originally, but has been living in the Portland area for the last 5 years.

Jonathan is from Nashville Tennessee.

We all have different places we stay when we are in town. Some have places of their own, others live with friends when home.

How long have you all been making music?

We’ve been making music for 10 1/2 years as of August 2016.

Why did you all decide to form a band?

Andy and I (Douglas) started the band with our little brother in 2006. We wanted to start a band because we had a few churches that needed a worship team and so we formed the band. Then we started writing our own music.

Where does your inspiration for your music come from?

We find it easiest to write from what we know. For worship music we write from our own prayers and things that we are going through. For rock and roll stuff, we write from the same most of the time, but it varies. God is always the center of our inspiration. Aaron Olsen is our main song writer, but we all give input.

How does it feel to travel around the world and meet new people all the time?

It is the best job I’ve ever had! We get to travel the globe sharing our faith and we get to meet thousands of new people every year. We get to make new friends in every country that we visit.

How do you guys handle bloopers on stage?

Bloopers? Well we recover as best we can and try to play it off as though it never happened. Unless it is so funny that we run with it and have fun with it! If you take it to serious up on stage then you will get lost in the perfection of the performance. Thus making it un-enjoyable.

You guys are missionaries as well? Explain A Jesus Mission.

Yes we are,  again we get to travel the globe sharing our faith!

A Jesus Mission is a non-profit organization that we made to help us go into all of the world and share the Gospel.

The name A Jesus Mission comes for the fact that in the Bible Jesus’ had a mission, that was to reach the lost and to build up the people who were already saved. So what we do it take that mission as our own, because Jesus commanded this of us. So our mission is “To equip the found and find the lost.” if anything we do fits in this, then we are doing what are called to do.

What can you say to other people who want to become musicians?

Just start doing it! Pick up your instrument of choice, and start learning it to the best of your ability. The world is full of resources that we can tap into in a moment. The internet is filled with people who are better than you at everything, so find them and learn how to become just as good.

What is the coolest thing you guys as a group experienced so far?

Getting to share the Gospel with the entire French Olympic team in Canada. We got asked to play a rock show by someone while we were doing outreach on the streets in Vancouver Canada during the 2010 winter Olympics. We went to their house after the closing ceremonies and played a few rock shows to a bunch of french Olympians and high ups.

Favorite places you all have visited?

One of my (Douglas) favorite places to go is actually South Africa! I have enjoyed everything about the Cape Town area. The landscape, the people, and all of the churches we get to work with.

We all have different areas in the world that we enjoy.

Aaron really likes Japan, and also Mexico.

Alen really likes Germany, mostly because of the amazing Schnitzel they make!

Andy Really loves Paris, France. He has had a heart for the French people since we first went there in 2010.

Jonathan so far has liked England the best

So you say that South Africa is your favorite place to visit, you guys planning to visit again anytime soon?

We do visit SA as much as we can, but we do not currently have anything set in stone, we are working on it though.

What do you all plan for the future?

We all have different plans for the future. As for now, the plan is to keep doing this for as long as we are able to do it.

When we start to get old and can not play rock and roll any longer, then we will look and see what we can do to keep traveling the world and sharing the Gospel with people. That is one of the main reasons that we started A Jesus Mission, so we can continue to share the Gospel throughout the world.

Where can people get ahold of you guys?

The New divide (Website) or A Jesus Mission (Website)

Anyone can get ahold of us on Facebook at: The New Divide on Facebook.

Instagram & Twitter: @thenewdivide.

You can also email us: Douglas@thenewdivide.com,  Andy@thenewdivide.com, Aaron@thenewdivide.com, Alen@thenewdivide.com, orJonathan@thenewdivide.com.

We try our best to answer any questions that may come up!

I want to thank Douglas for taking the time and answering my questions while they are currently busy with a festival in the UK. Your love for what you do is an inspiration. 

Feel free to connect with them and see what they are up to, they really are entertaining, plus if you don’t get to travel much you will get to see a lot of the world through their eyes.

Much love.