Press Play

Birthed out the Dream Center in Los Angeles, Press Play has been busy moving coast to coast, leading worship and playing concerts nationwide. Their new album, Life is Beautiful, mixes “simple” words and ideas to positive beats intended to bring to and from the inner city and all of the proceeds from the disc go straight back to the 24/7 ministry of feeding, clothing and housing the poor.

We recently caught up with Dave Hanley, founding member of Press Play, to discuss the Dream Center, his own personal interactions and how a tragic story from the road became the heartbeat and reason behind the album.

Soul-Audio: What sort of momentum are you guys enjoying now? Can you tell us that?

Dave Hanley: Absolutely. We’re just totally blown away to see what has happened to us. A lot of bands are connected to a great cause, but Press Play was birthed from a cause – the Dream Center in Los Angeles. We’ve been the music for the Dream Center on both the East Coast and the West Coast. But just since the release on May 19 and that momentum and to see what God has done and have the nation get behind it – hopefully not only because they love the music but more than that, we hope they love the cause – has been exciting.

All of the proceeds are going to the cause, so we’ve just been shocked by everything. From The Today Show and all of the doors opening in the Christian and the mainstream sides is so cool. Ultimately, it’s just meant to change lives and not just be a bunch of songs. So “momentum” is definitely the right word. It’s become a snowball that’s so hard to control but it’s in such a good way. It’s so humbling.

SA: How long ago did the whispers of Press Play begin?

Dave: Well, we’ve been the group that it is now for about five years. Of course, we do all the music for the East Coast and West Coast Dream Centers every week. And now that we’re on tour, we still do that same schedule but we just do the days between across the nation. All of the members of the band are all volunteers or workers in Los Angeles at the Dream Center, so it was about giving their life away or getting their life back together. So it’s a total collage of incredible stories and testimonies that make group up. It’s cool to see what God is doing.

SA: That schedule back and forth – does that get hard to keep up the artistic momentum, so to speak?

Dave: In a lot of cases, it would. But our focus is so exciting because it’s for a cause. All of the efforts, all the late night hours and crazy schedules… when you come back to the Dream Center every week and you see these lives changing and you see that the proceeds really fed someone, really clothed someone, really took someone in from the streets, that’s definitely the motivation that keeps you going.

SA: I’m sure you have a lot of stories from these experiences, but do you have a favorite from the album?

Dave: I do, actually. It’s a bit of a tragic one. But our opening week, I think the release date actually, we did a concert in Queens. A young kid came to the concert who they’d been trying to get to church and get him out of gangs and things like that. He just wouldn’t come, but he finally came that night. He saw Press Play and after the concert, we kept doing more songs and I actually pulled him on stage. I made him rap and freestyle with us to a couple of songs. He’d never been to church or anything like that, but he gave his heart to God that night. I get a text the following morning on our shuttle to the airport that he had died in a car accident just hours after that concert. That was his time with God. So to know that… all of the years and the producing and writing – everything could have been just for that one kid.

And to know that is motivation to know that there are thousands and millions out there who need that same hope. We cannot stop. This project was meant for just that. It was meant for the lost. It wasn’t really meant for the Christians. In fact, when we were writing it, we thought if it wasn’t something you could tell your secular friends or unsaved friends that it was great stuff, that wasn’t what we wanted to do. We didn’t want to make music just for Christians – not that there’s anything wrong with that at all. But what we wanted to do was to make music and we’re getting airplay on the mainstream side now as well, so that’s exciting.

SA: To write songs that are aimed toward the mainstream, how does that inform the songwriting process?

Dave: The album title is called Life is Beautiful and it’s birthed from the inner city. It’s the highest areas of crime and you see so much darkness. And so the music had to be completely opposite – it had to be full of life. No matter what these kids had been through or what they’ve come out of, we wanted to say that life could still be beautiful for them. So the music is positive. It’s not deep. I’m not a deep, theological kind of guy. So I’m pretty simple. The lyrics are super-simple to where I know that when those kids leave, I want them to be bumping along with the music and singing words like “life is beautiful.” I want them to know that they can make it.

SA: Were you expecting to have the response or the chart success at all? Or was it all a surprise?

Dave: Well, there’s 150 Dream Centers now nationwide and worldwide, so we knew we had somewhat of a following. But it really did blow our minds, the support behind it. Plus the open doors and favor God has given on the media side of it has been amazing. We’ve been on The Today Show, Fox & Friends, The Viewand different things like that. We just go in there and we’re ourselves. We don’t have to try to be something we’re not. We’ve had such great response across America, so that’s been beyond our expectations.

SA: Wow, when you play The Today Show, is that just crazy or what?

Dave: Sheer nerves. [Laughs] I think we’ve done about 60-something television or radio appearances since the release and the majority of those have been in the mainstream. It’s been so cool to see mainstream doors open to people just willing to get in there and use their lives to help those less fortunate. We’re in the same dressing rooms and green rooms as Kathie Lee and Matt Lauer and others, and they’ve all been so nice. It’s just amazing to see what God has done.

SA: What about your own story? How did you first connect with the Dream Center?

Dave: I’ve been here over 12 years now. Matthew Barnett started it almost 15 years ago and I was at his dad’s church in Phoenix. They said they’d need a music guy out there to start helping and so I came out here that long ago. My wife and I sold everything we had and just jump in. God began to mold and break our hearts for the people that a lot of others wouldn’t love. It’s really radically and totally changed our lives and we know that God has brought us here for a reason. We’re able to reach people 24 hours a day, seven days a week and not let up. It’s just an amazing thing.

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