Tony Cummings asked the questions. Nic Burrows of RAIN answered them.

Rain

Tony: Who are Rain?

Nic: Rain began in 1998 after Chris Smith and I decided to encourage a band of musicians who got together for several local youth events to stay together and see where the road went. Essentially the songwriting was from Chris and Miranda Duggan (who later joined the band in a performance role as well) and myself who spent much of our time writing and recording in our own studio (Raindance Music Ltd) both for Rain and other artists. You tell me what category our music fits into, pop, rock, dance? We would like to know! Rain consists of Miranda Duggan (29), whose has a lot of singing experience and who once made a brief appearance in the UK music charts on a charity record which reached number. 81! Since then she has been songwriting with Chris for a number of years before the Rain project was born. Chris Smith (27) spends much of his time producing, programming and arranging for Rain and other artists as part of Raindance Music. Crash (Adam Nash, 20) has done a lot of work for local network youth events. At the age of 13 he was so small he could only just be seen over his drum kit! He now plays a beast of a custom six-string bass for Rain. Broon (Alan Brain, 39) began musical training as a classical pianist before moving on to playing keyboards in a wide variety of bands. He has written and arranged music for the dance examinations of the United Kingdom Alliance which is used by teachers not only in Britain but throughout Europe, Russia and Hong Kong. He has handled live keyboards for Rain since its inception. Finally there's me, Nic Burrows (38). I cut my percussive teeth playing everything from heavy metal to soul funk. Following a six year stint with cult band DKF, I have been instrumental in the formation of Rain and establishing Raindance Music alongside Chris.

Tony: "Heart Of Your Love" on your first EP was a big radio hit on Cross Rhythms. Did that surprise you?

Nic: We were thrilled to say the least that "Heart Of Your Love" received so much airplay, but to be honest surprised was not the word in a sense because we have always had a certain amount of confidence that what we have been producing was up to a certain standard and had the potential to receive a favourable reaction if given the chance. I hope that doesn't sound arrogant because we do, without question, acknowledge any success in anything we do is all glory to God. We would also like to say a big thank you to the Cross Rhythms team who gave us that break.

Tony: Have you done much gigging?

Nic: Unfortunately we have not done anywhere the number of live performances as we would have liked due to recording and producing for other artists which has taken up a lot of time and as any band trying to promote themselves performing original material knows, it takes time and/or money to make any serious progress. Our most memorable gig though was at Southampton Uni Christian union where Miranda's voice went completely half an hour before the gig. It's nights like that when you hope your songs work well as instrumentals. Character building to say the least!

Tony: What you think is the best song on your new EP?

Nic: I think our best track on the EP (although we like them all) is "Get Right Back" which is about God's grace which lovingly enables us to find our way back to him particularly when we are down on ourselves about the number of times we have to do this.

Tony: Why are you called Rain? Aren't you chancing it a bit when you play festivals?

Nic: We are called Rain because it's refreshing, lifegiving, a "type" of Holy Spirit like wind or breath, etc. Actually though, I must say that when we did play Cross Rhythms Festival it was chucking it down.

Tony: What are you trying to do spiritually with the group?

Nic: We are called to be tools of evangelism, but we are not evangelists. We aim to promote the Christian faith through our songs/lyrics, building relationships and by our conduct, behaviour and attitude.To put the audience at ease and create an environment where they will listen to our songs, we do not want to make people uncomfortable. We aim to communicate in a language that will relate, whether the audience is young, old, Christian or non-Christian, produce music of highest quality, perform to our best ability - fun, energetic, entertaining. We believe in performing songs that communicate Gospel truth, real life issues from a Christian perspective, and songs that uphold Christian principles. We will guard against making good excuses to justify a passive Christian witness, and we will seek opportunities to be pro-active in sharing the love of Christ with others.