Chris Mountford quizzed Jon Sewell and Sammy Jabangwe of urban music evangelists SOULBOX

Jon: "There's one song particularly called 'Real Thing', which shows something I think we should explore more - Sammy being a female rapper but bringing that female swag. You know when you hear a Nicki Minaj song and you're like, 'That girl's got swag'? There's elements of that which should come in more. On our next project it will probably come out more. She puts those silky harmonies there in a way that I will never be able to do."

Sammy: "It's fun. I love harmonies."

Jon: "We were all artists individually beforehand. We all did our own solo stuff before being a band together. We're learning what each of us is good at. Ben is really good at this, so why would I try and do a spoken word? I could do one, but it would be nowhere near as good as the quality of what Ben can do. So I'm like, 'You know what, Ben? Let's leave those things to you.' In the same way with the harmony and the soulful, female range - I can hit those things, but should I hit those things? Should we let Sammy in her talent and that natural sound she has take over with that? It's a learning process - really interesting. Sometimes I feel like when people are added to bands, it can sometimes feel overshadowed. Someone's less, someone's more. But what we try and do is get the best of everyone, to make it a better experience for the listener."

Chris: Where do you get the ideas for your songs?

Sammy: "What I love is that all these songs are responded to so well by young people who aren't even Christian or from any church background, yet every single one of our songs is Scripture-based. One of my favourite tracks on the album is 'The Life', which is basically saying that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. A lot of our songs come from what we've experienced, what we've seen other people experience, the Bible. We invite God into our writing process, then something amazing comes up that's so true to our faith but still so relevant to what young people are listening to and what they enjoy as well."

Chris: Who's involved in the producing and mixing?

Jon: "We have got an incredible producer. We've got a couple of producers we work with, but the guy we use mostly is called Geek Boy. You can check him out, he's got hundreds of thousands of plays on YouTube. He's an amazing guy who we always sit down with at the start of a song, because we love starting things with him. We might go to other producers maybe halfway through or towards the end of a song to polish things off or get a new perspective, but generally we'll work with him. 'Discrepancy', for example, which is on the 'So Good' EP - he just came to us one day. He's got a real heart for music and a real heart to share Jesus with people. He was like, 'This song, "Discrepancy", I love it. I feel like it would be perfect for you.' He works with loads of secular artists as well. That's one of my favourite songs. It's all about coming into relationship with God, and the discrepancy of how we don't get what we deserve. What we deserve is death. Through Jesus dying on the cross, and his resurrection, what we get is life in all its fullness."

Chris: What other artists has Geek Boy worked with?

Jon: "He's worked with a lot of people in Japan, as well as his own stuff. The LZ7 'Home' remix was him. He's an artist in his own right, doing lots of stuff in Guatemala. He's got a manager. He tells me things we're not allowed to share. It could be top secret."

Chris: How do you feel about SoulBox joining the tradition of bands associated with The Message Trust?

Sammy: "I'm really honoured. We were talking about it this morning. I think about the journey of the World Wide Message Tribe, them being so humble with what God was calling them to do. Sticking to God's calling opened so many doors for them. These guys are our managers and they've been on stage with people like Mary Mary. It's incredible. They're people who are inspirational to me in my life, and I'm honoured to be a part of what they can do. Years ago they would've never imagined being in this many schools in one go. It's amazing to see what God has done over the years. We're all in similar circles, friends with people like Social Beingz, formerly known as Twelve24, LZ7. It's amazing to see what those people have gone on to do, and it's amazing to see how we're all still linked in our joint love for seeing young people know Jesus."

Jon: "I love it. I didn't know what any of these bands did until I moved to The Message, but when you look at how counter-cultural they are, and yet also with culture, I think it's amazing. It's something that I would love to replicate. In times when their faith and integrity was questioned, especially with the World Wide Message Tribe when they were offered stuff with Warner Brothers, and they never changed their focus about what the point of everything is, which is to show people the good news about Jesus Christ. They would never compromise. It's a humbling moment when I think about those. The fact that we've got people who have been in those situations who can advise, I think it's so cool."

Chris: Looking forward, what are your hopes for SoulBox in the next few months and years?

Sammy: "There's so many things. We just want to continue making music that a lot of people can relate to, that a lot of people can like and get something powerful from. We definitely want to go on all these Higher Tours that we're doing with The Message, and go all over the UK. I have a set number of people on my heart where I'm like, 'God, I want to see this many people know who you are. I want to see this many people transformed, their lives, the people around them, and communities transformed.' That's what I want to achieve for SoulBox."

Jon: "What I think SoulBox should be doing is just being excellent. I want to be a group that people look at and say, 'They're off-stage matches their on-stage. They're not people you have bad experiences of.' We don't want to leave them with a bad taste in their mouth. I want to be a band that reaches loads of people, and be people who they look up to. A guy who really influenced me heavily was Jehaziel, the guy who did all the rap stuff. He mentored me a bit. We met quite a few times, chatted a lot about music, before he lost his faith. When I was younger, I was like, 'That's a man who I can look up to.' Not an idol, but someone I can want to be like. I want us to be a band that helps pull other people up. People can go, 'Where they are, that's where I want to be, and what they're doing, I can do.'"