Thad Saajid

The type of music I do would be considered alternative soul or Neo soul. What that really means is that the rhythm or melody line would be soul inspired, but the instrumentation would be more plug ins, more razzle dazzle. It’s definitely a niche.

Without the church I probably wouldn’t be a musician. My origin with music came organically, my dad plays keyboard in church, my mom sung in the choir and was the director. It came naturally for me to play and sing. My dad’s church wouldn’t let me play piano at their church. My grandma’s church didn’t have an organ player, so they let me get away with it and play until I picked it up. Growing up in a predominantly black church, that’s the whole service. They preach for 30 minutes, but we singing the rest of the time.

Soul music is just gospel music without talking about God. Gospel makes you feel a certain way, it makes you feel good, you feel at ease, peaceful. You feel the same way when you listen to Soul music. You can’t listen to a Stevie Wonder record and be uninterested, something in your body is going to move, act in a certain way.

I’ve always had a key to the church, any church I play at. I come here and be as loud as I want to, play whatever I want to. I feel free when I come her. The band practices here too. All of us are church musicians, we all play for numerous churches, so where else would we jam at?