Jesusfreakhideout.com: The Mission, "Go Fish

JFH Indie Review

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The Mission
Go Fish - Single

Artist Info: Discography
Street Date: January 5, 2024
Style: Alternative / Pop Rock
Official Site: TheMission123.com

Hailing from south Florida, The Mission is a collection of musicians who want to encourage Christians to use their gifts for God's glory by using the talents they've been given. Their recent single, "Go Fish," is a perfect encapsulation of that vision. The jazzy pop tune finds lead singer Shari Frink feeling listless in the first verse, waiting for destiny to unfold. Then Jesus enters in and gives the call to be a "fisher of men." The second verse finds Frink still trying to discern God's plan, but ultimately falling back on the command to "Go fish."

The song is simple in its message and structure, yet it has clever moments in its lyrics. Placing the first verse on a "dock" and mentioning "cards" in the second verse are two ways of cleverly tying in the idea to "go fish." The music also pushes the single along at a good clip with a good mix on the instruments and a unique sound. That sound does feel a little dated, but it moves fast enough to not bother the listener too much.

As a taste of an EP to come, "Go Fish" is a good sampler of what The Mission can do. There's a wittiness in the lyrics and an energy to the music that is missing in much of mainstream CCM these days. Its simple message to encourage believers to follow Jesus out onto the waters of this world and make a difference is also refreshing. Fans of older CCM music would do well to give The Mission a listen.

- Review date: 12/15/23, written by John Underdown of Jesusfreakhideout.com

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JFH Staff's Second Opinion

If you want to talk about literal band names, The Mission would be a great example. The group's website hosts little to no information about the individual members of the band, but rather points the reader to the fact that each person in the Kingdom of God has a mission from Him, which is to use the gifts He gave us to reach the lost. They double down on this message with their latest single, "Go Fish." Pulling from Matthew 4, "Go Fish" comes from the perspective of someone who hears Jesus' call to be fishers of men, then decides to follow that call despite not knowing exactly what it means. It's a clear example of being a willing vessel for the Lord and having the faith to follow without having the full context, but knowing that Jesus will faithfully lead us and guide us ("I've been waiting on destiny to bite / sitting on the dock of my life / the Savior says am I ready to follow Him / He says He'll make me a "fisher of men" / well, I don't even really know what that means / but I see the boat and I'm ready to get in"). The musical style seems to borrow from a variety of eras, from the old school Jesus Movement days to the height of '90s CCM, and even some of the modern era, meaning "Go Fish" could appeal to fans of Keith Green, Big Tent Revival, MercyMe, or anywhere in between. - Review date: 11/17/23, written by Scott Fryberger of Jesusfreakhideout.com

Record Label: None

Album length: 1 track: 4 minutes, 14 seconds

Street Date: January 5, 2024

Go Fish (4:14)
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Jesus Freak Hideout (John Underdown): How did The Mission come together and get its start?

Shari Frink: Well, this can be quite a journey but I'll get to the point. I cant go in to all of the MANY "God'incidences" (instead of Coincidences) that occured to build this group if you want a longer back story, though! In short, all of the members in The Mission have been Professional Musicians for decades. Each of us, at some point over the last couple years, has been called DEEPER by the Holy Spirit to do more with our talents and gifts in a way that will honor and serve the Lord. We love music, ALL kinds, but we also know there's a MISSION for us as followers of Christ. We knew that we wanted to create music that could tell THAT story, reach people for the Lord through our gifts and talents of music, share our testimony, and share of the greatest love we've ever known that can so easily be available to everyone.

We wanted to write music for that person that feels devalued or lost or like they don't know what they are living for. (And I have found that "that" person can even be us. as Christians, many times!) We wanted to use our own journey, highs and lows, and God's UNFAILING faithfulness and love as the cornerstone through all of it, to write music with the purpose of leading others to Jesus. The Mission's "mission" is to inspire and uplift others, tell them that they are LOVED and have VALUE beyond what they EVER could imagine, and remind ourselves and others that there is something God has put on on this Earth to accomplish WITH Him. He may not need us, but He CHOSE us and delights in those that answer the call according to His purpose (Roman 8:28.)

JFH (John): What's the story behind your recent single "Go Fish"?

Shari: Our guitarist Jimmy Bonito had given me a mixtape (yes, almost literally, he BURNED ME A CD of some of his old guitar riffs that he had written YEARS ago.) I don't know about you, but I don't have many places that I can even PLAY a CD anymore! My car has a CD player so I would listen to the instrumental tracks when I was driving and I ended up writing Go Fish from one of those tracks. The hook came to me one day and I thought to myself, "Okay I love the premise and concept of writing a song about Go FIsh (both the Card Game reference and the "Be Fisher's of men" reference from Matthew 4 in Bible) mixed with actual fishing! BUT .. the big problem is ... I DON'T FISH!" I know, it's ridiculous. I live in a beach/fishing town (Englewood) and DON'T fish. But my husband LOVES fishing. It's his passion. So I would literally bounce ideas off of him and see if they worked. He still says this is his favorite song because I'm pretty much giving him the go-ahead to be out fishing all the time! I'm not sure about that but I do advocate being a Fisher of Men for for the Gospel!

JFH (John): Given the message of following Christ's call in the song, how has the band heard and responded to Jesus' call in their lives?

Shari: As we mentioned above, each of us, specifically these last 3 years has just felt this urgency to speak about Jesus in any way we can to those around us. I don't know if it's the state of the world currently or something much larger at play, but we have felt this shifting and this pull to move forward in our musical careers this way. None of us has any idea what this looks like in the end, but I think that's part of the "walk by faith, not by sight" lyric in the Chorus of "Go Fish." WE can't take credit for ANY of this because WE don't know what we're doing! Only God gets the glory. He keeps urging us on the next steps and we pray and do our best to remain faithful to the opportunities in front of us. Even our entire journey within THE MISSION is a testimony to the Faithfulness of God. Our first concert was literally in the middle of a hurricane and HUNDREDS of people still showed up and worshiped with us! Our first radio play is on a Florida SECULAR station .. and it hit number ONE the last two weeks on their countdown! Who can possibly do that? Definitely not us, on our own! Only God!

JFH (John): I appreciated the jazzy/bluesy influence on the track. What are some of the musical influences behind The Mission?

Shari: It's so funny because there is SO much eclectic influence on our music, and part of that is attributed to the fact that we have multiple generations of musicians contributing to building the songs.

Mike Hepner (our lead keyboardist and organist) is heavily influenced by Blues and Jazz musicians (Stevie Ray Vaughn/, Jimmy Bonito (Lead Guitar) is from the 90s-2000s Rock era (Soundgarden ) but also has classical guitar roots and is also influenced by guitar legend Joe Bonamassa.

Terynna Koehler (backup vocals, synth, keys, percussion) has this edge of gravelly pop rock to her writing style (as per her "Be a Fisher of men" vamp at the end of the track - which is literally my favorite part!) She says she was most influenced by Fleetwood Mac & Worship singer/songwriter Darlene Zschech.

Fernando (Drums) grew up in Costa Rica and has amazing Latin percussion roots (Santana - Michael Shrieve) but also LOVES metal and reggae music!

Alonzo Smith (Bass) loves Motown and 70s rock/pop/R&B but he can literally play anything (multiple instruments and vocals included!)

And I'm the baby (Shari - lead vocals), raised in the 2000s generation of Pop and R&B music (influences range from Christina Aguilera/Whitney Houston/Taylor Swift to legendary vocalists that are timeless like Ella Fitzgerald and Ann Wilson from Heart).

This track is most commonly referred to as a mixture of Fleetwood Mac and We the Kingdom. We'll gladly take those as a high compliment, as we are fans of both groups immensely!

JFH (John): I saw you're planning on releasing an EP soon. Could you give us a sneak peek on what that will be?

Shari: Yes! We are so excited for the EP to launch. It's looking like March of 2024, although the exact date is still TBD. Go Fish will be on there along with 5 other songs. Some of the songs have already been released on our YouTube Channel, but there will be a couple surprises, songs no one, other than those that have seen us Live, will recognize.

JFH (John): Beyond that EP, what plans are underway for The Mission in 2024?

Shari: We have spent the last year cranking out writing and recording. We probably have about 45 songs that are in Pre-Production and already written/composed so we intend to follow up the EP with a full album launch, God willing we get enough traction on the initial tracks. Doing all of this as an Independent Artist has been a HUGE learning curve and we are sometimes figuring it out as we go. Learning and taking any advice or guidance from anyone that we can. Following the leading of the Holy Spirit into avenues that seem unconventional to us. We have several live concerts planned for 2024 in local Southwest Florida, as well! We'll see where God leads next after that!

JFH (John): Finally, a lighter question: would you rather go fishing on a river deep in the woods or go fishing out on the high seas?

Shari: HA! As stated above I don't like to fish, BUT speaking for the whole band (most of them enjoy fishing, especially Jimmy!) our consensus is DEEP SEA! Being a bunch of unique and weird Jesus-loving people ourselves, we want the unique and weird fish found in the DEEP waters that most wouldn't normally see or catch.