{"id":486,"date":"2011-09-02T19:00:16","date_gmt":"2011-09-02T23:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/?p=486"},"modified":"2011-09-09T17:06:47","modified_gmt":"2011-09-09T21:06:47","slug":"a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli.html","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with Reggae influenced artist Dominic Balli"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dominic Balli\u2019s music is often described as \u201cCaliRockReggae,\u201d a laid-back pop infusion that forces listeners to sit back, relax and enjoy. But according to Balli, there\u2019s a greater purpose to his songs than just spreading a euphemistic love message and putting out good vibes.<\/p>\n

In this extensive interview with Balli, the independent artist talks about a life-changing decision he made as a teenager, how God gave him his voice and a new set of ears, and how his unique sound and inspirational lyrics have opened some unexpected doors:<\/p>\n

Chad Bonham: How did you develop your unique sound?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dominic Balli: As crazy as it sounds, I really think that God just put the reggae thing in me. I can point to a few things in my life that pushed me in that direction, but as I look back now, I really feel like God has called me not just to speak into the lives of believers but, even broader than that, to speak into the lives of people that are outside of the Church. The really cool thing about reggae music is that I can get away with saying spiritual things as a reggae influenced artist that I couldn\u2019t get away with saying as a rock artist. Reggae has such spiritual roots and people almost expect to hear spiritual things. But to answer your question directly, no there wasn\u2019t anything in my upbringing that caused me to lean towards this. I literally heard a song called \u201cInformer\u201d by a guy named Snow when I was eight years old and I fell in love with it. After that, anytime I heard a song with a reggae vibe, it was just calling my name. When I started writing music, that\u2019s what came out. I realized recently why. It was just the Lord putting that in my heart because He\u2019s used that to get me in front of people that I never would\u2019ve gotten in front of before. I played at festivals with Jason Mraz, Ziggy Marley and Natasha Bedingfield. I got to open for Ziggy when he came to town. If I was just a rock artist saying the same things, I would never get to play in some of the clubs I\u2019ve played or some of the festivals I\u2019ve played at because they\u2019d tell me to go back to playing for Christians.<\/p>\n

Bonham: When did you start to see God moving in your life?<\/p>\n

Balli: I grew up going to church. My dad was a pastor. I knew that God had a plan for my life. I knew that Jesus was the only way to Heaven. But I loved sin. The Bible says that sin is pleasurable for a season and I loved it. I rebelled during my high school years really bad. I started messing around with drugs and having relationships with girls and partying. And I used to tell God, \u201cHey God, after college I\u2019m going to serve You because I know that\u2019s what I want to do with my life. I know that\u2019s the best way. I know that\u2019s why I was created. But right now I want to sin because I love it. I want to have a lot of fun.\u201d When I was about 16 years old, God was beckoning me and calling me. He was relentless with me and I finally just gave up. I got to a point in my life where I realized that everything I was trying to grasp for was leaving me empty. It was totally unsatisfying. The only thing that was going to satisfy me was a relationship with God. That\u2019s what I was created to have and I just finally surrendered when I was 16 years old.<\/p>\n

Bonham: When did you get into music?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Balli: It\u2019s kind of a cool story. I grew up in a really musical house where all of my brothers and sisters could sing, but I couldn\u2019t sing. Not only could I not sing, I couldn\u2019t hear pitch. I was totally tone deaf\u2014legitimately, one hundred percent tone deaf. My mom was a singer and a music teacher and a piano player and she says I was one hundred percent, legitimately tone deaf. Nevertheless, I loved music. I tried to sing. My mom recorded a kid\u2019s album when I was 10 years old and I got to sing on the album. I learned later that they hid me in the mix because I was singing so bad. When I was 13 years old, I wanted to play guitar but I couldn\u2019t tell when it was out of tune. When I was 16 years old, I gave my life to Christ and He changed my life and I was born again and He healed my ears, dude. I came home and I sat down and tried to sing and all of the sudden I could hear for the first time in my life. I could hear that I was off pitch. I could hear that my guitar was out of tune. I could teach myself how to sing the right notes. At that moment, I knew why God gave me that. It wasn\u2019t for me. It was for a purpose bigger than my own. And then when I was 18 years old, I felt like God said, \u201cI want to work through you. I want to use your music to speak to people in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonham: Why do you think your music is appealing to both the Christian and general market audiences?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Balli: It\u2019s all about who you write for. Jeremy Camp writes for Christians. That\u2019s awesome. He does a great thing for the church. I don\u2019t write for Christians. I write for people. I write so that if a Christian hears my music, they\u2019re going to be encouraged because I\u2019m writing from the Christian worldview. I\u2019m quoting scriptures. But I\u2019m going to do it in such a way that the unchurched person who has no church context and doesn\u2019t care about it won\u2019t think, \u201cThis isn\u2019t for me.\u201d I feel like those are the people that I want to build relationships with. Those are the people that Jesus would\u2019ve hung out with if He lived here right now. I want some 20-year old college kid who\u2019s a pot head to love my music. I want to write in a way so that it gets into his life because he loves the sound of it and it\u2019s positive in his mind. Then when he listens to it a little bit deeper, he\u2019s like, \u201cWow! What\u2019s he saying right now?\u201d By then, he\u2019s already sold on the music and he loves the music and he\u2019s singing the lyrics. By the time he get what it\u2019s actually saying, it\u2019s like I\u2019ve earned his respect. We\u2019ve kind of already built a relationship. It\u2019s not some preacher preaching at him. It\u2019s a friend he\u2019s been listening to for six months talking to him as a friend. That\u2019s how I write. I\u2019m not writing for just Christians and I\u2019m not writing for just non-Christians. I\u2019m not trying to write for Christian radio. I think all of us would agree that a lot of Christian radio sounds the same. A lot of music that comes out of Nashville kind of has a little bit of the same vibe. Because I don\u2019t live in Nashville, I surround myself with a culture and an influence that\u2019s outside that bubble. So when the church hears it, it\u2019s refreshing, and when the world hears it, it sounds like something they want to listen to.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What have been some of the moments you\u2019ve most enjoyed throughout the course of your musical journey?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sonny Sandoval (left) and Dominic Balli at the video shoot for "American Dream."<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Balli: I first got asked to open for Ziggy right at the beginning, about five years ago. That was crazy, dude. I played Bob Marley\u2019s \u201cRedemption Song\u201d at that show. It was just me and an acoustic guitar and twelve hundred Ziggy Marley fans singing every lyric. It was a trip. Likewise, with Sonny (Sandoval) on this record, I\u2019ve always been a huge fan and really looked up to P.O.D. When I met Sonny about a year ago, he gave me his cell phone number because we just kind of hit it off and I was like, \u201cDude, are you kidding me?\u201d Another big moment was when we went to Brazil in 2009 and played seven sold out back-to-back shows that I was headlining. There were all these Brazilians that don\u2019t speak English singing every lyric of my songs. There were two thousand of them just going crazy at every show. The national news channels were there doing interviews with me. It was ridiculous.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Does the story about your voice serve as a daily reminder of who is in control of your life and your career?<\/p>\n

Balli: Oh absolutely, dude. I have no doubt in my mind. I\u2019m pretty positive that if I started singing songs that were for my fame, the God would probably make me tone deaf again. I know why He gave me that voice. I know why He gave me my ears. I know why He led me here. It is a daily reminder, even to the point where I\u2019m still insecure about my voice because I was tone deaf for more than half of my life. I grew up with people telling me I couldn\u2019t sing on pitch and I had a horrible voice and to shut up and stop singing. Not my parents, but just people around me\u2014friends. Sometimes I\u2019ll open my voice to sing and I\u2019ll think, \u201cI hope I hit the right notes.\u201d I do music for a living and I still feel like that, but it\u2019s good because it keeps me humble, it keeps my feet grounded, it keeps me trusting in God. He gives us gifts not for ourselves, not so we can be happy, not so we can enjoy them, but ultimately it\u2019s so we can accomplish His purpose. The Bible says that God uses the foolish things and the base things of the world to accomplish His work. He apparently uses the tone deaf of the world to do something too.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Your song \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d is out at an interesting time in our nation\u2019s history. What inspired that song and how do you hope it challenges listeners?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Balli: I think (the theme) has always been common, but a few years ago when the stock market crashed and so many people\u2019s American dream fell apart, we began to voice it because all the sudden what we\u2019d been living for and what we\u2019d been working for was pulled out from under us. We realized, \u201cOh my gosh. The American dream really isn\u2019t the American dream.\u201d On the cover of Psychology<\/em> magazine two months ago, it said \u201cHave We Been Robbed By The American Dream?\u201d This song was written about a year and a half ago when I started experiencing the American dream. I owned a home. It was brand new and it was beautiful. I was making more money than I\u2019d ever made. I was more comfortable than I\u2019d ever been. I\u2019d gotten more success than I\u2019d ever planned on getting. I was living that American dream and the comfort of that lifestyle. I wasn\u2019t even chasing it. I wasn\u2019t trying to get it. All of the sudden I just had it because the more success you get in this country, that\u2019s just the natural progression. \u201cI can afford to buy a house now. I should buy a house\u201d or \u201cOh, I can afford a new car. I should buy a new car.\u201d What happened to me was that the comfort of that lifestyle began to eat away at me like a cancer almost. It began to rob me of my joy and my faith. It kind of robbed me of my purpose. When the stock market crash, a lot of people realized that the American dream was not all it was cracked up to be. They\u2019d been living for this thing and it was kind of a fa\u00e7ade. It wasn\u2019t real. We thought it was real and that it would bring us contentment but it hasn\u2019t and it doesn\u2019t. So many of us realized that what\u2019s really important in life is loving God and loving one another.<\/p>\n

To keep up with the latest from Dominic Balli, visit his official website by clicking HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click HERE<\/a> to learn how you can win one of five autographed copies of Balli’s latest CD American Dream<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends! Dominic Balli\u2019s music is often described as \u201cCaliRockReggae,\u201d a laid-back pop infusion that forces listeners to sit back, relax and enjoy. But according to Balli, there\u2019s a greater purpose to his songs than just spreading a euphemistic love message and putting out good vibes. In this extensive…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,70,72],"tags":[350,354,358,212,357,355,352,101,356,351,353],"class_list":["post-486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-music","category-music-feature","category-new-artist","tag-american-dream","tag-bob-marley","tag-calirockreggae","tag-dominic-balli","tag-informer","tag-jason-mraz","tag-natasha-bedingfield","tag-p-o-d","tag-snow","tag-sonny-sandoval","tag-ziggy-marley"],"yoast_head":"\nA conversation with Reggae influenced artist Dominic Balli - Whole Notes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A conversation with Reggae influenced artist Dominic Balli - Whole Notes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click “Like” to share this with your friends! Dominic Balli\u2019s music is often described as \u201cCaliRockReggae,\u201d a laid-back pop infusion that forces listeners to sit back, relax and enjoy. But according to Balli, there\u2019s a greater purpose to his songs than just spreading a euphemistic love message and putting out good vibes. In this extensive…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Whole Notes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-02T23:00:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-09-09T21:06:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/09\/DominicBalli2-203x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chad Bonham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A conversation with Reggae influenced artist Dominic Balli - Whole Notes","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A conversation with Reggae influenced artist Dominic Balli - Whole Notes","og_description":"Click “Like” to share this with your friends! Dominic Balli\u2019s music is often described as \u201cCaliRockReggae,\u201d a laid-back pop infusion that forces listeners to sit back, relax and enjoy. But according to Balli, there\u2019s a greater purpose to his songs than just spreading a euphemistic love message and putting out good vibes. In this extensive…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli.html","og_site_name":"Whole Notes","article_published_time":"2011-09-02T23:00:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-09-09T21:06:47+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/09\/DominicBalli2-203x300.jpg"}],"author":"Chad Bonham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli.html","name":"A conversation with Reggae influenced artist Dominic Balli - Whole Notes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/09\/DominicBalli2-203x300.jpg","datePublished":"2011-09-02T23:00:16+00:00","dateModified":"2011-09-09T21:06:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/#\/schema\/person\/95c3e9443bb9bfa81645d8daef1193c1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/09\/DominicBalli2-203x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/files\/2011\/09\/DominicBalli2-203x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-reggae-influenced-artist-dominic-balli.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A conversation with Reggae influenced artist Dominic Balli"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/","name":"Whole Notes","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/#\/schema\/person\/95c3e9443bb9bfa81645d8daef1193c1","name":"Chad Bonham","description":"Chad has been working in mass media for over 20 years. Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":534,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions\/534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}