Mel talked to Dan Meissner, lead singer of Five14. They are a new band. They just started out this summer. Dan says getting to play at Batavia Downs is pretty cool. The band started in his church, the Holy Ghost Grace Lutheran Church in Wheatfield. He says he and his wife started the band just themselves and he says he never played the guitar before in his life, he was a French horn player and played a lot of classical music growing up,but he got to a point where he couldn’t really use it how he wanted to use his musical talents anymore, so he decided to pick up an acoustic guitar, learned a couple cords and played in their local church. He says he wanted to play a more contemporary worship style, with a little more pep and stuff especially for younger crowds. Dan says it’s a big thing and says there is a lot of people in an age group of teenagers all the way up to 30 and 40 year old’s that aren’t going to church anymore because it really doesn’t speak to them. Their guitar player Craig Haines was one of the first to join them and they have been growing from there. They put out something on Craig’s List in search for a bass player and Danny Pizarro who is a life-long outstanding musician ended up coming along. Other members of Five14 include singer Kelsey Hoerner, Rick Garfelo on electric guitar, Camryn Meissner on keys and Jodi Meissner on drums.
The band’s name Five14 is a bible verse. Dan Meissner says the basically the bible verse is a call-out to Christians and says it’s easy to get wrapped up in the material world we live in and Five14 is a kind of a call back to those believers like wake up, be kind, do good things for other people and share God’s word with other people.
They will be Rockin’ the Downs this Friday at Batavia Downs when they open up for the Grassroots.
For more information visit Bataviaconcerts.com
