Hanging Out with Blush - Lucy, Nic, and Jess

|PIC1|Hailing from Manchester, Blush is a three-piece girl band out to create songs with a message. Committed to reaching out to youngsters in the UK with Manchester-based youth organisation The Message Trust, the girls - Lucy, Nic, and Jess - are rocking the stage with a whole new album Ear Candy.

What's the message behind 'Ear Candy'?

Nic: We've all heard of the phrase 'Eye Candy', which is something nice to look at, so 'Ear Candy' is something nice to listen to.

Who's the main songwriter?

Nic: We all did it. But Lucy is the most experienced - she's been doing it for a long time.

How has the response been since the release?

Nic: We've been on a mini tour called Hope Revolution with LZ7 and thebandwithnoname, and it's been really good! My favourite track is "So", and during the song everyone claps and gets their hands together... it was good fun. Another song we did was a ballad called "Not Alone", which we did with Compassion. We went to Haiti and saw the stuff that happened.

What's your relationship like with Compassion?

Lucy: The Message Trust has sponsored kids for a while now. They asked us to be the faces of Compassion, if you like, because they know that we see all these kids and we tour, so we can act as a mouthpiece. So they've asked us to see it first-hand so we'll know exactly what we're talking about. It's useless getting up on stage and saying 'oh, these kids are suffering' when we're sitting in nice houses knowing nothing of how it's like. So we all consider it a privilege to be part of that and to see it firsthand. It's really changed us.

How has it been touring with thebandwithnoname and LZ7?

Jess: It's amazing. There's this real sense of unity. There's no competition whatsoever. We come out at the end and whoever is doing the last slot - we always join in on the stage together. It's just been awesome. And we got to know the guys really well. They're in the same office as us, but it's really nice to know them on the road as well - to see their quirks and their funny side.

What's the most rewarding moment?

Nic: I think it's when a kid asks questions and you answer it and you slowly see the penny dropping in their head. They'll ask you where did God come from? Or how was the world created? When you're working through the answer, some kids don't get it at all, or they just want to argue. But when kids really get it and they say 'yes, that does make sense' and go away, and you know that a seed has been sown, that's the most rewarding part for me.

Lucy: For me I get really exciting when we go to a school and there are Christians in there. It just gets sort of boosted, if you like. And they start to think that Christianity is actually cool, and they'll probably tell their friends. I'm really excited about that, because there are these seeds that are starting to blossom. If you see the Christians in the school getting it and feeling suddenly that Christianity is cool, I really like that.

Jess: Yeah. We were in a school and we were attending an assembly. There was this one kid in the front row that went, "You're Christian, right?" And we were like, "Yeah," and the kid said, "But you're wearing cool clothes." The kid was literally asking, how could you be a Christian and wear cool clothes? Christianity doesn't equal boring! Christianity equals fun, vibrant, full life - all those great things. Being a Christian is hard, and you have to stand up for what you believe in, and you sometimes have to stand out from the crowd - but it doesn't have to be boring. Even breaking that stereotype is the first step.