Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the Love justice podcast, where we hear from different voices who are joining us in the fight against modern day slavery. Please welcome today's guest, Brian Olson.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: So, hey, welcome to the Love justice podcast. I'm Jason Dukes on team with love justice. And with me today is none other than Brian Olson. Brian, welcome to the Love justice podcast.
[00:00:27] Speaker C: Thank you. It's great to be here.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Glad you're with us, man. Let's dive in. So, tell us, who is Brian Olson?
[00:00:33] Speaker C: Oh, man. Who am I?
I am a. I'm a dad of three wonderful kids, girl and two boys, 23, 21, and 19. And I'm a musician. That's how I definitely got connected with love justice singer, songwriter and pop rock band. I'm a believer. I'm a follower of Christ.
Who else am I? I hope I'm a good friend and try to be a, you know, just. I'm an optimistic lover of life and pretty fearless in a lot of things. Very curious. Still. Still feel very youthful and full of energy and ready to go after what God has for me in this chapter. Whatever chapter is next, I love it. Is that good enough?
[00:01:27] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:01:27] Speaker C: That's great.
[00:01:28] Speaker B: And I'll brag on you, too. I mean, you're an entrepreneur. Like, you have great. You have brilliant ideas.
You know, you love to learn. I mean, you do. I'm just enjoying getting to know you, so I'm thankful.
[00:01:38] Speaker C: Same man.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: So, hey, brief overview of your artist evolution in the music industry.
[00:01:45] Speaker C: Okay. Well, I've been doing music, original music, for a long time, and way back in the, I guess, early two thousands maybe, we started getting, you know, recognized by christian labels and just trying to find some way to do music for a living, which is kind of a difficult thing because it's not like you fill out an application and someone hires you to be a rock and roll musician. So just did it whenever we could play it on weekends and things like that. And I think one of my big breaks was the newsboys owned a record label, and they were very interested in us, and so we got to play a few shows for them, get to know them a little bit. And then eventually I got this strange call to join the newsboys as their guitarist, and I got to do that for a few years. It was amazing. So I went from driving a crappy van to getting in a really sweet tour bus and flying around in private jets and having somebody else set up all my guitars and then playing in front of thousands a night. And it was. It was surreal. It was wonderful. And I definitely learned a lot, too.
You pay attention to a band that's been around that long and what they're doing and how they're doing it and what you would do different. And so I think that gave me a little bit boost of confidence to, okay, maybe, you know, maybe I do have something to offer musically. And we always felt, I've always felt part of my mission is to use music to connect people that need help with people that can help. So even early on with our albums, we would partner with different ngo's and come up with creative ways. We would, we did high school assemblies all across the US and traveled with a girl who survived Columbine and we would go and do, we would do character based assemblies in high schools. We did like over 400 of them across the US and then partnered with an organization that was doing relief work in Africa and it just kind of kept going from there. And then eventually that's how we got connected with tiny hands now. Love justice, I love it.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: So we'll get to that in just a second because I think that's such an intriguing part of what you do. But I'm curious and it's a loaded question, right? What's been going on with you lately?
[00:04:13] Speaker C: Oh, man, it's been kind of a whirlwind.
My drummer in my band, our band's called Voda, he sent me an email last year and it was this audition casting call for the Voice.
Immediately get back to him and go, why are you sending me this? Like, the last thing I want to do is hang around in some arena with a bunch of teenage girls waiting 14 hours to audition for some singing tv show. Like, no, I didn't think so. And he said, they do it online now. You can schedule almost like a Zoom call. And so I did it on a whim without him knowing and me being techno technology challenged, I almost didn't even make the Zoom call.
The laptop wasn't working. I almost closed it and said, forget this. And then it worked at the last second and I sang 90 seconds of a song and it just kept snowballing from there. I got invited to do more and then an interview and then finally got the invite out to LA to do a blind audition on the show. And it's like, oh, boy, this is happening. And it's been incredible. The artists that got invited out with me, they've been wonderful. The voice staff, they're wonderful. It's been a joy, and I'm still in the midst of the show right now and it's going really well for me. And they're still keeping this old guy around there. I'm the oldest contestant on the show, and I got to have one of the best moments of my life with my daughter during my blind audition with me, and. Yeah. And I'm excited to see what God's doing there and what doors this will open to, you know, a whole bunch of new fans and stuff, which is for any artist, you know, you'd love to reach as many people as possible. And I still have that dream and love, but just to still be getting to do music and have people that kind of want to hear what you have to offer and appreciate it is.
It's a wonderful feeling.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: It's really cool.
[00:06:14] Speaker C: So, that's where I'm at right now.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: It's got to be so life giving in this season.
[00:06:18] Speaker C: It's amazing.
And some of the greatest things, like, I never really went looking for in life. They just kind of got dropped. God just opened the door. The whole newsboys thing, same thing. This whole voice thing I had. This is. This was not part of the plan you didn't cultivate for this unfolded.
And so it's, um, you know, I had a pretty tough season before that, and I think when you. When you're heavy in the valley.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:46] Speaker C: And you come out of that.
[00:06:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:49] Speaker C: You're just really grateful for. For good times.
[00:06:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:54] Speaker C: So, I think the voice came heavy in that moment where every day and every. Just. Just the moment with my daughter and everything. So grateful for it that I'm just enjoying the ride and trying to appreciate and soak in, really, every second of it, you know?
[00:07:11] Speaker B: That's so good. And that's such a special scene.
I'll put it in the show notes for the link for those that are watching or listening that want to check it out. I mean, that's super cool.
So, talk about, like, why do you care about fighting human trafficking?
[00:07:28] Speaker C: Tiny hands at the time. Now, love justice was based in Lincoln, Nebraska, and just got to know so many people from that organization, which drew me into the work that they were doing. And at the time, I was a worship pastor at a church, so I had taken, you know, being on the road and trying to support a family in a band that isn't the newsboys is a harder thing to do. And I took a job at a church, which kind of gave me that ability not to have to worry about what each show is paying and stuff like that. And I got to think more creatively about wanting to maybe make music and help help an organization, and it just became natural we started talking with Doug and love justice about what if we put something together, something really unique? And I love that. I love marketing ideas and, like, how to make that connection with the work that love justice is doing. And then. And then our fans. And so we put together the love found me campaign and helped support and staff five border stations in the Nepal India border.
And I remember hitting our goal was $150,000 to raise for that. And we raised a little over 180, I think. And the news of that hitting that goal came on my 40th birthday. And on my 40th birthday, I thought my life was over and God was never going to use me again. And music, you know, like, all these things you get through each decade of life, and then.
So it was such a cool God moment of him saying, I'm with you, I'm walking with you on this. And that just kind of exhilarated me to dream and do more, kind of continue that. So I loved being a part of it, and I got a chance to go to Nepal and see the work firsthand, which just blew me away. I could imagine working 110 hours day in the conditions that those border guards or, you know, workers have to work in. And then I got the report fairly recently that I think it was six to 700 young children have been intercepted just at our five stations during the time that we supported them. So to let that sink in, that just because we had an idea as a little old band from Nebraska, to, like, what could we do? And to be part of that is so incredibly significant. Like, I'm just grateful. I think that's how God works sometimes. You just get to be a part his hands and feet of the work that he's doing. So that was a wonderful accomplishment, that all that came together and that love justice, even, you know, was up for this weird, different idea of something that they hadn't even considered or done before.
It was beautiful to see it all kind of to be blessed and come together.
[00:10:24] Speaker B: I love it. So when you shared kind of when you first heard about LJ, and, I mean, you touched on it, but, like, just so that those maybe who aren't as familiar with what love justice does, it's more of a preventative approach. Like, what talk about, like, why did that matter? Why does that matter so much in the course of just the fight against human trafficking?
[00:10:49] Speaker C: Well, because what I've realized is once.
Once this tragedy and someone gets traffic and what that does to a person, too, if they get rescued from it after they've been in it, you know, they. It's really hard to rehabilitate. They usually feel like that's part of their purpose. That's how they're going to support their family. And you definitely want the best thing is to prevent something like that from happening, to stop it before it does, because you just have so much more work and care to do to someone that has been pulled out of it.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:29] Speaker C: So, yeah, I mean, that's a no brainer. If we can stop it before it happens and we know where it's happening and why it's happening. I mean, if you think about with any tragedy, if you thought something bad was gonna happen to your kids, you'd want to stop your kid becoming from an addict rather than, you know, having to work with them after they've become one. Like, it's just. It's a way different. Completely different.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that. I love that. So human trafficking is a huge problem.
Like, a lot of people maybe feel like, man, what can one person do? Like, how would you encourage somebody? Because you, like, you. You're the. You're like the poster child. You're like, look, I'm just with one person, but I decided to do something.
[00:12:12] Speaker C: Right, right.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: Like, how do you. How do you encourage somebody and say, no, just. Just do something?
[00:12:18] Speaker C: I think we all feel like we want to do something huge and significant. And whatever you can do, whatever impact and influence you have, think of small, creative ways. Like, for us, I'm in a band, and that gives me an audience, and oftentimes not a very big one, but I can help bring them along in what we're passionate about. And I would just say, take a look at what your passions are, the unique area God has put you in.
Each person has only the influence they have, no one else has. So that alone, it's like, maybe it's giving a certain amount. Maybe it's helping volunteer other ways. Maybe you're an artist and you can contribute stuff for an organization to help raise awareness for them.
I would say, just think, ponder that and do something.
We may have done something, and it may not have worked out. We would have figured out, well, let's figure out another way to do it. You know, that's just kind of how. How things go. Like, God doesn't always lay the path out before us, but it's like, kind of one step at a time. Let's see what. How this goes and how doors open and so, yeah, I don't know. And usually when I'm talking about love, justice in front of a crowd, I'm telling the story that, hey, we aren't the biggest band in the world. Most of you haven't heard of us, and look what God did through us. So if he could do it through us, you've got influence. Figure out what that is. And even if it's not love justice, do something to help, help others. If it's a local organization, figure it out, you know? So that's part of our message, too, is to encourage people to just find that. Find that thing they can do.
[00:14:05] Speaker B: I love it. I love it. So what's next? What's next for you? I know. Whether it's with love justice, whether it's in the music industry.
What would you say? Just so people who are paying attention to what you're doing, maybe they get a. They get Alpha information right here next with Brian.
[00:14:24] Speaker C: Well, right now, I'm still on the voice, and so that's super exciting. I don't know, you know, for sure for everyone. This journey will be done by the end of May, whether I make it to the end or not.
And so then from there, I don't know. I mean, we're already getting a lot of inquiries for concerts, and so that's. That's wonderful to have people that are. That are interested in hearing more of what we have to do. I have an album that's done and ready to release, and I'm kind of waiting to see what happens with.
With the voice from. From that.
Got a tech startup company I'm doing with my bandmate. That is pretty exciting. That's gonna help make unique, vip type live events happen. And I know there's gonna be a giving element for a lot of people in there, too. So just even thinking what the impact of that business might be. Yeah, yeah. Those are all that. There's a lot of great unknowns. There's a lot of unknowns, but they all seem to be pretty great. It's a pretty great season right now, so I'm along for the ride, and we'll see where that ride goes.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: I love it. So, if people want to stay connected with you, some people, a lot of people already are. But if there's somebody listening, they're like, no, I'm not connected. How would they get connected with you? How can they follow along? How can they pay attention to what you're doing?
[00:15:43] Speaker C: Well, definitely on socials, which I can't even remember what my.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: I'll put it in. I'll put it in the show notes. I'll put it in the show notes.
[00:15:50] Speaker C: I know I have them, and I have someone great help me with that. Thank God. And votaband.com. votaband.com.
That would show where we have shows and help you get to know who we are as artists and what we've done in the past. So those are great ways.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: That's good. It's really good. Well, we want to thank catalyst, taproom, kitchen patio, I think is how they say it for where we're at today here in Lincoln, Nebraska. Doug also is with us and we're grateful just to bring it to you from this locale. Pretty cool spot. If you're ever in Lincoln, check it out. But Brian, thanks, man, for just the time and for how you do love, love what love justice is doing and how you pay attention to it, how you give into it, how you share the story. We're very grateful. We appreciate you.
[00:16:44] Speaker C: Oh, man. Love to be a part of it and can't wait to further, you know, whatever influence I have to kind of bring light to what love justice is doing and come up with creative ways to continue working with you guys. So thanks for letting me part of it. Thanks for trusting this guy with a weird mohawk. Now I got a few tattoos.
[00:17:03] Speaker B: It's all good, man. I love it. I love it. But we're thankful for you big time, and we'll talk with you guys next time. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next episode.
[00:17:16] Speaker A: We are grateful for the generous support of the love justice community. Please consider joining our family of donors. Learn more at lovejustice Ngo.
