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Jen G's Music View on Stu Larsen
Stu Larsen is someone who grew up in the church who had all his ducks in a row for a very long time. But over a series of events he found himself walking down the wrong path, away from God, his marriage and searching for some fulfillment that couldn’t be found outside of Christ. What I really respect about him is his willingness to admit that he did make mistakes and that his decisions ultimately were the cause of his divorce.
Stu’s story is one I hope many of our readers take a hold of and learn from.
Keep in mind that in Christ we have to reach out to the hurting not only the unsaved, but also the saved that have found themselves lost in a world of sin.
Stu’s life really captures many general fears we have as Christians.
His music speaks to things that we can’t put into words.
Jen G~
Publisher of
AWOE MAGAZINE
AWOE MAGAZINE INTERVIEW
“...I had always been a people pleaser and I was finding that
I was so sick of doing things just because people expected it.”
Jen G: How did you start singing and playing guitar?
Stu Larsen: Well, I grew up singing as a boy soprano in my church choir. My mum is musical and got us kids singing at church. then in grade nine at school, my mum thought it would be cool if I learn to play the guitar. I used to be the shyest kid ever, I wouldn’t answer
the phone, or open the door if someone was knocking...mum thought playing the guitar would help me lose the shyness and it worked!
Jen G: How’d you get over being shy? Did you work your way up with a small audience after they started to come see you?
Stu Larsen: Yeah I use to get very nervous because I was just so shy. It’s been a natural progression over the years to learn to use the nervousness and excitement to improve my performance rather than hinder it. I remember having to sing a song I wrote about my last year at school, I had to sing it on my last day in front of more than a thousand people. I have never been so nervous, but they loved the song, and since that day I’ve learned that people normally respect the music I deliver, and that gives me confidence to know that I have something that people want to hear.
Jen G: I bet they did. Your songs are real like stick with you...
Now you said you started singing in the church, but your music goes way beyond that venue. Tell me how you shaped your sound?
Stu Larsen: After I got over my initial nerves, I started a band with some mates from church. We were called ‘Jeremiah’ and later changed our name to ‘29eleven’. We played together for a few years, doing churches and festivals, but there was always something lacking.
I think we all wanted slightly different things from the band, and were pulling in different directions. So, back in 2003 I left the band to travel around Australia as a solo artist. I took a preacher friend of mine and we went to lots of little towns across the country, singing and sharing stories and teaching people and helping them out in anyway we could. That was my first taste of the solo artist thing and it felt right. We went to churches, schools, pubs, markets, festival’s and did our thing. It opened my eyes. When I came home I started to branch out into the mainstream gigs, and would sing for anyone at any venue.
Jen G: Wow. How did you know you were supposed to leave the band at that time?
Stu Larsen: The band thing just didn’t feel right. I knew there was so much more to do than to play in a local band. It all happened not long after I returned from a mission trip in Vietnam. I just started thinking differently, and seeing life differently.
Jen G: Vietnam for a missions trip…
what was that was like?
Stu Larsen: Vietnam was amazing.
One of my favorite places in the world! The people are lovely. The food is amazing, and the scenery just beautiful. I would love to return there one day to visit all the cool people we made friends
with.
Jen G: What was it about the trip that made you think and see differently?
Any particular experience?
Stu Larsen: Just getting out of my little world in my little country hometown. I realized how much bigger the world actually was. It was no longer about my little circle of friends and family.
Jen G: Yeah, it’s cool to get out of the box so to speak. Well, to go on tell me a little about how you became a Christian and what was life like growing up?
Stu Larsen: Well, I grew up in a Christian home, with awesome loving parents. I was the golden haired child who never did much wrong. My brother caused a lot of problems through our school years, and my sister had her share of trouble too, but I stayed on the straight and narrow. I got married in December 2003 and I’m sure my parents were thinking ‘we’ve succeeded with at least one of our children, but things changed.
I drifted away from God. I started to want to do my own thing. I had always been a people pleaser and I was finding that I was so sick of doing things just because people expected it.
“I found myself stuck. Caught
between two people
that I now cared about deeply.”
I rebelled. I made some BIG mistakes. I ended up having a 6 month affair with another woman before coming clean, then still struggled to make good decisions, and ended up losing my wife and a lot of friends along the way.
So I kind of walked away from it all for a while. My turning point came in 2005. My life was a mess. Things were getting worse. 3 guys became friends with me and showed me God’s unconditional love. Through them, God showed me how much he loved me and that I was his child, and that I was worth fighting for. To me, that is when I became a real follower of Christ.
Jen G: God always has an answer when we stumble. But I want to back up a little because there is a lot of temptation in today’s society. What was the cause of seeking someone outside of your marriage? What was the temptation?
Stu Larsen: I wasn’t finding fulfillment in my marriage, so instead of putting in the effort to make it work, I looked for fulfillment in other areas. It’s a combination of a lot of things really. Physical life, family issues, quality time issues, financial issues, communication issues... a lot of things, which were fixable, but I didn’t stand up to be the man I needed to be. I crumbled and walked away and looked for satisfaction in other places. I started singing in places where I got attention. I spent time with a girl who gave me attention. I craved attention and I looked for it in the wrong places.
Jen G: What made you reveal all when you did?
Stu Larsen: My wife suspected something was going on, as did a lot of people, but I denied it constantly. It just got too much, and I couldn’t deal with hurting my wife any more. So I talked to her and told her everything that had been happening. I got an unexpected response, I expected the worst, but she was so gracious, and was keen to work things out and maintain our marriage.
The most amazing response ever. What did I do? I found myself stuck. Caught between two people that I now cared about deeply. The girl I married. And the girl I shouldn’t have been with. I was torn. I wanted more than anything to fix things with my wife, but I found myself dragged back to the place I needed to get out of constantly. I would make good decisions, and then I would fall back into the same routine/habits that got me in so much trouble.
Jen G: She sounds like she’s an amazing woman. It took a lot for you to confess, but for her to love you enough to want to work things out totally a God thing. So after you fell, which for some reason a lot of people don’t think Christians fall, but more importantly you got back up. That’s powerful. How did the three guys God placed in your life help you get back on the right road to Christ?
Stu Larsen Page 2
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