Take six guys from Belfast - the sort who grew up in and around the troubles, whose faith evolved as roadblocks and bomb scares punctuated their daily routines - and grow them in a church soaked in worship. Open them up to a sense of adventure, to a passion for local churches and prodigals, fill them with tunes like cliff-faces and you’ll be getting some where towards a band like Bluetree. But not quite close enough.

For the final piece of the puzzle you have to go to Thailand. It was there in Pattaya - a city scarred and stained by its reputation as the capital of the world’s sex trade - that the final piece fell into place.

The band had bartered their way into playing‚ at a club - a club which is a brothel. As they did what they only ever do - worshipped - something arrived. It was a song - but one that formed with unusual power and speed. Lyrics and melody formed, calling out a message of hope, a promise of new life for a city so chained by darkness:

You’re the God of this city
You’re the King of these people
You’re the Lord of this nation
You are
You’re the light in this darkness
You’re the hope to the hopeless
You’re the peace to the restless
You are
For there is no-one like our God
There is no-one like our God
Greater things have yet to come
Greater things are still to be done
In this city
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things have still to be done here

That was back in November 2006. They formed a little under a year before with the intention of taking up the worship-leading baton passed down across the last two decades within their home church - CFC in Belfast. The likes of Robin Marks and Jonny Parks had gone before, teaching the guys as they made their way through youth groups about the heart of worship.

Originally a five piece, Bluetree soon found themselves as a regular part of Northern Ireland’s church event scene. The faces - both on and off stage - would often be the same, breeding a strong sense of family and unity. And when they realized that Pete - the DJ who always seemed to be playing at the same events - was making his own travel arrangements, they simply decided to have him join the band and take a place in the van.

A year and a few months on from their trip to Thailand and - in many ways - things have changed for the band. First Chris Tomlin heard and fell under the spell of God Of This City‚ the prophetic song born in front of prostitutes and worshippers alike. Tomlin loved it and the track has become something of an anthem for the Passion‚ generation becoming the title track of their February 2008 album.

It doesn’t take much imagination to work out the intensity of the buzz that’s now surrounding Bluetree. But it’s not the meetings and the planning and the prospects of bigger buzzes that gets them most excited; it’s the chance to spend more time with local churches, cheering them on, providing the soundtracks for prodigals and returns, and the refining of fresh vision and hope for congregations.