Colorway: The Music Issue

colorway ART, CULTURE AND FAITH-CENTERED LIVING

the music issue COLONY HOUSE • KINGS KALEIDOSCOPE PACIFIC GOLD • PROPAGANDA • SPZRKT CITIZENS AND SAINTS • KNOX HAMILTON ALL SONS AND DAUGHTERS • LIZ VICE JUDAH AND THE LIONS + MORE

COLOPHON Writers: Joel Bentley, John Brandon, Matthew Lewis, Nick Law, Samantha Kirschberg, Sara Walz, Tyler Hayes.

Photos by: Facebook, Kelsi Alexander, Rob Trendiak, Missing Piece Group.

Designer: Isis Voltolini Printed by: Village Copier Paper: White, laser, 32lb All slab-serif type set in Bree Serif Designed by Veronika Burian and JosĂŠ Scaglione, 2008 All sans serif type set in Roboto Designed by Christian Robertson, 2011

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Colorway is a magazine about culture in the context of Christian faith. For young adults who work with or have a strong interest in art, music, film and design; but first and foremost, they seek to live Christ-centered lives.

Exploring the relationship between art and faith, creativity and the belief that everything we know has been created and impeccably designed, Colorway is exactly what its name says. Since we can't see The One we live for, we try to point out the color in the way He made for us.

This anual issue is focused completely on music. We present to you a selection of some of the most incredible bands we’ve been listening to. The pages are color-coded on the edges by genres, so you can very easily find something that will really interest you. We hope you’ll enjoy, and maybe even discover your next favorite band right here.

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Contents 4 All Sons & Daughters 6 Beautiful Eulogy 7 The Brilliance 8 Citizens & Saints 10 Colony House

18 Judah & The Lion 20 Kings Kaleidoscope 28 Knox Hamilton 30 Liz Vice

32 Pacific Gold 34 Propaganda 36 The Royal Royal 37 Seeker & Servant 38 SPZRKT

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Colony House

Interview by Matthew Lewis In a relatively brief span of time, Colony House has emerged as a vibrant creative force, as well as a beloved fan favorite with a passionate and loyal fan base. Caleb Chapman, lead singer of the alt-rock band from Tennessee, spoke to us about life on the road and their debut album.

Kings Kaleidoscope Interview by Nick Law

Right after the release of the band’s first full-length album, Becoming Who We Are, we caught up with front man Chad Gardner about the incredibly painful, yet character building journey that formed the band’s new record.

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All Sons & Daughters A completely refreshing take on worship

IT’S NOT UNEXPECTED WHEN WORSHIP SONGS ARE birthed out of a local church. songwriters and musicians connect on a deeper level with the needs of a congregation, and tend to form a cohesive sound informed by their community. And yet, for the new worship duo All Sons & Daughters, this birthing process was completely unexpected.

Their music is all sweet melodies, melding voices and acoustic underpinnings. It’s more Civil Wars than Paul Baloche. Leonard says he wrote songs with a personal agenda in Jackson Waters. Now, with All Sons & Daughters, there is no agenda, except to worship as sincerely and holistically as possible.

“It was not something we planned,” says Leslie Jordan, who forms one half of the duo. She shares vocal and songwriting duties with cohort David Leonard, with whom she also leads worship at Journey Church, based in Nashville. Leonard released two albums as part of the now-disbanded Jackson Waters and has toured nationally with Needtobreathe. He was in a small group when he started writing new songs.

Jordan was a freshly minted college grad and was babysitting full-time before she joined the worship team at Journey.

“[All Sons & Daughters] is not seen as a ministry and then this church,” says Jordan, explaining that the band creation process was not exactly smooth, and some feelings were hurt. She says forming the band meant developing their own sound with like-minded musicians. Now, they say the test is to keep living in that state of authenticity — otherwise, everyone in their church will know when they’re faking it.

The two ended up sharing the stage and noticed how their voices, and intentions, blended. “We complement each other really well,” Leonard explains. “Things that I was not able to articulate before, she was able to pull out of me.” The two wrote songs for about two years before deciding to form a band, now signed to Integrity Records.

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Their sound is also, perhaps, unexpected. It’s an obvious departure from the anthem-rock of other worship bands.

Although countless worship albums are released every month, they tend to be homogenized, or as I like to put it, Hillsong-ified. Not that Hillsong doesn’t write and record some incredible worship songs, but when every bridge of every song reaches epic proportions… it can get a little weary.

Which is why All Sons & Daughters’ self-titled album, released globally on May, is so refreshing. The arrangements, for the most part, are spare, with a focus on the atmosphere and subtle tinkering of sound. Before a simple beat lays the groundwork for the album and the duet’s sound in “You

Will Remain,” we hear five breaths as faint strings swell into audible volume. This patience is reflected throughout these eleven songs, from the lullaby of “Almighty God” to the wooded “King of Glory.”

strong chorus (“It’s Your breath in our lungs / So we pour out our praise / To You only”) and a stronger bridge (“All the earth will shout your praise / Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing / Great are You, Lord”).

Not that there isn’t variety among these songs, like the southern twang and slide guitar they bring into “For Your Glory & My Good.” There’s even, for better or worse, an obligatory banjo and four on the floor beat harkening Mumford & Sons on “Tonight.”

The other is “God With Us,” which, although just the third track, serves as a centerpiece for the album, “Our Deliverer, You are Savior / In Your presence we find our strength / Over everything, our redemption / God with us.”

Composed of Leslie Jordan and David Leonard, All Sons & Daughters bring years of experience as worship leaders at Journey Church in Franklin, Tennessee. You can hear this experience in the way they blend their voices and instruments (guitar and keys), a fluid sound even though David’s voice can be a little raspy at times. And although they had songwriting help from some notable guests (Derek Webb, Delirious’ Stu G and a few others) the sound is completely their own.

The worth of a worship album like this one ultimately is determined by how singable the songs are, so while a song like “Victory” will sound right at home on the radio, there are two tracks in particular that are catered to Sunday mornings.

The first is “Great Are You Lord,” which slow-builds into a

The comfort of those words is present throughout this honest, restful collection of songs.

For All Sons & Daughters’ Leslie Jordan and David Leonard, these qualities are even more keenly experienced in music that connects broken people with their God. Worship leaders at Journey Church in Franklin, TN, their critically acclaimed EPs, Brokenness Aside, Reason To Sing and The Longing, along with their full length albums, Season One and Live bear witness to the power of worship by the people, for the people and of the people. In the truest sense, the mesmerizing, soul-baring lyrics and acoustic styling of this talented duo are beginning to make an impact… inside and outside the church.

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Beautiful Eulogy Beautiful Eulogy is a Portland, Oregon-based group made up of artists Braille, Odd Thomas and Courtland Urbano. The group introduces a distinct and directive sound that’s driven by a desire to worship and glorify the God of the Bible, based in the context of its members’ hip-hop roots and shaped by influences like electronic music, folk songs and old hymns.

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The natural way Beautiful Eulogy came together parallels its organic creative process. As its members cooperated on various musical and church-related projects, they realized their chemistry and the opportunity before them to form a completely collaborative group that would emphasize a new gestalt — one that would allow them to steer away from a pure hip-hop trajectory while holding onto its origins, and that would free them from the courses of their solo careers while applying their individual talents to a collective. “We’re reinventing ourselves together,” the group says. Its members enjoy their creative freedom within self-imposed boundaries, by predefining their work’s message, sound and purpose.

This type of intentionality is central to the way Beautiful Eulogy creates songs, settling on concepts and driving them through a process and reprocess of musical and lyrical shaping. The resulting tracks are lyric-driven, but contain an equally deliberate musical backdrop. This panorama enhances and clarifies the presentation of weighty spiritual and theological truths, inviting listeners into the artists’ ideas about and experiences of God. Listeners may have first heard Beautiful Eulogy featured on “Misconceptions,” a track from Lecrae’s Church Clothes mixtape. Beautiful Eulogy’s debut album, Satellite Kite, serves as a foundational prototype of the group’s approach and ambition.

Now in their latest album, Beautiful Eulogy did the great job of making music you can feel. You don’t just hear Instruments of Mercy, you feel it. This is a record that lives and breathes with the listener. It is hard not to marvel at the sheer talent of these three individuals, whether it is in the crisp vocals, wonderful production, or the dense and theologically provoking lyrics.

The Brilliance Talk about viral marketing. Just last month, a couple of guys who love music and God decided to release their first CD via itunes and a promotional video on Youtube.

The guys? David Gungor and John Arndt. The band? The Brilliance; as in God is the brilliant one, not them. They are pretty bright too but trying to find out information on these guys is tough. Both Gungor and Arndt are members of David’s brother’s band, Gungor but you won’t find much more on their website. So, who are these guys anyway?

For one, they are not your daddy’s worship band. “The Brilliance was started to really have a different sound for worship music,” says Gungor, “I was tired of playing the same sounding music every Sunday. And so, I was inspired by my wife and my brother-in-law who are classical musicians.”

Very simply, The Brilliance is simple music with complex instruments. There is a different sound for every song.

They may even sound a little like a score from an M. Night

Shyamalan movie (one of the good early ones), with a little bit of Ben Folds, and David Bazaan thrown in at times, and at the same time it’s something completely unique and groundbreaking.

David Gungor, the singer and leader of the band, set out to create worship music that didn’t sound like everything else out there, and I think they succeeded. The Brilliance is band that is centered around a string quartet and a piano. The rest of the music brings in other strings and percussion to develop a very sophisticated and deep sound.

Their music isn’t the kind of music that gets you up and jumping. The Brilliance produces music that is so profound and beautiful that you can’t help but go into more contemplative prayer. If you don’t open it up to it, it might come off as more depressing, but it’s just a different type of spirituality.

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Citizens & Saints It’s been a time of transition for Zach Bolen and his band mates Having left staff at a prominent church in the States midway through recording their follow album to their self-titled debut, Citizens & Saints (previously Citizens) haven’t only embraced a new band name and new musical direction, but their whole ministry has started to evolve into that of a touring worship band.We caught up with Zach to discuss recent events and their new album, Join the Triumph, available now on iTunes and Amazon.

write in because it means a number of things. First off, you are using the bible which is so dense in content and truth that to take something just at it’s surface often isn’t doing the passage justice. So you have to sit with a passage or passages for a long time before they form into poetic lines with consistent meters. Secondly, the song has to mean something.

Where do you think contemporary worship music is heading?

Sam Robinson: It’s obviously been quite a time of transition, leaving a mega church, changing the band name, etc. How have you found that as a band?

Zach Bolen: It’s been a little bit of everything really.

Sadness and joy. Excitement and fear. Through it all we’re very thankful that God has remained with us and guided our feet to stay within his will. It would be really easy to just go out and be a “band,” but that’s never really been what motivates us. We write music because it’s we love but it’s not our first love. Our first love, whether we always prioritize it this way or not, will always be Jesus. When he saved us our hearts were changed and everyday by God’s grace we’re growing and learning how to be more like our King.

So really the big question when leaving Mars Hill wasn’t “will this continue?” It was “what is the most faithful?” God made it clear that faithfulness looked like continuing to be a gospel band that seeks to build his church.

Tell us a bit about your new album, join the triumph.

It’s been a long time coming! What were some of the highlights/challenges about this record?

ZB: Yes it has! It has some of my favorite songs that we have ever written on it. From the beginning we really focused on seeing to it that every song on the album was congregational. Whether people think every song fitstheir context is really up to them. We just wanted to resource local worship leaders and churches as best we could with songs that were rich in theology, creative and singable. Which was probably the greatest challenge of all. I’ve always said that writing songs for the church is the hardest “genre” (if that’s what you want to call it) to

It’s tough to say. If people are writing based on the context that God has called them to, then I think there is great hope.

If not, then it really hits on the bigger issue and question for people writing songs for the church, “why do you write songs for the church?” So often, even myself, we get caught up with all the what’s and the hows but neglect the why.

I suppose the other aspect of that is how faithful will we be to Jesus and his word. The more we stay grounded in God’s truth the greater the impact will be on the whole church.

Jesus wants to nurture us with the word and he’s given us the freedom to use it for his glory. When we submit our creativity to the word, God is glorified. When we try to submit the Word to our creativity, we are seeking to glorify ourselves, which is really messed up. I’ve failed in this area many times. By God’s grace, he’ll continue to grow the gospel song writers of this world in humility and creativity for his glory!

What other artists/bands/churches worship music can you guys recommend?

Well I’m partially biased here, but I love what Ghost Ship, Kings Kaleidoscope and Dustin Kensrue are doing. While Mars Hill Music may no longer exist, the ministry and hearts of the people in these bands remains. They love the church and have a huge desire to see God’s people being equipped with songs that are rich with truth. Two other bands that I think are definitely worth checking out are Pacific Gold and Emerald Hymns. Both of those bands are doing some of the most creative hymn arrangements I’ve ever heard.

You’ll love them!

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Colony House Interview by Matthew Lewis

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The Nashville trio known as Colony House are brothers Caleb Chapman, Will Chapman and good friend Scott Mills. The boys have a organic way of making music, rock’n’roll powerhouse ballads that feel fresh and exciting. Their songs and Caleb’s accompanying twang gives you just the right amount of musical nuances for you to sing along to without feeling insecure. Their lead single “Silhouettes” off their debut album When I Was Younger, is a rock heavy body of work that makes you tap your feet and shake your head. We caught up with Caleb about the band’s origins, influences and changes.

Matthew Lewis: The album is being promoted as a debut LP yet Colony House has releases predating When I Was Younger…

Caleb Chapman: As Colony House, we kind of did a rebrand. So you won’t find anything from Colony House before When I Was Younger. We did release an EP as Colony House. We gave it away for a little bit of time and a lot of the songs ended up on [the album]. Before that, our name was “Caleb” and we had a few EPs out.

What prompted the switch to Colony House?

I think it was just like, if this was our first full-length album… it was a step in a different direction. Not a complete shift but it definitely had a different vibe, and we felt it would be a smart call to start with a clean slate with the first full-length. It was a business decision. I think it was inspiring for us to feel like, “We can really bill this as something brand new.”

You and your bandmates have been together for quite a while. Is it difficult to suddenly find yourself being presented to the public via one album?

That’s what we do as artists – keep plugging away until we figure out something that resonates. So it’s discovery. It’s not difficult for us, in that sense, because it’s also been an experience in this whole learning curve for us. Let’s keep digging until we find something. I think that’s part of the excitement for us.

It’s like, “Oh, that works. Let’s build off of that for the things to come.” Obviously it’s fun to play the old songs when people request them. That feels good as well.

What was it like the first time you guys played music together. How did you know it was right?

The first time the three of us played together was in the same spot where we still rehearse today.

I don’t remember it being an overly-dramatic magic moment. I just remember inviting Scott over to “jam” for a bit. He came over, we played through a few songs, and the rest is history. Well, I think we knew it was right when we all went out on the road together for the first time. It felt like we had known Scott our whole lives by the end of that first run.

Who did you listen to while growing up?

It’s everything from early, early on, in middle school I started listening to Switchfoot a lot. From there, when I got into high school, I went through different phases.

Things you definitely wouldn’t pick up on a record, like hardcore bands. Then there were bands that were really inspiring in the beginning for when we tried to form the band, like Boxer Rebellion… and, obviously the big dogs like Kings Of Leon, The Killers, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend.

Certain tracks on When I Was Younger have a very lush sound. How do you and your two bandmates reproduce that sound on stage?

That was a big question when we were in the studio.

You want to be able to represent yourself live but it’s always tempting in the studio to build something lush because you have all the toys at your disposal. For us, we travel as a four piece. We hire out a bass player.

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We just try our best to incorporate. Sometimes we’ll do different versions of songs if they don’t feel the right way, live… It’s definitely more raw live. But as opposed to stripping it down… if anything, it seems a little bit more like rock ’n’ roll live. You hear more of the guitars… more of the core of those tracks as opposed to the lush things happening around it.

last night and there were over 200 people there, and we had never played Portland before. That was one of those things like, “Oh. It works when you put music out and radio grabs a hold of it.” In that sense there are bits… driving a van and trailer across the country, it does work. It just takes time. I think there’s definitely been a change.

Getting back to When I Was Younger being a debut album – Are there any debut LPs by other bands that you particularly like?

What is the inspiration behind the name of the album, “When I Was Younger”?

Lord Huron. I thought their debut album, Lonesome Dreams, was pretty awesome. It provided a nice soundtrack for a lot of long van drives. Some of our good buddies, Ivan & Alyosha. I don’t know if I’m biased, but I think All the Times We Had is one of the best full-length albums I’ve heard. I know they’ve had music out before… but their debut is one of my favorite records of the last couple of years. It’s amazing. We’re all huge Keane fans, so Hopes And Fears is a pretty magical debut album as well.

Are you seeing bigger audiences since the album came out? Are you getting more gigs, selling more tickets?

Honestly, it doesn’t feel different. We feel a lot busier and we’re gone a lot more. We played Portland, Ore.,

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It is a record about growing up and being able to look back on the days gone by. There is something beautiful about remembering. Nostalgia is a gift that we wanted to write about.

Being from Franklin obviously aligns you with other famous Tennessee bands, such as Paramore. Do you feel you are similar to them in some ways or not?

I do think we draw inspiration from the bands coming out of Nashville, especially right now. It is a rad place to live, and I definitely take pride in being born and raised in Franklin and Nashville. There is a really strong sense of camaraderie among the artists here. Everybody is rooting for each other. It’s funny you mention Paramore; when we started CALEB, Hunter Lamb played bass for us, who played guitar

Colony House playing with in Nashville, TN in July, while touring with Knox Hamilton.

“That’s what we do as artists — keep plugging away until we figure out something that resonates. So it’s discovery.

It’s not difficult for us, in that sense, because it’s also been an experience in this whole learning curve for us.” for Paramore for a bit. We also are buddies with the Farro boys and grew up with Taylor York. Franklin is not that big. They are all great musicians and people.

I suppose there are similarities to some of the stuff coming out of Nashville, but I would like to think it has a little bit of its own thing going, as well.

Yes. I’ve witnessed it happening to friends and family that are in the industry, songwriters and everything else, those albums sneak up on you. So I’m trying to get ahead of the game a little bit. There’s quite a few [songs]. My voice memos are starting to fill up my iPhone. [The album] is in the works, for sure.

What do you actually present to the band? Do you play a demo recording or do you perform it in front of them?

How do you approach songwriting?

It’s happened both ways but normally, it’s during sound checks and rehearsals, and I’ll start playing an idea for them and we’ll start messing around. So it’s usually fleshed out live.

Artists often comment that they had all their lives to write the first album but only 18 months for the second one. Are you already working on the next release?

A lot of times it’s like a 15-second clip, something catchy that I can remember for 15 seconds. A lot of times I operate under the rule like, “OK. Don’t voice memo it yet” unless it’s just something I want to remember later. If it’s a legitimate song idea [I’m excited about] I won’t record it. I’ll let it sit and when I wake up the next morning and if I can remember it, I’ll go, “OK. I need to keep working on that.” If I can’t remember it, I’ll think, “Maybe somewhere down the 15

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“When we aren’t, we are trying to just hang with our families and friends. A few of us would like to think we are decent athletes. Our rehearsals consist basically of 50% music and 50% basketball. (We rehearse in a gymnasium).” road it will come back to me, but it’s not important enough or memorable enough for me to continue it right now.”

I kind of approach the beginning that way. A lot of times it always starts like a singer/songwriter, acoustic guitar and vocal, and then the lyrics come in last. Then I take it to the rest of the band. We take it from this coffee shop song… flesh it out and make it into a Colony House song. Everybody puts their personalities into it.

So it’s [social media] is important for us. For example, we try to make a personal connection with every single fan we can. On this tour there are a lot of shows that are 21-and-up, and that leaves out a lot of people that want to come to the show. Social media has provided a way. We’ll go, “If you want, we’ll tweet after the show that we’ll be out by our van and if you couldn’t make it to the show, come down to our van and we’ll play an acoustic, stripped down, five or six songs.” Things like that help us make the personal connection. Shake the hands, see the faces, hear the voices.

Who are some of the songwriters you admire?

What else do you guys do outside of playing music?

I mentioned Switchfoot, so Jon Foreman. What he writes resonates with me. Johnny Cash is a big influence. Cash and Foreman – there are no walls between them [and the audience]. Tom Waits is an amazing songwriter. Brandon Flowers of The Killers, I love the way he writes. And of course, my dad is a singer/songwriter, so he’d probably have to be the No. 1 influence. I grew up watching him run in to the bedroom and say, “Don’t talk to me for 10 minutes.

I need to figure a song out.” I learned the craft from him.

That too is hard to answer. It seems all we do these days is play music. I think that when we aren’t, we are trying to just hang with our families and friends.

A few of us would like to think we are decent athletes.

Our rehearsals consist basically of 50% music and 50% basketball. (We rehearse in a gymnasium).

Bouncing off that, what’s a general breakdown of the rig you use for your sound?

Me and Scott have a similar rig. We both play small combo amps. He plays a Matchless Spitfire, and I play a Tyler Princeton. We both play Gibson 335s and are partial to JHS and Strymon pedals; however, sometimes, you just can’t go wrong with Boss.

How much does the band use social media to reach out to fans?

I’d say we’re really active. That’s such a huge part of it for us right now. We’re kind of our own promoters a lot of the time. We understand, too, that right now we’re building the fan base that will be with us for a long time. The ones that are seeing us when there’s 50 to 100 people in a room. Those are the ones that will be there… next time when, maybe, those numbers start climbing. They’ll have that memory like, “I was there for the first show.”

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Recently Gene Simmons remarked in an Esquire interview that he felt sorry for new bands coming up because the record company system that backed KISS doesn’t exist anymore. But it doesn’t sound like Colony House is missing that promotion machine that helped build KISS into a monster act.

Obviously it’s not the same machine and I won’t ever know what that world was like. But we have amazing people working for us and we have a system. We have to grow, ebb and flow with the way it works. Our model is work to with people you like. It doesn’t matter how big it is, just make sure they’re 100 percent onboard and really believe in it… All the people that are heading up certain aspects of our careers, we’re 100 percent confident they’re really excited about Colony House and making it work. I have no complaints. I have nothing to compare it to.

Do you and your bandmates have any pre-show rituals?

The ideal situation is like… 30 minutes before, trying to get someplace quiet. That’s not always possible in these small clubs. We usually talk through the set, and any different changes we’re making that night.

We usually pray right before we go on stage. Getting yourself out of the normal pace of life and slowing it down for those 30 minutes before the show and recalibrating. I think that helps.

When you’re in a van traveling all day, there are a lot of conflicts that arrive. Our big thing is we’ve got to love each other on stage or it’s not going to work off of the stage. Making sure we’re all on the same team once we walk onto that stage – that [preshow] time always helps that.

Is that difficult considering you and the band are jammed into that van day after day?

We try to keep [a band member’s] wife or girlfriend out here with us. They’re good diffusers. They take the edge off. We all behave ourselves a little bit better.

We’ve got our ways of trying to make it work.

and go rage for hours. You end the show and hop into the van and drive from Portland to San Francisco, hopefully [arrive] in time for the soundcheck.

From right to left: Will Chapman (drums), Caleb Chapman (vocals) and Scott Mills (guitar).

There’s a post on the band’s Twitter feed in which you said, “I was nominated for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge by my manager [Michael] Krumper and my brother in law.” How did that work out? Did you get soaked?

I did. I was the only one of my band, though. The other guys, they never ponied up. My little sister was begging me, she hadn’t been nominated yet, and she was begging me, “Please do it and nominate me.”

I don’t know. I think, typically, you’re not supposed to ask someone to nominate you. It’s supposed to be organic. But it’s hard to say no to my sister.

If you could talk to Caleb Chapman in 2019, what would you ask your future self?

How do you juggle touring with a home life?

Fortunately, we all have awesome families. Every one of them, wives, girlfriends, siblings, they’re all 100 percent onboard with what we’re doing, which makes it a hundred times easier leaving home…

Making sure they know… it’s not like a party when we’re on the road. It’s work. You don’t end the show

I would ask him if I’m treating my wife the right way.

If I’m loving her good. I think I would make sure that my relationships at home and on the road were all in check. I would say [to myself], “Are you still brothers with your brothers? Are you still taking care of the people you love around you, your band mates and your family?”

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Judah & The Lion Bred on the southern roots of the city of Nashville, the crazy talented trio has its unique bluegrass + rock vibe.

Judah, Brian, and Nate are the definition of down-to-earth and humble, and after talking with them, I’m convinced they are the coolest, most hip (let’s be real – they went to Belmont) and laid back guys ever. Their passions are so clearly portrayed through their music, especially during live shows. The band just recently released their first full-length album, Kids These Days, but their first two EP albums First Fruits and Sweet Tennessee put their name on the music map.

Sara Walz: How did you come together as Judah & The Lion?

NZ: The transition from First Fruits to Sweet Tennessee was easier than I thought it would be. We still play churches some nights and bars other nights.

JA: There are bands like Switchfoot and NEEDTOBREATHE that have paved the way for bands like us. Christians in the mainstream market.

Being a band you have probably been someone’s first concert. What was your first concert?

Judah Akers: I had played in worship bands and had been writing songs. I was at Belmont [University in Nashville, TN] and I called Nate to see if he would be interested. I knew him because he had a beard and played the banjo. He brought along Brian and it just fit. It worked together as musicians and as people.

JA: Mine was DC Talk at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

Then a few weeks later we went to the Backstreet Boys at Bridgestone and thought it was terrible. We didn’t understand why they were taking their shirts off.

Anyone who has been following you has probably noticed the three lines that you always have written on your hands.

What is that about?

If you could have written one song in the history of songs, which song would you choose and why?

Nate Zuercher: When we recorded our first EP, Judah put three lines on his hand with a sharpie as a reminder of the Trinity and our faith as we’re playing. It’s kind of cool that there are three of us too. We joke around sometimes that it’s the lion’s claw. I got it tattooed too. It says, “I am known and fully loved,” which kind of takes it to a new level, and throughout this tour, Judah has been writing “be a kid” on his hand. Now it’s something that a lot of our fans put on their hands too.

Correct me if I’m wrong, you all are Christians in a band but not necessarily a Christian band…

JA: Yeah. First Fruits was basically a worship EP and I thought Judah & The Lion would be a worship band. Brian and Nate brought up the idea of reaching a broader audience. The Lord told me to get him out of the box I had created for Him. So Sweet Tennessee was a shift to connect with a wider crowd.

And the new record does that even more. If you’re a Christian you’ll get it but it isn’t as obvious.

Brian Macdonald: Probably The Academy Is.

BM: Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. Everyone connects with that song, no matter who you are or what you believe.

JA: It Is Well. The hymn. The writer went through all of these terrible things and something so beautiful came out of it.

NZ: Washed By The Water by NEEDTOBREATHE. It came at a really transitional time in my life, when I was really figuring out God and life. It’s still the ringback on my phone, I don’t know how to change it.

What is the best advice you have received throughout your musical endeavors?

JA: The best advice we have gotten was from our manager’s uncle, stay true to ourselves. I feel with music, people want to make you out to be something, but the most important thing in this industry is just staying true to yourself and what God has called you to do with your music. I don’t want to play music that doesn’t move me, that would just be pointless.

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Kings Kaleidoscope Interview by Nick Law

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With a strong hip-hop influence and an energy that nods toward The Mars Volta, Kings Kaleidoscope are a ten piece group that sound like a real band, yet are definitely — if you want to define them — a worship band; all-be-it, a worship band like no other. Their newest album, Becoming Who We Are, is nothing short of spectacular. We caught up with Chad Gardner and the group to find out more about this exciting new record and the new direction for the band.

Nick Law: How have you found making becoming who we are? Can you talk us through the process of making a record independently, financing and promoting it, etc? What advice would you give to an artist or a worship leader looking to make a record by themselves?

Chad Gardner: Oh man. Well, the record was definitely a grind to do on our own. But because we did it ourselves it was extremely rewarding and educating.

We recorded it all over Seattle. The drums were done in an older punk/rock studio, the strings and horns in different sanctuaries we got access to. And the vocals and guitars out on my parents property outside the city, where there was chickens running around and stuff. The process was as eclectic as the band and the music itself. The one piece of advice I would give to someone doing a record DIY has more to do with the musical side of things, but I would encourage people to do what they love and find exciting. The budgeting, the strategy, there’s resources all over the place for that, but at the end of the day if you pour your guts into a project that you aren’t in love with it won’t be worth it later. Chase inspiration and new ideas down, and relish the moments of creative delight, that’s sort of how I think God feels when he creates too.

mountains to conquer. There are always a million questions, what’s the mission, what’s the purpose, what’s the goal? And as soon as I stopped trying to answer those questions, and laid down the never ending race of ambition I began to understand what I was really trying to do. It can sound selfish on the surface but God has been teaching me to just be, to be loved and to live loved. And so in one sense, we laid aside all the borrowed visions and missions (usually good ones too!) that we’d been operating under and came as we were to the table to simply find ourselves.

As a band of 10 people, all working jobs and living life, how do you manage your schedule, especially for doing gigs, etc, and how is it different now from the days you were all on the same team in a local church?

It’s very difficult, even to rehearse! We’re just a completely different band now because we have a different coarse. I miss leading a local church body really bad right now, and I’m asking God to show me where I can do that again. But Kings is now just a band. It’s been tricky to market because we’re too wild to be in much of the CCM, worship world, but to gospel centred to be in the alternative world. I like to think we’re part of a new movement.

How do you think this record differs from some of your previous releases?

Where did you come up with the name “Becoming Who We Are”?

This is the first time we’ve had no mission, vision or boundaries guiding us from the start. That sounds terrible in some senses, and it definitely was terrifying at times, but what it did was force us to discover who we are, and to discover that we’re loved for who we are, and propel us to make something without fear.

There are so many lanes you can choose to drive in, there are boxes to check and ladders to climb,

The title comes from a quote my wife shared with me from Frederik Beuchner. We had just lost our first child at 21 weeks in the womb and we’re talking a lot about longing for heaven, where there would be no more pain, which has been so close to us this year.

Beuchner writes “Maybe in the end it is Zion that we’re lonely for, the place we know best by longing for it, where finally we find home.” We had named our son

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Zion, and the whole thing just sort of clicked. Having left a mega church, both resigning our jobs, we then went through a car accident, the loss of a parent suddenly to cancer, and then our first child. Much of this year has been longing to know God’s love for us, both now and eternally. All of the work, the church we “do” and the gospel work we accomplish pales in comparison to Jesus’ care for us. At the end of the day that is what I need the most faith to believe, that God is crazy about me.

And what about the artwork? Kinda crazy!

The art is just an idea I had in my head, I wanted something colourful, that didn’t look like a VSCO/ Instagram filter, but was digital and vibrant but African feeling. All the leaves in the pattern aren’t touching each other which is awesome because it’s “organized chaos” which is how we’ve described ourselves in the past. When i was young my mother would sew all the time and I would have to go the fabric store regularly.

When I saw the art it felt like something I would love loves as an 8 year old, and that pure excitement made me love it. There’s also nothing out like it. Even the florals in fashion that we’re popular this year were usually muted, I wanted to make something that stood out, was wild and fit the “organized chaos” motto.

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Where do you think the Church and christian music is at the moment?

I really don’t know where the church at large is at, but I know that in Seattle things are very broken at the moment. People are exhausted from programs, campaigns and activities and just want to read there bibles and learn to pray again. Which I think is very healthy. Movements don’t save people Jesus does, in fact I’ve learned the hard way that being caught up in a big movement or cause can give me a false sense of security. When I can check all the boxes what’s next? I think for big Christian music bands things will slowly fall apart as the church swings back towards being locally focused and liturgical, a lot of friends who are planting churches are thinking that way. It’s definitely the next step for churches in Seattle at the moment. I want to see worship leaders becoming pastors, I want to see them musically educated, I want them to understand liturgy so they’re not just plugging in the latest worship smash hit into their services. And I personally want to grow in all those areas, I have a lot to learn! But I definitely think people are beginning to pine for a different experience with God on Sunday mornings than a big production, in my neighbourhood it has become much less missional and is a big communication barrier to the gospel.

Kings Kaleidoscope is made up of about a dozen musicians, including a string trio, a horns section, two drum kits, and definitely a cymbal or two.

Right: One of the different formations of the band over the years.

Left: Headlining a show at Westside Church in Vancouver.

“Much of this year has been longing to know God’s love for us, both now and eternally. All of the work, the church we “do” and the gospel work we accomplish pales in comparison to Jesus’ care for us. At the end of the day that is what I need the most faith to believe, that God is crazy about me.”

What could someone who still hasn’t heard your new record expect from it? How different will it sound to the Kings Kaleidoscope we know and love?

There is a lot that is relate-able from what we’ve done in the past as well as completely new vibes that people might not understand or accept at first.

And that makes me really excited! Truly the album is a fuller reflection of what we love about music, who we are as Christians and what we struggle with.

Lyrically it also is more personal and emotional. Its just a wild ride and will take commitment at first because there’s so much to discover. I think there’s something for everybody.

What other bands are you championing, if any, at the moment?

Our awesome friends Citizens & Saints have a new record that is full of songs that hopefully lots of churches can use. Their new record is full of great lyrics and hooks. Honestly I’ve just been listening to a lot of J Dilla recently. Just beats for me.

What do you think the church, as a whole, needs to learn about worship at this point in time?

That is a very good question. From a church music standpoint I would love to see kids stop worrying about getting all the newest pedals and tones and

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learn to be individuals that know a deep personal gospel. I think the “production” of worship has become distracting in a lot of churches, always needing to fill volunteer slots, always needing to curate and find musicians etc. The busyness of the machine leaves little energy to hear from God and see him. My hope is that I would learn to quiet my heart and mind more, to still my racing Twitter, Instagram, internet, read this book, watch this video existence and hear God in the chaos. I think quiet and stillness is paramount to this generations experience of God. Can you let me in on how you recorded Becoming Who We Are? You’ve said it wasn’t a traditional recording process.

We recorded the whole record on my laptop. I just got a new MacBook Pro so it was really fast. We were portable, and I had a portable rig. I would actually just borrow really good microphones from all our friends and I made a connection to a guy in Seattle who records a lot of symphonies and choirs.

He had some really good ribbon mics and different types of mics for orchestra stuff. So we recorded the drums in a studio that we rented — a grungy punk rock studio. Then we would take my portable rig from there and go to a couple of different sanctuaries

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around the city with tall ceilings and really good acoustics, and there we’d record the horns and the strings. Then the guitars and the bass and the synths I did a lot at home, or out — my parents have a farm and I built a little temporary space out there for the summer and I did all the vocals out there.

But it’s crazy because if you have a portable studio, which we did, you can find the right environment and room for the different instruments. And then I did a lot of the editing right here in my apartment with my monitors. Basically I’d go out and record horns for four hours on a weeknight and then take it back home and for a day or two edit them and start to mix them, and then figure out what was needed next, then go out to the farm and layer the guitars on it. It was wild! It was an adventure.

Would you be keen to record an album in this same way again?

Mmmm… Maybe. Yeah. The thing that’s most efficient with the band is when we get to jam out a lot of ideas. So we jammed a lot of these songs before we went into the recording process. So for me the most important part is the actual writing and editing of all the ideas. And once I know what the ideas are, it’s any means necessary to record them basically.

Kings Kaleidoscope’s front man Chad Gardner, at Westside Church in Vancouver.

And what are the age ranges of the songs on the album? I imagine it would cover a lot of time!

Wow. Yes they do. I’m trying to think what the oldest thing on the record is… The idea for Felix Culpa is an idea I had probably three years back that sat on my iPhone as just the guitar riff and the chords and the background noise. There’s an interlude after that song called Ache, and the whole instrumental comes from a song that I wrote when I was probably sixteen years old. I used to put them up on my MySpace! So I dug that up and wanted to add more to it. And as I said, Glorious I finished right up before the record was finished. Seek Your Kingdom was written last year.

I Know was written this year. Light After Darkness I wrote this summer with Brian Eichelberger. It spans a lot of time. [Laughs] There’s a few of your Live in Color tracks on here… Felix Culpa, Seek Your Kingdom… Are you concerned how people are going to respond to these new versions?

I’m really excited. I really get excited for people who either really like it or who get really pissed off about it, because it’s so encouraging when people develop such a strong relationship with another version of a song. I generally always like the first version I hear of a song, so I think most people will like the Live in Color ones more. I don’t know. But it’s going to be a common thing. But at the same time, there’s something fun about pushing on peoples’ opinions of the song. That was one night we played it that way, but we play our songs a lot of different ways and we think that this is a really crazy way to make it. I think Felix is the most different — well actually, Fix My Eyes is actually completely new. [Laughs] But, the version on the album is actually the original arrangement of that song, and for Live in Color it was just an extra where I was like, ‘Hey can we do just one more song?’ and we ran into the gym and we did it — and I love playing it quiet. I think I prefer playing it quiet, but the big arrangement of Fix My Eyes is so sweet that I want to share that with people as well. And it excites me that people will like either/or of them. It’s cool to watch people’s reactions. It’s entertaining.

That’s right. Now I Know. What a mighty track. It’s the first taste we got of this album. Message-wise it’s looking to heaven?

Yeah. We made a beat… I was jamming with Andrew, our drummer, in a green room probably a year ago, and I had this one beat I wanted him to play and then he came up with another beat that sounded cool, and I actually stuck them together. And we recorded the beat — it was a bad recording, in the green room

with two little dinky mics — and then I made this whole beat around it. It was this thing we had laying around that was so cool but we had no clue of what song we could write about it. And after sitting with it for a couple of months I knew the song needed to be confident and not boastful, but it needed to have a righteous, confident swagger. Or basically, you’re telling your own heart how confident you can be because of Jesus. So the most lofty thing I could think of was heaven. We decided to write a song based off of how the instrumental was feeling. And at that time it was the summer and my wife and I were going through so much stuff and I literally was going to see the sunset every single night [laughs] because I wanted to see something beautiful and forget my problems for a little bit. So when it came time to write the song I realised how much I was longing to just get away from how hard life was.

The chorus was in place, I had written it as that confident thing I was talking about, but I wanted the verses to be a personal representation of what it looks like day to day, when you long to be in a place that isn’t marred by sin and brokenness. And the prechorus is lyrically bridging the gap. “I’ve been given a taste for something that nothing in this world can satisfy. But I know that a time is coming when I will be in glorious delight.” So yeah, I wrote that part with Brian Eichelberger and he helped me glue those two ideas together. Then my sister, who plays cello, came up with the melody for the big choir at the end. And we changed the chord progression in the bridge and it just made it take off at that halfway point.

The way that you developed the sound through that song and then that massive choir and the stomping and the clapping — how did you capture a sound and make it that big?

Writing the parts for that song… The band came in and gave it some energy. We recorded the guitar live and the horn part in the middle, and those big “ohs” and stuff. But the rest of that song was how I would make a beat if I was a DJ or a producer. I was taking Andrew’s drum jamming and chopping it up into a beat. I think actually I wrote a lot of that right after I got my Juno 60 keyboard. It’s a vintage analogue synth. A lot of the sounds were coming from that as I was playing around with it and recording for fun. Then you suddenly make something worth keeping in your back pocket.

What does 2015 hold for you and Kings Kaleidoscope?

We really just want to play songs for people. Personally I’m just trying to get to a healthy enough place that I can tour, it’s tough. But we hope to be playing a lot.

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Knox Hamilton Fueled by the similar staples within their collective musical taste, they produce a sound that’s likely to make you move your feet.

I was listening to the radio in my car a few weeks ago and I heard a new song in a familiar, yet not, kind of style.

It caught my attention; I cranked up the sound. Was it a Phoenix song I’d never heard before? Had Two Door Cinema Club released a new single? No — it was a band from Little Rock, Arkansas called Knox Hamilton, comprised of members Boots Copeland, Brad Pierce, Drew Buffington, and Cobo Copeland, and the song was called “Work It Out.” Intrigued, I looked them up and found a catalogue of their infectiously catchy music on Spotify. I couldn’t stop listening. The band was busy at the recording studio, but the guys were able to take a break to chat with me.

newest, best thing; I’ve been spinning Phoenix’s last album Bankrupt, it’s almost two years old but I can’t stop listening to it. I’ll get on one thing and wear it out.

You were number 9 on Alt Nation’s Alt-18 countdown last week, how does that feel?

Cobo Copeland: It’s pretty awesome. We’ve been getting some spins on Alt Nation for a while, and we finally made it onto the countdown, then we were off, then back on, so to be at number 9 now is pretty amazing.

You classify yourself as “indie”. What does it mean to be indie?

Susan Trench: Where did the name Knox Hamilton come from? It’s catchy; unique.

Brad Pierce: We were flipping through an old yearbook at a thrift store and came across some guy named Knox Hamilton. We thought it was cool, so we adopted it.

Is there a really active music scene in Little Rock, or are you guys it?

Drew Buffington: Oh we’re definitely it [laughter]. There is a music scene here and there always has been one, there just haven’t been a lot of alternative bands like us; there’s a lot of early 2000s rock, so if you’re into that, we’ve got it, a lot of metal bands, some country, some bluegrass, things like that. There are a few bands playing indie pop music, but it’s not the norm.

You’ve said that your music is a combination of your collective musical sensibilities. What kinds of music make up that combination?

BP: We listen to all kinds of stuff, especially on road trips, like we’ll run the gamut from 90s hip-hop, 80s rock, current stuff like Phoenix and those kinds of bands, 70s influences like America, Chicago, we are fairly eclectic in that. I’m always like a year behind whatever is playing, whatever’s the

DB: To try way harder than you should.

BP: We’re classified as indie? We should change it.

Boots Copeland: We’re neo-lounge.

When this is all over, and you are done performing, what do you want to be remembered for? What’s your legacy?

BP: We want to be remembered for our music… and our passion for Jesus.

DB: Helping people out anyway we can… and my mustache.

CC: Actually being Christian and not just being called Christian.

BC: Playing new music and not just the same old stuff you hear everywhere else.

How will you know when you’ve “made it,” what will that look like for you? Will you still be in Little Rock?

DB: For me, it would be a matter of being able to quit my job and pursue music on a full time basis, I think if it’s sustainable at all monetarily, we would know we’ve “arrived.” Right now, everything is self-produced, we haven’t really had an opportunity that presented itself that was really worth us quitting our jobs over yet. Our families are here, we’re all, with the exception of Boots, pretty newly married, so we’re not looking to uproot unless the right opportunity comes along.

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Liz Vice Battling stage fright to bring a message of hope to a secular city.

HOPE IS A COMMON THEME WHEN SPEAKING WITH LIZ VICE about her debut album, There’s a Light. Rich with throwback R&B influences, the album features 10 beautiful tracks of Vice’s dynamic and soulful vocals, with lyrics referencing her deep-rooted spirituality. But she’s not here to “tickle people’s ears” with religion, she says.

“I know people have labeled me as this gospel singer, but I’m like, ‘I didn’t even grow up with this music,’” says Vice, laughing. “I grew up with Bonnie Raitt and Melissa Etheridge and James Ingram. And I love Disney songs.”

The middle child of five siblings raised by a single mom, Vice’s original dream of stardom stemmed from a Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera concert she attended as a kid. More than being a singer, though, the show inspired her to be an actress. Following the concert, she wrote her Oscar acceptance speech — which she still carries around with her — and practiced being interviewed by Jay Leno in her bathroom mirror.

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But during college, Vice suffered from kidney failure, and she went on dialysis. Believing she wouldn’t live past age 21, her focus changed. “My dreams kind of shifted from thinking about the future of becoming an actress to, what can I do today?” she says. “Because if the Lord isn’t going to heal

me and if I’m not going to live very long, what can I do to encourage people to live the best life that they can?”

After a few more years of dialysis and studying medical assisting, Vice received an unforgettable call at 3 am: A kidney was available for her. Following the transplant in 2005, she began what she calls her “bonus life,” and returned to her dream of filmmaking — only this time, she wanted to direct. “My desires shifted from wanting to be seen to making things happen,” she says.

Vice later switched from her regular church to Portland’s Door of Hope. She mentions getting a “subtle nudge” from God, telling her to try out for her church’s choir, even though the thought of singing in front of people intimidated her. By 2010, Vice was volunteering for choir solos. A year later, she started singing with local gospel collective Deeper Well.

“I hated singing; it was always terrifying,” says Vice, who recalls feeling like a “sweaty James Brown” when she sang her first solo. “I got super shaky afterward, and I still do to this day. If I’m singing a song, I’m screaming out, ‘There is hope! There is hope!’ It takes so much power out of me.”

This exclamation of hope is found throughout her album, which was written and produced by Door of Hope pastor

Josh White and recorded live on analog tape last summer.

The resulting classic soul sound was surprising even to Vice.

storytelling, but lately she’s also telling stories on another platform.

“So many Christians are like, ‘I’ve never heard anything like this. I do not like Christian music, but I love this album because I’ve never heard anything like this before,’” Vice says. “And I don’t know why that is. I’m just as shocked at how many people loved this album who wouldn’t even step foot in a church.” People might not step foot in a church immediately upon hearing Vice’s music, but they might step into a concert venue, which helps convince her to keep singing — even if it makes her shake with fear.

Vice is becoming known as a gospel singer after recording a knockout performance on an album that, to many, seemed to have come out of nowhere.

“When I see people having fun, and they can have one of the crappiest weeks and then go to a concert and they’re like, ‘Yes, I needed to hear this,’ then it makes me feel like, regardless of my insecurities, I’m going to keep doing this, because I see how it changes people,” she says. Though she hasn’t gotten over her stage fright, Vice has no plans to stop any time soon. “I’m singing about Jesus in bars,” she says with a laugh. “And I love it.”

Just last year, Liz Vice was known to many people in Portland as a passionate filmmaker, working locally on some network television projects and several independent projects. She remains passionate about movies and

“For me it’s kind of weird when people say I’m a gospel singer,” says Vice. “It kind of makes me feel like an imposter because I didn’t really grow up singing or listening to gospel music.”

There’s a Light is the brainchild of Josh White, who wrote and produced each of the 10 tracks and released them under the Deeper Well label, a local gospel collective representing a number of faith-based musicians.

The first song White introduced Vice to was ‘Empty Me Out,’ a classically balanced, up-tempo song that seems pulled from the early days of Motown.

“People love ‘Empty Me Out.’ Out of all of the songs on the album, that is the one song that is brought up over and over,” says Vice. “There is something about it that just penetrates the souls of people. It’s a prayer.”

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Pacific Gold The Seattle-born group repurposes classic words in modern music.

In the ever-fertile Seattle music scene, Pacific Gold (previously Wayfarer) is distinguished as a band with an original idea and the talent to do it justice. They repurpose hymns, essen­tially rewriting and re-recording the outdated music of lyrically powerful spiritual songs. The product isn’t just a beautiful sound — it is the careful pairing of music and lyric to make an impact­ful whole. Their rendition of “How Long” is reminiscent of Fleet Foxes’ harmonic, folksy, jamming-in-the-woods vibe.

I was fortunate enough to ask guitarist and vocalist Dan Koch a few questions about the band.

Sam Robinson: I watched the Way­farer promo video and you guys used the term ‘repurposing’ to explain what you do.

What does ‘repurpos­ing’ entail?

Dan Koch: For us, it means that all of our lyrics come from old hymns or Southern Spirituals. We take lyr­ics from those old songs and write completely new music around them: melodies, chords, arrangements, harmonies, etc. This brings new life and new context to the old hymn.

What was the significance behind the name “Wayfarer”?

DK: There isn’t much, really. It means “wanderer” in old English, so you could say that we are kind of “finding our way” by doing some­thing no other bands really are doing.

But that wasn’t the intention origi­nally.

How did you choose the Hymns for the EP? DK: I just start looking up hymns, either at random or on a particular topic (like, “Christ­mas” if we’re looking for Christmas songs), and then I mostly choose which songs to re-write based on the poetic value of the lyrics. I make sure that there is nothing theologi­cally objectionable, but I don’t really choose them based on their theol­ogy. Of course, the deeper the truth expressed, the more a song will move me, if it’s said well. For instance, even if there was a really beautiful song about transubstantiation, we probably wouldn’t rewrite that one, because that just isn’t an important topic for me, not being Catholic and all, and doesn’t resonate as deeply as forgiveness, Heaven, etc.

What’s the ultimate direction of the band? Can we expect to hear more hymns?

DK: For the perceivable future, we will be sticking to hymns, and proba­bly a few cover songs. I don’t feel like writing any lyrics these days. [laughs] “Shall We Gather at the River?” is a hymn about grace and the peace at the end of our journeys. Lis­tening to that song, I felt that Wayfar­er’s music really encompasses the joy in the lyrics — what was the creative process like?

DK: I think about things more analytically than a lot musicians who might use emotional words to describe their creative process. But for me, it’s a lot of math. It’s a lot of, “What note would work here, based on the other notes?” until I find some­thing that is pleasing to the ear.

There were definitely some sweet moments when we were arranging the song, and when it was coming together, but it’s also just a lot of math. I don’t think the end result really shows that (thankfully?). A lot of times, it’s just about finding the melody and the mood that fits the lyrics. If that song was, for instance, super slow and in a minor key, it would feel weird. So it just feels right to hear those lyrics sung with that melody, and to hear that triumphant outro after the final line.

Is Wayfarer motivated by making hymns relevant to young Christians, or what is the overall pur­pose of the repurposing?

DK: There’s a line in a song by the punk band Against Me! that says, “We can be the bands we want to hear.” That’s essentially what moti­vates us. This is the band that we wished existed, so we started it. We don’t know entirely who will like our music, who it will resonate with, but it seems likely that it be mostly Chris­tians since the lyrics have such deep and profound Christian meaning in them. That being said, we aren’t pointing our music at young folks in particular, nor even at Christians in particular. We hope that those with­out religious faith might also appreci­ate the act of the repurposing, or just the beauty of the music and poetry.

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Propaganda The outspoken M.C. is making the industry sit up and take notice.

RAP USED TO TURN HEADS. ASK YOUR GRANDPARENTS about it. It didn’t matter if it was East Coast, West Coast or underground — it was controversial. But these days, no one bats an eye when the world’s biggest rappers date Kardashians or own parts of sports franchises. That’s not a bad thing, but hip-hop has always been at its best when it’s challenging the status quo and shining a light on those subjects the mainstream can’t — or won’t — address.

Nobody’s asking for a return to the days when being a rapper was a legitimately dangerous career. It’d just be nice to hear someone creating hip-hop that talked about the things you don’t hear talked about very often and doing it in a fresh, invigorating way.

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Enter Jason Petty, aka Humble Beast’s Propaganda.

Propagada’s a whole new animal in every way. Musically, he names influences like Sigur Rós and Sufjan Stevens and Explosions in the Sky. Lyrically, he gravitates toward folk music for the “raw musical perspective” it lends toward the human condition. Artistically, he’s inspired by spoken-word poetry. And he certainly isn’t one to hide in the shadows when it comes to saying the things he believes everyone needs to hear.

Rapper-Turned-Poet-Turned-Rapper Propaganda got his start as a “vicious, aggressive battle rapper” in Los Angeles in the underground West Coast crew called the Tunnel Rats. The M.C. says he took to poetry as a way to hone his craft and strengthen his skills. “The city I grew up in was kind of a hub for spoken word, so there were plenty of poetry venues that were happening almost every week,” he says. “I just started going to different open mics and hearing the difference between dudes that were rapping versus the poets. They were just such better writers.”

The disparity between his rap colleagues and the spoken word artists prompted Propaganda to give poetry a go. “It was just such a clear difference,” he says. “I was like, ‘Man, I want to be able to write that well.’ How do you captivate an audience for three to five minutes with no music, nobody else on stage with you? I got hooked. That’s how poetry started for me.”

Propaganda describes himself as a “daywalker” since that moment — a rapper who relies on the vocabulary and process of poetry to create his work. He says he never considered leaving the hip-hop scene (he calls it his “native tongue”), but his poetic venture afforded him a newfound freedom.

“If you try to say something that complex and profound in a song, it would make for a really bad song that you can’t sing along with,” he says. “There’s nothing to put your hands up with. In songs, there are requirements. [With] poetry, those requirements don’t apply anymore. You can be as deep, as intellectual and as complex as your heart desires.”

The Stamp of Excellence Lyrically, Propaganda pulls no punches on his new release, Excellent, and speaks to issues many Christians within any genre are often fearful to broach. Like, for instance, the unseemly sins of our faith’s forefathers, whom we place on pedestals. His song “Precious Puritans” flings out accusation: You know they were the chaplains on slave ships, right? Would you quote Columbus to Cherokees? But Propaganda isn’t out to make waves for wave-making’s sake. He’s just willing to speak honestly about what he believes is worth our attention.

“Controversy for controversy’s sake is sinful,” he says. “I wish there were experiences in life that were off-limits, but life isn’t like that. Life isn’t neat with pretty bows that you can say, ‘I’m going to protect you. Don’t go down that alley.’ That’s just not life. Sometimes you go down the alley, or sometimes the alley comes to you. So why should it be off-limits?”

While Propaganda’s approach and lyrics conjure a confident aura, the artist says the album was actually an exercise in humility. The theme behind Excellent took shape during writing sessions, as the artist realized the need to push Christians to be excellent in all they do. “I was reminded of this quote from this 19th-century illustrator, Robert Henry,” he says. “The quote goes, ‘The presence of good art will unconsciously refine a community, and poor art will do it incalculable harm.’ [It’s] the idea of what art does to the culture.”

And so he strove for excellence on the album. Every ounce of instrumentation is played live, there’s not a single sample to be found. And then, as he strove to write around the theme of “outperforming everyone else,” he says he came to a realization. “As I was writing these songs and thinking about different topics to cover,” he says, “I realized, ‘Wow. I’m not better. I’m failing miserably. In all of these areas, I’m failing.’

Which led, ultimately, to the point of the album, which is that our worth doesn’t come from some kind of performance or inequality but by the price the Father was willing to pay to purchase us. That’s what gives us worth. That’s what gives anything worth — it’s the price the purchaser’s willing to pay for it. […] So, we’re stamped excellent,” he continues.

“We’re declared excellent. Ultimately, that’s what I’m trying to articulate.”

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MEET

The Royal Royal Making up the duo The Royal Royal and hailing from the great white north of Canada, brothers Nathan and Gabriel Finochio lead worship and are creating the new sound of worship music for the church today and the church of the future. While the music is innovative and progressive, the lyrics and message speak of ancient biblical truths.

of music. “Jesus inspires our songwriting most, and our love for His bride, the church,” explained Nathan. “After that, the Beatles, Stevie Wonder and Neil Young do a lot of influencing stylistically. We grew up listening to Keith Green, and the raw passion and production and fun he communicated made it all seem so simple and straightforward.”

The Royal Royal’s new release, “The Return Of The King,” features songs that come from a very personal place, yet are universal. The lyrics are fresh yet honest, with music that sounds like it was born far away from the church yet shouts praise with every beat. Producers David Kuwabara and the band’s Nathan Finochio worked together to create a musical paradox. “Gabe and I write, play, and talk about how we want the album to sound stylistically, and then we bring David Kuwabara into the picture, who magically materializes and structures the madness in our heads,” said Nathan.

While not on the road touring the country and sharing their music, Nathan serves at a church in New York, and Gabriel is the worship pastor at a church in Chicago. They have a deep respect for the local church and understand that their music, however progressive, needs to be palatable to worshippers and worship leaders. Their desire is that youth worship leaders and bands will use their music in their local contexts.

ROCK

WORSHIP

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INDIE

Their musical influences include inspiration from not only their church upbringing and faith, but also different genres

What do The Royal Royal want people to take away from their music, and the words of their songs? According to the guys, “That Jesus didn’t stay home on Friday nights and play Scrabble. His words are on the lips of the church when they sing these songs.”

Seeker & Servant Seeker & Servant was formed in late 2012 by brothers, Cameron and Chandler Wood, as an indie acoustic worship project in Jackson, Mississippi. Not too long after the start, they were joined by Kody Gautier, an old friend who was separately involved in sample programming and composition.

Immediately, they formed a natural songwriting chemistry and molded a completely new sound to call their own­— an original blend of electronic ambience and acoustic folk-rock.

They started to mold their sound and figure out what exactly they wanted to write. After about five months of growing closer together as a band, they finally settled on a series of tracks that stemmed from their deepest cries and prayers to God. These tracks went on to form their first full-length record “Into Your Love, I Go”, which released on January 7, 2014.

The debut album is full of cinematic landscapes, lush melodies and anthemic builds that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Arcade Fire record. But best of all, the record finds its roots in the truth of Scripture. “When we started

writing the record, we knew we had a general theme. And we came up with the title for this when we started writing the song, Into Your Love, I Go. And as the record began to develop we began to see a journey the record kinda took on.

One is starting with the first few tracks — just experiencing God’s love; and then when you hit Let Me Not and Meditate, it’s almost like meditating or studying God’s love; and then the last part of the record is being joyous in it and fully experiencing God’s love” — Cameron Wood explains.

With this record, they are hoping to bring a fresh and novel approach to Christian music. It’s raw, real, simple, and straight from the heart. Though the current worship scene is no stranger to electronic music (with many big names following the lead of indie artists) as Seeker & Servant join the pack they have managed to carve out their own path without stepping on any other artists’ toes. For such a young group, Seeker & Servant have produced a brilliant debut record, and although the album falls short occasionally, it still provides the listener with a unique worship experience.

INDIE

FOLK

WORSHIP

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REMARK

SPZRKT Spazzy Rocket’s latest album Bonfire is standing brazenly in the face of genre.

WHY DO WE FEEL THIS INCESSANT NEED TO TYPECAST and pigeonhole? It isn’t anything new, although I presume the ancients were grateful for any distraction to shatter the monotony of life before smartphones. We put people and things into categories and subcategories, genres and sub-genres codifying a system that helps us understand what we’re exposed to and then weigh it in light of our own expectations. And the same is true with music. It’s either folk or Hip Hop; bluegrass or electronica. And within each genre there are assumed rules that the artist is supposed to follow. So what happens when you hear something that defies categorization? What do you do with that?

HIP-HOP

R&B

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POP

Although iTunes classifies the album as pop (and they are most assuredly wrong), SPZRKT’s latest album Bonfire stands brazenly in the face of genre. He’s whatever you get when you combine a cup of John Legend, a half-cup of Gnarls Barkley, and a dash of MGMT into a blender and press puree. Bonfire oozes with exceptional creativity and isn’t quite like anything I’ve heard before. Three years ago, Xavier Adams auditioned for The Voice, America’s Got Talent, and American Idol but never made it through the first round.

Was he not ready? Was it further proof of the irrelevancy of competition shows? Or a little of both? Maybe it’s for the best because in the three year since, SPZRKT (pronounced

Spazzy Rocket) has become one of the most unique voices in CHH. Like John Legend meets J.R., SPZRKT is known for his distinct sound and smooth but powerful vocals. Now, after countless features and free projects, he’s ready to release his debut album Bonfire.

When you picture a bonfire you imagine a diverse crowd gathered together and united by hopes, dreams, and the need for love. With that image, Mr. Rocket has created an album with a wide range of genres all focused on the topic of love. Last year, SPZRKT released two mixtapes: The Loner and Lucid Dream. The Loner was album with a narrative about the beginning and abrupt end of a relationship. Lucid Dream was about finding hope and love in Christ. Bonfire is a combination of those mixtapes, focusing equally on both types of love (earthly and heavenly).

When the airwaves are filled with excellently produced but empty songs, it’s refreshing to find an artist with a unique sound that excels in the pop genre. And SPZRKT’s pop sound “Death”, “Share The World”, and “Better Off.” The best example of this sound is “Share The World,” an infectious opener that is the perfect love song to end the summer. The most interesting inclusion on the album is the closer, “Better Off,” which mirrors the lighthearted production of “Share The

World.” However, on an album about love, this is the only song about the end of a relationship. And in the end, it feels more like a bonus track.

If you’ve listened to any CHH lately (from Social Club, Rhema Soul, Black Knight, to RMG and Reach Records’ artists) then you’ve probably heard SPZRKT sing the hook for their songs.

And there are several ballads here that showcase his vocals; including “Drown”, the beautiful “There Is A Love”, and the show stopping “Bonfire.” His vocals alone on the title track is proof enough that those singing competition shows made a grave mistake. The most powerful ballad is the orchestral duet on “There Is A Love,” which speaks about a Love that’s greater than the pain or conflict that arises in a relationship.

The song’s structure and the chemistry between Spazzy and Faulkner make it the emotional high point of the album.

With all that being said, the album’s highlights are definitely “There is a Love,” a duet with Camille Faulkner, and “Bonfire”.

Both are truly poetic and demonstrate SPZRKT’s talent as an artist. On “There is a Love” SPZRKT’s and Camile’s two distinct sounds harmonize well together, intermingling over the ambient sounds of a simplified yet powerful beat. The musical transformation that takes place during “Bonfire” is impressive and, as the track crescendos, SPZRKT does a fantastic job

bringing the appropriate energy. It truly is the soundtrack of our lives and makes you wish you were listening to it live.

The final component of his sound on Bonfire is the smooth R&B that was best represented with his breakout songs “Middle Of Things” and “Hearts Of Fear.” While “Lit” and “Reassurance” are very top-notch R&B songs, “Insecure” is the best song of this style on the album. About the insecurity women face and the support men need to provide in a relationship, the song is head nodding from start to downtempo finish. The weakest song on the album would be “Right Now,” which has songwriting that pales in comparison to the rest of the album.

Streets ahead of the music found on the Top 40 charts, SPZRKT has created one of the best pop/R&B albums in “Christian music.” Bonfire may ruffle some listener’s feathers; including fans who expect the strong spiritual substance of Lucid Dream, those who want more of the emotional nakedness of The Loner, and the hip hop heads who want a few songs like “Queen of England” or “A-OK.” Yet with Bonfire, he compiles all of his influences and ambitions to create a clear picture of who he is as an artist (The lack of features is a strong indication). And by the looks of it, Bonfire is the best representation of the eclectic and unique sound of SPZRKT.

39

MEET

Sucré Stacy King – also known as Sucré – was born to sing. For proof of this, look no further than her debut solo record, A Minor Bird. Produced by Darren King – her husband and drummer for Mutemath – and Jeremy Larson, it is an enchanting blend of orchestral chamber-pop and the intimacy of ‘70s singer­songwriters. Stacy’s voice flawlessly weaves across beautiful landscapes of strings, horns, and percussion on each of the album’s 11 tracks.

She grew up in a huge music family. When asked about how young she was when she started in the music industry, she responded: “Young as they come! I wrote my first song when I was 8 years old and started playing shows with my siblings when I was just 10. We got signed to a major label when I was 14 and then I’ve pretty much just been on and off tour since then. It’s been a crazy, bumpy, but beautiful road. I feel super thankful to have gotten such an early start and to still be able to be doing what I love.”

POP

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INDIE

“As so often happens, I didn’t set out to make a record. But rather was just collaborating with my husband and friend,” Stacy says. “Jeremy and I would email musical ideas back

and forth and then finalize them over holiday trips to Missouri.

About three songs in I realized we had something special and that we had to make a record of it.” AOL’s Spinner referenced the debut as “pop music of the highest order.”

Stacy explains her songwriting process: “For me, songwriting is like journaling. And something I have to do to stay healthy and happy. A lot of the time it’s nothing special. But whenever it is, it’s one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever known.” Combining their talents, they create whimsical, dreamy symphonies with beautiful string arrangements. The songs literally sweep you off your feet and transport you to a meadow where you just want to spin around aimlessly.

Sucré features the enchanting combination of Stacey DuPree’s sweet yet reserved voice, Jeremy Larson’s sweeping instrumental arrangements, and Darren King’s passionate percussive rhythms. Altogether it’s a unique and enjoyable indie sound that grows on you with each listen. I don’t know how they found time along with their other bands and personal lives to make this album happen, but many people will be glad they did.