In addition to several live releases this week, Christian music showed up in some unusual places--both on TV and on the news--thanks to some creative uses of Google's doodle honoring Les Paul. Several artists also shared some insights into music and songwriting, as well as their daily lives on and off the road.
As always, if you'd like to keep tabs on over 1,200 Christian artists, check out our exclusive
NRTwitter page to read the latest tweets from the Christian music community.
IS IT LIVE, OR IS IT MEMOREX?
@Manafest: Pick up the album at Walmart, Amazon, Family, Lifeway, Mardel or download audio + videos at iTunes!... http://fb.me/N8QFtLHT (June 7)
Manafest released his first live CD/DVD,
Life in Concert, on Tuesday. You can get a taste of it by watching an excerpt (“Bring the Ruckus”)
here.
@OfficialTFK: Pick up our CD/DVD "Live At The Masquerade" at Walmart. Physical copy include full DVD! Available where you buy music! (June 7)
Thousand Foot Krutch released a much-anticipated and long-awaited live DVD this week as well. The DVD is a good buy for anyone who loves TFK's energetic live shows.
@superchicktrish: You guys have been amazing getting my album up to 2 yesterday, reposting the link and all. If you like the album please keep sharing it! (June 9)
@superchicktrish: Go to my website www.triciabrockmusic.com or my blog to hear more about it and to keep up with my friend reviews!! (June 9)
Tricia Brock of Superchic[k] released her solo worship album,
The Road, last Tuesday, and the response has been extremely positive. She's been posting on her website as well as her personal blog (
http://alovelierplace.blogspot.com), giving fans insight into the stories behind the songs.
@gungormusic: Gungor is looking for some new musicians http://gungormusic.com/audition/ (June 9)
@michaelgungor: Listen, if you do something not listed, I'm probably still going to watch it.. Who knows what we'll need in the future? 6 bagpipers? Maybe (June 9)
Worship band Gungor is accepting auditions for some new musicians to join them on stage. They are accepting auditions for a few instruments in specific (guitar, banjo, mandolin, violin, or viola), but apparently Michael wouldn't mind watching some less orthodox auditions.
STORIES FROM THE ROAD
@ethanluck: Merch tip to bands: Don't ever make buttons with each person's face. You'll know what I mean when you see the leftovers. #notaleadsinger (June 5)
Ethan Luck of Relient K--who plays the drums--reportedly was seen after this concert
playing POG with Matt Hoopes, John Warne and Jon Schneck, using the buttons bearing their likenesses as POGs. Lead singer Matt Thiessen wasn’t invited to play.
@BradNoah: on my way to rehearse at S.I.R. with the Disciple boys!! Can't wait to have some fun!! (June 7)
Brad Noah, former longtime guitarist for Disciple, will be rejoining them for several festivals in the upcoming week. He will be filling in to make up for Israel Beachy's temporary absence.
@matthewfuqua: I was just awakened at my hotel by goats and sheep right outside my window. #iLoveNorway (June 7)
The Afters played a few shows in Norway this week. They seemed to greatly enjoy the experience, even with some rather unusual aspects of their accommodations.
@matthammitt: There's a high school reunion at our hotel. They're not just reuniting, but reliving the past. Settle down folks! (June 11)
Sanctus Real also had an interesting hotel stay for entirely different reasons.
MUSICAL MUSINGS
@Ivoryline: “Music fans who share music without ever buying it are like kids passing round a kitten & never feeding it then being shocked when it dies” (June 6)
This quote that Ivoryline posted on their Twitter is a very striking and accurate analogy arguing how music piracy affects the recording industry.
@jrmeadkutless: I've realized that there are people who are genuine fans of musicality, and people who are fans of a certain mood. #music (June 9)
James Mead of Kutless shared this rather insightful observation about music fans.
@owlcity: Fell asleep on the flight and dreamt I kept trying to rhyme "silver" with "orange." #KillMe (June 9)
Songwriters have some unusual nightmares, as Adam Young demonstrated.
A DIFFERENT SPOTLIGHT
@superchickband: So we've heard a rumor that our song "Rock What You Got" is in the movie Blue Crush 2. We are taking over the world, one song at a time... (June 11)
Blue Crush 2 has been added to the long list of movies and TV shows in which Superchic[k] has been featured. For more examples of where their songs have shown up, you can
see a partial list on their site here.
@matthewfuqua: Be sure to watch "Field of Vision" tonight on NBC 8/7 central. Listen for 3 afters songs. Show the love (June 11)
The Afters also found their music in an unusual place this week. Several of their songs were featured on NBC's
Field of Vision, a made-for-TV movie about high school bullying.
@Jnobel: Fail Blog, Huffington Post, CBS and NPR all embedded our video! Craziness. Inching towards half a million views... youtube.com/watch?v=Wu_tk5… (June 10)
After Edmund's lead singer took advantage of the Google doodle honoring Les Paul by recording a cover of The Beatles' tune “Hey Jude.” The video was later embedded on multiple popular websites.
@TheRocketSummer: Trying to sleep. Came across this google guitar thing and ad libbed a song on the spot. It's pretty bad. Night y'all youtube.com/watch?v=OPWO_w… (June 9)
Bryce Avary of The Rocket Summer also had fun with the Google doodle, creating an ad libbed song at 2:00 a.m. By the end of the next day his video already had hundreds of thousands of views, and later it was featured on multiple news outlets.
A DAY IN NASHVILLE LIFE
@adamagee: Convenient that T Swift chose the gas station near my house to film her music video. I said hi while I filled up. (June 6)
Taylor Swift was filming a music video in Nashville. Apparently Stellar Kart lead singer Adam Agee had a first hand view of the filming process.
@DiscipleKevin: Playing golf with @darrentyler @adamagee @kickstand39 @corylamb and Wally from @totalaxxess today. Gonna be awesome (June 6)
A group of musicians and friends (including Kevin Young of Disciple and Adam Agee of Stellar Kart) teamed up for an impressive game of golf. Judging by the picture that @darrentyler later shared on his Twitter--
http://t.co/K9FTEpx--it looks like they had fun.
@schmeffo: Consider it dead. We did this w/ an assault rifle, WWII rifle, multiple hand guns, and precision. http://instagr.am/p/FUPhp/ (June 6)
Jeff Owen did not provide any information as to what this appliance did to evoke his wrath, but he definitely used quite a bit of firepower to take it down.
@scribblepotemus: Just finished transcribing a bit of music my 7 yr old wrote! I'm so out of practice. :) (June 7)
Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay apparently is fostering the next generation of Haseltine musicianship.
