Cooking Something Up: The Class of 1996

The Class of 1996. Or the Class of 2021. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction rules, which I am borrowing, is 25 years from the date of the first album. This year is 25 years from a release in 1996. And what a year it is.

The list is by no means inclusive, but I think the following would be first ballot Hall of Fame. 

First, the also rans. These may eventually get in, but not first ballot. Blackball, Ghoti Hook, and My Friend Stephanie. Rock, Alternative and Ska.

The Class of 2021 is 6 Strong. We Start with a little house cleaning, and when you do, it's best to use Bleach. A punk alternative band that made it's bones by appearing on the Jenny Jones Show and performing Super Good Feeling. The Post Punk scene wasn't very big, but Bleach fans were loyal. They burned out quickly as their final concert was in 2004. I saw them 3 times in 1997 with Seven Day Jesus, in 1999 with Joy Electric and Miss Angie, and as part of Soulfest in 2004. The Cause of Death was a tired heart caused by the death of friends in the Gulf War. We have been waiting for a reunion since.

Seven Day Jesus came on to the scene at the same time, and actually toured together for a time. They were more straight up rock than Bleach an so got overwhelmed in the crowd. A. Point of trivia is that Bass player Russ Fox also played with Bleach

The Ska Scene blew up in 1996. When a genre takes off it seems like the band flow to it like mice to the Pied Piper. The most successful of them was the Orange County Supertones.

Punk had the Ramones, and the Christian World's Ramones were called The Huntington's. If you like your songs under 2 minutes, this is the band for you.

Starting from Hard Rock and mellowing to Emo, Stavesacre. Their latest release was in 2017 after they had taken a 7 year hiatus.

And finally, the most successful of them all, Skillet. I still consider their debut almost unlistenable, though not as bad as ZoeGirl. The sole constant in a quarter century, Bass Guitar/Lead Singer John Cooper. His wife Korey joined in 2000 as keyboardist/guitar

R/programming/only adult in The room and the Band has been invincible ever since. Based on recent events, I expect they will be around for a long time to come.

There you have it, the Class of 2021. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Flashback Friday: Taking it Worldwide

Dictionaries are completely useless things. Case in point, I turned to Webster to help define our latest band, and it wasn't in there. I decided to break the name into its constituent parts and try that way, and this is what I got.

• Audio: adj. of or relating to sound or its reproduction and especially high-fidelity reproduction
• Adrenaline: noun. Epinephrine (Okay, so that was useless. What's epinephrine?)
• Epinephrine: noun a colorless crystalline feebly basic sympathomimetic hormone C9H13NO3 that is the principal blood-pressure raising hormone secreted by the adrenal medulla and is used medicinally especially as a heart stimulant, a vasoconstrictor in controlling hemorrhages of the skin, and a muscle relaxant in bronchial asthma —called also adrenaline

ZZZZZZZZZZZ. Oh, Sorry, dozed off there for a second. Like I said, completely worthless. Never let a dictionary do what you should do for yourself. Ladies and Gentlemen, Audio Adrenaline.

You've got to love a band whose name means, basically, Loud Music. Formed in 1986 as A-180, the original lineup was Mark Stuart, Barry Blair, Will McGinnis, David Stuart and Phil Vaughan, who all went to Kentucky Christian University. By 1991 they had gotten the attention of Toby MacKeehan (TobyMac) of DC Talk and Signed to Forefront Records.

I came to the attention of the band in 1992, they were the warm up act for DC Talk on their Free at Last Tour and came to Worcester Memorial Auditorium (no longer in existence). I proudly consider myself an Adrenaline Junkie (the bands term for their fans). The Classic Audio A lineup was:

• Mark Stuart: Vocals, Guitar
• Will McGinness: Vocals, Bass
• Bob Herdman: Guitars, Keys
• Ben Cissell: Drums
• Tyler Burkum: Guitars

They produced eight studio albums in their first go round

• Audio Adrenaline (1992)
• Don't Censor Me (1993)
• Bloom (1996)
• Some Kind Of Zombie (1996)
• Underdog (1999)
• Lift (2001)
• Worldwide (2003)
• Until My Heart Caves In (2005)

Some of the songs had a sort of demented humor to them. Take DC-10, one of their early songs, which I discovered on Underdog.

"A 747 Fell out of heaven, crashed through the roof of a 7-11
You're working on a slurpee, things get hazy
reach for a twinkie, now you're pushing up daisies
Do you know where you're gonna go."

Who knew that they would survive Hostess?
Audio Adrenaline is one more example among many of one of my musical facts of life. If you want to have a great soft ballad, have a hard rock band write it. Rock bands know how to slow it down very nicely. On the other hand AC and soft bands seem silly when they try to rock it out. Pierced, Leaving Ninety Nine, Hands and Feet, Good Life. All of these are excellent ballads by Audio Adrenaline. They also did one of the best versions ever of It is well with my soul (a duet with Jennifer Knapp). How that song turned into a morose funeral song I'll never know. It always made me wonder "Is it well with your soul?" I give you one of my favorite Audio Adrenaline ballads, Ocean Floor.

Mark Stuarts voice shot to you know where, the band broke up in 2007, but that is not the end of the story. The band recently reformed with only McGinniss among the original members. The new Audio A is filled out with Dave Ghazarian of Superchick, Jared Byers of Bleach and, at Lead Vocal, Kevin Max of DC Talk. Now I love Kevin, but I'm not sure he's the right fit for this band. You saw some of Audio A, but this is Kevin Max. You decide.

We shall see how things turn out for the new Audio Adrenaline. I myself am eagerly awaiting the new album.

I hope that you enjoyed this look at one of the great Alternative Rock bands of Christian Music. We have completed another rotation. Next Friday we return to The Commonwealth of CCM and the land down under as we cover Rebecca St. James. Tomorrow we return to the Christmas Parade. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Lost In The Night Beat Doghouse

Making it big in the music industry is never easy, but some make it harder than it needs to be. I mean, when you pull your name from the grocery store you are already behind. (you can overcome, Bleach and Skillet come to mind).

Then there are expectations. That's not usually a problem for new bands. It can be if there is an excessive amount of Label Hype, but expectations are usually only a hurdle for established acts. They are also a hurdle reunion acts have to handle. Fans will reach for the album they remember most when they hear that a band is reforming. The first album you release in the reunion period is not the best time to reinvent yourself.

This brings me to the subject of my post. Big Tent Revival is a name that conjures music akin to Jimmy Swaggart than to Audio Adrenaline. The analogy may not be perfect, but I avoided BTR for a while on name alone, never hearing them. Then I got Amplifier . So did a lot of people.

Amplifier was the album that launched a billion bracelets, and that's probably a significant under count. For those of you not old enough to know, in 1998 or so WWJD was all the rage among the youth group crew, and stood for "What Would Jesus Do". It was a hit single encouraging all of us to think how Jesus would have responded to their situation. Considering the election just past, I think it should have been asked more.

Back to BTR. Amplifier was full of Synth filled alternative keepers. Still Breathing, Lovely Mausoleum, Someday (time and space), and Star in the book of life joined What Would Jesus Do? as must sing songs. Just when the band caught magic in a bottle, poof.

Which brings me to those expectations. When I heard that BTR was reuniting and had an album in the works I was psyched. Then The Way Back Home came out on October 30 and to quote from Switchfoot, there was a beautiful letdown.

The Way Back Home is exactly what you would expect from a band with the name Big Tent Revival, and that is a shame. It is country through and through. While I was pleasantly surprised by Mac Powell's "country" release because it didn't stray far from Third Day, there is nothing like amplifier here. I had expectations and they were not met. Lost Boy is the only rock song on the album. Though the characters are the same, the music bears none of the magic. In that light, I can only give The Way Back Home 3.5 Emeralds. It wasn't gag inducing, as some country is to me, but there was nothing to get me going. I prefer to remember BTR this way. This is What Would Jesus Do?

I expect to be a lot more upbeat with my next few reviews, as I have Third Day and Disciple in the mix. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Flashback Friday: Bring Back The Good Times

Woodstock Academy and Loon Mountain. Bookends to a legendary career. At least as legendary as a mid 1990's post-punk band can get. The venues, one small and one as big as nature itself, were two of the concerts I attended for the band named after an item in the household goods aisle.

The first venue was a small private school in northeast Connecticut during 1996 or 1997. Two bands were playing, both of which I was hearing for the first time. The warm up band was called Seven Day Jesus, the headliner was Bleach, and if I were a betting man I would have picked Seven Day Jesus to make the big time. Which is why I am not a betting man.

Bleach was a five piece band, the lineup at the time of their debut album Space (1996) came out (which is the tour they were on in Woodstock)

• Davy Baysinger - Vocals
• Sam Barnhart - Guitars, BGV
• Bradley Ford - Guitars, Wurlitzer Piano
• Todd Kirby - Bass
• Matt Gingerich - Drums

This was the lineup at the time that they made their breakthrough. The avenue to stardom, somewhat ironically, was The Jenny Jones Show. They performed the song Super Good Feeling from their second album Static (1998). I have found a video for the song. No it's not from Jenny Jones, but it is a Official Music Video.

Bleach finished their contract with Forefront Records with a Self Titled release in 1999. They showed up that year in my hometown a few days after the rapture occurred. Just like our current obsession with the Mayan calendar, there were many date-setting movements in the late 20th Century. The first one I remember was in 1980.

There were two warm up acts for bleach that evening. The first one was Space-Pop/Dance artist Miss Angie, and the next was the magic that is Joy Electric. Of the three, only Bleach is no longer with us, though Joy Electric hasn't had anything out since 2009 (original back to 2007), and Miss Angie had a retirement from 2000 to 2010, but is now back.

Bleach re-emerged on Tooth and Nail Records with a new look. Only Davy and Sam were still there. They had three new members. Brothers Jared and Milam Byers on drums and guitars respectively and Jerry Morrison on Bass. The first effort with Midas at the helm was Again, for the first time (2002). The single from that album was We are Tomorrow, which also was made into a video. Never had things looked more promising.

What a difference a year makes. Never has a swan song been more beautiful. Make no mistake, that is what Astronomy (2003) was. Bleach was a casualty of war. The subtitle to the album was (The Legacy of a Hero). The Hero in question was Army Airborne/Ranger Captain Josh Byers, brother to Jared and Milam, killed in Al Fallujah, Iraq on July 23, 2003 due to a remote control bomb. Honestly, I only bought the CD because it would be their last, but when I listened to it. God was working on this CD as it was made. It is their best work ever, and I would put it on any Best Christian Albums Ever. I got to see them at the 2004 Soulfest, which was the next to the last at Loon Mountain.  It was a fitting site to say goodbye. Here is a video to show the magic that was astronomy.

Not to end on a downer, there is a brief glimmer of hope, though in the end it may be a pipe dream. Rumors have been circulating for a year now of a new Bleach album, though any awards it wins at present are in vaporware. Here's hoping.

We return to The Commonwealth of CCM next week with IONA. Until then, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

Children On The Run

"11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." 1 Corinthians 13:11 (KJV)

This verse came to me as I have been listening to the latest release by Minnesota Punk Rockers Children 18:3. In short I could have called this "The Kids Grow Up". Now granted, my experience with Children 18:3 has been fairly limited, but I am acquainted with two of their radio singles Homemade Valentine (from the Self Titled Debut), and the frentically paced Cover Your Eyes (from Rain's A Comin').
 
On the Run isn't really fast or hard. Most of the songs are decidedly radio friendly and have gone punk in the vein of Bleach rather than say MxPx. Personally, I like it better, because it's a bit easier on the ears. I can save them for stuff like Demon Hunter and The Devil Wears Prada.
 
Harmonies abound on this album. That's not to say there's no hard stuff. There is: Moment to Moment, Drifter and I Tried to Do The Right Thing. Most of the songs are mid-range rock, and a number of them We'll Never Say Goodbye, Nowhere to Run, Always on The Run, and and Holding On are pop ballads.

Reviews seem to be either love it or hate it. It's either "What happened to Children 18:3?" or "The Best Punk Album Ever". I'm going to split the baby, metaphorically speaking. As I said, I really like the harmonies. Growing up in an era where rock meant Petra, Stryper, Rez and others that relied as much on harmony as volume, I love it. At the same time I wish It rocked a bit more. I'm going to give On the Run a final rating of 4.5 Emeralds. That will put it in contention for an Elpy (Platinum Vinyl Award) in Rock, and we shall she how it fares.

What are your thoughts? Do you think it stands up to their previous work, or is it a rare Tooth and Nail Misfire? Love it or hate it, we at The Night Beat want to hear from you. On the blog, on Twitter, and now on Facebook. Whatever the means, I am Awaiting Your Reply.

The Best Played Plans

It isn't exactly Robert Burns (Steinbeck just used a line for his novel) or even the magnitude of Ezekiel's Wheels within Wheels but Plans Within Plans, the latest release by Bremerton, Washington Punk Rockers MxPx (The name was supposed to be Magnified Plaid, but someone thought the periods on the small poster were an x So MxPx it became. Seriously, would you listen to a band named Magnified Plaid) is equally momentous. The album marks the bands return to the recording studio for an original album in five years (a Covers album On The Cover II came out in 2009).

I'm not a big punk rock fan, though I am a fan of several punk acts, most notably Bleach. Of course bleach was known for longer songs. Actually that's the biggest gripe I have with this album. It goes bye too fast. I could call it speed punk. I know that it isn't true, because the album is around 35 minutes long, but it goes by fast. Of the thirteen songs on the album, nine of them clock in at under three minutes in length and one of them, Screw Loose, clocks in at just over one minute in length.

The album opens with one of my favorite songs on the album, Playing Aces, and the line "You may have to bluff sometimes". Considering that my novel in progress has my heroine (at least one of them) as a lady gambler in the old west, I think this would be her song.

The album is a speed rush. If you are looking for a slow ballad breather, there isn't one. If you're an adrenaline junkie, this is your album.  Actually, The Times would probably be considered an MxPx slow song, but to nobody else.

The album grows on you, and the songs will get quickly stuck in your head. In a good way. The album is a memorable one in that it marks the bands Twenty Year mark. Not many CCM bands these days last twenty years, much less put out such good music after all that time. The norm is to start mailing it in and living on ones reputation. Not these guys.

I would be doing a disservice to my readers if I did not give you the opportunity to experience a bit of the band. I close my review with a live performance of Far Away, the ninth cut on the album.

I am going to give Plans Within Plans a final rating of 4.75 Emeralds this album is Pure Platinum Punk, though not Perfectly Pure, if only because it is so short. I want more MxPx. We shall see a lot more from this band as the Third Platinum Vinyl Awards takes shape. Check it out, let me know what your opinion of the band is. If you choose to buy, please do so at the link and help support The Night Beat. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.