Saturday, July 28, 2012

Project 86 - Wait for the Siren, album review


Critically acclaimed Project 86 has produced their stylistically broadest work for their eighth studio release, Wait for the Siren.  The new album is scheduled for release August 21, 2012.

The relatively recent departure of the uber-talented Steve Dail and Randy Torres left vocalist Andrew Schwab on his own. Their roles have been aptly, while perhaps not as capably filled, by newcomers, Scott Davis - drums, Dustin Lowry - guitar and Mikee "Norman" Williams handling bass.

Promotional material for Wait for the Siren stated that this "finds the band returning to their roots". This doesn't seem to be referring to their  musical roots, but perhaps their ancestral background. This album sounds like no previous P86 album.

A large number of new influences and sounds are brought out on Wait for the Siren. Uilleann pipes and mandolin have been added to the P86 mix providing a Celtic twist to a number of tracks. This is most noticeable on "Fall, Goliath, Fall", "Ghosts of Easter Rising" and the instrumental title track "Wait for the Siren".

Wait for the Siren delivers the broadest range of music ever produced by P86. The softest track ever recorded by the band is the ballad "Blood Moon". It also offers up one of their hardest tracks ever with "SOTS".

Wait for the Siren included a plethora of guest talent in the studio. Andrew Welch (Disciple), Blake Martin (A Plea for Purging), Rocky Gray (Evanescence), Cody Driggers (The Wedding), Bruce Fitzhugh (Living Sacrifice) and Brian “Head” Welch (Korn, Love and Death).

When I first heard the 13 track album I had mixed feelings. Initially my thoughts were "this isn't Project 86". After numerous listens my exuberance has grown for the new sounds found on Wait for the Siren. After 16 years producing music, P86 is willing to shake both themselves and their fans up with a vibrant, passionate, and reinvented Project 86.

Friday, July 27, 2012

The Antidote - Show 42 - Newworldson


A few weeks back I met up with Newworldson. This Niagara region based band offers up an eclectic mix of styles, using a blend of soul, pop, reggae, gospel and jazz, but the particular emphasis of Newworldson's music is soul. Joel Parisien, keyboardist and lead vocalist of Newworldson, spent some time with The Antidote to share his thoughts on the effectiveness of Christian music in today's culture.  Check out this episode of The Antidote.

Listen to or download The Antidote featuring Newworldson


Live stream The Antidote Wednesday's from 9 - 10  EST here.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Cornerstone Memories

I returned from the Cornerstone festival after a two day drive. I have to admit that it was nice to be in my own bed in air conditioned comfort and a private washroom only steps away.  This post is all about the special moments I had at Cornerstone. This list isn't in any particular order, just reminiscences.
Great moments:
  • Meeting up with old friends from Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk and Kiros.
  • Late night talks with Mike from Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk, who crashed in my tent trailer for a few nights instead of sharing a tent with his band mates
  • Cooling off with an ice coffee from the on site Chelsea Cafe
  • Making new friends: Dave the hitchhiker from Florida, Chris from The Scurvies, Dave and all the band members from The Skies Revolt, David of CKCU 93.1 FM Ottawa, Richard a professor of  philosophy and apologetics at Southern Evangelical Seminary, all of the members of Those Know-It-Alls & Their Mighty Causes, and so many others whose names I can't recall.
  • The in depth conversations with Neph and Matt of Photoside Cafe and the band members of La De Les
  • All of the bands that put up with my inane interview questions and answered with such alacrity: Squad Five-O, La De Les, The Kings Kids, Ilia, Photoside Cafe, Kiros, The Scurvies, and Ravenhill
  • Enjoying my twice a day freezie from the Rotary club booth
  • Listening to Mike Sales and Leanor Ortega Till's seminars on Scum of the Earth Church
  • The incredible bargains to be found on CD's at the radrockers.com booth
  • The First Baptist Church of Busnhell, Illinois who offered free internet access and a wonderfully air-conditioned building to relax in. Allowing me to use their phone. Best of all, homemade ice cream!
  • The Free Ramen tent. A great place to find a comfy chair, shade, company, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and, of course, ramen noodles. All for free.  Thanks to the friendly bunch who set this up!
  • The ladies at the Cornerstone office who prayed for the return of my lost wallet. Praise report: it was found!
  • Finally being able to meet in person, artists and industry people I've only been in contact with by phone or email: Michael Pritzl of The Violet Burning, Dave Prindle of The Skies Revolt, Josh of  Ravenhill, Doug Van Pelt of HM magazine
  • Movie viewing and intelligent discussion of such at the Imaginarium
  • Best of all, the amazing concerts by tremendously talented bands 
Lauren Mann & the Fairly Odd Folk
The blessing of free ramen
Free internet and homemade ice cream at the First Baptist Church
Chris of The Scurvies after his annual shave at Cornerstone
Beach wear attire for the Flatfoot 56 concert
Must Build Jacuzzi on stage
Jeremy and Hammer of LM&TFOF after Flatfoot's set

Things I'm not missing:
  • Porta-potties. I know they were clean and didn't stink, but using one during a heat wave is near the bottom of my fun thing to do list
  • Trying to find shade under the blazing sun
  • Clouds of dust from the dry roads
  • Having to pre-pay for gas at American gas stations who don't know how to handle Canadian credit cards
  • Temperatures so warm that you don't want to eat a thing
  • The 15 hour drive to get to Cornerstone
  • Having only 2 - 5 hours of sleep per night because there are so many things to do.
125 degree porta-potties
This shirt said it all about the weather
The only negative aspect of Cornerstone is wanting (or needing) to be in three places at the same time. Now for a list of the things I never had time to do:
  • Falling asleep in the tent trailer instead of seeing Norma Jean perform
  • Not being able to watch the series of Batman movies that  ranged from the era of the campy TV show to The Dark Knight
  • Missing The Skies Revolt second show
  • Not seeing The Burial perform with an operating microphone
  • The burning of the Viking ship (email me if you want more details of why this took place)

The Antidote - Show 41 - Squad Five-O / Cornerstone Eulogy

The final Cornerstone festival was quite and experience and I'm glad that I had a chance to experience it. This episode of The Antidote pays tribute to the Cornerstone festival and airs songs by a number of the artist who performed there.

A big treat with attending Cornerstone was the chance to speak with John and Jeff of Squad Five-O.  This great ska/punk/rock band came back to perform at Cornerstone. Listen in to the show and the interview with Squad Five-O.


Listen to or download The Antidote featuring Squad Five-O and a Cornerstone Eulogy


Live stream The Antidote Wednesday's from 9 - 10  EST here.



Sunday, July 15, 2012

A Cornerstone Eulogy

One of the concert venues on the Cornerstone grounds
Last week I returned from the Cornerstone music festival in southern Illinois. This annual event has been held each year since it's debut in 1984. The festival had it's roots in the hippie Jesus movement of the early '70's.  While most of the hippie movement died as the decades moved on, Jesus People USA flourished and carried the message of Christ to the counter-culture masses and also marginalized Christians. This force formed the basis of what would became "Christian rock". Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, Daniel Amos, Steve Taylor, and their contemporaries opened the door for Christian performers who used their music to further the word of Christ.

Drummer reminds himself who the music is for
Cornerstone served a number of purposes.  It provided an outlet for Christian artists who didn't fit the typical CCM mold, where the value of a song was determined by how many times a minute the name "Jesus" (JPM's) could be heard in the lyrics. The festival welcomed artists whose songs and musical styles broke away from Christian societal norms. These were musicians who may not have been invited to perform at/or even attend many traditional churches of the day. Cornerstone also served as a teaching and training ground for the Christian attendees who would return to their towns and cities to use the skills they had learned to reach the disenfranchised in their communities.  Topics have ranged from ministry to the gay community, street people, goths, art, sex, relationships, movie discussions and many others. No topic ever seemed to be inappropriate.



Capacity crowd at one of the concert tents
Unknown and up and coming Christian bands made the trek to Cornerstone.  The festival was attended by label executives looking for new talent. Many or most of the artists who performed would not be considered mainstream radio friendly. They offered their own unique and challenging styles to Cornerstone participants. It gave the bands a chance to reach a broader market by being exposed to upwards of 30,000 people who would make it to Cornerstone.

In addition to the music and teaching seminars, the Cornerstone public could also attend both movie and arts festival held at the same time at the Cornerstone farm. It was often said that people heading to Cornerstone would want to clone themselves.  With programs starting at 8 am and headline artists not taking the stage until past midnight


Cornerstone remained apolitical over the decades of the festival.  George W. Bush, on his 2004 re-election campaign wished to address the Cornerstone crowd. he was refused. The Cornerstone agenda is simple and defined: To further Christ's Kingdom.

Attire for Flatfoot 56's "Beach Party" themed show
The amazing aspect of Cornerstone is the sense of community.  All are welcomed, none are looked down upon. From my own perspective, being in the gray haired age group, I was delighted in the acceptance given to me by any and all of the people that I met at Cornerstone. This is the kind of acceptance and love that each of us should all give to strangers.

This year marked the final year of Cornerstone. To quote from the event organizers:
In 2012, we'll be celebrating one final Cornerstone Festival together. Based on a range of factors – including changes in the market and a difficult economy – the timing seems right. This was obviously a hard decision, wrestled with over years and particularly over recent months. But with the decision made, we have the opportunity to come together one last time and bring to a happy, grateful – if tearful – close to this chapter of our lives.
In the days ahead we'll be making some changes to the lineup and schedule that reflect an adjusted budget. We hope to make this a special gathering to remember, to share stories and encourage one another with the vision of Cornerstone in ways that look back and ahead toward new things God is doing. Along with activities like art workshops, kids' programs, seminars, games, movies – and MUSIC, of course – Cornerstone 2012 promises to be a time of thankful reflection and sharing among people who've walked this significant part of their life's journey together.
Band self-promotion is the norm
Most of you know that Cornerstone Festival grew out of a labor of love from our church and community, Jesus People USA. The festival emerged from JPUSA's Cornerstone magazine and Resurrection Band. Our community continues to operate one of Chicago's largest homeless shelters, also bearing the name Cornerstone. We remain confident in God's faithfulness and grace to lead us on to new chapters in our ongoing journey.
Thanks again to everyone who's been a part of this amazing journey with us! What a privilege it's been. Most of all, thanks to Jesus: the stone rejected that became the true Cornerstone. Amen!
Will underground Christian recording artists be able to find another event such as Cornerstone? My thought is that may be unlikely. Will both the Christians living on the fringe of the organized church and mainstream Christians be able to meet again in such an enclave? Yes, when we meet again in Christ's Kingdom. Let's pray that we can carry the message each of us received from Christ and the welcoming body of believers at Cornerstone into our own communities.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

The Antidote - Show 40 - Retro Show

This was my first few days back from the Cornerstone Festival in Illinois. I had roughed out this show prior to leaving for the festival. I knew I would have a very limited amount of time to prepare before going on air Wednesday night. The intention of this installment of The Antidote is to illustrate the role early Christian rock artists took to make their music heard to both the Christian and non-Christian masses.

Portions of interviews with some of the pioneers of rock included in this broadcast are Randy Stonehill, Daniel Band, and Steve Taylor. Please excuse the audio quality of the Daniel Band interview. I had recorded my conversation with Dan McCabe, intending only to transcribe it for a proposed magazine article.

Listen to or download some truly great music by excellent artists from the early days of Christian rock.


Live stream The Antidote Wednesday's from 9 - 10  EST here.

The Antidote - Show 39 - Cornerstone

I was off into the burning heat of Southern Illinois last week, but I couldn't let down the regular listeners to The Antidote.  I'd prepared a prerecorded show that was aired as I was off listening to a huge number of somewhat underground Christian bands.  When I mentioned about the heat, it was no joke. 40 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit)  with a humidex reaching the low 50"s (120 Fahrenheit) each and every day. Even some highway pavement buckled. It was worth the trials I encountered!

This prerecorded show includes many of the artists I saw at Cornerstone. Hopefully this will make it up to those music fans who were unable to attend what was to be the very last Cornerstone festival.

Listen to or download this week's show, Cornerstone- The Soundtrack

Live stream The Antidote Wednesday's from 9 - 10  EST here.