Posts Tagged ‘New Altum’
I wrote this for my other blog – was posted yesterday – but felt it was life related as well, so i’m posting it again. sorry to those who read both blogs.
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So this weekend 2 major things happened. Well, major for me.
1. My Favorite Band – woldwide – The David Crowder Band announced that they are breaking up. This broke my heart. I have yet to see this band live. I’ve loved every album this band has put out, and was hoping there would be many more to come…but alas…
2. My Favorite South African Band won a SAMA. Happiness.
Now, with the breakup of DC*B, this leaves the top spot open. This post is gonna try to explain why VTW is now in the running for the top spot.
There is a satirical Christian blog called “Stuff Christians Like”. The title, if you didn’t already catch it, is taken from the blog “Stuff White People Like”. SCL is written by Jon Acuff and it lists some of the weird and crazy and funny things that we Christians sometimes do. The very first post was about how we Christians like to take secular pop culture trends and Christianise them, like turning “Got Milk?” into “Got Jesus?”, “Adidas” into “Add Jesus”, or even, you know, “Stuff White People Like” into “Stuff Christians Like”…ahem. Anyway, the problem with this trend is that we, as Chrsitians, believe that God is creative, that we are made in the image of God, which would make us innately creative. But when we take someone else’s idea and Christianise it, we are not being creative, we are stealing someone else’s ideas. If we really believe that we are created in God’s image, we would take this whole using our creativity thing more seriously, we would be forerunners in creativity.
All this to say, VTW won a SAMA for their album cover artwork. It is brilliant. It is creative. It is different. It is original. I’ve talked about that CD cover before on this blog. Anyway, members of the band, Rasheed Ferguson and Nicholas Smal, were the creatives behind the artwork. And they are Christian. They used their God-given creative abilities on this project, won an award for it, and gave all the glory to God for it. Love it!
Secondly, the media is, unfortunately, not very “normal christians” friendly. They love adding to hype when some crazy, fanatical, “christian” says something ridiculous “in the name of Christ” (rapture, Qur’an burning, etc). They like to paint Christians as these weird freaks/hypocrites (to be fair, we do give them a lot of amo). So, for a “Christian” band to come out and get positive media attention, based solely on their musicianship, and not some crazy weird hype, takes some serious talent I think. [the reason I used quotes on christian band is because, although the band members are outspokenly christian, "VTW don't bill themselves as an out-and-out 'Christian band', but their message is unequivocal and the lyrics address what seem to be personal histories of struggles with life and faith. They manage to serve this up without being heavy-handed, coming as they seem to be from a personal stance rather than being idealistic or preachy" quote taken from here ]
Which leads me to my third point: the first time i absolutely fell in love with this band was when they were performing a free show at the waterfront ampitheater and like halfway through the show, Rash started sharing about his faith and the hope which comes from his relationship with Christ, and like these two chicks who were sitting behind me realised for the first time that VTW (then New Altum) were a christian band and they were all “but they are so good though”. which made me sad and happy at the same time. VTW reaches those people who would usually not go to a christian concert. And they use the abilities God gave them to share the love of God and the hope their relationship with Christ has brought them without getting all preachy and offending people.
Ok, last point: amidst the craziness and ridiculousness of May 21st’s Judgement/Rapture Day jokes, VTW went on to 5FM and sang a song which talked about the second coming of Christ. That freakin takes guts/conviction of your beliefs. People around the world were making fun of the Rapture and Judgement Day and Chrsitianity as a whole, and here come these guys onto a national radio show and they sing about their belief in the second coming. I need to get those lyrics – was the first time hearing that song, but what I got was that they were were saying that the second coming is real but they also know that we don’t know the day or the hour, He will come like a thief in the night. And while we try to be prepared, we know that we don’t need to fear cos Jesus is on our side. He’s coming for us to lead us home. Our trials and tribulations on this earth only serve as a reminder to look to Him. We believe in the second coming, but, in Christ, we have security instead of fear.
holding on to their beliefs. loving Jesus.
that’s why i love versus the wolf
on christian musicians…
Posted on: January 4, 2011
…or bands making christian declarations or something…
so there are christian people out there who don’t listen to secular music. i don’t either…but by that i mean i don’t believe in secular music. i think it’s a myth. music can’t be sacred or secular – what i mean is, i don’t believe in distinguishing between the two.
case in point: i saw the kiffness music video on tv. i would have never guessed just from listening to that song or seeing the music video that those two guys are christian. the only way i know that they are is because at arise they said so, they give glory to God for their talents and they want to use them to bring him glory. that’s what makes a song “christian” i think, not that it says “Jesus” in it (cos there are songs out there that are supposedly christian but do not point people to Christ), but that it’s purpose is to bring glory to God.
but i can understand the other side of the coin. i would have never known the the kiffness where christian if they had not said so at arise…it could have just been another song. bringing me to the reason for this post – the whole “share the gospel always, use words when necessary” bit.
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so listening to bands like showandtell/theater/other-hardcore-bands, i wouldn’t be able to tell that they are christian. not because their lyrics aren’t “christian”, but because i can’t really hear the lyrics. too much screaming, and throat-grunts for me to distinguish words. at arise on the 31st, i was getting coffee and there was a guy sitting there with the coffee dudes offering help to any and everyone.
him: “hey volunteers, what are you guys doing now?”
us: “nothing right now”
him: “oh, if you need any help any time today just let know cos i really have nothing to do and i’m really bored and would love to help”.
he said the same thing to the coffee guys, the food guys, and the merch guys. and i just thought, wow dude is really keen to help. we ended up talking to him and he turned out to be a really cool guy, and also of the guys from theater. later that day, getting another cup of coffee, i overhead him talking to another guy about why he chose being a musician over going into “full-time” youth ministry. and i thought, dang, i wanna be that amped for the kingdom!
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during their set, the lead arrows chick gave this speech about how they’ve lost fans because christians say their music is less “repent or burn” and more…”secular”…just because it’s getting “serular radio airplay”. and she went on to explain that they were not any less christian than they were before (maybe more), they were not any less about glorifying God than they were before (maybe more), they just wanted their music to reach a wider group of people, to reach those people who would have otherwise turned their back to christ because they felt judged by the “repent or burn” music.
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and i’ve already touched on the John Ellis leaving tree63 controversy so i won’t go into that one again.
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the first time i heard new altum (now versus the wolf) i didn’t know they were a “christian band” cos i didn’t know the lyrics to their music. but then at some point during the show Rash shared that they were all christians and that their heart is to give glory to God and share the love of God and the hope it brings with others through their music. there were 2 chicks sitting behind me and the one goes “what? i didn’t know they were a christian band” and the other goes “but they are so good though”…which i thought was funny. but i loved the fact that the band was reaching those people who wouldn’t go to church or go to a christian concert and sharing Jesus with them. and that’s when i fell in love with that band. now i listen to new altum/vtw and totally hear the christian lyrics in there, but it’s written in a way that even a non-christian can listen to it and relate, and maybe thru that they will realise they also want that hope that the music speaks of.
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soemone once said to me that they think christian bands shouldn’t be singing about relationships and heart-breaks and money and other worldly things…i think christian bands MUST sing about those things, because at the end of the day, christian or not, we are all human beings and we all go thru relationships and heartbreaks and worry about money, but as christians we have a hope in those circumstances and that’s we need to share with the world – meet them at their need and share with them the hope we’ve found.
a treeless john ellis
Posted on: November 17, 2010
- In: likes | music | my life
- 3 Comments
i first heard about tree63 in 2003. that was the year i decided to stop listening to “secular” music (for about the third time since becoming a christian) and my radio was constantly dialed to CCFM (local christian music station). i really dug their stuff. and i found out they sang the wimpy song aka treasure (lol). then i found out they were south african. so i bought a bunch of their cd’s. and they quickly surpassed the OC Supertones as my favorite band.
anyway, i remember trying to go to one of their gigs when they were playing in cape town but i couldn’t go and i was so bummed…i think this was in ’05…i think. fast-forward to 2009 and i hear they are playing at assembly. now 2009 was the year i sealed my “groupie” status by attending as many live music stuff as i could. and this time i had friends who were also into live music watching so they were willing to tag along to stuff. so i got a couple of friends and we went to see tree63…except when we got there, it wasn’t tree63 playing…it was John Ellis and friends. i was kinda bummed to be honest. and i got more bummed when he said that he was leaving tree63.
but then he started the show and my bummed-ness was replaced by “on my word, john ellis is a living legend”-ness. he played the old tree stuff and the whole of assembly sang along at the top of our lungs. and he has amazing charisma on stage. and he makes playing seem like fun…like he’s enjoying himself up there. and he’s always interacting with the crowd. and the whole show was soooo much fun! and that’s when i became a john ellis fan. plus i’ve heard from certain people who know him that he’s a really humble and down-to-earth guy – i don’t know if he know that he’s John Ellis! (i’ll stick to “certain people” so it doesn’t sound like i’m name-dropping or pointing out the fact that I KNOW PEOPLE WHO KNOW JOHN ELLIS!)
then i saw that the end of the year he was playing at arisefest along with one of my favorite south african bands new altum (who are now called versus the wolf and have since becoming my favorite south african band since the release of their latest cd “uncovering faces”) and i was like “i have to be there!” anyway, i’ve written about that experience already so i won’t go into it again.
2010 saw john ellis release his solo cd “come out fighting” surrounded by a whole lot of controversy over his christianity (that sentences sounded like it was copied out of some magazine or something…eeewww). i was half amped for the cd and half scared. i really loved tree63, and i loved john ellis singing tree63 songs, i wasn’t sure about this new controversial, political, revolutionist john ellis. then i found out he’ll be playing here in stellenbosch to promote the cd and i was like – awesome, i get to hear the songs before deciding whether to buy the cd or not.
so i go on facebook and invite people to come with me to see john ellis in stellies (woo hoo it’s gonna be a vibe, come join me) and then the next day i find out that irvine will be supporting him on the cape town shows and i’m like “hells yeah that is happening!” cause i figure even if i don’t like john’s new stuff at least i get to hear irvine…again…for the second time in one week [side note: i also went to see them on tuesday (the 9th) doing an accoustic set with gravity wins again (gravity's back woo hoo!)] and they absolutely rocked. i think i love irvine more and more with every listen…yep, i definitely do!
anyway, so this past saturday (13th) i went to the purple turtle in cape town to check out john ellis’ new stuff – and mind = blown! i love the new stuff. it’s political and controvertial and jesus. feed the hungry, clothe the naked, water the thirsty, get off your fat ass and do something, “we did not fight in the revolution so that we can sit back and feed our already too large asses and go yes sir mr malema sir while watching the rich get richer and poor get poorer”, aluta continua kinda stuff. so now i seriously want that cd. i might have gone a little overboard with tweets while he was playing…i even had someone asking me where to get his cd…i should probably leave that stuff to him and his promoters.
and now i’m thinking about going to his Q&A Workshop for musicians and guitarists happening this tuesday (the 16th) – although i’m neither a musician or a guitarist (owning a guitar and teaching yourself a few songs doesn’t make you a guitarist just as singing in the worship team at church doesn’t make you a musician)…i just wanna pick his brain on the stuff he’s going through and dealing with and stuff – so maybe not the right time/place.
and i’m also thinking about going to see him again this saturday (20th) when he plays in stellies.
oh my flip, that man is a legend! check out his new stuff at http://www.johnellis.co.za
[update: i did not go the Q&A session...quite bummed...but now i'm very keen for the 20th]
Reads of the week – 2010 – 17
Posted on: May 15, 2010
blogs of the week:
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…Good Times, C’mon! (very Much Later – Jake Lee – @muchlater)
plucking dandelions and paying attention (Ragamuffin Soul – Carlos Whittaker – @loswhit)
busting, bussing and other fail words (TylerStanton.com – Tyler Stanton – @tylerstanton)
who made these rules (words&beards – Rasheed Ferguson – @rash_ferguson)
in between my feet (inspire.said.she – Cassan Ferguson – @cassanferguson)
what would it take (The Church of No People – Matt Appling – @MattTCoNP)
believing the 2-star reviews too often (Stuff Christians Like – Jon Acuff – @prodigaljohn)
do (Irresistibly Fish – Brett Anderson – @brettfisha)
quotes of the week:
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I started this blog because I think too much & speak too little. This is merely an outlet for me to share my thoughts, creativity & outlook on life. Hopefully through doing this, one person may have smiled, sprayed coffee through their nose or noticed my amazing beard!..& yes. It’s made from real man facial hair. – rash
site of the week:
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check out versus the wolf’s (fka New Altum) myspace page…so much awesomeness.
Free Worship
Posted on: March 16, 2010
so brett has this belief that worship events should be free. and in principle i agree, just dont know if it’s practically possible.
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march 4th some friends and i went to go see the Jesus Culture crew do their thing. i really dig their songs, and they are quite easy to worship with and stuff and well, i think i’ve mentioned my connection with the song “how he loves us”, sloppy wet kisses and all.
anyway, the day before that we had cell group – we are working through the pastoral letters and that day we just happened to be looking at chapter 5 which, among other things, deals with pastoral wages and stuff. we had a really good debate around that, whether we should pay for worship events, whether there should be paid worship leaders, whether the verse only pertains to pastors and not other church-empoyeed people, how that, if it does, relates to the israelites and the levites, etc.
one of the questions raised was whether it was ok from a Jesus follower point of view to pass by a homeless person to go buy a ticket to a worship event…but then in the same way, is it ok to pass by a homeless person to go buy a meal from some super expensive restaurant when it’s cheaper to cook at home…or is it ok to buy a 3 bedroom house when there are homeless people on the streets…or is it ok to buy a guitar when there are children who might go without food tonight?
another point raised was on the fact that these worship events, or these “christian celebrities” can end up being the point of worship…in other words, you end up worshipping them instead of letting them be vessels of worshipping God. for instance, why on earth do we have christian music awards? really? worship song of the year? what – God liked that one out of all the others this year? and who are glorifying when we tell the songwriter that they had the best worship song of the year?
my thoughts on the whole worship should be free thing are: worship is free. you can’t pay for worship, it’s impossible. you can use your money to worship something, but you can’t buy worship…it’s something that happends internally. but at the same time, if i’m willing to pay R300 on a Muse concert (which i totally am…so love that band…especially live) then I should be willing to pay it for a worship event. again, i’m not paying for the worship, i’m paying for the event. I’m paying for the venue, I’m paying so that the sound guy and the technicians can get paid, and for flights and accormodation for the band and whatever else…that’s where my money is going right? I can’t say i’m paying for worship because, even without the money, worship can happen…and even with the money worship can not happen.
And i totally get the whole who are we worshipping vibe. but it’s not kim walker’s fault. she’s here to worship with her brothers and sisters in africa. and well, songwriting and touring and all that is her job and according to Paul she should get paid for it. The problem is not with the musicians, or the worship event itself. the problem is when we focus on who’s leading the worship instead of who we are worshipping. the problem is when we make the worship leaders celebrities instead of fellow workers in the vineyard. the problem is that we take our eyes off the ONLY one who’s truly deserving of our worship…Christ himself.
Having said that, I must admit that I’m a huge fan of the David Croder*Band and Tree 63 and New Altum and a few other bands out there. So not excluding myself from the whole celebratising of worship leaders. For instance, a couple of years ago the Passion crew (Louie Giglio et al) were doing a world tour with a cape town stop. i saw DC*B on the lineup and bought a ticket immediately. but then they pulled out…and I was really sad for a moment…and that got me thinking, am i going to the passion conference to hear DC*B or to worship God? And once that was resolved I had an awesome time worshipping God with 6000 other young people. Again same thing happened with New Altum and Tree 63 at Arise Fest. And each time God keeps reminding me where the focus should be.
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Another stewardship goal: be a good steward of my yearning to worship. where am I laying my worship? whom am I putting before God? who/what do I worship instead of Him?
Dec ’09 – Jan 10 holidays
Posted on: January 19, 2010
- In: likes | music | my life
- Leave a Comment
Dec ’09 – Jan 10 holidays
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Holidays started at 5pm on December 22nd – last day of work for 2009. On the 23rd I moved my stuff out of my flat, but didn’t have keys to my new flat yet so I stashed my stuff in the Anderson’s garage…yay for church being church! then my sister and i boarded a bus and drove 12 hours to Thaba Nchu in the Free State to my grandmothers house, which is where i grew up. so many childhood memories…and yet my small little town keeps growing and i barely recognise some of the places anymore…guess that’s what happens when you don’t go home in 5 years. we spent Christmas in the Free State surrounded by my grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc…then on the 29th we boarded the bus again and headed to Howick, Kwa-Zulu Natal for “Arise Fest”. It should have been an 8 hr journey, but because of delays ended up being 14 hrs…oh, and actually the bus only took us as far as Peitermaritzburg (mouthful) and then my friend Katie picked us up from there and we went with her to Howick.
i generally don’t celebrate new year’s day/eve/whatever…for me it’s just another day/eve/whatever. i was born on april 4th, therefore for me the year ends on the the 3rd and starts on the 4th…of April, that is. i actually just prefer sleeping on the 31st rather than doing the whole count-down thing. i don’t mind going out on that night…but then it’s like a normal going out night. well, this year Arise Fest – a christian music festival – was organised from Dec 30 to Jan 1st so I decided to go because i’m a live music junkie – turned out to be the best thing i could have done. i was introduced to much new music…and they were all south african musicians/bands. anyway, i think i’m gonna take a break from buying international music and get more acquainted with the local scene.
as i said, it was a christian music festival so most of the bands i’d never even heard of…no christian music stations in my town…and they are local so they don’t get any airplay on TBN. i decided to go cos John Ellis (formally of Tree63) and New Altum (one of my favorite bands right now) were playing, but i was genuinely and pleasantly surprised by all the talent that i encountered. i’ll list the bands at the end of this post. Arise Fest was organised by Arise Ministries who apparently do a lot of youth events in KZN…check them out if you live in that area. anyway, so we brought 2010 in with worship, and i hope to daily live in worship till there are no more calendars to buy.
on Jan 1st we went with Katie back to her house for breakfast and oh my stomach! i usually don’t eat breakfast, but on that day i ate! such a feast! thank you so much to the Wirth’s for their hospitality and the lifts from the bus station to howick, and back again. again with church being church…love!
ok so noon’ish we boarded the bus once more and headed back to Free State. got there in the evening, went straight to bed and woke up to a very rainy, wet morning so stayed indoors the whole day. the next day – the 3rd – we loaded up the car and began our 9 hr trip to Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. I then spent the next few days either sleeping, reading, or on the beach watching surfers do their thing. was super awesome. i have to say, Summerstrand beach in PE has sealed it’s place as my favorite beach i’ve been to so far (side note: summer strand beach? summer – english; strand – afrikaans for beach; summerbeach beach? and why the double language? anywho…) the highlight of PE though, has to be when I got to watch my cousin and his band (New Afro Teens) open for an international artist – Puff Johnson, whom I don’t know but apparently she’s big on the R & B scene…but yea, my cuz (Melikhaya) has a VOICE!!! Talent in that kid! Anyway, early on the morning of the 10th of Jan my mom and I packed up our bags, said goodbye to my dad, sister and brother and headed back to the Western Cape, she to Cape Town, I to Stellenbosch. another 9 hr trip – of which I drove 6 hrs. I then moved some of my stuff into the new flat, met my new flatmates and…well, the rest – as they say – is chemistry.
List of Bands from Arise Fest
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the more church-worshippy vibes
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John Ellis (love love love John Ellis live, he makes being on stage look fun…but then he dissed me and my sister in front of hundreds of people – not cool, Johnny, not cool)
5 Fold(have heard Brad Klynsmith’s solo stuff before and still love “let me found…” and “Majesty”)
Hilton Greig Band
Harbourlight (bagged me a new autographed cd and they provided me with a soundtrack to my drive from PE to Stell)
Tomfoolish
Tracing Sunday (lead singer/guitarist is also lead for Arise Band and was main organiser for the festival if i’m not mistaken)
Arise Band (played us into the new year which was awesome. i would have been bummed if they had stopped to do the countdown cos…worshipping is so much more yay than changing a calendar!)
the more hardcore stuff
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New Altum (bagged me a pin…and a future_glasses tank – read about future_glasses here)
Truth Revealed
Show and Tell (the event managers had to stop their set cos things got kinda out of hand in the mosh pit and things were being thrown and hecticness)
for the less hardcore rock lovers among us
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Coals of Juniper (instrumental)
Scarlet Hill
the Ranks (bagged me a new t-shirt)
jersey
for the dancing fools
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superlative
Cr8 (dj)
and the hip-hoppers
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Remix’d
The accoustic sessions:
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Arlyn Culwick (accompanied by Stephen Wirth) – Arlyn’s voice is UH-MAZING!!! Wow! Also, got a cd of him covering Donovan’s “Young but growing”.
Miles – his guitaring left me speechless…oh my wowness!!!
Molly And I – who were also the Ranks, with lead/drummer switching and bassist and keyboardist switching…classic.
Crossingpoint (another hardcore one) was on the line-up but ended up not playing because the first night things went on way past the planned stopping time (i heard some people from another camp next to us came and complained about the noise and the lateness)…but it’s all good cos they sent me a tweet and apologised for not playing (shweeet!!!)
- Did I leave out anyone?
Anyway, I tweeted about Arise as much as I could and took as many pics as I could before the battery on my phone gave out on me so if you’re on twitter search for #arisefest. I also posted a few pics on my flickr page.
One Remaining Breath
Posted on: August 17, 2009
- In: likes | lyrics | NaBloPoMo
- Leave a Comment
I actually meant to post a different song on here today but then on Saturday I went to check out a performance by this band and fell in love with them again…the passion in their music and the belief in what they are saying…I was blown away.
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Title: One Remaining Breath
Artist: New Altum
Album: Grace Forbids a Hopeless Case
Year: 2008
He felt the weight of a thousand waves crashing overhead
His heart was right but body so frail
The shore had called his name
NO, not this time
NO, not ever
The oceans voice rang clear
The deafening silent depths
As water filled his lungs
He loses breath
With nothing left to hold
He clutches to his chest
With one remaining beat
And one remaining breath
A spark has been lit
In his eyes a grain of hope
As he takes the line I cast
Faith will stir in him to breathe
The breath of trust
He felt the weight of a thousand waves crashing overhead
His heart was right but body so frail
The shore had called his name
NO, not this time
NO, not ever
The heat of the fire will burn
The water off his chest
The dryness of his tears
And calmness of his breath
Trust will conquer
He held his head up high
And rose above the see
With fire in his eyes
A spark has been lit
In his eyes a grain of hope
As he takes the line I cast
Faith will stir in him to breathe
The breath of trust
[this is your chance to be part of something right now]
He will rise tonight
He will rise above the sea
With one remaining breath
One remaining God
He will rise, with his head held high.
