Copious Notes

Phil Danyew. Photo by Aaron Redfield | Sparrow Records.

Review:

Future of Forestry | Travel

Danyew | Danyew

Christian pop so often divides into 3:05 teen pop, AC worship or blistering metalcore, it’s easy to get giddy when some terrific, thoughtful composition glides across the desk.

Give us two, and it starts to feel like Christmas.

Like the Yuletide season, the summer yielded a expected treat and surprise, both of which prove great things can come in small packages — in this case, EPs.

First, the surprise was Danyew, a new artist appropriately paired with David Crowder Band and Seabird for a fall tour.

The six-song, self-titled EP is the product of multi-instrumentalist Phil Danyew. Cleary, he’s trying on several ideas here in a debut that includes things like the jaunty Turnstile. But the tracks that make the biggest impressions are ones like Closer We Are and Beautiful King that build into airy acoustic-electric soundscapes.

With his sound, Danyew is playing in a park Eric Owyoung’s Future of Forestry has already been in for a while — and his old band, Something Like Silas, occupied before.

Forestry’s latest effort, the six-song Travel, finds the always adventurous Owyoung exploring new territories for his work such as the acoustic-based Traveler’s Song or gritty This Hour, which trades in reverb for distortion. The familiar synthesized tone is back with Colors in Array, and the overall package shows Owyoung’s skill as a song crafter and, dare we say, orchestrator.

The most satisfying thing about both of these short discs is they are the expressions of artists: something the marketplace does not always accommodate and something that is entirely appropriate in the context of worship.

CCM coming back, sort of: One of the worst decisions in the history of contemporary Christian music is being reversed, kind of. CCM Magazine is coming back as a quarterly digital magazine.  In 2008, the print edition of CCM ceased publication just short of three complete decades of publication. The move was tantamount to Rolling Stone closing up shop. Love them or hate them, both are the publications of record in their respective genres of music — or, in the case of CCM, we must say, “were.” Getting a CCM cover was a big deal for an up-and-coming band, and saved together in a rack, the magazine was a running chronicle of the genre. The idea was to continue with a website, but CCMmagazine.com has been poor and confusing at best. Lately, I have been following Christian music news through other sources such as Christianity Today’s excellent Christian Music Today website.

Earlier this year, CCM launched a prototype of the digital magazine to good reviews, so it is continuing on. The summer issue has Leeland on the cover and its 34 “pages” look much like the old print edition with a dose of Harry Potter’s Daily Prophet. The Leeland story, for instance, features a video of the band performing tunes from its forthcoming album, and there are similar touches throughout.

Does it replace the print edition? No. Will it be a worthy stand in? Time will tell, and it will be largely dependent on whether editor Lindsay Williams and her staff can put together a publication people eagerly anticipate because it’s relevant, useful and compelling, as well as cool. I hope they pull it off, because Christian pop needs a vital CCM.

Speaking of Christian Music Today, check out this excellent article on social justice in Christian music and how to keep it from just being a passing fad.

Ichthus has questions: The Ichthus Festival just put out a survey asking what folks thought of the festival this year and who they want to see at next year’s event. If you did not go this year, you can still answer questions about next year’s event.

The members of Too Many Drummers include multi-instrumentalist Josh Dahm, lead singer and guitarist David Abbott and drummer Collin Berner. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Too Many Drummers likes to play coffee shops, but there is one little problem: the drums.

“One of the challenges we have is Collin and I like to play loud - too loud for coffee shops,” lead singer and guitarist David Abbott says of himself and the band’s drummer, Collin Berner. “There’s this thing about drummers: They kind of set the ceiling for a band’s sound, so however loud he plays, we all have to be that loud to be heard.”

Bassist Erik Rishel performs with Too Many Drummers on the opening day of the 40th annual Ichthus Festival.

And when you’re in a relatively small room like a coffee shop, and it starts getting loud, “That’s no fun for anyone,” multi-instrumentalist Josh Dahm says.

Fortunately for the seemingly aptly-named band, small rooms have not been a big issue lately.

Too Many Drummers recently spent a few days playing at the Ichthus Festival in Wilmore. The opening day, the group was one of nine acts in the Ascenxion Scout Competition. Then, on the festival’s closing day, the band took the main stage as a reward for winning another competition prior to Ichthus.

July 11, a month in the spotlight will continue for Too Many Drummers as the group opens for Sanctus Real and Tenth Avenue North at the Summer Slam concert at Winchester’s George Rogers Clark High School.

For the band, events like Ichthus and Summer Slam are chances to get in front of audiences that otherwise might not hear them, or anyone like them.

The men in Too Many Drummers describe their sound as, “melodic art rock.”

To a newcomer, it can sound kind of jam-band oriented, as they launch into things like the Reckless Love Trilogy, which the group played at the Ascenxion competition.

But, the band members point out, most of TMD’s music is written, much of it by Dahm, a classically-trained musician who studied at Asbury College and is now the music director at Mt. Freedom Baptist Church in Wilmore.

The group started at Asbury, but is by no means a college band. Abbott and Dahm initially got together at Asbury in 2002, played together for a while, and then reunited years later.

“We were playing coffee shops and praying for a bass player and a drummer,” Abbott says.

They met Berner to form a trio in January 2008. With the addition of bassist Erik Rishel, an old Asbury friend, in the spring, Too Many Drummers’ current lineup was complete.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sterling talks to the crowd at the main stage before Disciple's set Thursday. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

When Sterling became an on-air personality at Air1 last year, she got a pass to some of the biggest Christian music festivals in the United States.

“I did Rock the Desert, The Rage in Phoenix, Creation and Spirit West Coast,” she said, naming a few of a half dozen she hit last year. “And they’re all wonderful festivals.

Sterling gets her picture taken with Delirious' Martin Smith after an on-air interview.

“But there’s something about the heart of this festival and the people that put it together with the communion and the worship that is so incredible,” she said, sitting on the porch swing at the cabin in the middle of the camp ground at the Ichthus Festival. “It’s so much more than just the bands. It’s so much more than all the stages and the youth tent and the cool stuff that they give away. It’s all about Jesus and bringing people back to that relationship and growing that. That’s what’s so incredible.”

Her first trip to Ichthus was last year, and she liked it so much, she told her Air1 bosses it was the only festival she absolutely wanted to return to this year.

At the fest, she split her time between introducing bands on the main stage and wandering around the other stages trying to catch new bands — Esterlyn was a favorite this year.

Pretty good gig for a woman whose career started at age 17, when she choked attempting to do a news report at a rural Iowa station.

“I just froze,” she said. “I thought, ‘That’s the beginning of my radio career. I’m never going to make it.”

Now, as a national radio personality, she loves the opportunity to come to events where she can actually meet fans. Left without a golf-cart ride from the cabin in the camp ground back to back stage, she had no qualms about hoofing it back and talking to listeners along the way.

“Yesterday, I got to sign a girl’s leg, and she had 147 signatures covering her legs,” Sterling said. “It was incredible.”

And even national radio personalities can get star struck. She gets a bit giggly greeting Delirious frontman Martin Smith, and marvels at Skillet’s performances.

“It’s an honor to introduce these bands, because they are so amazing,” Sterling said. “I’ll be here every year, God willing.”

Ichthus Festival fans finally got a warm, sunny day June 13, to play, pack up and enjoy a few final shows. Among the closing acts were Israel Houghton and New Breed and Delirious.

Israel Houghton played an abbreviated set at Ichthus. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Israel Houghton noted from the stage at Ichthus Saturday night that his set had to be cut short due to time constraints. Somewhere in the late afternoon Saturday, the event fell well behind schedule.

Darkness, which had fallen during the second to last act on Thursday and Friday nights, was descending as Quest Community Church pastor Pete Hise was wraping up his keynote address, and headliner Delirious didn’t hit the stage until 11:22 p.m., more than a full hour after the hand’s scheduled start time.

Before Delirious’ set, fans near the front of the stage amused themselves chanting, “We love Jesus, yes we do. We love Jesus, how about you?” over a barrier that divides the amphitheater in front of the stage.

Delirious frontman Martin Smith during the megaphone portion of Solid Rock.

“It’s late,” Delirious frontman, Martin Smith yelled as the natily-attired band took the stage, “but we’re up for it if you are.”

With an approving cheer, Delirious plowed into its final Kentucky concert with classics such as Rain Down and Majesty.

As Saturday turned into Sunday, Smith was reading scripture in the midst of performing History Maker, which may be good, because a lot of the people in the amphitheater probably won’t be making services this morning.

Quest Community Church Pastor Pete Hise leads communion Saturday afternoon at Ichthus. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

A local church got another moment — or several moments, we should say — in the spotlight when Quest Community Church pastor Pete Hise came out to lead communion and deliver the evening’s keynote message.

Hise brought out a cross and huge nails to illustrate the scale of the crucifixion, and encouraged people in the congregation to see The Passion of the Christ, though he noted it only hinted at the brutality of crucifixon. When it came time to partake of the elements, Hise had everyone partake on the count of three, an interesting expression of unity for the large and diverse group of denominations and churches represented at Ichthus.

Cheyenne Taylor in her big moment at Ichthus. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Cheyenne Taylor’s Freedom Church youth group from Owassa, Okla., nearly went to a different event from Ichthus.

But they came, and it was good for Cheyenne, because she won a singing competition held during the festival that put her on the main stage to sing Amazing Grace Saturday afternoon, backed up by none other than Phil Keaggy and the Ascenxion Band.

“It was the most surreal experience, stepping out and seeing the crowd,” said Taylor, 17, who hopes to pursue a career in music. “It was the experience of a lifetime.”

A pair of backup singers with the 16-member Ascenxion Band. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

TobyMac wasn’t booked for this year’s Ichthus Festival, but around the time the Ascenxion Band took the stage Saturday afternoon, the festival started feeling like Diverse City, the idyllic community Toby named his band and one of his albums after.

Christian music and guitar legend Phil Keaggy performed with Ascenxion.

This year’s Ascenxion Band put 16 musicians on stage, and only two of them were white, one being guitar legend Phil Keaggy.

That and the very gospel, funk-flavored set Ascenxion delivered didn’t seem to bother the mostly white audience that grooved along to familiar and unfamiliar music, including the Bob Marley classic Exodus.

Ascenxion leader Shake Anderson even went into the crowd once, saying he wanted to meet his people as he walked along the center thrust aisle shaking hands.

That flavor continued after worship when Israel Houghton took the stage with his band New Breed. Houghton talked with us last week about breaking down barriers and getting people over any idea Christian music or people should be segregated. He talked about the quote that says Sunday morning is the most segregtaed time of the week and noted maybe churches are starting to move away from that. Maybe Christian Music Festivals are too.

Josh Robieson rocks the bagpipes, wearing a kilt, of course. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Flatfoot 56 are on stage, they are rocking out, and Josh Robieson whips out the bagpipes. Yes, a distinct part of the band’s post-punk sound is Robieson’s mandolin and bagpipe chops, which was good for a rousing rendition of Amazing Grace.

Talk about old church meeting the new.

Festivalgoers stop on the misting bridge Saturday afternoon to cool off. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

It is definitely a day to put on some sunscreen before wandering Ichthus, unless you want to take up refuge at the Edge Stage, where I am currently watching Ft. Wayne’s Attaboy rock.

Pam Severson of Madisonville, Ind., launches a bean bag in a game of cornhole, Saturday.

Taking a big ol’ walk through the camp, it seemed there was a combination of midafternoon lull and preparing for the end of the fest on the grounds.

Matt Gagle of Toledo was wrestling down one of those collapsable gazebos saying despite some scary moments Thursday morning, he had a great first Ichthus.

A few campsites over, Amara Checchio, 17, and Stephanie Gring, 18, were entertaing their John Wesley United Methodist Church bretheren with their guitars and their voices.

One of the hidden gems of Ichthus has to be the misting bridge in the campsite, where people can take a cool break from the heat.

Like I said, it’s Ichthus, and guess what, it’s warm and sunny.