"Forward Motion" by Thousand Foot Krutch, Thursday, March 25, 2021

The atmosphere is a casual restaurant. You're enjoying your time with your friends. The food just comes out and everyone is in conversation. The background music was something pop, like Ariana Grande, or something you didn't notice, but all of a sudden, Thousand Foot Krutch's "Welcome to the Masquerade" starts blaring on the speaker overhead. Just when you think you'd never hear your college Christian rock in a foreign country, it comes up at a rather inappropriate time, between talking about something that happened to you at work and the second bite of your taco. 

IF WE CAN HANG ON WE CAN CROSS THIS OCEAN. Thousand Foot Krutch has an album formula that they used especially from their fourth album to their sixth. The albums start heavy and have a few poppier songs in the middle. "Forward Motion" is one of the poppier moments on this album, almost as if it's a preview for some of lead singer Trevor McNevan's pop-punk project, FM Static. I think of driving back to college to this album. I took a beautiful scenic route one Sunday in autumn, maybe because 1-40 was closed due to a rock slide. I listened to "Forward Motion" driving along the Hiwassee River, windows down. The albums I listened to on the four-hour drive I made each month to college serve the music I really grew up to. No longer was I living under my parents' roof. I cleared my head from the term paper I had to write when I got back and just enjoyed the music.

LET'S KEEP IT MOVING IN FORWARD MOTION. Thousand Foot Kruch (TFK or Krutch) was a staple in high school and college. I loved their second album Phenomenon in tenth grade, which was a departure from the Limp Bizkit sounding Set It Off. When the band was touring with their fourth album supporting Skillet on one of the legs of the Comatose tour, I got to see them in Charlotte, for free.* I just put the asterisk because I feel like every time something is for free there should be an asterisk, and this applies to this case as well. My friend had gotten hooked up with someone who needed volunteers to sell band merch on the tour. Because this was the only time I did this, I don't know if this is normal or if this is a Christian band thing. So we came long before the concert and saw the sound check. A few volunteers were needed for the first opener, Decyfer Down. My friend and I scored selling Krutch merchandise, while a bunch of people sold Skillet merch. We got to see the concert, but we were so busy selling CDs and shirts, exchanging money, and dealing with fans. I'm very sorry to TFK if I miscalculated the price that night. It was so hard to keep track of everything. I didn't meet Skillet or TFK, but I did meet lead singer, Trevor McNevan's wife, who was asking which shirts were selling the most. 





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