NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

Tooth & Nail Records became a front-runner in the race for general-market-ready Christian Rock. Feeding bands like  Anberlin , Mae , and The Almost  to major labels and supporting Underoath as they shaped the world of metalcore, the label defined a generation of Christian music. No longer were rock festivals giving Christian Rock the stink eye. But as the label’s marketing expanded to the general market, some complained that the message of the bands had been watered down. The name of Jesus rarely appeared in lyrics printed in the Ryan Clark-illustrated flyleaf in the crystal jewel case. That’s where Flicker Records and ForeFront Records came in, offering bands with distinctly Christian lyrics. That's where we meet ForeFront Records' This Beautiful Republic. DOUBT HAS NEVER PROVEN ANYTHING. This Beautiful Republic formed in 2004 when alumni of Toledo Christian Schools in Toledo, Ohio joined California drummer Cameron Toews. After the band’s lead singer left the band, energ

Like  Further Seems Forever ,  The Juliana Theory  was legendary in the early pop-punk/emo scene. Also like FSF, The Juliana Theory has ties to hardcore. Lead singer  Brett Detar  started as the guitarist for Christian metal pioneers  Zao , however,  as he explains on Theory's episode of Labeled,   the band was perfectly content listening to  Third Eye Blind  on the radio in the van while out on tour. When Theory formed, they signed with  Tooth & Nail Records  but opted not to be marketed to the Christian Rock format. This decision both helped and hurt their career. On the one hand, they toured with other Tooth & Nail artists and performed at Cornerstone, on the other hand, their initial record sales were quite low.  IT IS GETTING BETTER NOW.  Unlike Further Seems Forever, I don't have a deep-seated nostalgia for The Juliana Theory. I heard they were a band name, but I wasn't exposed to their music until college after the band had broken up. While some of their musi

Folklore   is an album without a radio single, according to Taylor Swift . However, the music industry, even with its changes in practices over the last decade and over the course of the pandemic, is still the music industry. And when one of the biggest pop stars releases an album, there better be a single to release. But what song? There was a lot of great music released and produced during lockdown. Charlie XCX , Lady Gaga , and The Weeknd had us dancing in our underwear in the living room with our old cereal bowls stacked up on the arm table (did I just confess something?). Travis Barker produced a shit-ton of music, changing rap into rock. There were a ton of lockdown concerts. For Taylor Swift, lockdown was all about reinventing herself by going back to the basics.  CHASE TWO GIRLS, LOSE THE ONE. Like when Stephen Christian  at a Cornerstone set jokingly called " Like Steps in a Dance " was the "radio hit" from Anchor & Braille 's Felt , an album that

Red 's debut album, End of Silence , comes in the middle of a maximalist orchestral rock era on the alternative/active rock stations. The lead single, " Breathe Into Me " is a heavily produced single that involves screaming, a Middle-eastern sounding guitar solo, and a string section that sounds like it's being tuned in on an FM radio. As novel as that sounds, a DJ today might be able to recreate that sound if he picked up a hundred other active rock records from 2003-2009. The sound effects and heavy guitars could be found on any Linkin Park record, the strings on an Evanescence record, the screaming on almost any other record. But in 2006, Red's End of Silence was a fun, aggressive radio-rock record, and I had every hope that they would go on to have a career of unique heavy music. FALLING FASTER . Released the summer after I graduated from high school, I didn't really start listening to Red's debut record until the Fall, when I was driving to morning

  Back to Cornerstone, either 2007 or 2008. One dusty afternoon we found ourselves in a tent to see a surprise competition. Like most music festivals, there were different tiers of bands bands playing. At Cornerstone there were groups like Skillet , Flyleaf , Switchfoot, and Relient K who would frequent the main stage. However, small groups like The Wedding played in tents. Every year friends attending made their schedules--the must bands, the bands you may have heard on the radio, the ones with cool names or pictures or bios. So one of The Wedding's shows made our list. I had heard their songs from their first self-titled album on RadioU. Songs like "Morning Air, "Wake the Regiment," and "Move This City." I thought of them as the Fall Out Boy of Christian music. I'M BEGGING YOU TO STAY. It was quite interesting to say the least. The Wedding and another band Wavorly, had been on the schedule at least three times each. The two bands decided to hold a com