NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  " Wonderful Christmastime " was rated as the worst Christmas song by   Ultimate Classic Rock . Recorded when 37-year-old rock legend   Paul McCartney   was recording his polarizing second solo record, just before the disbanding of his second band,   Wings ,   McCartney II  was a synth-pop, new wave record in a time when former   Beatles   fans were yelling, "Stick to the classics." Recently, critics have come to understand and even praise   McCartney II  for its pioneering in electronic music. The intentionally simple lyrics help to draw attention to the synths and the overall Christmasy atmosphere of the song. THE CHILDREN'S CHOIR SINGS A SONG.  "Wonderful Christmastime" has been covered by many artists, including  Diana Ross ,  Demi Lovato ,  Hillary Duff ,  Jump5 ,  Chicago and Dolly Parton ,  Pentatonix ,  Family Force 5 ,  Jars of Clay ,  Eleventyseven , and so many other arti...

  Lock the doors Tooth & Nail Records  had a partnership with Christian bookstores for many years, and most of the label’s signed bands appeared on the shelves of a Christian bookstore with an Alternative or Hard Rock section. Even if a band was sold in a Christian bookstore didn’t guarantee that the band or members of the band were even Christians or if they were Christians that they aligned with the conservative values that the store represented.    From time to time, this caused tension between artists and the stores with some of the albums being pulled from shelves due to questionable lyrics or album art or statements from the band. Sometimes, bands asked not to be distributed through the Christian bookstores, which became financial viable when EMI bought 50% of the label in 2002. However, in the late 2010s the two biggest Christian retailers,  Family Christian Bookstore  and  Lifeway Christian Bookstore  closed their brick-and-mortar s...

  One of the often forgotten  RadioU  minor groups,  Furthermore   was another group that only released two records, 1999's   Fluorescent Jellyfish   and 2003's  She and I .  Furthermore was a trio consisting of vocalists Daniel Fisher and Lee Jester and DJ Jason Jester . The group arrived on  the  precipice of Tooth & Nail Records '  golden age and left the roster shortly after releasing She and I. Fisher went on to play in several bands, and apparently released several other projects under Furthermore after the group's Tooth & Nail run, including a single in 2020 and several singles earlier this year.   BEFORE YOU SAY GOODBYE.  Furthermore is a vestige of when Tooth & Nail signed artists without thinking about the financial consequences. Christian Rap was a burgeoning market for Christian audiences, but rock, punk, and hard music eventually became much of the label's focus. Christian Rap tended to...

  Since I wrote about Waking Ashland last January, lead singer Johnathan Jones has given an interview with HM Magazine ’s Black Sheep Podcast .  It’s worth a listen to get a little more insight into this somewhat obscure Tooth & Nail band. One of the most beloved tracks in the band’s discography, “ October Skies ,” is a sentimental track on Waking Ashland ’s debut album Composure. The song evokes the colors and crisp feeling of Autumn as well as the symbolism of death and eventual rebirth that the season means to the cycle of the seasons. The beautiful guitar and piano-driven song isn’t very deep. The lyrics have Christian undertones with the speaker “surrendering” to an unnamed “you” as well as mention of church bells evoking an idyllic New England or Appalachian fall.  Read the lyrics on Genius.

On January 16, 2014, Anberlin posted a video on their social media platforms with a special message . The three-minute eighteen-second black and white video opened with a quote by Helen Keller; a droning guitar riff; and footage of a sideways camera playing a loop of a city from a car, an Anberlin concert, and footage from their “ Paperthin Hymn ” music video --all with a new emblem watermarking the footage. That new watermark was of fingers crossing. As the footage played, each member of Anberlin talked about their experiences in the band. A drumbeat joined the guitar and later a synthline. Then at 1:49 seconds into the video, the band gets to the point of the video: Anberlin is breaking up after releasing a new album and giving a final world tour. The video ends by reiterating the upcoming final album and final tour and with a Tooth & Nail Records copyright notice, inadvertently announcing that Anberlin had returned to their first record label to release their final album....

It was the beginning of a rough year. In January, my favorite band from when I was in high school announced they were breaking up by the end of the year. I was in the middle of a hellish teaching contract in South Korea, and it looked like I could never see Anberlin perform again live. Before disbanding, the band would release their seventh studio album, Lowborn . Of course, the break up didn’t last and Anberlin got back together only four years later to play a reunion show and began touring the year after that. Then in 2022, the band released Silverline , a 5-song EP; another EP, Convinced , last year; and will release their eighth studio record, Vega , on August 2nd, which will be a combination of Silverline and Convinced with two new songs featuring the band's new touring vocalist, Matty Mullins . I FOUND PEACE IN A FOREIGN ATONEMENT.  At the end of 2013, lead singer Stephen Christian told his bandmates that he would give Anberlin a year to say farewell. Christian talks about ...