Step Up to the Microphone is the seventh studio album by Christian pop rock band Newsboys, released in 1998 through Star Song Communications. It was the Newsboys' first album following the departure of lead singer John James in 1997, with Peter Furler and Phil Joel subsequently sharing lead vocal duties.
Travail was a Christian nu metal / rapcore band based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in Texas. Fronted by Matt Leslie, it had an intense following at Club 412, a local church-sponsored lounge and music venue located in southwest Fort Worth. Stylistic comparisons were often drawn between their sound and that of secular rock acts popular at the time such as Korn and Limp Bizkit. The band was signed on Pluto Records and then were picked up by national label Metro One. After releasing their second album, Beautiful Loneliness, on the Metro One label, Travail received a nomination for the 2001 Dove Awards in the Hard Music Recorded Song category. Before touring much under the new label, however, Travail broke up. Their most requested song, "Judge Me" is still a very popular song and the video for "Return" is still a popular video among those who enjoy the rapcore/nu metal genre. Guitarist Aaron Wiese later joined the band Spoken, but left in 2008.
Poor Old Lu was a pioneering alternative Christian band based in the American Northwest. The band experimented with a variety of sounds and genres, particularly grunge, funk and psychedelic rock. The band consisted of Scott Hunter (vocals), Jesse Sprinkle (drums), Aaron Sprinkle (guitar), and Nick Barber (bass). Hunter was the lyricist who wrote on philosophical, metaphorical, and spiritually oriented topics. Common themes in the lyrics include introspective struggles with identity and spirituality, struggles with a superficial, secular, and modern society, and hope for life abundant. The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music calls the band "One of the most accomplished and creative Christian bands of the '90s".
All the Hype That Money Can Buy is the third studio album by Five Iron Frenzy, released on April 25, 2000, by Five Minute Walk, under their SaraBellum imprint, with distribution from Warner Bros. Records.
The Halo Friendlies are an all-girl pop punk band from Long Beach, California. After snatching up a guitar in a thrift shop while on her first date with then-boyfriend now-husband Matt Wignall of Havalina/Matt Death and the New Intellectuals, Judita Wignall made the decision to start a band. Originally featuring Wignall on lead vocals and guitar, Cheryl Hecht on guitar, Natalie Bolanos on bass guitar, Tafida Allen on drums, and Deanna Moody on percussion on their 1998 self-titled debut, by 1999's Acid Wash, Hecht had dropped out of the project. She was then replaced by Ginger Reyes, who not only began sharing lead vocals with Wignall, but also took up bass guitar, allowing Bolanos to switch to lead guitar. In 2000 the Halo Friendlies replaced Moody with Christina Hock (Theobald). Theobald/Hock, however, was replaced shortly before the band's first sweep of the United Kingdom in 2003 by Claudia Rossi.
Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo is the fourth full-length studio album of the band Five Iron Frenzy. It was released November 20, 2001 on Five Minute Walk records.
Jyro Xhan is the stage/pen name of Filipino American musician GD La Villa. He lives in California. He is a singer, songwriter, producer, guitarist and keyboard player. He has been in several bands such as Jyradelix, Cush, Juggernautz, but most notably Mortal and Fold Zandura. He was the main songwriter and lead singer for both bands. He first used his pen name in 1988 on a demo tape but spelled it "Gyro" until the release of Fathom where it became Jyro. He is married to Carla Joy Phillips. The title track from Mortal's 1995 album Pura is dedicated to her.
The W's were a Christian ska and swing revival band, formed in Corvallis, Oregon in 1996. Success came quickly to the band and their first album, Fourth from the Last, was a sleeper hit, unexpectedly having had the strongest debut of any Christian album to date for its distributor. They toured the United States several times with a variety of artists. Touring highlights include Pope John Paul II's 1999 visit to St. Louis and dc Talk's Supernatural support tour.
Dear Ephesus was an American Christian Alternative Rock music group from Orlando, Florida. They were voted third-favorite new group of 1997 by HM Magazine readers, and went on to release two albums. The band broke up at the end of the 1990s.
The Electrics are a Celtic rock band from Dumbarton, Scotland. They formed in 1988 when former Infrapenny members Sammy Horner and Paul Baird (guitar) asked drummer Dave McArthur and sax/keyboard player Allan Hewitt to play a gig at Glasgow's Impact Festival. The band released a self-financed cassette album, Views in Blues, in 1989. Following this recording the band evolved a celtic rock sound, heavily influenced by The Waterboys and The Pogues. Subsequent recordings included Vision and Dreams (1990) which was distributed by Word Records, and Big Silent World (1993), on Germany's Pila Music label.
Aaron Sprinkle is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer from Seattle, Washington.
Ashley Cleveland is an American singer/songwriter best known as a background vocalist and Grammy-winning gospel singer. Ashley Cleveland was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. She was married to Kenny Greenberg on April 27, 1991, and has three children.
Squad Five-O is a punk rock band from Savannah, Georgia. Like their initial ska-punk stylings, their name was derived from a cross between the television shows Hawaii Five-O and The Mod Squad. Between 1997 and 2006 the band grew lyrically and in popularity, and also shifted its style significantly. Over the course of their career they moved from a very small indie Christian label to the major label Capitol Records and released five albums in the process.
Mortal was a Christian industrial/dance band fronted by Jerome Fontamillas and Jyro Xhan. Both members went on to found the alternative rock group Fold Zandura, and for a time were members of both bands simultaneously. The band is known for its lyrical intelligence, incorporating advanced theology with what has been billed as "Industrial Praise and Worship." According to CCM Magazine "Mortal has had a much greater influence... on industrial music than its modest output would suggest."
Morella's Forest was a band from Dayton, Ohio which formed in 1992. They released three albums on Tooth and Nail Records and one with an independent label. Their signature sound is noise pop or space music comparable to Starflyer 59 or The Breeders.
Left Out was a Chicago, Illinois Christian punk supergroup that was active from 1995-2002.
World History was a compilation album by Christian rock band Mad at the World. It highlighted songs from their first six studio albums. It did not include any songs from their 1995 album.
No More Hell to Pay is the fifteenth release and tenth studio album from Christian glam metal band Stryper, produced by band frontman Michael Sweet and released on November 5, 2013 by Frontiers Records. The album garnered positive critical reception from music critics as well as commercial success.
Rick Altizer, is a film director, recording artist, music producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and radio show host.
