The Insyderz | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Genres | Christian ska, Ska punk |
| Years active | 1996–2005; 2009–2013 |
| Labels | Squint Entertainment, KMG, Floodgate |
| Past members | Joe Yerke Beau McCarthy Bram Roberts Pedro Zapata Hernandez Michael Lloyd Nate Sjogren Alan Brown Kyle Wasil Sang Kim Mike Rowland Todd Miesch |
The Insyderz were an American Christian ska-punk band from Detroit, Michigan. They formed in 1996 and disbanded in 2005. The band reformed in 2009, but have not been actively playing shows in the last few years. The Insyderz are one of the "big three" bands which represented the Christian ska scene, alongside the Supertones and Five Iron Frenzy. [1] [2]
The Insyderz began from Joe Yerke and Nate Sjogren who led worship together at their church. [3] Many members have associations with the Salvation Army, and throughout the life of the band support has been reciprocal, with the band playing at SA sponsored youth rallies. [4] The band found their break at the 1996 Cornerstone Festival. [5] They began playing on their campsite, and wound up garnering the attention of Michael Sean Black and Gene Eugene, who signed them to his label Brainstorm Artists International. While that label folded soon after, the band's first album, Motor City Ska (1997), effectively established a presence in the Christian music marketplace and garnered the attention of Steve Taylor's Squint Entertainment. [6]
Their subsequent release, Skalleluia , became their most successful album and ranked the highest in record sales for the band. The album consists of contemporary praise and worship songs in ska and ska-punk renditions. Guest performances include Gene Eugene, Terry Scott Taylor, and Steve Taylor. [7] Despite the fact that their initial formation centered around turning praise and worship songs into ska [8] [9] the album faced criticism for "jumping on the bandwagon" on praise and worship music's growing commercial appeal. [8] Beyond charting on Billboard's "Hot 200" and "Heatseekers" charts and spending six months on their "Top Contemporary Christian" chart, [10] their rendition of Rich Mullins' song "Awesome God" won the band a Dove Award for "Hard Music Recorded Song of the Year" in 1999. [11] Some commercial success for the album was due in part to the use of recently written and widely known contemporary worship songs. [1] Covers on the album include Twila Paris's "We will Glorfiy" and Keith Green's "Oh, Lord, You're Beautiful".
"It's time we step it up and start going after [the secular kids]."
—Joe Yerke, on the band's purpose. [2]
Skalleluia became an unexpected hit for the band but differs from the sound the Insyderz had displayed on their own original material. [2] Skalleluia broke the band into the national limelight, but somewhat restricted their audience to the church. For the Insyderz this was somewhat problematic; their stated goal was to attract a mainstream audience in order to, in the words of Joe Yerke, "reach the unsaved." [2] In mid-1998 trombonist Mike Rowland got married and left the band; he was replaced by Sang Kim, who appeared on their next release. [12] Later the same year they released their third album, Fight of My Life , which contains original songs and returned the sound of their debut release.
In support of Skalleluia! the band toured with Plankeye and Morella's Forest. [9] In 1999 they made an appearance on The 700 Club [13] and embarked on an all-ska tour with the Skeletones and Jeffries Fan Club. On this tour the band held daily Bible studies where two members of the Skeletones converted to Christianity. [8] Also following this tour Jeffries Fan Club guitarist Sonnie Johnston left to join Five Iron Frenzy. [8] Late that year they were a part of the "Holy Roller Tour", which was held in roller skating rinks across the nation. Other bands involved included Five Iron, The W's, and Justin McRoberts. [14]
In 2000 Skalleluia Too! was released. Within the next few years the band's website featured rare updates and touring seemed to halt which led to rumors of the band's demise. However, The Insyderz had become tired of record label politics and until business had been sorted out continued to perform on a much smaller scale. Many of the members of the band married including Nate Sjogren (drums), Bram Roberts (Trumpet), Beau McCarthy (Bass), Kyle Wasil (Guitar), and Joe Yerke (vocals). The band decided to spend more time working and ministering through other projects while never fully disbanding. Nate Sjogren, for instance, left to start a youth oriented church in Michigan with the help of the Salvation Army. [15]
In 2001 a compilation CD entitled The Greatest & The Rarest (or alternately Tails of a Comet) was released, which consists of fifteen popular songs from their first four albums and six rare songs.
In 2003 they re-activated, appearing at Cornerstone, [16] and releasing an album entitled Soundtrack to a Revolution . After the release the Insyderz went through another lineup change adding Royce Nunley (Suicide Machines) and Dan Powers (Blueprint 76) on bass.
In the first half of 2005, the band announced on their website that they would be playing their last three shows in August and September of that year, which led to confusion on whether they were the band's last three shows or the tour's last three. Later, in August of the same year, the site was updated to announce that the band would be breaking up after their final show on September 24, 2005, as a part of the I'll Fight Fest presented by The Salvation Army. The show was performed with The O.C. Supertones who were also in the midst of a final tour. In 2009, the band got back together and in 2012, they released The Sinner's Songbook. In 2012, they did a short tour with Five Iron Frenzy, but have remained inactive in the past several years due to the band member's work schedules and family life.
Nate Sjogren has played drums in several other projects including Dead By Sunday, The Paper Sound, and the singer/songwriter James Stephen .
In December 2007, Todd, along with wife Sarah, welcomed their first child, a girl named Harper. In January 2008 Todd Miesch received his first official teaching job teaching for Stoney Creek High School in Rochester, Michigan.
Michael Lloyd now lives in Los Angeles, and is currently working in the film industry. Nate and Beau work together at the Genesis church in Royal Oak, MI. Joe works as a police officer now.
During 2011, The Insyderz launched a kickstarter campaign to fund their next album, The Sinner's Songbook, and succeeded in raising the funds to do so. [17] [ better source needed ] In April 2012 The Insyderz began recording at Al Sutton's Rustbelt Studio in Royal Oak, MI with Producer/Engineer Eric Hoegemeyer, and released The Sinner's Songbook publicly on Labor Day, September 3, 2012. The band played some sporadic local shows during this time, which sometimes featured fill-in trombone players, including Kenny Plont, formerly of A Billion Ernies. However, trombone duties were usually performed by Tim Reynolds. Matt Darcie and John Miller played guitar and bass in the band during their reunion as well. [18] [ better source needed ]
| Year | Album | US | US Heat. | Top Contemporary Christian |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Motor City Ska | — | — | 23 |
| 1998 | Skalleluia! | 200 | 15 | 8 |
| Fight of My Life | — | — | 33 | |
| 1999 | Skalleluia Too! | — | — | 25 |
Five Iron Frenzy is an American band which formed in Denver, Colorado, in 1995. Best known for playing ska punk music characterized by an offbeat sense of humor and prominent Christian themes, Five Iron Frenzy was one of the pioneering figures of the Christian ska movement which emerged with ska's mainstream revival in the 1990s. Since 2000, the band's music has shifted away from straight ska to include and embrace stronger alternative rock and pop punk influences, though it continues to create ska music and feature Christian lyrical themes despite several members' changes in religious beliefs.
The Orange County Supertones were a Christian ska band from Orange County, California. The band was signed to Tooth & Nail Records and its imprint, BEC Recordings, before becoming an independent band. The band temporarily disbanded in 2005, reunited in 2010 to resume touring and recording, and permanently disbanding in 2017. The OC Supertones were one of the first widely successful Christian ska bands.
Adventures of the O.C. Supertones is the first album released by The O.C. Supertones. Its lyrical content is mostly simple and spiritual, similar to worship music. Cornerstone reviewer Don Hill stated that its simplicity was similar to that of the song "Father Abraham", designed to "draw you out of yourself and into the presence of God like a small child." Some exceptions are "Blood Washed Pilgrim" which contains direct theology, and "Found" which references Saul's conversion to explain the purpose of the band. In the words of the band this is "Preach the Gospel, reach your heart, and ska, ska, ska, ska!" "OC Supertones" continues the explanations, stating their stance on the church and some of the band's background. Musically the album contains simple guitar supported by horns, with splashes of reggae, alternative rock, and rap. The latter elements would become more prevalent later in the band's later releases. The album's first track, in its intro, features a distinct similarity to Metallica's version of the Diamond Head (band) track Am I Evil? released on their 1980 debut album Lightning to the Nations
Michael Reese Roper is an American singer-songwriter, best known as lead singer for the Denver, Colorado-based Christian ska punk band Five Iron Frenzy, as well as fronting the rock bands Brave Saint Saturn and Roper.
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.
Skalleluia!, also called The Insyderz Present Skalleluia!, is the second album by the Christian third-wave ska band, The Insyderz. Released 5 May 1998, it is the first of their albums dedicated to ska renditions of worship songs. The album was an unexpected success for the band, which had been reluctant to record an album of praise and worship music despite their own background with the genre.
Fight of My Life is the third full-length album by the Christian third-wave ska band, The Insyderz, and was released in late 1998.
Skalleluia Too! is the fourth full-length album by the Christian ska band, The Insyderz. Released on 26 October 1999, it is the second of their albums dedicated to ska renditions of worship songs. It offers a greater variety of musical influences when compared to Skalleluia!.
Sonicflood is an American contemporary worship music band from Nashville, Tennessee, that has been touted as "The Fathers of the Modern Worship Movement." The group took the name "Sonicflood", a reference to a line in the Book of Revelation, chapter 19, verse 6.
Altar Boys were a Christian punk band from California formed in 1982. The original members were Mike Stand, Jeff Crandall (drums), Steve Pannier (guitars) and Ric Alba. Mark Robertson later replaced Alba on bass guitar.
5 Minute Walk was an independent record label founded by Frank Tate in April 1995. Operations were based in Concord, California in the back offices of The Screem, a music club operated by Tate. They only carried Christian bands and considered themselves to be a Christian ministry. Most records were produced by Masaki Liu at Masaki's One Way Studio and executive produced by Frank Tate.
Soul-Junk is an experimental genre-hopping Christian rock and hip hop group from San Diego, California.
Holy Soldier was a Christian glam metal band from Los Angeles formed in 1985.
Squad Five-O is an American punk rock band from Savannah, Georgia no longer formally touring or recording, but rather only performing occasional weekend concerts. 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 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.
Christian ska is a form of Christian alternative rock, and subgenre of ska and ska punk which is lyrically oriented toward contemporary Christian music. Though ska did not constitute a genre within the Christian music industry until after third wave ska had peaked in the general market, Christian ska continued to thrive independently into the early 2000s.
Scott Blackwell is a Christian dance music artist, generally credited with being the first artist to produce such music for the Christian marketplace. In addition to releasing his own albums, Blackwell has produced many other albums, and has founded several record labels.
The Miscellaneous was a 1990s alternative rock band composed of members from Europe and the United States. The band was fronted by a male and a female vocalist, and produced music that is said to "transcend the boundaries" of its genre in creativity. CCM magazine likened their music to that of Sixpence None the Richer, Jars of Clay and Out of the Grey.
Interviews
Other
| International | |
|---|---|
| Artists | |
