t is no wonder to me that As I lay Dying continues to sell out larger and larger venues every year, becoming one of the biggest bands in this scene. As I spoke with front man Tim Lambesis, one word kept coming to mind:  dedication. I heard his dedication to creating a better world screaming in the background while his adopted son from Ethiopia played at their California home, and as Tim explained the new album title The Powerless Rise which seems to parallel the ideals of those such as Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King Jr. Tim’s dedication to quality and purpose comes across in these new tracks as he built a new studio in his house to focus solely on vocals so as to best get across the message within this new album. This theme of dedication continues, and as you read I think you will begin to pick up on it as well. Five albums deep and As I Lay Dying is not sitting back and taking anything for granted, rather they are striving to make themselves a better band and with their increasing popularity and platform they are sure that this album will carry a stronger message than ever.

I take a lot from the title, The Powerless Rise. Talk to us a bit about what The Powerless Rise means and what specifically you had in mind when you wrote the lyrics from which the title is taken...

Tim Lambesis: It was taken from a song “Upside Down Kingdom” and a lot of the songs have backwards themes throughout the album. Simplicity is sometimes powerful or more worth putting our time into than the typically strong themes like material gain or success. It’s to really break life down and focus on the simpler things in life.

Is there any sort of theme that runs throughout the album?

TL: That theme of flipping things upside down runs throughout the album. The opening track is from a song called “Beyond Our Suffering” and its about how a lot of times we’re taught to solve our own problems and the more we focus on looking within ourselves, the happier we’ll be. That song puts the idea out that by looking beyond ourselves to people suffering more than us and focusing on helping them, that our own problems will seem to solve themselves so there’s a backwards theme there. There’s another one called “Without Conclusion” about how we shouldn’t be chasing after this ultimate goal of life like retirement or making a lot of money, a lot of people are just kind of holding out for that big payoff later in life so “Without Conclusion” is about how that stuff will ultimately never make us happy and the entire journey of life itself should be fulfilling and if we’re not happy in life now then things need to change.

As far as influences go, who have you pulled from in the past and present when writing for As I Lay Dying?

TL: Musically we tend to be very different. Typically we pull from my own life experiences first naturally which is closest to my heart and tend to be passionate about but beyond that, things that I’m reading. I tend to write as poetically as possible but there are definitely some philosophical influences. Musically speaking, I’m a metal head for sure so obviously our music is pretty intense so we kind of try to counteract that with the melodic. Not a lot of metal bands are that melodic. Our guitar player listens to a lot more melodic stuff than I do. He’s a big fan of Muse and some more classic rock, not that we sound like those bands but we try to incorporate those elements.

I heard you say that you spent more time and focus on the vocals for this new album, and from the couple tracks I have heard it seems to make an evident difference, what prompted that decision and how have you treated vocals on previous albums?

TL: I’ve always been so interested in studio stuff so I tend to get really involved in the music and the vocals get put off until the end because so much of my focus is involved in production but this time around I feel like we had enough time in the studio that I wanted to make sure that everything got an equal amount of attention. The guitar players were recording guitars in one studio at the same time as I was recording vocals in another. This time around, we actually had more time than I needed. There were certain days where I would come in and listen to previous songs I had already done just to see if there was anything I wanted to change. In the past if the deadline was Friday, I’d be doing vocals at midnight on Thursday.

You built a new vocal studio at your house specifically for this record right?

TL: Yes, originally I had one when we recorded An Ocean Between Us then I built another one for recording The Powerless Rise.

In comparison to previous albums, what is the biggest difference on this record that As I Lay Dying fans can expect?

TL: Its pretty vocal driven because of the extra time I had for vocals. Instrumentally, I think it’s a little more layered than we’ve had in the past. All the extra time I had I used to look at the guitar parts which turned into four or five different layers going on at the same time.

You worked again with Adam D (Killswitch Engage) for this new record, what do you like most about working with Adam?

TL: I think we know him enough to respect his opinion but he’s not so familiar that he’s just like another guy in the band. When there’s a tiebreaker happening, Adam will kind of come in and break up the monotony of things and give us a little more direction.

Having recorded and produced work on your own, why not just do it yourself? What are the advantages and disadvantages of bringing someone in to record and produce?

TL: I think that when we have done our own production we naturally have to stay so much more involved and focused in the process. That’s why I run into the problem of being rushed vocally because you’re focusing on your own production rather than focusing on being a vocalist in the band. Typically if I’m working with another band, they get the opportunity of me hearing the songs from a fresh perspective and I think that’s really important. When you’re in a band and writing the whole time you don’t get that gut reaction because you’re so close to the writing process.

You went with the same designer for your new album art as you have with the rest of you art. You have always gone with a variation of a skull, what is the meaning behind the skull, or is it just the look that you are going for? Also talk to us about the meaning of the figure with the Headdress?

TL: The skull naturally makes sense with our name. There’s always been this kind of feeling that we’re all dying in some way. From our perspective we’re able to put our own twist on how to solve that problem of course. It’s something we’ve enjoyed keeping going. A lot of our favorite bands growing up kind of had that similar theme and when they tried to try and change their theme; their music also got less interesting (laughs). The headdress is a focus on bringing power to things that normally society wouldn’t deem as powerful. So you normally picture putting a crown on royalty or something beautiful, putting the crown on the skull kind of makes the whole image flipped upside down and backwards.

There are a few tour dates posted up right now on your site, what is the plan after the release on the 11th?

TL: We’re just going to keep touring. The album comes out in the middle of the tour we’ll be on. After that we’ll head to Europe and touring probably won’t end until the end of the year. We tend to stay pretty busy when an album comes out.

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War Of Ages | Fulfilling A Calling
Written By: Jeremy Seick

here is a difference between kids pursuing a dream and men fulfilling a calling, and at the top of the list among passion and maturity is confidence. War Of Ages has crossed that line and their fourth album Eternal is all the evidence you need. Front man Leroy Hamp was incredibly honest, up front and easy to talk to and it is no wonder the new WOA album turned out the way it did. Hamp claims that the writing of this album was therapeutic for the guys in WOA and with one listen it is obvious why. This album bleeds deep meaning and intensity, the lyrics explore some of the darkest places in Hamp’s heart and life as well as some of the most hopeful. I can’t say enough about a band when they really pour themselves into their work. The world doesn’t need another song about how much you hate the government or how much you love college. What we need is some passion, some conviction, some honesty. War Of Ages.

You guys are at home on a break right now right?

Leroy Hamp: Well we’re home but I wouldn’t say its quite a break because we’re definitely nailing it four or five hours a day trying to get this set list down.

Are you guys having a CD release show there or are you just jumping on tour?

LH: We’re just jumping on tour. We won’t have a CD release show until end of June, I would say.

I think that the band life style, and always being on the road, is too often made to be more glamorous than it really is. Having been on the road so much, what is it for you that keeps you doing it? What make you want to get up in the morning and drive and perform and do it all again the next day?

LH: It’s changed year after year to be honest with you. In the beginning we were a band that was very focused on the ministry aspect and that hasn’t changed but it has evolved. Back then we didn’t have families, we were just young dudes who wanted to play in a band and glorify God and money really didn’t matter, that’s why we could go on the road for months at a time and not worry about paying bills. But now that we are married and have bills and apartments it’s become more important that we have those finances. Glamour kind of falls away when you move into that realm, it’s a different kind of stress, it’s more like “How long can we last?” In the beginning it was pretty simple and easy but now it’s a little more complicated with higher merch prices, it’s more of a business. That’s what I’ve noticed the most over the last few years, that War of Ages has become a business. The ministry aspect is still there and that’s awesome but it’s also a business. Being out on the road that’s how we’re able to afford our rent. It’s turned into a necessity rather than out to have fun.

This being your fourth release, when you started the writing process for Eternal was there anything that you felt you wanted to do differently this time around, or a certain element you made sure you kept, or a goal that you wanted to aim for?

LH: Absolutely. We’ve been through so much in the past year or so since Arise and Conquer. We wanted to write differently. I think every band out there does that, they say “What are we going to do differently to make this better or stand out?” What we decided to do this time was we decided to focus on riffs instead of songs. We’d write a handful of riffs and then pick the best one. We’d pick one or two that kind of went together and we’d write a song around them. Lyrically, instead of me writing so much about my past, I decided to really speak to the crowd and tell them what I’m going through now. The song “Collapse” is about my mother, she just recently went through something that no married woman should ever go through. That song is about how in general you learn about life and about things and it’s not exactly what you thought it was going to be. You wait for that awesome moment where you go through things in life but it’s not what you thought it was, its not all glamor. Then there’s another song called “Your Betrayal” which is about my father. It’s more dealing with stuff now. I tried to commit suicide in 8th grade and this is what I’ve become because of it. This time it was “I’m dealing with this now”, it’s present. Does that make sense?

Yeah, wow for sure. And as a fan, thank you for sharing those things with us.

LH: Yeah. War of Ages has become more therapeutic for our band than it has just being a band and getting out there to write cool music. I mean this beyond a shadow of a doubt, its therapy, to get your feelings out on paper, to get your feelings out through your riffs. I say that in the most humble of ways, you literally feel better after an album. After an album like Eternal, we’ve never felt like “Wow, we actually feel better”. The other albums were good and we were happy with them but this one was different, it felt like “Wow, we got through that”.

You guys have a lot of technical shredding in your songs as well as breakdowns, and at times I can here some southern influence. Who is War Of Ages listening to when it comes time to hit the studio?

LH: As far as the drummer and I, we are old school hardcore kids from that grew up in the New York style scene with bands like Madball to Sick of It All. Then you got Steve who hadn’t heard a hardcore band in his life until we started War of Ages. He was into InFlames, Metallica, Soilwork, Children of Bodom and that goes for our other guitarist as well as our bass player. The other guitarists Brandon, he likes dark metal like Behemoth and that kind of thrash. So the diversity between all of us has just kind of worked. We’ve learned through these four or five records how to work it musically. We’re all able to get our influences and styles out. There are a few southern riffs on this new album but we didn’t plan it that way. I know exactly what song you’re talking about though (laughs).

You guys got to work with Tim Lambesis (As I Lay Dying) and Daniel Castleman in the studio again, how is it working with them?

LH: We actually didn’t work with Tim this time. He did more to keep us from recording than anything else (laughs). We wanted to work with Tim but because of his schedule he wasn’t able to. As I Lay Dying was doing an album at the same time so there was a lot of conflicting schedules. One time while I was recording vocals I could hear Tim over the microphone in the recording room and he said “Leroy, you have three weeks to record your vocals but we only have one day to go camping”. So I said “Ok, let me finish this part then we’ll roll.” Its kind of funny, it was more fun just to hang out with him this time around rather than it being all business. Daniel Castleman is amazing. We opted more to produce our own album this time but Daniel definitely did help on that side of things. He’s always been amazing, that’s why we went back. He has amazing ideas and I think he brings out the best in War of Ages in general.

Can you sum up what this record is about? Or is the message behind it more diverse?

LH: It’s pretty diverse. Some songs deal directly with your relationships with people and things but there’s the other side that is fun. We have “Lack of Clarity” on there which is an 80’s metal song. But then you have the one that I was talking about earlier “Your Betrayal” which is a serious song. There is a song called “Failure” which is about anyone who calls themselves something and then in five years they want nothing to do with it. Basically I’m talking about Christians who are so on fire for God who talk the big talk and for four or five years they’re burning all their secular CDs then five years later they don’t even believe in God anymore. Once you got done talking, its pedal to the medal, then your band fails and all of the sudden you’re blaming God.

On the track “Eternal”, is that Sonny Sandoval (P.O.D.)? How did that come about? Was that the plan going into recording or did it come about later?

LH: Yeah! That’s Sonny. We met him at Cornerstone at the Facedown tent. Sonny and the guy with him started this thing called The Whosoevers, and they go off and do shows with just different larger bands and they do it for ministry reasons and they talk in different churches and what not. They talked about having War of Ages on one of those shows. We talked about him doing a guest spot on our record since we knew he lived in San Diego and he was totally down right away.

Did you plan on making it the title track going into the studio?

LH: The name of the song didn’t even come up until later, it just worked out that it was the title track. We just loved how the song came out.  Initially I went into the studio not even wanting to sing, I had nothing written vocal wise, and it all just worked out in the studio.

Tell us about the upcoming tour with As I lay Dying and Demon Hunter...

LH: We’re stoked to be a part of something like that. We’re stoked also to see all the hard work that we’ve done for years payoff where we have different tours back to back that are very important to our band in a business aspect. But also personally, we’ve been friends with Tim for awhile now and we never asked to go out with him. He’s just been a good guy to be around. We’re so stoked its not even funny (laughs).

This being your third album with Facedown, it has to be nearing the end of your contract with Facedown. True? What are your plans for the future?

LH: Yes this is our last album on Facedown at this point. To be honest, I’ve thought about it in one frame of mind a lot, but at the same time I’m a very step by step kind of person as is the band. Eternal is coming out tomorrow and management has been asking us like “What do you think you’ll do, just so I can think about how I’m going to push you guys?” I said “Right now my number one priority is Eternal, supporting that record and giving Facedown enough respect to where when that album drops we are ready, we are going to give it 100% just like [Facedown Records] would for us”. So that’s kind of what we’re doing right now. We’re working on a headliner right now for August, that’s where our heads are right now. I’m sure in the summer time I’ll start to think about what our options are.

Sounds smart! Thanks again for speaking with us Leroy! Be sure to go pick up a copy of Eternal out now on Facedown Records!

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A PLEA FOR PURGING | IN THE STUDIO
Written By: Jeremy Seick

Plea For Purging is back in the studio to release their third album, titled The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, on Facedown Records June 6th. Plea, being the rad d00-d00-dudes that they are gave us a sneak peak into the studio (with Andy manning the camera) as well as gave us an inside scoop on the writing and recording of the new record! Enjoy!

Andy on The Studio...

How does Plea work in the studio? Is it all business or is there a fair amount of goofing off still?

Andy Atkins: Well, if you know much about PLEA you know that we aren’t serious about much.  We are just five dudes trying to have a good time all of the time, so the studio is no exception.   Joey definitely is a perfectionist in his field so that is good for us cause it keeps us from accepting mediocre takes but there is a fair amount of goofing off.  I personally have Joey sing, with auto-tune, everything that has to be said to me through the talk back mic in my headphones.  This allows the stress of trying to get perfect takes to be calmed a bit with some laughter.   Joey is just as much of a “good time guy” as we are, so we work great together.  I think he likes Blake the best though.  I’m trying to win him over.

How much would you say a given Plea song changes from entering the studio to the final product? Give us an example?

AA: Our songs go through many stages before they end up on the final mix of a CD sittin’ on the rack at Hot Topic or whatever killer record store you shop at.  We have probably rewritten a song a good 5 times before it even hits Joey’s desk.  With Depravity, Joey had a lot of input on the songs and the overall record.  He took the songs we had written and turned them into what we all wanted them to be.  So, obviously we are excited to be working with Joey again.  We were writing with the mindset of Joey’s production skills and what he could do for these songs.  As I type this interview out right now, I am hearing Joey’s mastermind being put to use with some gnarly sounding guitar effects.  I can’t wait to get in there and see what they are doing (laughs).

You worked with Joey Sturgis on the last album and it came out amazingly. Was there any question about going with him again on this new album?

AA: Well, I just touched on that in the last question but I will expound.  Joey is our favorite producer we have worked with thus far.  He really knows first off how to make you feel comfortable in your task and then knows exactly how to pull the best from you that you have.  We had no doubt when going into this record that we wanted to work with him again.  We were just worried he was getting too big time for us.  I mean, Joey is a household name in the metal scene now.  We just gotta keep him on our good side so he doesn’t blow up and forget about us!

Talk to us about the musical direction so far.

AA: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell will in fact be the heaviest record that PLEA has released to date.  I think that this record is the record we wanted Depravity to be.  We just weren’t mature enough in our writing last time to pull it off.  I think these are all around better sounds and a better record.  We have kept the general sound of what we did on Depravity but just honed our sound a bit better.

When you say it’s your heaviest album to date, how does that process come about? Is it the lyrical content that determines the music or do you feel like the heaviness just comes along organically?

AA: We knew going into writing this record what we wanted to speak about.  We all have some things on our heart that need to be said.  Depravity was maybe a turning point for our band in the fact that we finally allowed ourselves to be honest with our listeners.  So the writing of this record was easier because we feel we have already opened that door of honest communication between us and our fans.  With that being said, yes, the lyrical content of this record will be the heaviest subject matter our band has spoken about publicly.

The music is naturally going to match the subject matter.  If you’re writing angry lyrics, then you’re gonna get angry music.  I think the feel of the music on this record matches the lyrics its backing up.

What do you do in your free time at the studio?

AA: Ah, you had to ask this question didn’t you?  You couldn’t just let it remain mysterious and let kids think we are having a blast the whole time?!?! (laughs).  Well, to be honest to all of your readers, we are a bunch of boring dudes when it comes to this matter.  I’ll break it down for you.

First, the setting is Connersville, Indiana, a smaller town with a population of below 15,000.  There is a Wal-Mart, not a super-center mind you.  There are a couple grocery stores and you got a handful of fast food joints.  This is a one horse town compared to our home of Nashville, TN.

Being that there isn’t a lot to experience in town, we spend most of our time at Joey’s home, which has a built in studio. He’s got a great set up with band bedrooms and all.

A normal day for anyone not tracking his parts would be something like this:

Wake up lets say around 2:00pm.  Stumble into the kitchen for a breakfast/lunch/brunch of something tasty like some cereal or ramen noodles.  Grab a spot on the couch in the living room/hang out room, open up your laptop, and surf the web until there are no more waves left in the ocean of MySpace comments and Facebook wall posts.  If it’s a wacky day, someone might lift weights on the weight bench we brought, or heck if we’re really feeling crazy we’ll even walk outside on the front porch for a breath of fresh air.  Then back to the living room for some episodes of The Office, maybe a movie, then some more internet surfing, make up some dinner from various frozen foods in the freezer, and then back to the bed where it all started.  Sprinkle a few phone calls, texts, and the occasional Taco Bell run and you have yourself a fine day at Foundation Studios.

Is the whole band there for the whole process? Or do you kind of come in, do your part and go? Is everyone contributing to each part?

AA: The entire band is here for the majority of the time.  Aaron, Blake and I have the most actual tracking to do and spend the most time in the studio but everyone is here to have input on the songs.  Tyler took a break right when we got back from Europe and missed the 1st week of drum tracking and editing.  He’s back and i-chatting harder than ever and now John is gone visiting his girlfriend after she had some surgery but he’ll be flying back in later this week.  He’s not missing much, just some vocal tracking and some guitar tracking.

Blake on Gear...

What equipment are you working with on this record?  amps, pedals, guitars, etc...

Blake Martin: Well we’ve been using a lot of Line 6 modeling via podfarm on the record with a mix of onboard effects. For such a low tuning, the digital amp modeling really preserves the clarity. As for guitars, Schecter has been really good to us. We have some Hellraiser and ATX Blackjack models we are quite fond of right now.

Is there any new element in the production on this new record that you are really stoked about?

BM: Well Joey himself gets better and better with every record so we are stoked about that. Plus he’s a sweet dude to hang with. He bought a new API preamp and some new Neumann mics right before we came and I think its made a pretty big difference, especially in the drum tracking. As far as the band goes, we are trying a new tuning and a lot more groove-oriented songwriting on this record so that’s opened up a lot of ideas for us.

How will your live equipment setup change with this record?

BM: Well I’m really getting into the whole Line 6/digital amp modeling thing so during the recording process I bought a Line 6 Vetta II HD with the FBV longboard foot controller. I’m still deciding if I want to use them live, but so far it sounds great. Also, I’m able to emulate all the crazy stuff we do on the record almost exactly. That is a HUGE plus for me on top of the clarity for lower tunings.

Is there anything you’ve drawn influence from for the sound of this album?

BM: Low-tuned groove is what we really enjoy playing so naturally Meshuggah is a major influence along with bands like Sevendust, Deftones, Bury Your Dead and The Acacia Strain. I’m trying to focus more on songwriting as well so I draw a lot of influence from Dredg, Keane, Thrice and David Bazan. For the weirder sounds it’s Radiohead, M83, Idiot Pilot and MGMT.

Joey Sturgis on Producing...

How is it working with the dudes in A Plea For Purging?

Joey Sturgis:  Great as always. We have a great working relationship and we are all part of the top secret doodoo club. You can join…For a fee.

Last time you made a guest vocal appearance on “Motives”, did you make it onto this new album?

JS:  That is a surprise. Wait and see!!!

Being given a second chance to work with Plea, is there anything that you decided to do different in retrospect?

JS:  I’m trying to go for more of a raw, angry feel to reflect the mood of this record. I’d like to add a lot of thrash elements throughout. This band is the best band on the planet so I gotta be on my A-game.

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Sleeping Giant | In Hopecore's Hometown
Written By: Jeremy Seick

lways ready and willing to share his heart, Sleeping Giant’s Tommy Green sat down with us outside The Venue in Boise, Idaho on just their fifth stop on the current tour with Bleeding Through and Born of Osiris. Speaking with Green is always an experience. His rapid speech coupled with his evident fire for his ministry are just some of the traits that draw people to the front man.  I always feel like taking notes while this guy talks to me. His genuine grin and obvious heart for this scene is something so rarely displayed these days. I cannot give this guy enough praise and introduction. Tommy Green is someone who we will look back on and remember as an artist who God truly worked through to accomplish His goals of changing hearts for Him. You can see Green’s eyes light up when you hit a topic of his interest and once you do, look out and pay attention.

What is the feeling like spiritually going out on these tours compared to maybe an all Facedown tour? How have you been received?

Tommy Green: It’s like night and day. It’s not as fun as playing to a whole audience of people that believe what you believe and are there for you, it’s such a weird synergy. California is such an odd duck too because you have this Christian scene but that’s not necessarily reality. We’ve had pretty good reception which is cool because it’s a totally different group of people so we feel kind of feel brand new again.

How does a tour like this differ spiritually? How do you prepare for it?

TG: We kick our own butts a lot and not in the traditional way. We pray and all that but we really want to connect. There’s the general Christian answers of we get into the Word and pray together, and we do that but why? We are really trying to be wise about the spiritual climate in a different place, what people are okay with hearing and what they aren’t. We have love, I swear we do, we definitely have love for the Lord but if we don’t love the crowd then don’t talk, but I’m a talker so it’s weird. You don’t want to be a clanging cymbal. I don’t want to be another voice that goes down in history as another jerk Christian. I get that enough when I’m not being that and I know I’m not being that. Its hard enough doing that at a Christian show, that’s the reception. The different crowds have been pretty cool. The more metal head kids who have been annoyed and think that religion is stupid, when they realize we kind of agree with them in thinking that the organized formulaic ridiculous rule based theology that most people walk under is counterproductive and idiotic.

When we get to share that we really believe in a relationship with God and just sharing our lives, that’s when you get a handful of people that say “Ok yeah”. I will say this, the shows have sucked. In the meantime, God has been doing crazy stuff, crazy miracle things. The show was just alright. Maybe we talked too much or didn’t say enough but in the mean time God is really hanging out with us. We really try to kick our own butts a lot because we don’t want to waste our time. Really, we believe in the ministry more than the band even, and we want to play good music so when I think about how receptive the crowd has been each night, that’s been the biggest question every night.

Whether or not people like our music we are going to try and have fun and connect with the Lord in worship and maybe that’ll help show people the beauty of who Jesus is. Is the veil getting lifted from the people who can’t see or hear Jesus? I think maybe, but I don’t know. The other bands are awesome dudes, some of them have just violently opposed views but we’re their favorite people, its like cool favor to be a part of people’s lives, not in judgment or to condemn them but to just be there for them and love them. The shows have been fun. God says judgment begins in the house of the Lord so a lot of it is God saying okay guys you’re not allowed to be prideful or arrogant so you better tread lightly when dealing with my people because God’s people are in those rooms. Most people wouldn’t consider themselves His kids but they are.

Personally, I’ve only seen you guys headline shows or play at festivals. So when you have such a shorter set time, do you still preach? How does this work?

TG: I think the Christian carnival would love me to keep saying the same thing over and over again but I believe that God, if He wanted to, could use someone like me to lead a million people into the kingdom and I would love that because I love Jesus a lot. I really haven’t been sure about sharing it, I feel like I don’t want to burn anyone. I don’t mean that about unbelievers, I mean this about Christians; I don’t want to throw my pearls to swine. It seems like some Christians who show up to hardcore shows are looking for a reason to be Christian out loud and it really pushes a lot of people further back. I went to talk about my story and I put it up to the dudes like “I don’t know if we’re going to play it anymore, I don’t want it to just be part of our set. It’s my life, its something that Jesus did and I want it to be real”. I pulled it out for a few dates and some of the dudes on tour were like “Really? You’re not going to play that anymore? It’s really powerful”. So it’s been a struggle. I want people to know Jesus and I want people to feel convicted, that’s the most important thing to me. We’re trying to essentially accomplish breakthrough in 30 minutes and there’s just not enough time so we kind of have to get out of heads a little bit and just play. I’ve literally been going to battle every night saying “Lord if you want me to just shut up and play, I will”. I don’t think that’s what He’s saying but I’d rather be prepared than not. I think there are a lot of passionate bands out there who preach the word of God like For Today, they are anointed dudes and I back them to the hilt. We’re creating a culture that could potentially be the standard or fall off. Being a preach core band then playing a worship song at the end of your set, that could be the new standard for what it is to be a successful Christian band. Or it could be another formula for religion so I’ve been asking God for what’s real, what’s authentic about this. So that’s where we’ve been.

So on previous tours where you haven’t given your story and it’s just the songs, do you still feel like kids come up to you after the show and are seeking something?

TG: Yeah! People say I’m an evangelist because I’m a talker but I don’t like that term because I don’t like most forms of it because if think they’re mostly fear based. If perfect love drives out all fear but we’re all trying to fear people into relationships. What kind of weird daddy issues do we have? I think the church’s battle, our battle, is to believe that He can do the work. So on nights when I don’t say something and we give room to the Holy Spirit to work and no one comes up to us, are we failing? No. Did we say too much? Maybe we’ve been saying the wrong things, maybe its time to shut up and just trust in His presence so that’s the battle we’ve been living in. In Psalms it says that our secret lives are exposed in the light of His presence and that He’ll fill us with joy in His presence. So if His presence is in the room, what can we accomplish that He can’t? He uses the foolishness of our ways to accomplish eternal ends. It’s crazy to me that He says to you “Okay, go make sounds come out of your mouth and someone is going to understand it and that will determine that person’s eternity.” That’s been the hardest battle, just trusting that He can get the job done. Does that make sense?

Yeah, it’s not about Tommy and Sleeping Giant standing there on stage. He’s going to work through whatever you guys do.

TG: I love that there is grace to sometimes stand on stage and go if you don’t know Jesus then I’ll say this prayer out loud and I want you guys to pray with me. We’ve done that on some Christian tours and there are hundreds and hundreds of kids who get saved, they make a decision but do they start a relationship with Him? That’s the real deal. Maybe. I want to see ten years from now people that are on fire. The church will settle for decisions. My heart is that people would love God and have deep conviction. We’ve only had five shows on this tour so far but at three of them people have been physically healed and people gotten saved. That’s cool, we just made it available. I was talking to my pastor about a great leader of faith that passed away some years ago and she just had a powerful healing ministry, just a passionate woman of the Lord. The majority of the stuff that took place happened on the outside of her ministry. It was like she was just so on fire where she was, people would come but really it wasn’t even her but all the people that would come and all this extra work would get done. We could get 8,000 kids at our shows but am I going to pray for 8,000 people? No, I want to go make out with my wife (laughs). But the reality is that I will do what God calls me to do but if the church gets together we are going to hear stories for years about things that happened at Tomfest and this show and that show.

It wasn’t because we did anything; it was because God was working through his people. We don’t need rock star Christians, we don’t need people looking to me or Mattie Montgomery or Andy from Plea, and we don’t need people putting one dude in that position. The amount of judgment and the amount of character that we need in order to stand is so intense. We could be setting ourselves up for falls without realizing it. I’m not trying to stand under judgment because people gave you this but now God has to judge me because of all these expectations put on you. We don’t need a point man to do all the work. I wish that we would just have power with all the saints. We all have

different talents and abilities and some of us have fought for different breakthrough. I can say this honestly that I have different gifts and anointing than other people. Eric, our guitarist, is my best friend and the level of revelation and power that I’ve seen God visit him with in the past couple years blew me out of the water. I feel like I went from trying to pull people with me to now chasing my dudes, its like “Wow, look how far you guys have gone!” I feel like I’m at the back of the line now learning from them. We need to honor the talents and gifts that He has given people but not lose sight of who we are and who Jesus is in the midst of it. If people think of bands like Sleeping Giant or For Today maybe we’re radical, maybe we’re fanatics, maybe we’re idiots but if Christians say that we are the healing people, no no no. God has used us to heal people and that’s awesome and we back it and we’re going to continue to break through until we see cancer run away when we walk into a room, we are not giving up. But everyone partakes in the same spirit, the spirit of Jesus moving in his people. Tommy doesn’t heal people, its God moving in us. We all have access to that; we all have access to the throne of grace. It’s weird with happening in music, in our stupid little broken metal scene, the rock star thing, its ridiculous. Christian kids can’t buy into that.

The two of you started a church in SLC. Talk to us a bit about how this idea came about and what it is doing now?

TG: We started it a couple years ago. When we started the band I was a pastor in Southern California and I was just doing church stuff and helping out. I moved to Salt Lake and I knew I had an individual call and partially a call with this band that anywhere that I went with my wife we were going to sew into people’s lives. We wanted people to give everything they could.

Awhile back we had you write a section for us on healing. How did this become such an integral part of the Sleeping Giant ministry?

TG: It started with Eric and his church in Redlands. I was a freak weirdo to Eric, JR and the kids in Redlands. I was out there because I wanted to see the supernatural. I don’t care about the charismatic stuff, I don’t care if people fall over, shake and bark like a dog. That is not going to get in the way of my love for Jesus. All of us had been used in praying for people for healing. Different dudes were going through different stages of battling through it. We started as a Christian band that just talked about it. When we moved to Salt Lake, radical stuff started breaking out for JR and Eric. They started walking in this level of understanding and determination and breakthrough that everything just opened up. That was when we started declaring enough is enough, I’d rather stand on what the principals of what Jesus has shown me in the Bible than any of my old theology. That’s where we’re going to fight and die until God changes our minds. This is what we’re being shown, he’s the image of the father on earth and we’re going after His standard. That’s when we started throwing it out there at shows and saying that we’re not going to believe that God got you sick to teach you a lesson, you don’t see that in the gospels, that is not going to be allowed at our shows. If you’re sick then we’re going to pray for you because something is wrong. The one thing that kind of sealed it for me was in Salt Lake, where my wife and I started a Bible study; a deaf girl got healed the first week in front of everybody. That settled for me a certain measure of thinking that this is how the gospel got started in lots of different places. I then had my own testimony. People need to experience God in our generation because they are starved to death for the supernatural and if that was the dimension of God that was missing before then that’s what we want to bring. We want to teach Biblically balanced truths, balanced on what Jesus said and not on what Mr. Sunday school teacher said.

What would you say to the Christian who is still skeptical of healings?

TG: God is so out to prove Himself faithful. If we are unfaithful, He will remain faithful because he can’t deny himself. The big battle is over the knowledge of who He is. The minute Christians who have the same spirit come into the remotest agreement with Him, He’ll began to break those things through. Next time someone gets a headache, instead of taking a pill, pray first. Begin to give God the first chance. Sometimes there are instant miraculous healings and other things take time. In your own personal life, give God the first opportunity, stop going to the doctor first or thinking you have to take a pill first, go to church first and ask the elders to anoint you and pray over you. In James it says “If someone is among you sick, have the elders anoint him with oil and pray for him and a prayer offered in faith will heal him.” The church just has to start believing in the Bible and we have to do that individually because we are the church. Just declare it “I am healed”. The more you do that the more God is your first option, not the fear, not the unbelief. Just begin to believe that He heals, it is what He does.

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RYFO | A Growing Network
Written By: Jeremy Seick

ast June we covered the emerging ministry entitled The RYFO Network. Since then, the team at RYFO has been working hard to build the network of artists, fans, labels, booking agents, churches, prayer warriors, mechanics, venues and their owners-Okay, anyone who can help a band while on the road. I will say it again, this ministry is revolutionary and could potentially forever change the way that bands look at touring. Founder Nick Greenwood has been a loyal friend to Hopecore.com over the past year and we take great pleasure in being able to continually spread the word on this project. We caught up with Greenwood to have him tell us about the past year in his life as well as where RYFO is at today. Please visit www.ryfo.org to find out how you can benefit the artists who have given us so much of their time and hearts.

We last talked with you in our first issue a year ago. Fill us in on what RYFO has been up to since then?

Nick Greenwood: I just got back home to CA from Nashville, following a short visit to “Not-So-GMA-Week” as my good friend Come&Live!-Chad dubbed it.  I am all over the place.  We developed a strong Advisory Board and brainstormed a new site idea we are shooting to launch January 2011.  So many more bands have joined. I think we are at somewhere around 430+ touring artists who have joined our family.  It’s just crazy.  We are loving every minute of it.

For those that didn’t read the piece, give them a rundown of what RYFO is all about and why you started it, and why it is so important?

NG: In 2003, I woke up one day with a new heart for people like myself; aspiring musicians.  I was made aware of the spiritual struggles touring musicians face while they live life on the road away from their ordinary systems of support and accountability (churches, families, etc.).  I began to ask questions of anyone that would talk with me.  Eventually, I was able to get on the road for two month-long tours, and began to see first hand the physical needs touring musicians have as well.  Many people talk about how artists “need accountability”.  I would agree, though we didn’t make the mistake of stopping there.  We decided to take a stab at meeting the physical needs of artists, so that we might help them in their spiritual journeys as well. It’s holistic.  We launched a website (January 2009), found a few sucker staff members and developed a board of directors.  The rest is blood, sweat and a few tears.

I like to say now that Ryfo is the glue that connects personal and corporate ministries together in a way that makes sense for touring musicians.  So many people around the world have something to offer touring artists, they just don’t know how to offer their unique talents and services.  We want to give them the platform to do so.  If you are a dentist, we need you.  If you are a prayer warrior, we need you.  If you are a book publisher, we need you.  If you are a restaurant owner, we need you.  If you are a mechanic, we need you.  It’s the Church being the Church, FINALLY for our nations greatest cultural influencers.  Serving the Voices.

Is RYFO a non profit? How does RYFO stay afloat?

NG: Bottom line, we work our butt’s off!  Most everyone involved in Ryfo is a volunteer.  Yes, we are a DBA of my local church (Cornerstone Community Church of San Clemente, CA for at which I serve as a part-time pastor), and therefore a non-profit.  As far as staying afloat; it’s by God’s grace.  It has been His vision to see this thing develop, not ours.  We trust in that.  And so far we have been entirely donor supported/dependent.  Sometimes I think it is to our demise that we don’t have a product or service that keeps us funded, and on other days I am thankful that we do not fringe on anything business related.  We offer a free service to touring artists and we ask for nothing in return.

What is Servingthevoices.org?

NG: Oh that!  That is a secondary site we set up to generate noise and funds for an amazing web-software vision God has given us.  We are in the middle of a Phase 1 campaign to begin building the most awesome web platform tool bands have ever seen.  Though this one is different than the other web-music-moguls,  it is not promotions based, but care based.  We want to give artists the power to receive complete care and support from their fans, and give fans the ability to track their favorite/adopted artists’ locations, needs, and prayers…among many other things.  We’re SO grateful to everyone that is considering helping us raise the support needed to build RYFO.ORG 2.0!

How do you avoid super fans or other potential hazards when it comes to approving people to be host homes or help out the bands?

NG: We don’t typically approach anyone, unless we know that they’ve already hosted bands in their homes.  Usually, applicants come to us.  All of our host home applicants go through a lengthy application process.  First, they submit their information and desire to host bands through an application form on ryfo.org that includes a list of home amenities, pastoral references, neighbor’s phone numbers, etc.  Then they email us pictures of the inside and outside of their home; pictures of the beds bands will sleep in, bathrooms they will use, etc.  Then, our Host Home Coordinator follows up with them on the phone, asking situational questions to give us an idea of how a home might respond to the various scenarios they might engage with.  And finally, IF the home is a likely candidate for approval, one of our board members gets on the phone with them and explains the home’s role more in depth.  We usually get a really good idea of the environment bands will be in.

What do you see taking place in the life of RYFO over the next year?

NG: Dude, by God’s grace we hope to have our new web platform (RYFO.ORG 2.0) launched by January.  It’s our number one goal right now.  We will be at Cornerstone Festival, Purple Door and maybe a few others too.  We are continuing to develop our Host Home Network, and we are getting ready to provide bands with a super cool tool that I can’t yet discuss.  Top secret.  We will role it out in late May/early June, so look out!

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Levi The Poet | Here’s the thing about tour
(www.myspace.com/levithepoet)

t’s beautiful, but it’s not nearly as glamorous as it appeared at fifteen years old, a kid amongst a swarm of people, at least, not for most of us. Nick, RYFO’s founder/director came out to meet me recently at a show in Southern California. Let me tell you, I have nothing but respect and acclaim for that guy. Tour is beautiful, yes, but it’s tiring, it’s congested, it’s fast and anxious, and I think it takes a good amount of faith to keep going. A lot of us are broke out here on this open road, simultaneously stressed out and praying for provision, while giving, giving, giving our everything at shows, in conversation, in community with the people we meet. I’ve said it multiple times before and I’ll say it again because I think the analogy is spot on: it’s hard to pour water out of an empty bucket. When Jesus went from town to town during his ministry, he made sure to take time away from the crowds - time to pray and refill his cup and be silent and revitalized before the Lord. RYFO provides that opportunity for us touring folk. I’ve stayed at many a host home over the last couple of months, and this loving, giving, serving community of people across the country have blessed me beyond comparison. Whether it’s food, showers, laundry, spare tires, car mechanics, conversation, prayer, or just a straight up night of silence for a dude in loud venues every night, RYFO’s ministry refills our dry buckets, and I am so thankful for what they’re doing.

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1000 WORDS | BUSINESS, FAITH, DREAMS & VISION
Written By: Shawn Ulmer of Veil Arms Clothing

hen Jameson asked me to write the “1000 words” for this month’s issue I was completely stoked! We have been fans of Hopecore.com for some time now, and seeing how they are a self funded business operating in a mostly Christian market, we can relate to the difficulties and struggles of surviving the first few years in business. Why is it that over 80% of all new businesses fail within the first 3 years? Think about for a minute. 80% of ALL new businesses fail within the first 3 years. For my wife and I this was a pretty intimidating number to face.  I can remember telling my wife that I felt so strongly that we were to forfeit our financial security and follow a dream that God had placed in our hearts, knowing good and well that to survive as a small business you need capital, equipment, experience and a degree, well at least that is what we thought it took. We felt so strongly that God called us to be more than “ordinary” and without compromise we needed to adhere to his word and follow the vision he placed on our hearts. Now put yourself in my shoes, newly married, senior year in college, and I had a great job at a bank, my parents were concerned to say the least. I was on the “ideal” pathway of success, but all we could ever think about is the consequence of not fully committing to the call God placed on our lives. We often analyzed the “what if” situation. “What if we pursued the desires of our heart?” Well, that would mean sacrificing security and going the through the hassle of suffering financially, and who really has time for that? We live in a world of immediate gratification; we have everything we want at our fingertips and the idea of patience is foreign to our society and culture, but when we get honest with ourselves the biggest deterrent from listening to God’s calling is….FEAR. Someone close to me once said that “fear is faith in the devil”.

In our pursuit to go after the dream that God placed in our hearts that haunting statistic of “80% of businesses fail within the first 3 years” lingered and I am sure this applies to bands, churches, and organizations alike. How in the world is this possible? I don’t really have a true answer for this, but I do know that most people submit to fear or submit to the idea of security. We came to the conclusion that we would rather believe in vision than to submit to fear.  The idea of comfort, to us at least, meant that we were complacent and complacency meant the start of the decline. I am writing this because I want to encourage the readers to think of God as the “dream giver” and not as the “comfort provider”. When you begin to trust yourself less and trust God more, there is power. Faith is more than a belief, it is an action, and sometimes what you don’t do is just as powerful as what you do.

In my opinion the idea of failure is not a bad thing. Why is everyone so afraid of failing? Without failure in our life we would never have the opportunity to learn or keep our character accountable. Most people see failure as a negative thing, and prematurely quit a dream or vision that God has placed in their hearts, but I truly believe that failure is only a learning tool. We were never promised a life without failure and have to be careful and remember that no matter how much we accomplish, achieve or strive for we are never entitled to anything. I was originally going to write on a completely different subject but I truly felt lead to write about vision. I have a deep respect for people that follow the dreams that God puts on their hearts (i.e. Hopecore.com, Come and Live! I Am Alpha and Omega and many others). People, who do not fear failure, typically make the biggest impact. I want to encourage you to take a good look at where you are right now and parallel that with what God has made you most passionate about. Vision without action is just a hallucination. God honors vision!

*Shawn Ulmer, along with his wife Ashley, are the owners of Veil Arms Clothing. Their contribution to this music scene through their unique designs, willingness to help out any artist and constant striving to love on those around them have made them a staple not only in fashion, but in the lives of many of those they come in contact with, personally or professionally. Please support Veil Arms by taking a look around at www.veilarms.com.

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