Feature: Shane & Shane

what happens when you put guitars in the hands of 2 guys that have huge hearts for God and just so happen to also have the gift of singing? you get an incredible duo, now known best as "Shane & Shane". Shane Barnard and Shane Everett are 2 guys from Texas that began by leading college students in worship with Breakaway Ministries at Texas A&M. they have the beautiful ability to let their passion for Jesus Christ pour out through their music. i love listening to them sing because they put all they have into each note and you can hear the passion they have for Jesus Christ. not only do they have amazing vocals, Shane Barnard is an incredible guitar player. he's conjured up what is known by his fans as "the triple strum" - a guitar strum pattern that many may attempt and never quite get it right. though Shane & Shane have now signed with Inpop Records, Shane Barnard recorded a few albums as an indie artist (which Shane Everett accompianies him on some of the songs). Rocks Won't Cry and Psalms are some of my favorites. on the Psalms CD, he does an incredible job of bringing to life many of the Psalms that David wrote. some artists try to make passages of the Bible into songs and the outcome is cheesy. but Shane Barnard makes a masterpiece of it. listen to some clips from the indie release of Psalms here:

http://www.independentbands.com/cd/shanebarnard/psalmsindie.html

Shane Everett (left) & Shane Barnard (right)

News: Clemency

great news guys, after a little searching, i've found a site to buy the newest CD out from Clemency!

http://www.indieheaven.com/view_artist.idh?artist_id=1148

you can also download a few of their new songs on that site as well. very cool.

Feature: Clemency

i came across a new band today (new to me, that is) while surfing the internet. i heard about a group called "Clemency" mentioned in an article online, so i assumed i could find more info about them by going to www.clemency.com. that turned out to be some Brazillian death-metal band. eventually, i found the Clemency site i was looking for, at www.clemencyministries.com.

Clemency has such a clean, yet rock-style sound. each of their songs have such beautiful, Christ-centered lyrics that one easily might consider calling it "rock worship"...if there is such a thing. :) the end of verse 2 on their song entitled "Wonderful" goes like this:

"i speak of things i don't understand. the wonderous powers of Your hands are too great for me to know. i can't describe Your touch. i can't explain Your love. they're too wonderful."

the guys of Clemency came together in the summer of 2001 and released their first album in Fall of 2002. they've followed it up with their sophmore album, The Beauty of It All, in the summer of 2004. additionally, all of the guys of Clemency are Oklahoma natives - now how often do you hear of big musical talent coming out of Oklahoma? (haha, c'mon, you know you can't name many!)

listen to a few of their songs on their purevolume.com site:

http://www.purevolume.com/clemencytn

right now i'm not sure where you can buy either of their albums at because their online store is under construction. i'll be sure to post a link to the first site i find that sells their music.

Calling All Indies

hey everyone -

my life schedule has been crammed and will continue to be crammed for atleast a few more weeks and i haven't had a lot of time to search around for new indies to feature. so if you have any favorite indie bands, let me know! shoot me an email or reply to this post with a comment and i will look into the bands and feature them on here.

News: Caleb Carruth Boycotting Grassroots Music

imagine trusting a company to sell your CDs and give you profit for each sell. sounds like a basic, everyday thing, right? well what happens when that company gets sold and the artists never receive the profit they are owed? what happens is artists boycott the company. and that's exactly what Caleb Carruth is doing.

back in March 2004, Grassroots Music (www.grassrootsmusic.com) was sold to Weston Entertainment. doesn't sound like a big deal, right? the problem is, Grassroots Music had been struggling financially before it was sold, and many artists had yet to receive much of the money they were owed for their CD sales. close to bankruptcy, Weston Entertainment intervened and bought the company. unfortunately, Weston Entertainment is refusing to pay the artists what Grassroots Music still owed them. Caleb Carruth is one of those artists and as one can imagine, he isn't too happy about it.

Caleb's site has a little bit more info about the saga in his journal, at www.calebcarruth.com. i, for one, have also chosen not to purchase from Grassroots Music anymore. will you do the same?

Feature: Copeland

Copeland is another band that has signed with The Militia Group, so they are still considered indie to the music world. i love Copeland's sound, the production is pretty well put together and the vocals are soothing. they have quite a few of their songs up on http://www.purevolume.com/copeland.

Copeland has actually been around for quite a few years now, since 2000. their following started out small but it has continued to multiply quickly over the past few years. their main site is www.thecopelandsite.com.

i'd write more but i'm having a sudden urge to go get chic-fil-a for dinner. i will post news on Copeland in the near future!

Feature: Lovedrug

yes, it's one word. Lovedrug is a band formed back in 2002. techinically they are an indie group, though they have signed with a label called The Militia Group. but The Militia Group is a label for indie artists...so i'm not entirely sure how a label can sign bands and call them indie still, but i guess some things we just will never understand, right? :)

the guys of Lovedrug produce such a unique sound, i couldn't help but keep listening to their clips online at http://www.purevolume.com/lovedrug. their voices are just so unique, yet it draws you to continue listening for some reason. they classify their music as rock/alternative. quite often their voices sound nasally...yet it doesn't push you away from listening to them. that's part of the intriguing part of their band. you have to atleast go and listen to some of their songs, just to understand what i mean.

find a ton of info about Lovedrug on their website, www.lovedrugmusic.com

Feature: Anathallo

one fun thing about indie artist's sites is that usually they have a "links" page to other indie artist's pages. that's how i found this group, Anathallo. i was excited to find out most of them are from Michigan, my home state (currently, anyway).

Anathallo has a very unique sound. i'm not exactly sure what to label their style as, it seems to change throughout each song. :) i'm not overly crazy about this group, but i think they have great potential. the 3 songs i listened to on http://www.purevolume.com/anathallo/music had quite a few parts where the song just sounded too thrown together and messy. but other parts were tight and sounded great, and that's why i think these guys could pull some things together and come out with a good album.

their website is kinda unique, too. check it out at www.anathallo.com and scroll over the shaking letters. you'll know what i mean when you check out the site. :)

News: Beggar's Fortune

i was reviewing my blog and realized i never posted Beggar's Fortune's website. whoops. i'm sure many of you have been searching for their site nonstop since i put up that post. :P

alright, here it is. www.beggarsfortune.com.

Feature: Andever

whoever said young guys can't make great music?

i just heard about this group today, actually. and now i can't even remember how i heard about them...OH yeah, i was checking out www.crucifiedministries.org and a link was on there to this band's site.

Andever is made up for 3 guys who are all around 18 years old. they've got a good, rock sound, a sound you wouldn't expect from guys this age. you can hear one of their songs at http://www.purevolume.com/andeverpa and hear for yourself. their main web page is www.andeverrock.com. for some reason, their tour dates only go up to December of '04, so i guess they don't update their site very often. but you can still get a lot of info about their band on their site.

Feature: Beggar's Fortune

the guys of Beggar's Fortune

(photo from band's website)

i was introduced to these guys' music just over a month ago and i've really gotten into 'em since. Beggar's Fortune is made up of 4 guys and they're based out of Nashville. as far as i know, they haven't signed with a label yet. i'd classify their style as acoustic/rock. what intrigues me is that they tour over in Germany, Switzerland, etc.. how they have gotten to the point that they can tour over there and yet i had never heard of them until now is beyond me. :) back in February they played at the Hard Rock cafe in Nashville and that concert was aired on Pax tv.one of the things i love about this band is that every song i've heard from them has unarguably Christian lyrics. every song is directed to God or about God. very cool.

News: 10th Ave CD Release

i heard some exciting news from Mike D this week regarding the upcoming album coming out from 10th Avenue North!

the guys will be back in the studio this Friday, Mar. 4th, to record some more for their new album. Mike D said the CD's about 80% done and they're looking at a late March/early April release.

10th Ave's upcoming Spring concerts are mostly, if not entirely, located in Florida --however-- look through their tour dates to see if they'll be hitting a venue near you this summer.