In part one of "An awesome experience", I described the meeting I had with my favorite band, RED, this past Saturday in Lancaster before their show at the Chameleon Club. It's Thursday now, and I'm still riding the excitement back down to earth. Many times already this week I've asked myself, why am I still so amped up over meeting RED, or when is this going to end?! Well, in this post, I will try to describe why this meeting has meant so much to me and how it is motivating me to act to spread my faith by using my own gifts.
Christian rock and contemporary Christian music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember; yet most of the time I was listening to whatever was on the radio. I listened to a mixture of pop, rap, hip hop, and very little rock (I'll admit it - I was an obsessed Backstreet Boys fangirl). My first taste of modern Christian music was at a concert at the Crawford County Fair. For quite a few years, the fair brought in well known contemporary Christian groups and singers, such as Michael W. Smith, Third Day, and Jars of Clay, to name a few, and my family and I went to two or three of these concerts. The concerts were influential to me (since I was only in middle school at the time), because I got to witness just how many Christians there were who came to sing praise to God with these artists. In my own young life, sometimes it was hard to come by a good, solid group of Christians to be friends with, and I didn't find those until my senior year in high school, and even then I was heading off to college. Catholics were also a minority religious group in my town, and in most cases, I was a loner in my faith walk.
Sadly, the fair discontinued the Christian concerts on the main stage (because they weren't bringing in a enough money), and I went a few years without those concert and fellowship experiences. Between my sophomore and junior years of high school, I went on my first big retreat, which I wasn't too thrilled about until I got there, and then I didn't want it to end. Again, I was with teens who, for the most part, were crazy about God and their faith, and we had awesome mini concerts throughout the retreat weekend with various bands. It was at this time too that I started listening to Switchfoot when I heard their first song on the radio, and I discovered Relient K, who was my favorite band up until I started college. I loved both these bands, and would listen to their music every chance I got; they were my first step into rock and out of mainstream music.
Heavier Christian rock finally entered my life during my junior year of high school. A friend introduced me to 12 Stones and Skillet, with their albums "Potter's Field" and "Collide", respectively, and another band called Big Dismal. I was immediately hooked. I listened to those albums over and over again, with it blaring in my headphones and eventually in my car. I couldn't get enough of their music. Yet, I kind of relapsed into other rock and mainstream music, like Hoobastank and 3 Doors Down, who were pretty good too, but didn't have the best lyrics compared to 12 Stones and Skillet.
Finally, during my freshman year of college, the doors of the Christian contemporary and rock music world blew wide open. I was introduced to Newsboys, Kutless, Casting Crowns, Thousand Foot Krutch, Stellar Kart, and Hawk Nelson, to name a few. Again, I was drawn in by the rock music and loved blasting it. My music scene pretty much stayed the same until my junior year, and that is when I found RED, along with more Christian rock bands.
I used AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) all through college, and they had an app on the chat list that streamed music stations listed by genre or decade. Of course, I saw they had a Christian Rock station, and I started listening to it. This radio station was where I heard RED for the first time. Their song, "Breathe Into Me" was the first one I heard, and I was immediately taken by the raw emotion, meaningful lyrics, crazy guitars, and incorporation of violins and other strings into the song. I think I may have even bought their album that same day. I also stumbled across bands like Decyfer Down, Disciple, Anberlin, and Demon Hunter, but I was solely focused on RED. Probably for a few weeks, their album was all I listened to; I couldn't get enough of the lyrics and emotion.
There was definitely something inside me that kept connecting with their lyrics and directing the brokenness I felt back to God. I was still getting over a really bad and emotional year I had during my sophomore year of college, and while I was on the upswing, their music was helping me to express a lot of that emotion, which became for me a big release. I'd rock out in my dorm room when my roommate wasn't there, and when I drove places my car speakers were always blaring. Not all of RED's songs are hardcore and fast, though. My favorite song is probably "Pieces", which is one of their slower (yet epic) songs off of their first album. This song described just how I felt inside at the time I heard it, and it expressed the cry my heart was making to God.
RED probably gave me the final push away from mainstream music (rap, hip hop, pop, etc) and completely into rock. Their second album was even more epic than their first, and again I couldn't stop listening to it for weeks during my senior year of college. This finally led me to see them in the spring of 2010, and I came away from that show even more of a fan than I was before.
Little did I know I would get the chance to meet them in person.
I think what affected me so much in meeting them was that they were so down to earth and friendly. And, it's amazing to think that they invite a small group of their fans to come onto their tour bus, which is their very home, and let us share it with them for a half an hour. You see in the media how celebrity status gets to people's heads, and for Mike, Anthony, Randy, and Joe, they did not act this way at all. They broke the ice by being a little sarcastic with us and encouraging us to ask them questions and actually talk. It was also hilarious to watch them poke fun at each other, which showed the genuine friendship they shared. When one of us asked a question, they would talk to us almost like it was one-on-one. I noticed this when I asked about the "Feed the Machine" video, and as Randy and Anthony recounted the story of how it was shot, they would look at me and talk to me. And, when we spoke, they would listen. Personally, it was also awesome to be able to share with them where I grew up, because Randy, Anthony, and Mike had grown up only 30 to 40 minutes away from me in little ol' Cochranton.
The whole Acoustic Experience made the actual concert more meaningful, especially when Mike and Randy expressed their testimony about having God in their lives. As far as I can remember, I don't recall them doing anything like this at the shows in 2010, and it made songs like "Not Alone" and "Best Is Yet to Come" (which is when their testimonies were shared) even more powerful. All in all, the entire night expressed to me just how much they enjoy what they do; you can see it in all of them.
This experience with them, and seeing how they are using their status to spread the love of God has encouraged me to not be afraid to express my love for God to others as well. I knew before the brevity of how it important is to accept God's gift of faith in our lives, but RED's example has opened the world of evangelization to me even more than before and to not be afraid, despite any persecution. I want to spread the Good News about God and my faith as a Catholic, because it has certainly changed my life and I've seen how He has worked to change the lives of others, too. This world will pass away, and all we'll have is life eternal as long as we accept the faith God has so lovingly given us, and to love Him in return. I want to get out there and spread the Word, light the fire in people's hearts, and let the love of God reflect off of me!
So RED, thank you. I will always be a fan, and I hope to get to meet you again someday!
Laus Deo!
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