We have reached the final chapter of our series! We’ve seen both Tooth & Nail and the scene grow from being independent, in basements and obscurity, and grow until they were partnered with a giant corporation and had artists all over MTV and mainstream radio. Today we see how Tooth & Nail came full circle from all the mayhem and tied hands that came along with that, to once again become a true indie label.
Read MoreMatt MacDonald from The Classic Crime was not a first or second generation Tooth & Nail kid; he and his band just happened to intersect with the label and the scene right near its peak. With their polished commercial sound, aspirations of mainstream success, a hotshot management team, and Tooth & Nail's partnership with EMI, upstreaming them into the big leagues seemed like a solid bet. The expectations were understandably high all around. Many special opportunities would come their way, but ultimately, the music industry and the indie scene had a few curveballs up their sleeve, giving Matt some unexpected opportunities to learn lessons he was not hoping to learn.
Read MoreFormer Tooth & Nail employee, Derek Tenbusch, in many ways is a similar to Brandon Ebel. Both got their start as low level employees of a record label in southern California, because of their love for music, and thought it would be satisfying to help good art thrive. Eventually both became dissatisfied with the limited scope of those around them and sought to do more. Only Derek didn’t come from the indie-punk Christian scene, he worked for the corporate giant that controlled Tooth & Nail and with whom Brandon was having conflict.
Read MoreWe have completed the ride to the top for the underground Christian punk and hardcore scene! Brandon, the label, and the artists, all had continued to grow and succeed for ten years, so now all we need to do is for everything to stay JUST as it is. Sounds easy - just don’t change anything. But we are all well acquainted with how the world works, and we know the bad news in life is that nothing stays the same.
Read MoreIt's a couple of decades of community building, talent compiling, large technological leaps, an exploding genre, a sharp and well oiled indie label, the perfect band (Underoath), at the perfect time, and all of that backed and supercharged by a multi-billion dollar global cooperation.
Read MoreThere is no question that Underoath is the biggest Christian heavy band of our scene. They completely broke the ceiling of what was assumed was possible beyond our scene, but what are all the factors that go into a landmark success story like that of Underoath? In a sense, this podcast so far is a list and account of many of those factors, or maybe it's just They're Only Chasing Safety was directly born out of the Tooth & Nail culture. It was a perfect wave that had been built by thousands of people collaborating and supporting one another and as they grew and gained momentum, the wave was ready to break, and Underaoth was the perfect band to harness its energy and break our scene wide open into the mainstream and become Tooth & Nail's biggest rock band to date.
Read MoreThe Devil Wears Prada is the type of band that if you didn’t know any better, you might confuse them for a career-long Solid State artist, with good reason. They grew up as fans of the label, started a terrific band, did the first decade and a half of their career on other labels, and now, at last, they are in fact a Solid State band. So there is plenty to discuss and listen to including their new and debut release on Solid State, The Act which came out in October.
Read MoreNot only was Josh Moore focused on his goal of becoming a musician from a very early age, but he was also recognizably good as an early teenager who eventually was noticed by older kids at his school who picked him up and made him their lead singer. Finishing high school by an alternative program, Josh is touring as Beloved's frontman at 18 years old, and by 21 that journey would be over and Josh would move in a different direction musically and personally.
Read MoreBeloved’s 2003 debut, "Failure On," is a legendary album in the Solid State Records catalog. They had so much in their favor: made a flawless debut record, had an incredibly promising trajectory, had all been friends since childhood, and described themselves as family, were respected in the scene that was exploding and supportive, and were a priority to the best record label in the Christian heavy music space in the middle of its most powerful moment.
Read MoreThe guys in Emery grew up as far from punk and underground culture as you could get. Not until their twenties did they even find out about this whole scene. But they made up for lost time, and thanks to the foundations laid by the earlier bands, the explosion of this new scene, and the peak of the Tooth & Nail merger with EMI, Emery rode a wave of success and got used to it a little too quickly.
Read MoreDead Poetic is one of the bands that was discovered at cornerstone, and due to their hard work and dedication as kids, stepped into just the right place at just the right time.
Read MoreWhen it comes to Christian heavy metal music, the band Disciple is both an ancestor and a contemporary. Kevin Young has been contributing and participating in the larger scene that we cover, for over 25 years and counting, and now is a part of the Tooth and Nail family.
Read MoreMike Weiss is the guitarist from the legendary label darlings mewithoutYou. Mike’s point of view of the band is far from comprehensive, but give us some unique insight that most media coverage is not able capture, especially regarding his brother, the enigmatic frontman Aaron Weiss.
Read MoreI talked to Cory about his journey and mindset beginning with his first band Eso Charis, his connection to Living Sacrifice, and how he eventually became the leader of the almighty Norma Jean.
Read MoreIf you were a Christian kid looking to have some artistic boundaries broken from your conformist upbringing and you like raw music, Showbread might just kill you.
Read MoreKJ-52 is a Christian rapper who struggled to get his career off the ground in the 90’s after being rejected by his dream label and dropped early on by a major label and then found his home among the rest of us punk, DIY and hardcore folks. KJ embodies many of the same values that we often discuss here but his music fit much better in the BEC and CCM worlds so he is a terrific individual to help us understand the similarities and differences in that world and the one we spend most of our time in.
Read MoreToday's episode is intended to give you an inside and personal perspective on Tooth & Nail, Brandon Ebel, and the music scene as the label grew into its 2000’s dominance. Anneka Winters was an accountant at Tooth & Nail Records from 1998 to 2004, but she was much more than just an accountant. She assisted and worked with Jim Worthen and also became Brandon's Personal Assistant, she lived in a communal house with other Tooth & Nail employees, and she was around through the biggest staff and culture change in the company, driven in part by the merger with EMI, the shift in genres, and the success of BEC Recordings.
Read MoreWolves at the Gate is band that very much continues the tradition and follows in the sonic footsteps of Solid State Records and the era of Underoath, Beloved, Dead Poetic, and As Cities Burn; none of whom are currently making this particular style of music. The approach is being deep, heavy, brutal singing and screaming with a strong spiritual component that gives weight to the music. Steve Cobucci is the guitarist, writer, singer, and lyricist for the band along with screamer Ben Summers.
Steve is a terrific musician and person whose ministry-driven approach to his art makes him fit nicely in the Tooth & Nail/Solid State world.
Oh, Sleeper is a special band on the Solid State roster, and a truly unique metal band. They very much embody the DIY ethic and artistic zone of the Christian punk/hardcore scene, but the members didn't come up as Tooth & Nail punk and hardcore kids like many guests on this show. Frontman Micah Kinard explains on this Labeled special that they come more from the mainstream mall metal and nu metal scene until he discovered our culture beginning with Norma Jean.
Read MoreToday we continue on our early 2000’s journey with the very important and pivotal Anberlin (Stephen Christian). I refer to Anberlin as pivotal, because they began as a pop punk band in the vein of late 90's Tooth & Nail, but made an image and musical pivot at just exactly the right time, along with a crop other emerging bands from the southeast, which in turn helped Tooth & Nail pivot and transition to a new era. Tooth & Nail has just acquired Takehold Records and its founder, Chad Johnson, to be head of A&R, and his connections began to pay off.
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