We don’t typically post press releases, but sometimes things are too paradigm-shifting to ignore. Emery have been a favorite of this writer for many years, and personally I can I say I 100% back this movement.
I’ve had several conversations over the past few years with people associated inside or formerly associated with the so-called “Christian music” industry. Let me state emphatically that I am 100% in support of bands that choose to pursue music as a ministry – as long as it is genuine. Bad Christian appears to be a direct response to those that have become jaded to the phoniness that permeates the “Christian music” industry.
Moreover, I believe Bad Christian will be key figure in a movement that is a revival of sorts. There is a trend on the rise of independent, faith driven artists that are breaking molds and creating passionate, driving music that sometimes sounds like preconceived notions of worship music, sometimes not. Other movements that have been catching on to this trend (and I hesitate to call it a trend, because those participating are not doing so to be “trendy”) include Mars Hill Music, Come&Live!, and Slospeak Records.
Anyway, read the below press release and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Your humble IATU editor, Ryan.
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Alternative rockers Emery have amicably parted ways with their longtime label Tooth and Nail Records and plan to re-brand their growing website The UN-Learning Blog as Bad Christian, to serve as the umbrella under which they will launch a number of other ventures, including e-books, public speaking engagements, living room tours, a weekly podcast, and a record label called Bad Christian Music.
To find out about the band’s Bad Christian crowd-funding campaign which kicks off on Friday, October 18, visit:www.un-learning.org/buildbadchristian.
Emery’s next LP “You Were Never Alone” will be released via Bad Christian Music early next year and the band plans to eventually release music from other artists as well. Front man and Bad Christian co-founder Toby Morrell, explains, “Bad Christian Music is about integrity and taking the grassroots approach. We aren’t and never will be about music trends. We’re about substance and people. We value all music and hope to not only support Emery and Matt &Toby, but to eventually bring a fresh start to the music industry as a whole.” Emery guitarist and Bad Christian co-founder Matt Carter adds, “We are really looking forward to finding, creating, and releasing music that we truly love.”
Emery began in 2001, selling over 500,000 albums on Tooth and Nail Records, and playing thousands of concerts all over the world. They have always been a very honest Christian band, avoiding playing in churches, in favor of secular clubs and bars. Emery has always been open about their life, faith and opinions, garnering criticism from both Christian and secular audiences.
Controversy has always surrounded Emery, and it continues to grow as the audience for their blog explodes. The band has often drawn fire from their Christian base for “bashing the Christians”, yet they are written off and chastised by others for “preaching, and shoving religion down their fans throats”. The UN-learning blog (soon to be rebranded as Bad Christian) welcomes and even features comments and opinions that represent all different sets of belief and opinion. It has become a place where atheists, agnostics, conservative and liberal Christians can interact. The site remains virtually uncensored, as people are free and encouraged to be open and honest about everything from sexual sin and abuse to addiction. There are also confessional posts from Toby and Matt, as well as from their partner in Bad Christian, former Emery bassist and current pastor Joey Svendsen.
Emery kicks off their The Weak’s End 10 Year Anniversary Tour on October 23 in Atlanta, GA with support from The Classic Crime, This Wild Life and Peace Mercutio. It’s been over 10 years since Emery wrote and recorded The Weak’s End. To commemorate, Emery will be playing their first record front to back with original drummer Devin Shelton for this one time event. This special and intimate show will be hosted by Matt & Toby, who will be performing songs, taking questions, telling stories, and introducing the bands. Devin, will be joining Matt & Toby for some classic Emery tunes from their other albums as well. This tour will be set almost exclusively in very small rooms just as Emery shows used to be back in 2003. See dates/admat below.
“It’s not our job to make anyone believe” Emery Lyric from “Listening to Freddie Mercury”
· Emery, Matt & Toby, and more TBA will release music exclusively on the new record label Bad Christian Music
· The UN-learning Blog will become Bad Christian
· e–Book to be released later this year will be the Bad Christian Manifesto
· Weekly Podcast coming soon featuring honest raw dialogue and interviews
· Matt, Toby, and Joey will be available for teaching/ public speaking
· www.Badchristian.com will launch and have its own crowd-funding section
Bad Christian is…
– Matt and Toby and Joey. 3 guys with unique points of view shaped by being on the road and in the music/Christian music and Church world for 10 plus years, meeting counseling, and hearing from hundreds of people from big cities to small towns all over the world. We have been daily involved with sheltered home-schoolers, PTSD war vets, abused people, weirdo youth pastors, ridiculous religious people, hippy home church people, and many other assorted goofballs. We have learned a lot from all of them, and would like to both, challenge and help broaden the perspective of everyone by sharing our experiences and opinions, and continuing to entertain
– A resource to engage people from the fringes of church culture who are attracted by rawness, authenticity, opinion, and entertainment.
– To show that EVERYBODY is wrong about some stuff, we just don’t know which stuff
– To show non believers the real human side of Christians, both good and bad not the show off, or self –righteous sides that they are all too familiar with.
– A tool to encourage and support good Churches and to connect people to them who have had bad experiences and/or who are skeptical.
Bad Christian is NOT…
· A church or substitute for a local church community.
· A community that is a substitute for a real (flesh and blood, and local) community
www.facebook.com/badchristians
On Twitter:
@xbadchristianx
@zodcarter
@tobytobyjoyjoy
@JoeySvendsen
@ OfficialEmery
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