Tag: Tooth & Nail

My Epic have released “Loriella: The Film” and it is available now to view on YouTube (Watch Below). The live recordings have also been released through all digital networks as of last Friday! Go give it a listen and see why My Epic are one of the most cherished and well loved indie rock bands on the planet. If you haven’t given one of the best albums of 2024 a listen, go find “Loriella” today!… Continued →

The Christian indie scene suffered a great loss last week, losing notable drummer Geoff Riley, known best for his immaculate time-keeping skills in the band Puller. The band was formed by Mike Lewis (ex-For Love Not Lisa, secular grunge/post-hardcore band), and hailed from Oklahoma. Mike posted the news of Geoff’s death, and some very poignant thoughts about Riley’s life and artistic contributions to the independent music scene via Instagram. Because it can’t really be said any better than this, I’m linking the post and including the entire text here: Geoff Riley Instagram Announcement “Hearing the news of my friend and music partner Geoff Riley passing is an overwhelming devastating loss.… Continued →

Indie pop duo Bon Voyage was a collaboration of Jason Martin (Starflyer 59, and about a dozen others) and his wife Julie on vocals. The project was somewhat accurately described as “Starflyer with female vocals,” which is not inaccurate though not really complete either. Whereas SF59 added layers and layers of guitars and fuzz, Bon Voyage stripped things back to the pop essentials. Julie’s vocals are akin to Julee Cruise, most famous for her work on the Twin Peaks soundtracks. The band released three albums for BEC and/or Tooth and Nail, and we haven’t heard from them since 2008.… Continued →

I’ve been a fan of Starflyer 59 since the affectionately titled “Silver” (officially self-titled) released in 1994. So when offered the chance to interview Jason Martin in advance of their new album Lust for Gold, I jumped at the chance. Always known for being brief in interviews, he still managed to be substantial in his correspondence. LH: The response to the new single “909” has been incredible so far, with many people commenting how the sound hearkens back to 90s-era SF59 with the later style of vocals.… Continued →

Legendary hardcore band Focal Point, from Northern California, is well-known not so much for the music they created (tragically), but for the groups that had their origin in the quintet. Training for Utopia, Demon Hunter, Nyves, and Low and Behold all trace their origins back to Focal Point at least in part. As important as those connections are, it’s a shame that too few actually remember the music of Focal Point, as it’s probably my favorite of all the aforementioned. They arrived on the scene late in the “new school hardcore” movement of the early 90s as hardcore was becomingly increasingly more metallic, and yet hadn’t fully shifted into metalcore, which would happen a year or two after Suffering of the Masses dropped.… Continued →

Tooth & Nail Records has just signed the band – My Epic! This will be the first time in their careers that they’ve changed labels. Their last non-label release was “This is Rescue (EP)” back in 2006. Congrats to the band and label. Let’s not forget all the amazing music they made with Facedown Records. They’ve got quite a hill to climb to beat those expectations that began with their last releases. “Northstar” is out this Friday and yes, it is a single. Click here to pre-save the new single.… Continued →

The world of Christian music has lost a true icon. Michael Knott was confirmed dead yesterday, March 12th. Knott was a true pioneer in independent Christian music, leading a plethora of bands, dabbling in multiple genres, engaging prolific solo work, in addition to being a visual artist. Starting in the 1980s, Knott joined existing band Lifesavors, a Southern California power pop/new wave band, but later took leadership of the band. Initially Knott continued the new wave direction, but things took a darker shade in 1987 when he rebranded the outfit LifeSavers Underground and released one of the most influential album our scene ever produced, Shaded Pain.… Continued →

This band from Southern California was one of the first wave of bands who set the foundation for what was known as “Spirit-filled hardcore.” A wave which also included Focused, Strongarm, Six Feet Deep and a handful of others, many of which remained unsigned. The scene was characterized by ‘new school’ or ‘chugga chugga’ or metallic hardcore of the early to mid-90s, combined with lyrics that were bold and unapologetic about faith issues. The first time I heard Unashamed was actually a live show as they were the opening band at the first Tooth and Nail Weekend in 1994, a mini-fest at the Where-House in Bartlesville, OK featuring all Tooth and Nail bands (also on the bill were Focused, Chatterbox, Plankeye, Starflyer 59 and Wish for Eden who sadly had to cancel due to a broken down van).… Continued →

Poor Old Lu are/were one of the most celebrated alternative rock bands in the Christian scene. They hit at the height of the Christian indie scene in the 1990s, and formed a core unit of alternative rock bands that included The Prayer Chain, Plankeye, Starflyer 59 and a handful of others. Hailing from the Seattle area, the band also had close ties with others in the scene like Pedro the Lion, Damien Jurado, Blenderhead, and even Sunny Day Real Estate (vocalist Jeremy Enigk provided guest vocals on one POL track).… Continued →

This punk rock supergroup features ex-members of Crux, Empty Tomb, Cicero, and Gov’t Hate Mail. So you can see why I was excited about hearing this disc. The EP contains 7 songs, clocks in around 17 minutes, and comes as a pro-CDr in a standard jewel case with a single panel insert with credits and no lyrics. Musically what we have here is no frills punk rock and roll. It’s not quite as spastic as Crux, and doesn’t have the hardcore/thrash leanings of Empty Tomb. When comparing to its members previous projects, it’s probably closest to Gov’t Hate Mail, but just slightly heavier than that project.… Continued →

Jeremy Alan Gould has done it again! His regular podcast “The Rumors Are True” recently featured Russell Holbrook of Joe Christmas and World Against World. In the episode, there’s real talk of a possible Joe Christmas reunion. Check out the episode here: Russell Holbrook interview at The Rumors Are True… Continued →

Burnt Toast Vinyl are proud to present a special reissue of the first 2 Luxury albums on Vinyl. “Amazing and Thank You” (1995) and “The Latest & The Greatest” (1997) are both getting beautifully arranged on a 180G Double LP, including colored vinyl with full color inserts and packaged in a thick, gloss gatefold jacket. Both are limited pressings of just 500 copies. Both albums have a couple of bonus tracks so you don’t want to miss out on this. Full press write up on the vinyl reissues can be seen below this post.… Continued →

Some exciting news has just surfaced. A couple independent filmmakers have moved forward with their plan to document the 2nd big revival that took place 1980-1995 which featured a collection of Christian Artists on a mission to reach the lost and seeking youth who were very much looking for answers and in need of a savior. Click this link here for the GoFundMe campaign that seeks to raise funds to cover some production costs. This follows on the heels of the recent box office success of the “Jesus Revolution” film as well as others like I Still Believe, I Can Only Imagine, and the Jesus Music documentary.… Continued →

Early 2000s emo, you gotta love it! One of the best, and painfully one of the most obscure in the genre was twothirtyeight (or sometimes 238). The band hailed from Pensacola, FL in the state’s panhandle. Florida seemed to be a haven for emo and hardcore during that era, and many of those bands ended up on Birmingham, AL’s Takehold Records, and then eventually on Tooth & Nail when they bought Takehold’s roster and much of its back-catalogue. Twothirtyeight played a style of emo that minimized the hardcore influence and instead delved into a deeply emotional form of indie rock, like secular counterparts in Braid, Cursive, or Christie Front Drive.… Continued →

Gosh, this song . . . this band . . . has a way of evoking memories of a certain period of my life. Lo-fi indie rock with only 2 members. One on guitar and vocals, and the other on drums. They released a very short–only 3 songs–but brilliant self-titled EP on Tooth & Nail in 1997. T&N had a fantastic run of EPs around that time (Pedro the Lion, Warlord, Inner Means, Training for Utopia, etc.) and this was certainly one of them. The songs were lo-fi, but not noisy.… Continued →

The best way I can describe Coolidge is as a sort of ‘prequel supergroup.’ All of the members are now well-known for their contributions to indie rock, though none of them were very well-known at the time, and Coolidge remains a fairly obscure blip on the map of alternative music. Formed in 1992, the band featured Damien Jurado on bass and vocals, David Bazan (Pedro the Lion, Headphones, Lo Tom) on drums, and Eben Haase (Blenderhead, Don’t Know) on guitar. They played an intense and unique form of emo-core that interweaved lo-fi indie rock into the mix.… Continued →

There are rumblings in the Ghoti Hook camp that could spell something new from the band which would be their first “official” reunion of the band members since 2002. A rather cryptic post dropped on their Facebook page here a couple days ago which has left people guessing. Check out the post and picture below to see if you can figure it out. No, I do not have any insider info on this one so I am right in line with the rest of you. … Continued →

For the first time in over 20 years, the long lost classic Watashi Wa album, “What’s In The Way”, is available once again but in digital format. Go check it out on your favoriting streaming networks or on Spotify (See below). What’s your favorite song off this album? … Continued →

Most of you will know that Ronnie Martin has been making music since the late 80s (at least) with Morella’s Forest 1988, Dance House Children, and most famously Joy Electric, not to mention a host of side projects like Ronald of Orange, The Foxglove Hunt, The Brothers Martin, and so forth. While there’s a lot of history with Martin’s expertise in making quirky, electronic pop music, in a sense none of that matters. Not that the history isn’t respectable–but what we really want to know is, is this record going to be good?… Continued →

I’ve been listening to Ronnie Martin’s music since the late 80s, when he and brother Jason (of Starflyer 59 and many others) were known as the duo Dance House Children. That group reveled in synth-pop, but with a super quirky edge. There was nothing in the Christian nor secular markets quite like it. After two underrated albums, the pair split. Jason started the legendary indie rock monster Starflyer 59, while Ronnie carried on with synthesizer-created music in the form of Joy Electric. Picking up where Dance House Children left off, Joy Electric took the quirkiness to extreme new levels.… Continued →

No, The Supertones weren’t the first Christian ska band. The Israelites’ first album pre-dated them by a year. But in the UK, Rev Counta and the Speedoze* (another incarnation of Ishmael United) had released a full-length as early as 1980! And perhaps some Jamaican bands that didn’t fit into the CCM/CBA mold had been active earlier than that, it’s hard to say. However, the Supertones were the first Christian ska band to release an album on a nationally-distributed label, releasing The Adventures of the O.C. Supertones just a few months before Five Iron Frenzy dropped Upbeats and Beatdowns.… Continued →

Y’all better to get ready to put your boxing gloves on. You ready for this? Pokinatcha is the best MxPx (Magnified Plaid) album. Why? It was melodic, but still very much punk–bordering even on old school hardcore at times. It’s by far their most unique record, before they settled into the more polished pop-punk sound that everyone remembers. To be clear, I have no problem with the direction they later took (except for maybe moving further away from Christian spirituality and theology as the years went by, but that’s another post altogether).… Continued →

This band was the epitome of one of those all-too-common scenarios in 90s Christian music: the frustratingly great one-album wonder. Driver Eight released Watermelon via Tooth and Nail Records in 1996, to high acclaim from fans and critics alike, and then disappeared into the . . . well, that’s just it–we don’t know what happened! The album featured a highly-effective mix of alternative rock styles including Britpop (even though the band was American), quasi-shoegaze, and jangle pop. It seemed that they were channeling equally such disparate influences as Smashing Pumpkins, Catherine Wheel, R.E.M.,… Continued →

Following up last year’s big 20 I thought it was only appropriate to continue on with these “anniversary” look back at the past type posts. These are my 20 favorite albums from the year 2001, in the Christian Music realm. Read on to see what albums made the list.… Continued →

I remember when I first heard this song. It was on the Tooth & Nail Songs from the Penalty Box compilation, amidst other songs ranging from pop-punk to hardcore and everything in-between. But Blindside was hard to peg. It was heavy and raw, and kind of hardcore, but not really. There was a mild rap influence in the delivery, but it wasn’t really rapcore either. Post-hardcore hadn’t really occurred to me as a category yet. The band put the song on their debut, self-titled, full-length album and a year later released a second–both albums on Tooth & Nail/Solid State.… Continued →

Among the plethora of pop-punk bands in the Christian scene, Slick Shoes were one of the best, probably top 5 out of hundreds. Formed in 1994 in Southern California (like most Christian pop-punk bands), they released their debut EP for Tooth & Nail in 1997, then proceeded to release 6 full-lengths, a split with mainstream band Autopilot Off (FKA Cooter) and a live album. The band won a lot of points with me by taking their name from one of my favorite movies of all time, The Goonies.… Continued →

Havalina Rail Co. was a delightfully quirky, eccentric, genre-fusing and genre-bending experimental band from California. Across their 10-year career (give or take), the band dabbled in folk, ska, jazz, ragtime, blues, Americana, surf, and multiple internationally-themed genres. No two albums in their canon treads the same ground, and yet each successive opus is clearly recognizable as Havalina. The band stopped recording as HRC somewhere in the early 00s, but members have turned up elsewhere. Most notably are Matt Wignall who is a renowned photographer and is perhaps now best known as the producer for several Cold War Kids albums.… Continued →

So a new friend or acquaintance finds out you’re into music. The inevitable question follows: “what kind of music do you like?” How honest are you? Do you simply say, “I like a little bit of everything?” You know that’s not true. You can’t stand Matchbox 20. Do you try something a little more honest, but still generic, like, “mostly rock stuff.” No, that won’t work either–they might think you mean Lynyrd Skynyrd. Or are you blatantly honest with them, knowing they are unlikely to have a clue what you mean: “my favorite genre is probably shoegaze.”… Continued →

Jason Martin is back at it, never ceasing to create and release new music. The new single is called “Sunrise” and is decidedly more upbeat than the recent “Life in Bed.” Perhaps the two work as companion pieces? The 80s post-punk and new wave influences are here again, but filtered through Jason’s shoegaze and indie rock background. Check out the song on your streaming platform of choice. Be sure to download and support the artist where possible. https://starflyer59.bandcamp.com/album/sunrise https://soundcloud.com/velvetblue/starflyer-59-sunrise https://open.spotify.com/track/4o5hLF6WnULrPXFCMzmLH5?si=5ee0b792c04143d1… Continued →

I’m a sucker for all things shoegaze, including music that often falls under the wider umbrella of dream pop, madchester/baggy, indie pop and some forms of Britpop and space rock. While shoegaze had a limited representation amongst Christian artists, there were a few who really excelled in the genre. Ypsilanti, Michigan’s Velour 100 was one such artist. Led by Trey Many (who had honed his skills in the mainstream His Name is Alive and Liquorice; also a member of indie rock supergroup Lo-Tom), and rounded out by vocalist Amon Krist (daughter of renowned folk artist Jan Krist) on the debut, the band employed a trio of lead vocalists for their more accessible and also edgier sophomore effort Of Color Bright.… Continued →