Pneuma, the Bible, our churches, Francis Schaeffer, C.S. Lewis, our parents, Oswald Chambers, Oswald Sanders, the Apostle Paul, every shepherd-musician, each other, you
Sounds Like
Influences on our sleeves: U2, Coldplay, Radiohead, Nada Surf, Tim Hughes, David Crowder, Chris Tomlin...they all seep in to varying degrees. Sometimes chaos, sometimes charm. We hope we sound like a noise God likes to hear.
Plumbline began in the Fall of 1998. Six men who loved the King of Creation, loved worshiping Him and loved communicating His Truth through music set out on a strange journey to evoke their brand of alternative rock and intelligent melodic groove to the scene, as it were.
It was no coincidence that they were soon met with some opportunity. After demo'ing 3 songs for a battle of the bands contest in Costa Mesa, California; Plumbline received an offer to sign a recording contract with a small indie label called Delgany Street Records - a subsidiary of Calvary Chapel Ministries and Crossroads Church of Denver. Even with all the ambition in the world, it would be almost 2 years until they released their first national debut in June of 2000.
The release of the self-titled debut spawned the top sales for the fledging label in the first quarter with no advertisements other than insane touring schedules, word-of-mouth tactics. The distributor, Pamplin, took notice. An offer for the band to sign to Pamplin Music was soon on the table. Through much consideration, Plumbline decided to leave the offer where it stood, remove themselves from any contracts, and go it alone, seeing better opportunity, practicality, and liberty independently.
Since that time, Plumbline has self-produced and released four projects, "LIVE: Worship" in 2001; "Freedom to Move EP" in 2002; "Burn" in 2003, and "Louder Than the World: Burn2" in 2007. They have sold over 35,000 units to date and played over 800 shows in 23 states. Fiercely independent and reverently focused, the men of this band have taken an atypical path. Plumbline does not exist to achieve stardom. Plumbline exists to glorify the King of Kings through music. Catch an appearance. The excitement and intensity of their love for God is to be shared and experienced.
Now. A new day has dawned. PLUMBLINE is, in a sense, no more.
I (Joseph Barkley) am venturing out on my own here...well, sort of. After fronting PLUMBLINE for 10 years and FIN for 3, it became evident that some of my favorite material was the stuff we were generating for our local churches.
While we have always writting, produced and performed original work; Oscar, Jerry and myself decided to start focusing our energy in a singular fashion: providing charged, intimate and specific songs of adoration and blessing to God that He has faithfully led us to create in our home churches. We sunk our own money, time and talent into making this first outing a simple, but pure expression of our journey this past year.
Though it's being released under my name, it is most certainly a group effort from some of my favorite musicians in California.
I sincerely pray that you are ushered into His presence through us.
Blessings.
Hey even though it is late I wanted to say thanks again for playing at BMCR this year. You made it one of the best and i'm glad to say that I listen to your guy's songs daily ever since. Hope to see you guys somewhere in concert soon.
I am awesome I hope you can come to Super Summer or Billings again cause I cant wait to hear you again also the new record will be AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
<---This person loves you <---This person wuld neva hurt you <---This person is a true friend <---This person has ur bak <---this person is alwayz their 4 u
I want you to know that you are amazing, and I love you to death. If I don't get this back, I won't understand. But I have a game for you. Once you read this letter, you must send it to 15 people that you really care about, including the person that sent it to you. If you receive at least 7 back, then you are loved
Hey guys, you were AmAzInG at BMCR this year! It was my first year and you guys playing there made it an amazing experience. Thank you so much, and god bless!
Thankyou so very much for playing at bmcr ive come back every year and i love to hear you guys play it brings me so much closer to god! keep spreadin the word! amanda
So you never told me when you were coming back to Texas..... I have to get that picture of y'all from Camp Arrowhead on a c.d. so that I can send it to ya...... I want to see you all again.....Best Summer ever...
i thank you guys for being at High School Super Summer in Montana last week, you guys were amazing :) God used you in great ways in all of our lives and i loved being a part of it all week i hope that you can come back next year for another exciting week :)
O my gosh u guys are awesome its only been three or four hours and I already miss doing worship with u guys! but Thank you for coming to super summer and Joseph I thiank you personally for being so helpful with me in the talent show!!!!!!!
umm, you guys may want to do a quick scan of your friends list, you have some pretty nasty, immoral people on there. I'm pretty sure being the strong christian men you are you wouldn't want people to think you were phonies. Love your ministry and music!
