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Visit Rez Band at ShoutLife! THIS IS THE OFFICIAL Resurrection Band MY SPACE! Years active 1972 - 2000
Glenn's Podcast on Resurrection Band!
Resurrection Band formed in 1972, helping to bring in a brand of Classic hard rock glorifying Jesus Christ and focusing on issues that spoke to that generation. Rez Band for short, put out a homemade demo tape in '74. They called it "Music to Raise the Dead" and a more folky "All Your Life". Rez would play anywhere, Street Corners, Jails, Schools. There First album did not hit the stores (usually under the counter at your local Christian Book Store)until 1978.
The story that didn't get told back then, even in Cornerstone(Rez Band's Church Magazine), was that Rez and JPUSA (Jesus People USA; Rez Band's Church and Community) ended up funding the album's production and recording costs. A friend lent them the eight thousand dollars, and after recording at Schaumburg, Illinois' Hedden-West studios, Rez took the record to various companies. Star Song, a then-tiny label, told Rez that they had been warned away from the project by other record companies' executives. "Everyone had heard it, and thought that Awaiting Your Reply was a good record; no-one wanted it affecting the gospel music status quo." Star Song, who had nothing to lose in light of the fact the project was already complete (even the artwork!), decided to risk it.
To the Gospel music industry's great surprise A.Y.R. went to number six on Gospel music sales charts.Though others (including Petra, E-Band, and Agape) had recorded rock albums, it was Resurrection Band's album that forced the door open for Christian heavy metal's mainstream acceptance. C-stone enthused regarding the finished studio product: "[Awaiting Your Reply] has become a milestone in the common vision shared by the band and our community. Since the ministry's inception, the band has been considered an outreach to those who are unsaved, as well as a tool to build up Christ's body. . . . This album is not just the dream of a band; it is the results of a Christian community's effort to reach out in love to a battered and dying world. It isn't just rock and roll; it's a message bearing life to all who will listen."
Meanwhile, Resurrection Band had supposedly upgraded to a secondhand school bus nicknamed Dawn Treader in reference to a mythical ship in one of C. S. Lewis's children's stories. Stu Heiss, guitarist for the group and all-around Mr. Gadget, assured everyone that the refrigeration unit he'd bolted on top of the bus would serve as an air conditioner. Galvanized ducts, supposedly to carry the cool air, ran from the refrigerator throughout the bus. When the refrigerator unit refused to work on its maiden voyage during a blistering summer tour, Resurrection Band members experienced new levels of discipleship.
More Info: Glenn Kaiser,
Grrr Records,
Jesus People USA,
Wikipedia Information.
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Rez Band CD Re-Issues ONLY $10.95 Each
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