James Jones- Third Day, Guns -n Roses, Disciple, Day of Fire, Pillar, POD, Ozzy, Megadeth,Metallica,Def Leopard,Tesla,Hank Williams , Johnny Horton, The Scream , Alice in Chains
Christian Light- Rush, Joe Satriani, Dream Theater, Van Halen,
Megadeath
Micah Ulibarri- Petra, Relient K, Project 86, Blindside, House
of Heroes, Queen, Satana
Cory Martin- Pink Floyd, Clutch, Nirvana, Alice N Chains,Sound Garden, Gun N Roses, Pearl Jam, Metallica, Pantera, Kyuss, Disciple, Thousand Foot Krutch , Day of Fire, Reliant K, Kutless
Shane Ballard- Rush, Dream Theater, Metallica, Godsmack, Kansas, Styx, Deep Purple, 38 Special, Journey, Foreigner, Boston, Box Car Racer, Megadeath, Guns-N-Roses, Soundgarden, Alice-N-Chains, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Piolots, Black Crowes
Zakk Mitchell- Creed, Metallica, AC/DC, Black Dahlia Murder, Poison the Well, Eighteen Visions, Kid Rock, Eazy-E,Led Zepplin, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Dream Theater,SRV, Pantera, Zacky Vengance, Synyster Gates
Sounds Like
The sound we derive from is a mixture of our own assortment. We play what we feel and can get into. We hope to make somethng that we and others can enjoy.
We sound like the best new Christian Rock Group in Texas!
As long as James remembers he has had a love of music from listening to Johnny Horton and Hank Williams Sr. as a young child ; Def leopard , Ozzy,Tesla & the like as a grade schooler; to the power house bands in the nineties such as G&R, Metallica, and Megadeth, the last being the most influential in his life musically speaking. James was always trying to form bands, but could never seem to get farther than a few rehearsals. After life became almost more than bearable ,James begin to reflect back on his Christian upbringing - at this point in life discovering Third Day , the more of Third Day James listened to , the more he searched for quality Christen bands that were closer to his secular influences and found Pillar, Seventh Day Slumber , Disciple , just to name a few . At this point James began singing at church regularly and felt a strong calling that the youth of today needed to be exposed to quality hard rock and heavy metal.. Christian music. It was at this point James began to look for other musicians. After many meetings, jam sessions, etc., he found the first piece to the project that would eventually become The Light Within . After singing one Sunday morning, Christian asked James to work on a song to be performed at the church. Around the same time, James met Shane and the foundation of the band was formed.
Shane Ballard-
Started at age 8 banging on pots and pans in Valley Falls,Ks. His father was a keyboardist/backup singer/cowbell enthusiast for his band
"Black Thorn", so his father decided to buy some drums off of his
current drummer.And so
forth he got his first set of drums. He didn't take to practicin' very much at first until he got into high
school. Starting 9th grade he practiced anywhere from 1 1/2hrs to 30 mins before school even started,
mainly learning covers of classic rock and new rock bands. The first song he
ever clearly learned was "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns-N-Roses. His
first set was an old pearl set with no bottom heads. At the time of graduation. He had to move to texas, for his mother had been
transferred by her job down there. He loved music so much that before he moved
he bought himself a 5 piece set of Tama Rockstar
drums, which later become his 9 piece set. Growing up his closest friend was
the brother of another great drummer. And that drummer introduced him to
"Rush". The sound and syncopation wowed him so much that he just
couldn't wait to hear "Tom Sawer".
And so forth he practiced for years while working and attending college to
become a private percussion teacher. While working at Walmart as a cashier, he had seen James quite a few
times and one day decided to jam with him, yet forming the band that later
became known as "The Light Within".....
Christian Light-
Growing up with his parents that were teenagers in the 80's it was almost
inevitable that Christian would be influenced by 80's metal. The screaming and
shredding guitar solos and catchy chorus's of 80's
metal greatly influenced him early on. At age 12 he wanted to learn how to play
the bass guitar. But after listening to amazing guitar skills and musicianship
of George Lynch (the guitarist of Dokken) he decided
to pick up the guitar and learn how to shred out the best solos in the
world!!... and not to mention it is an awesome way to
pick up chicks! After taking guitar lessons with his guitar teacher Sharam, he began to finally have a mentor that could show
him how to be a great musician and began to practice anywhere from 2-5 hours a
day. Deciding that playing by himself all the time was
getting old he asked his friend James at his church if he was interested in
playing together and that is how the whole band started! Christian also plays
piano and bass guitar and likes and plays many styles of music including Rock,
Metal, Classical, instrumental rock, fusion, blues and
jazz.....
Micah - Learned how to play bass thanks to his dad. He then went on to learn the guitar when he had nothing better to do while he lived in Africa.
Cory Martin-
Decided at age 25 that he wanted to play bass, so he bought himself a practice
amp, bass and self taught himself through the use of the Internet. After about
1 year of self taught practice joined a cover band playing a variety of music
from Rock n’ Roll to the
Blues. Years later after a 4 year retirement started listening to Christian
Rock on 89.7 Power FM and Internet radio. Inspired by the new sounds and his
recent re-commitment to God went searching to join a Christian Rock group.
He wanted to use his spiritual gift of music for the glory of God. Thus
finding James on Craigslist
and coming out to Jam and soon after Join The
Light Within. ....
.. ..
Zakk Mitchell- Growing up in the not-so-wealthy section of Irving, TX, Zakk wasn't in the best environment for a guitarist at his age, or even great music taste for that matter. Zakk's musical "Vision Quest" came to him after his father had a heart attack, that in which led him and his family to Aquilla....which was where his idea of good music came into play. He gives all the credit of his taste in music to his humorous uncle Kenny Schultz. Zakk and his uncle would listen to alot of AC/DC and Pink Floyd, and alot of various other classic rock bands. But this wasn't what caused Zakk to start playing guitar, not in the slightest. It was the pastor of our churches son "Blake", who offered him to try his guitar out in August of 2006, in spite of his lack of playing abilities. After only a few months of having self-taught himself guitar, he came to buy his very own Arctic White "Squire Stratocaster", which worked well for him at the time. He then realized he was born to play guitar. It took a while, but his prayers were answered and he was able to purchase new equipment the following year. He was determined that if he was going to be serious about his musicianship, he was going to need some good-sounding equipment. After taking a short leave of the church, he arrived back to where it began. After a few auditions, the band decided he'd be a good candidate as our new Lead guitarist... since they'd soon be loosing their current Lead shred man to the military (Airforce). As so forth became their new Lead Guitarist.
