Upon This Rock

He is the genuine article. He walks onto stage with just an acoustic guitar, and within seconds of starting his song, you are drawn in, not just by his lilting Celtic vocals and superb imaginative fretwork, but also by the fact that Steph Macleod has done the hard miles, and is a survivor. You see, Steph's story is one of hope from despair and freedom from addiction. His story is infused in his songs, all of which are self-composed and many of which are biographical. Steph is big and bearded - the archetypical Scot through and through - and occasionally you may see him appear wearing his kilt with a full Celtic rock band behind him. Now he is an internationally acclaimed singer and songwriter who has performed with the likes of Matt Redman , Martin Smith and the Rend Collective . His music features regularly on BBC (Radio 2 and Songs of Praise) as well as other broadcasting channels such as UCB. But his life wasn't always like this. In his darkest years he was hopelessl...

One of the interesting highlights at Creation Fest was the lineup playing the second venue, known as the Big Top. One stand-out band that graced this stage, and made our ears bleed a little, was Amongst Wolves , who are a mission band. Along with Soulbox (who featured in an earlier post on this blog) they work for The Message, going into schools and other youth oriented venues to play their music messages of hope and faith. Amongst Wolves have toured extensively across the UK and in other countries including Germany. The band can best be described as alternative melodic rock, with sounds reminiscent of Paramore . They are a four piece made up of Mark (guitar and vocals), Kariss (vocals and guitar), Andy (drums) and Clarissa (guitar and keyboards). I met the band backstage at Creation Fest 2018 and asked them to talk about their inspirations, history, future and .... yep, how they got their name. Here's the interview: My next post reviews their 6 track mini-album Unspok...

Punk rock and Christianity. Can the two possibly go together, or is Christian punk simply an oxymoron? A group of three courageous young musicians are proving that the two can be compatible, and they are attracting a real storm of opposition on social media because of it. I interviewed Peter 118 at Creation Fest and featured them in a post called Jesus was a punk . It went viral, and a storm kicked off on Facebook. Many it seems, were outraged by the groups stand for Christ, and their no-compromise attitude in the face of overwhelming online abuse and criticism. But they still wanted to read more about this controversial trio.  Reading one particular Facebook thread about Peter 118 requires some fortitude because there is an angry, baying mob on there, and several of the comments come from those who patently aren't thinking too clearly about what they are typing. Those posting to the discussion page seem polarised by the band. Some comments are vitriolic, ad hominem at...

One of the outstanding performances of Creation Fest 2018 came on Tuesday evening on the main stage from a band called The Moment . Based in the Midlands, they are a five piece band (there are actually 7 listed on their website!) who play rocked up worship and also some of their own original work. The Moment were outstanding not simply because of their music, which was superbly conceived and performed with passion. Their live CD is entitled Not Afraid. What struck me most about the set they played was the message of hope from their front man Dave Bell. His personal story of a miraculous life was very moving, and it's inspirational. In essence, when he was 16 years old, Dave was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer, and it was only by the great skill and dedication of his physicians that he pulled through at all. However, because of the intense radiotherapy Dave received, his doctors informed him that he would never be able to have children.... ...and I'll leave...

Randy Stonehill appeared abruptly on the Contemporary Christian Music scene in 1971. Born in Stockton, California in 1952, Randall Evan Stonehill and was raised an agnostic. I previously wrote about how rock musician and CCM pioneer   Larry Norman  met Stonehill, befriended him and then led him to Christ. Norman later signed Stonehill to his One Way label and went on to produce several of his early albums. To date Randy Stonehill has released more than 30 albums since his debut production, Born Twice.  He is a singer/songwriter who falls neatly within the folk rock genre. His songs and style are reminiscent of the music of James Taylor with shades of CSN , and some melodic West-Coast rock influence can also be heard. Some of Stonehill's tracks are insanely comedic in their approach, and he is inevitably zany in his live performances too. Several of his compositions contain critical commentary on American life, with humour used to good effect on songs such as Ameri...