We are in Lower Hutt at an Anglican community. Our truck is parked outside and we are listening to Nic Cave’s new record Push The Sky Away as it spins around on Josh’s 1957 Astor. Nice album. Reminds me of Jonny Cash, gospel, blues and Proverbs, especially those struggles around relationships and temptations of Mermaids.…
Read MoreJasmin Jones in the house
No relation, but musician/surfer-chick Jasmin Jones from the band Triplet is in the house. Make that IN THE YURT, because a few days ago we managed to fix up a storm damaged yurt and move into it. Jasmin is the Ozzie-born daughter of a Kiwi dad and Portuguese mum and is in NZ for a month. She…
Read MoreDavid Crowder Trending
Yeah! My mate David Crowder the musician is trending right now worldwide on Twitter. David – you rock! We are all really proud of you. And I am sooooo sorry for saying you look funny – you look awesome – except that weird gotee!! David, you have come so far since the 90’s when you…
Read MoreBands
Saw a bunch of bands last night at Freakstock Festival in Germany. Triplet, our friends from Portugal, did their final gig after 10 years. Lead singer Jasmin Jones is also performing solo. Psalters rocked everyone again. I saw them in 99 at Cornerstone when they first started. A crazy band who give everything away for…
Read MoreViolet Burning: The Story of our Lives
One or our favourite bands, The Violet Burning, arrived in Prague in preparation for Colours of Ostrava, Czech Republic’s largest music festival. We often meet up with this band on various occasions and various countries and always have a great time. Last night, the band came over to our ‘van down by the river’ for our regular Friday…
Read More3 Top Albums on our Playlist
Good to see Mumford and Sons win the Best Brit album of the year with Sigh No More. We have been playing it for months on our playlist, along with other favourtie albums. The Top 3 albums on our family's playlist right now are: Sigh No More, by Mumford and Sons The Fray by The…
Read MoreLunch with Isaac Slade of The Fray
Our family stopped into Denver last week and had lunch with Isaac Slade, lead musician and vocalist for The Fray. I met Isaac last month in South Africa, right after he visited a social enterprise in Rwanda. Great to see a musician with a heart for changing the world. Nice guy – intelligent, hard working,…
Read MoreKevin Prosch and the Peppercorns
Back in 1998, Kevin Prosch and the Peppercorn Band stayed with us in the Redwoods of California. Our community was full of young hippy kids and rastas who had given their lives to Jesus and were getting off drugs and starting a new life. The Peppercorn Band and Kevin totally rocked. Great energetic worship. Just…
Read MoreRock Bands turning up here for our REALLY BIG PARTY
Ahhhh its CRAAAAAZY around here!! We are really busy, setting up to throw a huge party this weekend called Rock on Christmas, the brainchild of Denny Hurst who turned up this afternoon. The festival starts tomorrow and we have been sweeping out this old warehouse and watching people set up the stage and deliver the…
Read MoreRock on Christmas Festival (Dec 5-6)
We are busy preparing for a rock festival called Rock on Christmas, to be held in Portugal on Dec 5 and 6. LOTS and LOTS of work to do. Like . . . choosing a location . . preparing a campsite (my kids are doing this right now) . . . publicity, etc. Thats right…
Read MoreColdPlay – Left Right Left Right Left
Coldplay’s new album is a free download. Lots of great songs, most of them you would have heard before, but this time recorded live from their concerts. The crowd participation makes Left Right Left Right Left a charming and endearing album and a great introduction to one of Brittain’s best bands ever. I just managed…
Read MoreJon Abel rocked us
Listening today to a CD from John Abel called More Than This. Jon was the songleader at last weekend’s Summit in Tahoe. Lovely guy. Great worship leader. Christianity Today also liked him. Technorati Tags: jon abel, music, worship
Read MoreRetro: Sonseed and Jesus is my friend
This month’s header has a retro feel but actually I took the shot last weekend at Lake Tahoe. Speaking of retro, Prodigal Jon thinks through the 5 stages of emailing an unintentionally funny video like this one below on the Stuff Christians Like blog. HT: Bob Carlton. The band in question is called “Sonseed”. They…
Read MoreDavid Pierce on Tall Skinny Kiwi
David Pierce, director of Steiger International and No Longer Music is my guest today. You can interact with him in the comments section if you want to ask him anything. Great guy. Amazing ministry. From a barge in Amsterdam to the ends of the earth, taking its message of hope to “some of the darkest…
Read MoreCCM – The Future of Contemporary Christian Music
“All the younger artists signed to Christian labels within the last 10 years or less will struggle to understand where they fit—if they fit at all anymore.” “Another whole group of “ccm” era survivors will continue to move country music forward with great success” “The Tooth & Nail tribe of artists will continue on. It’s…
Read MoreFlight of the Conchords – Go Kiwi’s!
Flight of the Conchords debut album hits Number 3 in USA. Well done! As you know I grew a beard so that my friend Derek (who looks like Jemaine) and I could do a take off for YouTube. We actually didn’t have time for that. Well we did but we were too lazy. Anyway, I…
Read MoreLarry Norman (1947-2008)
Larry Norman, the “father of Christian rock” passed away yesterday. His friend and colleague Steve Camp has the skinny, and a song dedicated to him called “If I was a singer”. I never met Larry but my wife who grew up in California heard him many times. In fact, his song “I wish we’d all…
Read MoreHelen J Hicks and her new single
iTunes release of the single “Love’s Not for Sale” by blues/jazz singer Helen J Hicks. Profits go towards fighting human trafficking. Last week I saw Helen perform a fantastic set at a London club where she released her excellent new album [buy it on Amazon] on her LoudMouthMusic label. I took some video of ‘Love’s…
Read More‘Swang’ and Producer Jason Rey
Here is one of video producer Jason Rey’s videos called Swang, which has achieved almost legendary status in the Houston hip-hop scene and is now a standard for other short hip-hop videos. One of the hip-hop artists, Hawk, died tragically from gunshot wounds shortly after this video was taken. Check it out and watch the…
Read MoreGreen Day Chat and Idiot Club (updated)
Green Day now have an official chat room as part of the new Idiot Club so you dont need to come here anymore to leave messages for Billie Joe. Its US$20 a year so join up when you save up enough. You get to see a preview of their new video which would be cool…
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