When Travis Swan and Katrina Stone collaborated for the first time in 2005, it was unlikely that anything would come of that four-hour songwriting session. Facing differences in musical influences and disparate upbringings, they penned the first track of their new album The World Will See. “When we wrote Only By Your Grace, I had no idea it would spawn into an entire album, ” says Stone. And nearly 5 years later, it finally has.

Putting differences aside, these two musicians found some middle ground by fusing elements from their musical preferences to create a fresh, new sound. Swan’s background in rock/punk and Stone being based primarily in pop music allowed an unlikely sonic landscape that shakes up the average worship music setting. Katrina cites the influences of Jason Mraz, Blue October, Ingrid Michaelson, and Norah Jones while Travis has been molded by the likes of U2’s The Edge, Steve Camp, Angels and Airwaves, and Skillet’s Ardent Worship album. “Musically speaking, Katrina and I come from opposite ends of the spectrum,” says Swan. “I think my favorite part of making the album in a musical sense was coming up with ways to finger all the ridiculous piano-oriented chord progressions on my guitar.”

The album’s central theme comes primarily from the track Almighty, an upbeat yet powerful song that pushes traditional music boundaries. The collaboration of progressive arrangements, soaring guitars, and Swan’s vocal range make this song a central track as well as define the vision for the whole musical endeavor that is The World Will See. “God has chosen the frail and the weak (his church) to display him to the rest of the world through their lives, their service, and their surrender to him – these concepts pop up all over the album,” cites Swan.

As the album progresses, the familiar hymn Nearer, My God, to Thee opens new doors with a not so familiar arrangement. Utilizing a full spectrum of instrumentation like bells, strings, and organ, they made an older song accessible to a new generation. “When we were working on that track, we really wanted to convey the peace that comes with knowing God. We tried to create that in the track, the vocals, everything, ” says Stone.

Closing out the album is the inspiring and moving He is Risen. Backed by a choir from their home church in Fort Collins, Colorado, He is Risen displays the lyrical aptitude of these two writers. “What I love about this song is its sense of unity,” says Stone. “We wanted to write a song that would create a community when a church would sing it.” Hitting their mark with such lines as ‘where there once was ruin, there is now redemption’, and ‘let us come together, all who have been made new’, they have concentrated their lyrical aptitude on creating biblically sound theology as well as personal experience. “My favorite part of the writing process was literally plagiarizing the Bible as we battled through writing song lyrics!” claims Swan.

More than merely music, these two musicians desire for their music to touch the hearts of worshippers and inspire other musicians. “First of all, as with the title, I hope that this is one more witness of God’s glory for the world to see,” says Swan. ”Secondly, I distinctly remember the lyrics of songs; the slightest suggestion of one of my favorite songs can get it stuck in my head for days on end. I really love it if the lyric is an encouraging one.  I hope one of these songs gets stuck in someone’s head for a few days and helps change someone’s life.”  Though their differences may be many, their vision for the music has always been the same: for the world to see Christ.

You can see that we’ve re-branded from rockworship.com to gcworship.com. This is due to a broadening of focus away from “Rock and Roll” worship services and to more general worship services of all styles. However, it should be noted that the site admins primarily come from alternative style churches that have REALLY loud music, and that is our preference. Personal preference alone, however, it has nothing to do with a judgmental attitude toward other service styles. So long as the predominant culture of your area is considered when selecting your service style, it’s all good.

Also, don’t forget to join our Google Group!

As you can see I have re-activated the forums, as there has been some renewed interest. Stay tuned for a potential new direction for the site!

Worship/Christian Music

1. Jars of Clay – self-titled: This album is the reason I play acoustic guitar now.

2. Darrell Evans – Let the River Flow & Deleriou5? – Cutting Edge: These albums made me want to praise God passionately. I spent alot of high school Bible studies singing songs from these albums.

3. Chris Tomlin – Not to Us: This album was the first album in the Christian market that I feel was produced really well and was similar to the production of pop on the radio. The writing is concise and we have ended up playing almost every song on the album at church.

4. United Live – My Best Friend: This album came out at the same time all my friends were listening to Blink 182 and the begining of the alternative to indie transition. This album showed me that “praise” music could be punk or more rock and roll.

5. Switchfoot – The Beautiful Letdown: This album really spoke to me in some difficult times and ended up being the force behind me and my college girlfriend breaking up. The entire album is written so well and lyrically can be summerized in a simple phrase, “this is your life, are you who you want to be?”

6. Emery – The Question: This album was the first ‘harder’ Christian music that I listened to because it was so well written and so melodic. It has opened the door for Underoath and other harder bands which I really enjoy now. Also lyrically, they craft alot of spiritual lyrics using sarcasm that I can appreciate.

aside: I never really got into crowder stuff that much. At least not leading it. I really appreciate that it is there, but I really have never enjoyed his stuff that much.

Other albums that have affected me greatly. Damien Rice – O: Weezer – Pinkerton: The Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream: Radiohead – OK Computer: Coldplay – Parachutes: Matt Redman – The Heart of Worship, The Father’s Song: Newsboys – Going Public: Eoghan Heaslip – Mercy & Grace in the Wilderness:

This has been a great excerise for me with my band because I learn where people are coming from. You can read the music I have been into and have a pretty good idea what I sound like or try for. I found that a few of my guys love Blink 182 (which I do not like at all) and that explains a lot of conflict between us. I would encourage you to do this for yourself. It actually can be quiet emotional. I have had some amazing moments around music.

The other benefit that has come from me thinking about this is that I realize that music sometimes feels like a large part of my life, but rarely changes my life for the better. Some of the albums that I love actually have not motivated me to seek the Lord. They have had little lasting effect on my life.

Just a few thoughts. Thanks. -j

Have a good holiday.

I found questions 4 and 7 to be particularly good.

If a young musician felt called to become a lead worshiper for their church, what advice would you give them to help in their preparation and education?

I’d want them to be theologically astute and culturally tuned enough to explain their song selections on a biblical and practical basis.

I would also hope that they would understand that their service itself is worship, even if they sometimes don’t “feel” God’s presence etc…’

I also encourage all of our guys to write songs. Sometimes the songs aren’t that great and we don’t use them, sometimes they work out well, but I try to get at least one song out of every band each year and some bands end up with 6-10 songs which is great.

Worship is sometimes a contentious subject in the church, what key factors from a leadership perspective have helped the elders and congregation of Riverview get beyond this?

We unapologetically target young here. This means that the music sometimes is weird and loud and we ask that people who don’t like this, to sacrifice their preferences for the sake of our mission. It’s not much of an issue anymore. If your 50 years old and your 18 year old kid is into church, you’re usually pretty happy. Of course we do have an old timey folk gospel band (Folksplosion) that plays, and we get complements from the olders and youngers when they play. Targeting young means trying different things now-there’s not just one kind of music that people like. Go on myspace and you’ll see people that love Willie Nelson and Death Cab for Cutie too. I think things would be more stale if we just stuck with one kind of music like a Chris Tomlin (love the guy) cover band, which is what I did for quite a while.

If you are interested in being a regular author here, let me know a little bit about yourself, who you are, what you are up to, and how you wish to contribute.

I’m also taking recommendations for resource site links so we can bolster that section, and if you’d like to promote your original music here, let me know as well.

Thanks for reading. You all make my day.

There are other great forums out there that we could go to and this one doesn’t seem to be adding much right now. We could either wait and let it grow, or shut it down and point people at the currently thriving communities, and focus on this site as a resource blog.

Thoughts?