Audio Adrenaline:
Focused on being passionate about Jesus
By Frank "Buzz" Trexler
for The (Maryville, TN) Daily Times,
Fall 2005
In 1994, Audio Adrenaline came to
Knoxville with the Newsboys and dc talk on the "Free at Last"
tour. It was a different time for contemporary Christian music, with
different challenges — particularly, the acceptance of rock-style
Christian music.
For instance, during the ’94
tour, dc talk would rap:
"To the ones that think they
heard/I did use the J word/’Cause I ain’t too soft to say it/Even if dj’s
don’t play it. … Jesus is still alright."
Likewise, Audio A would get the
crowd jumpin’ with its "Don’t Censor Me":
"Only one word shakes the
earth/Only one word holds the worth/One word G.O.D./Why you wanna censor
me?"
Times have definitely changed, says
AA’s bassist,Wil McGinnis.
In a recent telephone interview
from his hometown of "Nash-Vegas," which he describes as
"home of everything under the sun; country music largely, but almost
everything else, too," McGinnis talked about the changes in
contemporary Christian music.
"I think the marketplace has
grown extremely since when we first got into it," McGinnis said.
"I mean it’s crazy, from the point of the amount of money that’s
being spent on Christian music to make it great, to the amount of attention
it’s getting in all kinds of public forums, videos, radios, and everything
else."
He’s asked whether that has
impacted the veteran rock band’s ability to get its message to the people.
"I’m not sure that it’s
affected us terribly, other than it’s made it cooler. It’s not so taboo
now to be in a Christian band," he said. "You know, a lot of kids
out there … some of their favorite artists are in Christian music, out of
all of the choices, secular or not, you know.
"So, it’s more about the
music and less about the content of the lyrics, which was the exact opposite
of back in the day when it was all about your content and who cares what you
sounded like."
Today, McGinnis said, there is
"great freedom" when it comes to Christian music.
"You can just rock out and be
yourself," he said. "If you talk about the Lord, that’s great,
if you don’t, that’s great, too, you know. Secular music doesn’t
really care, either way."
That’s a good thing for Audio
Adrenaline, but the band always seemed willing to stretch the bounds of
freedom … even before it was an accepted practice. Whether it was
"Bloom," which went so far as to present a high-energy, rockin’
version of Edgar Winter’s "Free Ride," to "Some Kind of
Zombie," which stretched the imagination of even the hard-core AudioA
fans. Nonetheless, over a nearly 15-year lifespan, the band has sold more
than 3 million records and charted 18 No. 1 singles.
Now comes "Until My Heart
Caves In," which frontman Mark Stuart says is "about living for
God until your body collapses."
McGinnis said the title cut
"is just making the statement that we want to have passion in our
lives."
"For some people, they’re
passionate about their girlfriend, they’re passionate about their car,
they’re getting the big house, or whatever. We just happen to be
passionate about something completely different," the 38-year-old
McGinnis said. "This song makes the statement that we do have something
to die for, we do have a real faith in Christ Jesus that until our dying is
met we want to be about his things, about his business.
"And we want to do that with a
fire, with a zeal, with a passion that is a unbridled and just reckless. We’re
gonna do crazy things and even when it doesn’t look right, or it doesn’t
sound smart, if we feel like he’s called us to it, we’re gonna go do
it."
Looking back, McGinnis reflected
that perhaps there were times during the band’s career when "maybe
our focus wasn’t exactly in the right spot."
"But I think that’s one of
the things this record is saying, that the spark is reigniting. We’re
focused like we’ve never been before and the focus is on God, being very
humanitarian and worrying about the poor people of America and Third World
countries, and the orphans and the widows, and the elderly."
The band has "walked the
talk" with that message through what is called "The Hands and
Feet" project, an orphanage in Haiti that Audio Adrenaline is building
from the ground up. The goal is to provide a caring and loving environment
for those children, giving them a home, food, education, and the love and
acceptance of a Christian family.
Meanwhile, as the interview took
place, rescue operations for victims of Hurricane Katrina were still ongoing
and McGinnis was asked about his thoughts.
"I’m just praying that God
will use this as a wake-up call. You know, in countries around the world we’re
the laughingstock of the world, just based on the way that we take care of
our elderly, our poor and our homeless. So, I’m hoping that now more than
ever America sees the importance of taking care of the widows and the
orphans and the poor and the elderly.
"I hope that this sparks a new
wave of selflessness in America that’s never been rivaled before; and that
our government and our people would be about these things … the important
things of life: Taking care of one another."
The Rev. Frank "Buzz" Trexler is managing
editor at The Daily Times and pastor of Green Meadow United Methodist
Church, www.themeadow.org. You can
e-mail him at PastorBuzz@nxs.net.
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