Ok, so I mostly just sat on the sidelines snapping pictures, but last weekend I got to experience such a cool opportunity with my husband and his band, Simple Tenants!
First, let me back up and tell you a story about my friend Nicole. We met her a few years ago because she is the Worship Arts Coordinator at our church and she has since become Nick and Abby’s piano teacher as well.
A few months ago Nicole came to me and said that she had been signed by an independent record label and would I start writing lyrics with her so that she could come up with some original material quickly? Um…yes! So we started writing together and, not only was it really fun, the songs started turning out really well! (That is thanks in large part to the fact that Nicole has a professional musical background and can play literally any instrument. Well, almost, she will tell you she’s not the best drummer.)
Then Nicole decided that instead of releasing a CD by herself, she wanted to form a new band. That’s when Simple Tenants was born. They have played together for a while during the worship services at our church, but now they are playing all original material that was written by Nicole -and sometimes by me, which is kind of insane.
They are an Indie Christian band based in Central Pennsylvania. Their band is made up of Nicole, her husband Stu, who is a classically trained guitarist with 30 years of experience…
My husband, Eddie, who also plays the guitar and sometimes sings back-up vocals…
Our friend Zane who is a ridiculously talented percussionist…
And their bassist, Matt, who brings what might be my favorite story ever of how music touched his life. Matt was actually born deaf and had surgery to correct his hearing as a toddler. He tells a very touching story about how his parents bought him a musical toy and his face lit up the first time he heard it. I think it’s just incredible that someone can be born without the ability to hear and wind up as the bassist in a Christian rock band twenty years later!
Even if they weren’t my friends, I would still be fan girling over Simple Tenants pretty hard right now just because I think it’s amazing that they have a strong female front woman who can play all of her own instruments and they write all of their own music. I seriously cannot wait until you hear some of it. It ranges from the kind of songs that churches can use during their worship services (but slightly less traditional) to using castanets and sounding like it could be on the soundtrack of a Quentin Tarantino movie. Plus, the lyrics to their song “I Spy” are, to this point in my life, my favorite thing I have ever had a part in writing.
I would love to have you follow along on the Simple Tenants Facebook page so that as their songs are released on iTunes, etc. you can be among the first to know!
Their first single, which is coming very soon, will be the live version of Here to Worship, which you can see in this video. Nicole wrote this one before we started working together. I love this song because it is so mellow and her voice is so sweet and comforting on it.
You can check it out for yourself on YouTube. And if you sign up for their email newsletter, the band will send you a FREE mp3 download of this song!
I love his Harry Potter shirt! The music was ok too..
You are officially the first person to ever know what that shirt was.