Week three came to meet, and we really were skeptical that we wouldn't be able to write a 3rd song in three weeks. It seemed way to good to be true! We were already blown away at the two that had already happened so quickly. So that night we met, not sure what to expect and Jeremy actually brought an idea to the table. He had a very eery but cool chord progression along with a very honest chorus. This would be the first slow song we wrote, and really took on the shape of a very honest confessional.
We did like usual again and gathered the band first to write the music and flow we wanted for the song. Because of where this song comes from, we left a lot of room at the end for a instrumental so that people can reflect and pray and worship from their own honest places. We assure you, that if you listen to the album in whole, as a ten song story, when you reach this song and the instrumental, you will be moved way more than if you just listen to the individual song. Once we got our music together we stepped into the lobby and collectively wrote some of our favorite lyrics on the album... Every single band member contributed heavily. There's no good way to describe this song until you hear it, other than to let you know Jeremy sings it and sounds INCREDIBLE. We will write the lyrics out for you below, we seriously are so pumped for you guys to hear this song!
Search my heart
Search my soul
Father, I am letting go
Take my hands
Take my feet
Father, I am incomplete
I am wrath
I am hate
Father, You alone are great
In my sin
In my shame
I am crying out Your name
Oh God please save me from myself
Take my power I need Your help
The tide is rising above the gate
Lord rescue me before it's too late
I will bend
I will break
Your the potter I'm the clay
You are grace
You are truth
Teach me how to be like You
With Your strength
With Your might
Pierce my darkness with Your light
In my sin
In my shame
I am crying out Your name
Oh God please save me from myself
Take my power I need Your help
The tide is rising above the gate
Lord rescue me before it's too late
Wolverton
Monday, June 30, 2014
Saturday, June 28, 2014
2: #2 Breaking Free
So week 2 arrived for writing! This time we had every band member present! Which really made Nothing He Can't Do come to completion. Walking in to this night Kevin brought a hook for a chorus for us to build upon. The hook totally has a late 90's early 2000's summertime rock feel! We weren't quite sure how it would work building a worship song around it, but we proceeded and we're so glad we did. Again we started with our full band jamming on the material and building a feel for the song. The verses took a really cool jazz direction, do yourself a favor and pay attention to the bass guitar line when you hear it. We also made some room for Jeremy to take a guitar solo later in the song. Then we headed to chairs with acoustics again to work on our vocals and lyrics.
All we had lyric wise for the song was the phrase "Breaking Free, letting go." So we again looked at the seven letters in revelation and zero'd in on the letter we would write from. We chose the first letter, to the church at Ephesus. You can check it out, Revelation 2:1-7. In this letter Jesus praises Ephesus for the works in the faith, but calls them out for forgetting about having a relationship with Him. "But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first." So we wanted to write from a perspective of repentance.
Part of the chorus is:
Breaking free, letting go
Of everything that takes my heart away
Then we began working on our verse. With the jazz feel musically, we went a direction in kind of camp fire sing along melody. (We don't know what that means either, but it sounds good) We will share the lyrics of the verse with you and let the song do the rest when you get it!
After all the running, after all that I've been through
Chasing all the things that, never could compare to You
Now my eyes are opened, I can see the work You do
Even at my furthest, Lord you draw me back to You
Now I offer all I have, never turning back!
Breaking Free! Letting Go!....ect.
Can't wait for you to hear it!
Wolverton
All we had lyric wise for the song was the phrase "Breaking Free, letting go." So we again looked at the seven letters in revelation and zero'd in on the letter we would write from. We chose the first letter, to the church at Ephesus. You can check it out, Revelation 2:1-7. In this letter Jesus praises Ephesus for the works in the faith, but calls them out for forgetting about having a relationship with Him. "But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first." So we wanted to write from a perspective of repentance.
Part of the chorus is:
Breaking free, letting go
Of everything that takes my heart away
Then we began working on our verse. With the jazz feel musically, we went a direction in kind of camp fire sing along melody. (We don't know what that means either, but it sounds good) We will share the lyrics of the verse with you and let the song do the rest when you get it!
After all the running, after all that I've been through
Chasing all the things that, never could compare to You
Now my eyes are opened, I can see the work You do
Even at my furthest, Lord you draw me back to You
Now I offer all I have, never turning back!
Breaking Free! Letting Go!....ect.
Can't wait for you to hear it!
Wolverton
Thursday, June 26, 2014
1: #7 Nothing He Can't Do
We weren't quite sure what the structure for writing songs would look like as we were preparing to begin this whole process. We knew God had gifted each of us, and that we could cover worship songs together, but what would writing look like? Some of the band had writing experience, but not all of us. Right before this process our Young Adult group in Toccoa had walked through a series in the seven letters in Revelation. These are love letters that were written by Jesus through John. Jesus, called out some of these churches for their sin, and ultimately encouraged them on their journey with Christ. Originally we planned to write the entire album surrounding these letters, although as time went on we evolved to other sections of scripture as you will see later.
So the first Thursday to meet and write arrived. About two hours prior to the meeting, Kevin wrote a guitar riff and a melody to a chorus. No lyrics were with the melody besides the phrase "Nothing He Can't Do." So all we had walking in, was a guitar riff and a concept to build something around. As anyone who writes music knows, there are times where a song will piece together, and other times when it could take months to complete a concept. We didn't really know what to expect. In fact our first night we were short handed as a band. We did not have Jeremy our lead guitar player present, or Megan our female vocalist.
So to begin the whole process we started by building our music as a band. We quickly came up with a flow and feel for the song and got an order together. Then we came off stage, grabbed some chairs and an acoustic guitar and began working on our lyrics and melodies. Looking at the seven letters we decided to pull from the second letter, this was to the church in Smyrna. You can check it out, Revelation 2:8-11. Jesus was preparing this church for suffering that they were getting ready to face. He wanted them to know some important things as they were getting ready for that:
1. He is first and last. That means that He was before anything they were about to face, and He will be after it. So, if they would keep their eyes set on Him, He would pull them through. There's Nothing He Can't Do!
2. He was dead but is now alive. Jesus conquered death! What could they have to fear if God was on their side! Even DEATH couldn't hold him down! There's Nothing He Can't Do!
3. Those who remained faithful would receive the crown of life. He assures them that He will grant them the crown of life if they remained in Him!
These were all important concepts for them to be encouraged by, and truths they could hold on to as they prepared for the suffering ahead. He knew that without the hope He had for them, they wouldn't make it. But if they would place their faith in Him through it, they would conquer! This wasn't just true for the church in smyrna in that time, but is also true in our lives. We will face suffering in our lives, their will be very tough and trying times. But guess what! With the hope of Christ we can know, that there's nothing He can't handle. We finished our lyrics and got back to the instruments to finalize everything. This song continued to take shape all the way into the studio. Musically it is one of our favorites, and has a lot of really cool dynamics. Stephen and Zach both played huge parts in the outro which we love!
Can't wait for you to be able to worship to this tune and be encouraged by it!
Wolverton
So the first Thursday to meet and write arrived. About two hours prior to the meeting, Kevin wrote a guitar riff and a melody to a chorus. No lyrics were with the melody besides the phrase "Nothing He Can't Do." So all we had walking in, was a guitar riff and a concept to build something around. As anyone who writes music knows, there are times where a song will piece together, and other times when it could take months to complete a concept. We didn't really know what to expect. In fact our first night we were short handed as a band. We did not have Jeremy our lead guitar player present, or Megan our female vocalist.
So to begin the whole process we started by building our music as a band. We quickly came up with a flow and feel for the song and got an order together. Then we came off stage, grabbed some chairs and an acoustic guitar and began working on our lyrics and melodies. Looking at the seven letters we decided to pull from the second letter, this was to the church in Smyrna. You can check it out, Revelation 2:8-11. Jesus was preparing this church for suffering that they were getting ready to face. He wanted them to know some important things as they were getting ready for that:
1. He is first and last. That means that He was before anything they were about to face, and He will be after it. So, if they would keep their eyes set on Him, He would pull them through. There's Nothing He Can't Do!
2. He was dead but is now alive. Jesus conquered death! What could they have to fear if God was on their side! Even DEATH couldn't hold him down! There's Nothing He Can't Do!
3. Those who remained faithful would receive the crown of life. He assures them that He will grant them the crown of life if they remained in Him!
These were all important concepts for them to be encouraged by, and truths they could hold on to as they prepared for the suffering ahead. He knew that without the hope He had for them, they wouldn't make it. But if they would place their faith in Him through it, they would conquer! This wasn't just true for the church in smyrna in that time, but is also true in our lives. We will face suffering in our lives, their will be very tough and trying times. But guess what! With the hope of Christ we can know, that there's nothing He can't handle. We finished our lyrics and got back to the instruments to finalize everything. This song continued to take shape all the way into the studio. Musically it is one of our favorites, and has a lot of really cool dynamics. Stephen and Zach both played huge parts in the outro which we love!
Can't wait for you to be able to worship to this tune and be encouraged by it!
Wolverton
Friday, June 20, 2014
The album releases...
As most of you know, some of our worship band members at our Toccoa campus of Foothills began writing a worship album. We got started in October of last year and spent 6 months writing and practicing. Then in April we went up to Nashville to record the album! We decided to name our group Wolverton, which you can see that story on our first blog post! You can also follow the journey and experience of the studio from the perspective of each band member in our blog as well.
Since April the album has gone through the process of being mixed and tweaked to perfection. Then came the mastering process. And then getting the artwork of the CD and production set up. We have walked through all of these steps and are in the FINAL touches of everything! We are so excited to announce for you the release date that you have been patiently waiting for!
Our album will be available at each of our Foothills Community Church locations, as well as online in various places like iTunes...on....Sunday, July 6th.
That's only 16 days away!!!
That means in 16 days you will get to finally hear what God has been building in and through us!
Starting 10 days before the album release we will post a blog each day describing each of our songs. We will tell you the process of writing it, where you can find the inspiration for the song in scripture, what transformed about the song over time, the process of recording it in the studio, and how the band worked to piece each song together. We will also share the album artwork with you on our facebook page over the next few days!
Below is the tracking list, be sure and begin helping us promote this album release as we are praying these songs and messages hit the ears of people who need to be encouraged with the love of Jesus! We are believing that God is going to use this album to change lives! He gets ALL the glory!
1. Shout
2. Breaking free
3. We won't give up
4. Battle cry
5. Heal me Lord
6. Bite your tongue
7. Nothing He can't do
8. Save me
9. White stone
10. Christ is Lord
Love you guys!
In Christ,
Kevin
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