Source: The Grand Rapids Press
Kevin Young, the lead singer of Disciple, says his band’s best-known song may be one that hasn’t played on the radio.
“Game On,” a rocker from the band’s most recent CD (“Scars Remain”), has received loads of air play on several cable TV network sports shows. The biggest splash came last November when the tune was chosen as the theme for a WWE pay-per-view event broadcast live from Cincinnati.
“They allowed us to come to the event and even sit ringside,” Young, 30, said of their place in the pro wrestling spotlight. The aggressive anthem also received placement on various Fox Sports, ESPN and Speed Network highlight shows.
“It was the best promotion we ever had — the right people at the right time with the right song,” Young said on a road stop somewhere between Wichita Falls, Texas, and Dallas.
Another new song — “Regime Change,” a musical metaphor for spiritual control — is in the top 10 on Christian rock charts. “After the World,” a much tamer rock ballad, also will get air play.
The early shot helped the CD scan more than 9,000 in sales its first week in stores and a bullet on Billboard Magazine’s Heatseekers chart.
It’s been a long run for the band, which Young and drummer Tim Barrett began when they were teenagers in northern Tennessee. Young was influenced by heavier Christian bands of the era. “(Christian rock) was definitely a tool God used to bring me to him,” Young said. “At first, I fell in love with the music, but the music allowed me to fall in love with Christ.”
Young and Barrett were a duo in the early days.
They soon added guitarist Brad Noah, forming a power trio. Their first album didn’t come until 1995. They did grunge, metal … “anything that could be an adjective for rock, we covered it,” Young said.
The band took on bass player (Joey Fife) a few years ago, freeing Young to concentrate on lead vocals as they developed their hard rock sound, which includes sung melodies and hard-core, screamed vocals.
Disciple’s previous self-titled release included “The Wait is Over,” a dominant song on Christian rock charts in 2005 and a nominee for a Gospel Music Association Dove Award. But “Game On” and other songs from the new CD could take them farther.
