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54-546: The Letter Black , formerly known as Breaking the Silence , is an American Christian rock band that was formed in 2006 in Uniontown , Pennsylvania . The band consists of lead vocalist Sarah Anthony; her husband, lead guitarist and vocalist Mark Anthony; bassist Matt Beal and drummer William Fowler and rhythm guitarist Brandon Jordan. The Letter Black started out as a praise team at their local church with Sarah and her husband Mark as

108-546: A 1972 gospel-music album by Elvis Presley, sold over 1 million copies in the US alone and earned Presley his second of three Grammy Awards. Not counting compilations, it was his third and final album devoted exclusively to gospel music. The song "He Touched Me" was written in 1963 by Bill Gaither , an American singer and songwriter of southern gospel and Contemporary Christian music. In the 1960s, rock music developed artistically, attained worldwide popularity and became associated with

162-535: A Christian, because I don't write music to be evangelical. Now, if that happens, it happens. Some of these bands, like Creed , played up the spiritual content of their music and were widely considered a "Christian band" by the popular media. Some bands reject the label because they do not wish to exclusively attract Christian fans, or because they have been identified with another particular music genre, such as heavy metal or indie rock . The aims for making Christian music vary among different artists and bands. Often,

216-595: A duo on vocals under the name "Breaking the Silence". Later when they were signed to Tooth & Nail Records they changed the name of the band to "The Letter Black". In 2008, Sarah Anthony was featured on the Pillar album For the Love of the Game , singing on the track "I Fade Away". The band often does 150 shows or more a year and has shared the stage with bands such as Skillet , Decyfer Down , Red , and Hawk Nelson . They performed as

270-446: A marginal part of the nascent contemporary Christian music (CCM) and contemporary gospel industry in the 1970s and 1980s, though Christian folk rock artists like Bruce Cockburn and rock fusion artists like Phil Keaggy had some cross-over success. Petra and Resurrection Band , two of the bands who brought harder rock into the early CCM community, had their origins in the early to mid-1970s. They reached their height in popularity in

324-480: A near-synonym for musical idea " (Middleton 1990, p. 125). The etymology of the term is not clearly known. Ian Anderson, in the documentary "A World Without Beethoven", states (repeatedly) that "riff" is the abbreviation of "repeated motif." Other sources propose riff as an abbreviation for "rhythmic figure" or "refrain". In jazz , blues and R&B , riffs are often used as the starting point for longer compositions. Count Basie's band used many riffs in

378-486: A part of the contemporary Christian music (CCM) industry. Other bands perform music influenced by their faith or containing Christian imagery, but see their audience as the general public. For example, Bono of U2 combines many elements of spirituality and faith into his lyrics, but the band is not directly labeled as a "Christian rock" band. Such bands are sometimes rejected by the CCM rock scene and may specifically reject

432-474: A pioneer of "alternative Christian rock." Knott's 1987 album Shaded Pain being noted for lyrics which challenged church morality. This resulted in the album being banned by churches and Christian bookstores. Nevertheless, Knott was still credited for changing the course of Christian rock, with his short-lived company Blonde Vinyl becoming a major source for Christian rock musicians during its existence. The 1990s saw an explosion of Christian rock. Many of

486-449: A product of jazz , blues , and post-blues era music (rock and pop). The musical goal of riff-driven songs is akin to the classical continuo effect, but raised to much higher importance (in fact, the repeated riff is used to anchor the song in the ears of the listener). The riff/continuo is brought to the forefront of the musical piece and often is the primary melody that remains in the listener's ears. A call and response often holds

540-405: A rhythm that avoids strong pulses; a melody whose physiognomy is neither so characteristic nor so engaging as to make an appeal in its own behalf; counterpoint, which cultivates long-breathed eloquence rather than instant and dramatic effect; a chromaticism which is at all times restricted in amount and lacking in emotionalism; and modality which creates an atmosphere unmistakably ecclesiastical". In

594-603: A shift toward mainstream exposure in the Christian rock scene. Rock label Tooth & Nail Records would be credited for having "altered the course of the Christian rock industry by launching and legitimizing the careers of MxPx , The O.C. Supertones and Underoath ." Among popular Christian rock bands of the first decade of the 21st century that exemplified this trend were RED and Fireflight . There are also some Roman Catholic bands such as Critical Mass . Some Eastern Orthodox Christian rock groups, mostly from Russia and

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648-602: A successful $ 25,000 Kickstarter campaign to record their next album. The band later signed with EMP Music Group on March 13, 2017. They also announced the album title revealed to be Pain and the cover art was also revealed. The album was released on May 26, 2017. The first single, "Last Day That I Cared", premiered on Revolver on April 30, 2017. A lyric video for "Rock's Not Dead" was released on May 19, 2017. In April 2020, Mark and Sarah Anthony announced that they signed with Rockfest Records. On December 13, drummer Justin Brown left

702-772: Is also a festival in Orlando, Florida called Rock the Universe , a two-day festival at Universal Orlando Resort that overlaps with the Night of Joy event at Walt Disney World. Ichthus, currently held in Kentucky, is a three-day festival that involves over 65 bands. There are also many in the UK, including Greenbelt Festival , Soul Survivor , BigChurchDayOut , 'Ultimate Events' at Alton Towers , Frenzy in Edinburgh and Creation Fest, Woolacombe, Devon , which

756-500: Is entirely a live performance. Another early Christian rock album was Mylon (We Believe) by Mylon LeFevre , son of members of the southern gospel group The LeFevres . He recorded the album with members of Classics IV and released it through Cotillion Records in 1970. Norman Greenbaum recorded gospel pop hit "Spirit in the Sky", and the song reached #3 on Billboard Hot 100 in 1970. Ocean (Canada) gained gospel pop big hit "Put Your Hand in

810-478: Is given as an example) of the late 1990s were experiencing a rapid decline in membership and were under threat of disbandment within the next decade, a trend that has been going on since the 1980s. McLean, using numerous quotes from theologians, Christian apologists and professors, goes on to offer contemporary Christian music as the reason for the falling popularity of more traditionalist churches. The definition of contemporary Christian, as offered by New Harmonies ,

864-583: Is not related to Creationfest in the United States. The Flevo Festival of The Netherlands, which offers seminars, theater, stand-up comedy, sports and movies as well as Christian music from a wide variety of genres, is considered to be one of the biggest Christian festivals in Europe. It was discontinued in 2013, due to financial issues. It has been unofficially restarted by a collection of Christian organizations who previously collaborated on Flevo Festival under

918-404: Is of a genre not far removed from traditional hymns; it is simply more accessible. The reality is that while a form of modernized hymns do exist in today's churches and do affect church evangelism and growth, there also exists both within and outside these churches a form of music (Christian rock) that has only one element in common with previous religious genres: its worship of God. This element,

972-646: The Catholic Church in Croatia , and state-owned record label Jugoton . They ended their activity in 1971, as the members of the band finished their studies of theology and went on to become priests of the Catholic Church. Another Christian rock pioneer, Randy Stonehill , released his first album in 1971, the Larry Norman-produced Born Twice . In the most common pressing of the album, side one

1026-571: The Jesus People USA , a community which formed during the Jesus Movement of the 1970s. The festival ceased operations in 2012. Guitar riff David Brackett (1999) defines riffs as "short melodic phrases ", while Richard Middleton (1999) defines them as "short rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic figures repeated to form a structural framework". Rikky Rooksby states: "A riff is a short, repeated, memorable musical phrase, often pitched low on

1080-597: The R&;B dance hit " The Hucklebuck ". The verse of "The Hucklebuck", which was another riff, was "borrowed" from the Artie Matthews composition " Weary Blues ". Glenn Miller's " In the Mood " had an earlier life as Wingy Manone 's "Tar Paper Stomp". All these songs use twelve-bar blues riffs, and most of these riffs probably precede the examples given (Covach 2005, p. 71). In classical music, individual musical phrases used as

1134-581: The Soviet Union , started performing in the late 1980s and 1990s. Alisa and Black Coffee are credited as the most prominent examples. The Orthodox Christian lyrics of these bands often overlap with historical and patriotic songs about Kievan Rus' . The musical genre that was once rejected by mainstream Christian churches is now considered by some as one of the most-important evangelism tool of their successor congregations. According to Terri McLean, author of New Harmonies, old-guard churches (United Methodist

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1188-498: The contemporary Christian music labels, media outlets, and festivals , while other bands are independent. Most traditional and fundamentalist Christians did not view rock music favorably when it became popular with young people from the 1950s, even though country and gospel music often influenced early rock music. In 1952, Archibald Davison, a Harvard professor, summed up the sound of traditional Christian music and why its supporters might not like rock music when he wrote of "...

1242-717: The "father of Christian rock", and in his later years "the Grandfather of Christian rock", who, in 1969 recorded and released Upon This Rock , "the first commercially released Jesus rock album", challenged a view held by some conservative Christians (predominantly fundamentalists) that rock music was anti-Christian. One of his songs, "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?" summarized his attitude and his quest to pioneer Christian rock music. A cover version of Larry Norman's Rapture -themed "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" appears in

1296-566: The 1930's, like in "Jumping at the Woodside" and "One O Clock Jump". Charlie Parker used riffs on "Now's the Time" and "Buzzy". Oscar Pettiford's tune "Blues in the Closet" is a rifftune and so is Duke Ellington's tune "C Jam Blues". Blues guitarist John Lee Hooker used riff on " Boogie Chillen " in 1948. The riff from Charlie Parker 's bebop number "Now's the Time" (1945) re-emerged four years later as

1350-492: The Beatles and others of the controversial backmasking recording-technique. This further increased Christian opposition to rock music. Later, in the 1960s, the escalating Vietnam War , Civil Rights Movement , Paris student riots of 1968 and other events served as catalysts for youth activism and political withdrawal or protest, which became associated with rock bands, whether or not they were openly political. Moreover, many saw

1404-609: The CCM label. Other bands may experiment with more abrasive musical styles. Beginning in the 1990s and 2000s there was much wider acceptance even by religious purists of Christian metal , Christian industrial and Christian punk . Many of these bands are on predominantly Christian record labels, such as Tooth and Nail Records and Facedown Records . Rock artists, such as Switchfoot , do not claim to be "Christian bands", but include members who openly profess to be Christians or at times may feature Christian thought, imagery, scripture or other influences in their music. I'm an artist who's

1458-480: The Day incorporate symbolism and Christian messages more indirectly. Bands such as Flyleaf do not call themselves Christian bands, though they state that their Christian faith affects their lyrics. Bands such as Switchfoot have said they try to write music for both Christians and non-Christians alike. Festivals range from single day events to multiple-day festivals that provide camping and other activities. One of

1512-637: The Evangelical Christian feature film A Thief in the Night and appeared on Cliff Richard 's Christian album Small Corners along with "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?". In 1966, the band Žeteoci (transl. The Harvesters ) was formed in Yugoslavia . Founded by four students of the Zagreb Catholic Faculty of Theology , Žeteoci performed beat music with religious lyrics, being

1566-561: The Hand" in 1971. In the late 1970s, Christian rock received exposure through more mainstream rock and folk rock musicians. Bob Dylan became a born-again Christian and released three albums between 1979 and 1981. This period would yield the Grammy winning single " Gotta Serve Somebody " and three successful concert tours that would later see release as The Bootleg Series Vol. 13 . Dylan's influence

1620-572: The band to be replaced by Will Fowler. In February 2013, Mark and Sarah Anthony signed with VIP Ink Publishing for an autobiography. Current members Former members Touring musicians Official website Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith , often with an emphasis on Jesus , typically performed by Christian individuals. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands . Many bands who perform Christian rock have ties to

1674-504: The band was reported to be recording new material for their second studio album, later revealed to be called Rebuild . The first single for the new album, "Sick Charade", was released on October 3, 2012. "The Only One" was released in February 2013 and "Pain Killer" was released on September 10, 2013. The album was initially scheduled to be released on April 23, 2013, however, on April 17, the album

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1728-400: The basis of classical music pieces are called ostinatos or simply phrases. Contemporary jazz writers also use riff- or lick-like ostinatos in modal music and Latin jazz . The term "riff-driven" is used to describe a piece of music that relies on a repeated instrumental riff as the basis of its most prominent melody, cadence , or (in some cases) leitmotif . Riff-driven songs are largely

1782-554: The case of Elvis Presley , who became controversial and massively popular partly for his suggestive stage antics and dancing. However, "Elvis" was a religious person who released a gospel album: Peace in the Valley in 1957. Individual Christians may have listened to or even performed rock music in many cases, but conservative church establishments - particularly in the American South - regarded it as anathema . He Touched Me ,

1836-469: The end of the 20th century. Among the first bands that played Christian rock was the Crusaders , a Southern Californian garage rock band, whose November 1966 Tower Records album Make a Joyful Noise with Drums and Guitars is considered one of the first gospel rock releases; John Joseph Thompson identifies it as "the first record of Christian rock". Brian Collins characterises Mind Garage as "arguably

1890-507: The first Christian rock band in Yugoslavia and arguably the first Christian rock band in a communist country . Although they were not among the earliest Yugoslav rock bands, Žeteoci, as other 1960s rock bands from Yugoslavia, played a pioneering roll on the Yugoslav rock scene ; their first and only album, To nije tajna ( It Is Not a Secret ), released in 1969, was the second full-length album in

1944-409: The first band of its kind": they recorded the 1967 Electric Liturgy at RCA 's "Nashville Sound" studio in 1969. Both of these recordings were preceded by the rockabilly praise LP I Like God's Style , written and performed by one 16-year-old Isabel Baker and released on the private Wichita, Kansas Romco label in 1965, which no one published on until the 2000s. Larry Norman , often described as

1998-559: The first in the US was the six-day Explo '72 held in Dallas , Texas in June 1972 that was attended by around 80,000 people with around 100,000 – 150,000 at the final concert and which featured acts such as Larry Norman , The Archers , Love Song , Randy Matthews , Children of the Day , Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson . Significant festivals in the US are Creation Festival , Ichthus Festival , and Cornerstone Festival . There

2052-416: The guitar, which focuses much of the energy and excitement of a rock song." BBC Radio 2 , in compiling its list of 100 Greatest Guitar Riffs, defined a riff as the "main hook of a song", often beginning the song, and is "repeated throughout it, giving the song its distinctive voice". Use of the term has extended to comedy , where riffing means the verbal exploration of a particular subject, thus moving

2106-579: The history of Yugoslav rock music. Although an openly religious band in a communist state, due to specific political and cultural milieu of the Non-Aligned Yugoslavia, for the most of their career Žeteoci enjoyed the attention of the media and notable popularity among the Yugoslav youth. Their only album was released in cooperation between Glas Koncila ( Voice of the Council ), the official newspaper of

2160-564: The late eighties alongside other Christian-identifying hard rock acts such as Stryper . The latter had videos played on MTV , such as "Calling on You" and "To Hell with the Devil", and even saw some airtime on mainstream radio stations with their hit song "Honestly". Christian rock has proved less successful in the UK and Europe, although such artists as Bryn Haworth have found commercial success by combining blues and mainstream rock music with Christian themes. Michael Knott would be credited for being

2214-581: The liberal editing of the original hymns, "gospel 'showed rock how to sing'". Howard & Streck go on to describe how the conflict between music and religion, spearheaded by southern fundamentalists, was originally racially based, but how in the sixties this moved on to a clash over the perceived lifestyle of rock musicians. There are multiple definitions of what qualifies as a "Christian rock" band. Christian rock bands that explicitly state their beliefs and use religious imagery in their lyrics, like Servant , Third Day , and Petra , tend to be considered

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2268-408: The light of Archibald Davison's characterisation it is easy to see how different these two genres of music are. Christians in the United States did not want their children exposed to music with unruly, impassioned vocals, loud guitar-riffs and jarring, hypnotic rhythms. Rock and roll differed from the norm, and thus it was seen by them as a threat. Often the music was overtly sexual in nature, as in

2322-505: The meaning away from the original jazz sense of a repeated figure that a soloist improvises over, to instead indicate the improvisation itself—improvising on a melody or progression as one would improvise on a subject by extending a singular thought, idea or inspiration into a bit , or routine . The term riff entered musical slang in the 1920s (Rooksby, ibid , p. 6) and is used primarily in discussion of forms of rock music , heavy metal or jazz . "Most rock musicians use riff as

2376-427: The music as promoting a lifestyle of promiscuous "sex, drugs and rock and roll", also reflected in the behavior of many rock stars. However, there was growing recognition of the diverse musical and ideological potential of rock. Countless new bands sprang up in the mid-to-late 1960s, as rock displaced older, smoother pop styles to become the dominant form of pop music , a position it would enjoy almost continuously until

2430-428: The music makes evangelistic calls for Christian forms of praise and worship. Accompanying such music, street outreach, local festivities, church functions, and many alternative forms of internal or (soulful) expression may occur. Some Christian artists as Third Day , Kutless , Thousand Foot Krutch and Disciple have sung songs that carry overtly Christian messages. Bands such as Underoath , Blessthefall and Haste

2484-603: The new name of Flavor Festival. Skjærgårdsfestivalen is an annual music festival held in Norway, which headlines Christian rock bands. Many events are held in Australia called, Easterfest (in Toowoomba) Encounterfest, Jam United, Black Stump and Big Exo Day. Bogotá , Colombia hosts the summer festival Gospel al Parque . The most "underground" expression of Christian rock was the annual Cornerstone Festival sponsored by

2538-541: The opening act for Skillet in the "2010 Awake and Alive Tour" and for the Thousand Foot Krutch "Welcome to the Masquerade Tour". The band's debut album, Hanging On By a Thread was released on May 4, 2010 through Tooth & Nail records, putting The Letter Black as number 8 in the iTunes rock section in the same day. A remix album titled Hanging On by a Remix was released on May 22, 2012. In early 2013,

2592-528: The popular 1990s Christian bands were initially identified as "Christian alternative rock ", including Jars of Clay , Newsboys , Audio Adrenaline and the later albums of DC Talk . Outside Anglophone countries , bands like Oficina G3 (Brazil) and The Kry ( Quebec , Canada) have achieved moderate success. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, the success of Christian-inspired acts like Skillet , Thousand Foot Krutch , Decyfer Down , Underoath , Kutless , Disciple , P.O.D. , Switchfoot , and Relient K saw

2646-476: The radical counterculture , firmly alienating many Christians. In 1966 The Beatles , one of the most popular and influential rock-bands of their era, ran into trouble with many of their American fans when John Lennon jokingly offered his opinion that Christianity was dying and that the Beatles were " more popular than Jesus now". The romantic, melodic rock songs of the band's early career had formerly been viewed as relatively inoffensive by Christians, but after

2700-460: The remark, churches nationwide organized Beatles-record burnings and Lennon was forced to apologize. Subsequently, the Beatles and most rock musicians experimented with a more complex, psychedelic style of music that frequently used anti-establishment, drug-related, or sexual lyrics, while The Rolling Stones sang " Sympathy for the Devil " (1968), a song openly written from the point of view of Satan . Allegations of Satanic intent also arose from

2754-547: The song together, creating a "circular" rather than linear feel. A few examples of riff-driven songs are " Whole Lotta Love " and " Black Dog " by Led Zeppelin , " Day Tripper " by The Beatles , " Brown Sugar " and " (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction " by The Rolling Stones , " Smoke on the Water " by Deep Purple , " Back in Black " by AC/DC , " Smells Like Teen Spirit " by Nirvana , " Johnny B Goode " by Chuck Berry , " Back in

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2808-538: The worship of God, is what was originally removed from or hidden within the lyrics of early, secular rock n' roll. Santino described one method of changing Christian lyrics as a process that transformed "lyrics that sang of the mystical love of God into lyrics that celebrated the earthly love of woman". Howard & Streck offer examples of this, comparing Ray Charles' "This Little Girl of Mine" to "This Little Light of Mine" and "Talking About You" to "Talking About Jesus". They claim that because of actions such as this, despite

2862-457: Was also felt in other members of the folk revival; Arlo Guthrie , for example, converted in 1979 (in part over his concerns over whether he faced a Huntington's disease diagnosis like others in his family) and released his own Christian folk-rock album Outlasting the Blues ; Outlasting the Blues received the biggest record label promotion of Guthrie's career. Christian rock was often viewed as

2916-468: Was postponed because the band decided to write three new songs for the album. The album was released on November 12, 2013. On November 19, 2016, the band previewed a new song on their Facebook page for their upcoming fourth studio album which would be released by early 2017. According to the band, this would be their heaviest album to date. They announced that they had left Tooth & Nail Records and would record their next album independently. The band ran

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