 We were blessed to have the opportunity to connect with the lead singer and founder of the up and coming Christian rock band Adelaide, Laura [aka Adelaide]. It has been amazing to watch the band grow over the last couple of years and their latest album "Strong + Brave" is nothing short of incredible! Those of you who have been supporting Tentmaker over the last year or so know, we like to keep the main thing the main thing and so as always... Laura, when did you come to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? For as long as I can remember, I have gone to church. God became very real to me at a young age through some hard seasons of my childhood. I was 6 years old when I gave my life to Christ. Wow, praise God, that's amazing! It is beautiful when a young person comes to know Christ and He starts doing His thing! That's what's up! How long have you been making music & why did you get started? I have been writing lyrics since I was twelve. At 14, I joined my worship team at my church at the time under the leadership of my Aunt. I sang backing vocals and played strings on the piano. Believe it or not, I've always been a very shy person. Hanging out in the background was my comfort zone. My upbringing wasn't ideal and with it came a lot of hardships. Music took me to another place and to me it was an empty gift unless there was a receiver. Feeling completely reliant on God, it only made sense to sing to and for Him and make that the depth of the lyrical content. That is when my music began to mold itself and find it's purpose in my life. Love it! It is our hope and desire that more of us live in what you stated towards the end there; "Feeling completely reliant on God, it only made sense to sing to and for Him and make that the depth of the lyrical content." That is inspirational. What are some of your short term/long term goals? I kind of take life as it comes. In the beginning of all of this, I honestly didn't know what to expect. I had written all of these songs and I had no idea what to do with them. I was fine selling the songs and having someone else sing them. Obviously, God had other plans...including pushing me way out of my comfort zone. So long as I am able to successfully balance my life as a wife, a mother and ministry, I'm succeeding. I do push myself in everything I do but, I'll never stop making music. Nothing wrong with that! Our Father is in the business of stretching us and pushing us out of our comfort zone, praise God for your willingness to be obedient to Him. With what y'all have been creating as of late we are thankful that you have responded to the call! Who are some of your favorite musicians (artist or band), and who have been rocking to lately? Wolves at the Gate, Skillet, Fireflight, Evanescence, The Cranberries, Tenth Avenue North, Citizens and Saints Great list! Y'all just released a new album, can you briefly share a bit about the inspiration behind the album as a whole? It's been amazing to see these songs come together and in a way, compliment each other. Our message to The Church is pretty loud throughout the record. We address unity in Strong + Brave, motives in Masquerade, materialism in Chasing Echoes, forgiveness in Reminiscing, the battle that rages inside of us in Restore Me and the need for a Savior in Pick Up the Pieces. By the end of the album, we hope you have been challenged to see what your heart reflects as a person. Who are you? How are you fitting into the story God is writing for your life? How does God fit into your life? Or are you writing your own? Each one of us are so priceless to our Creator, yet we waste so much precious time on pointless things. We hope it shows a perspective of encouragement to The Church in that we're in this together - each unique with different stories and callings. Fantastic! Music with purpose that takes you on a journey, love that! Personally, we think the message within each song and the album as a whole is clear and powerful. One of our staff (Fisher), is all about the song Deep Waters, he is currently working on an album and has that song on his "album inspiration playlist". He was real excited about us having the opportunity to chat with y'all. What is your favorite board game or video game and why? (we like to have some elements of fun sprinkled in, we want people to get to know artists and see they are real people too). As a band, we like to play Quiplash which is a load of fun. The way the band plays involves a lot of inside jokes - mostly between the guys since they grew up together, and references to The Office. Honestly, most of the games played by the band are in the van and totally made up! Okay, so having never heard of Quiplash, I looked it up, haha, that sounds like it would be a blast with the right group of people! Sounds like y'all have a lot of fun, that is both awesome and I am sure needed while you are out grinding! If you were to name a Playlist after your life, what would you call it, and what would be 3 songs you would include on that playlist? I'd have to call it, "Strong+Brave" and 3 songs would be Fighting My Battles by For King and Country, Unbreakable by Fireflight and The Resistance by Skillet. Do you have a particular life verse and favorite book of the Bible? Romans 15:13 (you guessed it, Romans is my favorite book). "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." That is a wonderful verse, such a fantastic truth! Do you have any practical advice you would like to share with aspiring Christian artists? It would be to truly question your motives as an artist. What is your true heart's desire? If it is to make a name for yourself, be an artist that is a Christian. If it is to make Christ's name the primary focus and share the gospel, then be a Christian artist. It has been very disheartening to see artists confuse these ambitions because the heart truly reflects backstage. Be a minister wherever you are - to the sound techs, hosts, bands, those serving you lunches or driving you around - we all need to see the love of Christ and enjoy each other's fellowship. Never lose sight of the heart of Christ and servanthood: to love God and love people. Thank you for this, we have been sharing very similar thoughts with people. Our first podcast was centered around the Christian artist verses artist who is a Christian conversation and I think you hit the nail on the head. Huge shout out to Laura from Adelaide for taking the time to answer our questions, such a blessing! We want to thank those of you who took the time to read this and we really want to encourage you to check Adelaide out, you will be thankful you did! Check out Adelaide's new single Strong + Brave off their new album "Strong + Brave" and if you are digging it, be sure to follow the links and give the whole album a go! Thanks again, God bless!  Struggles, this EP is about all sorts of struggles.
"Neon Signs" gets off to a fast and intense start with "We Are Under Attack". W.A.U.A. is speaking directly about how backwards things are in our world and how we are in the midst of a battle of epic proportions whether we know it or not. The song speaks to the fact that people think following Jesus is insane but AJ points out that the true insanity is in not following Jesus. W.A.U.A. is followed up by "Identity". "Identity" deals with AJ's life pre-Christ as he was sorting a lot of life out and also wrestling with depression, suicidal thoughts and worthlessness. By the end of the song we come to understand that we can only walk in our true Identity by believing in and following Christ. "SwitchPoint" immediately follows and is about the struggles we can encounter as a believer as we wrestle with our flesh/sin. As believers we have a tendency to walk in our old identity, our old self, rather than our new identity, our new self. It is easy to find yourself lost in a cycle and begin to feel overwhelmed, defeated, depressed and confused. The great thing about this EP is that thematically AJ takes us from one place to the next as "SwitchPoint" is followed up "Take The Exit" which is related to 1 Cor 10:13, which states that God is faithful to provide us an exit so that we may endure the temptation we are facing. The thing is, we need to take the exit and flee from the temptation... This is where the battle is most intense... Praise God that we have an advocate in Christ Jesus, and that if we don't take the exit and fail, praise God for His grace that we are in desperate need of. The call here is purity, we are not to cheapen the grace of God but rather strive for holiness, and strive for Christ-likeness. "Dimensions, Ep 2" is the second part of the saga which got it's start on A.K.A. Fisher's album "Otherworldly Weapons" (if you haven't heard that album you are greatly missing out and need to go check it out immediately... www.tentmakermusic.com/akafisher). Dimensions is following the life of a young man named Ulysses as he is bent on vengeance but God has placed people in his life that are pointing him to a greater end and that is Jesus. After the skit ends we are launched back into the music, AJ comes back in with "From The Dead" which features The Legend of Xero and is hard hitting both in lyrical content but also in beat and style. "From The Dead" makes the gospel clear and challenges people that don't know Jesus to make the decision to follow Him and to not wait as now is the time. This brings us to the final song on the EP "Each Passing Day" which features Jon Payne. "Each Passing Day" picks up right where "From The Dead" Leaves off and is a plea for people to turn from sin and turn to Jesus. "Each Passing Day" shares the reality that each day that passes brings us closer to death and that we need to make a decision about Jesus, that we need to not sleep on Christ but rather examine the claims and pray we see the signs that are all around us. Jon Payne reminds us that we are not to far gone and that we can turn to Jesus no matter what we have done, that we don't need to clean up first but rather we can come as we are scars and all. The EP ends with a powerful call to choose Jesus and to choose Him now. "Neon Signs" is for sure a journey. Average Joe wants us all to be reminded and to know that there is a God and that through the death and resurrection of Christ we can walk in new life, we can walk in the victory that is only found in Jesus and experience true life. In the words of William Wallace "Every man dies, not every man really lives." True life is only found in Christ. "Neon Signs" drops February, 26th and will be available on all major digital outlets. 
1 Corinthians 10:13 states "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."
"Take The Exit" is a song that challenges us as believers to walk in the righteousness of Christ. The song acknowledges our struggle with sin and the chorus is a prayer/plea that incorporates Psalm 119:9, James 4:7 and 1 Corinthians 10:13. The reality is, God is faithful to provide a way out so that we can endure the temptation we are facing, the thing is, on our end, we need to take the exit. If you choose not to it's not because the exit wasn't there, it's because you made a conscious decision to rebel against God and not take the exit He provided. The more we take the exit, the more we say yes to Jesus, the less we willingly rebel against Him. One illustration I use when preaching on this topic is one of being trapped inside a burning building. We know from the Scriptures that sin equals death, so lets refer to the fire as sin and ultimate consumption by the fire would result in death. You are going to fight for your life, you are going to do everything it takes to try and get out of that building. You are not going down without a fight. I contend that we need to have this sort of mentality when we are facing temptation, we need to fight for our lives. Here is what's awesome about this, God is faithful to provide as an exit, He graciously gives us a way out. It may look different each time but it will for sure be there, look for the exit and take it. This may mean getting up and going to do something, answering a phone call, reading the Word, praying, calling someone, etc... There is always a way out and if you can't find one remember this... Submit to God, that is how we resist the devil, submit to resist. That is the best exit available. May we be a people who take the exit and walk in the righteousness, the victory that we have in Christ. |