David Crowder Band Announces BreakUp and Farewell Tour

In what may seem as a surprising move with a new album and the recently announced fall "The 7 Tour" on the way, David Crowder*Band is calling it quits. Check out their detailed and thoughtful explanation below that is posted on their site.

Important News From Crowder Band
We have several things to let you know about.
First of all, we can't begin to express how excited we are getting about The 7 Tour this fall. If you haven't heard yet, we're doing a national tour with some of our favorite artists ever. Gungor, John Mark McMillan, and Chris August are joining us, and we cannot wait to be in the same room with these folks night after night. We’re pretty sure you'll want to be at every single one of these get-togethers. "Unreasonable!" you say? Well, not to us. That's why we'll be there every single night. Seriously, we, the band, are all getting on a bus and following the whole thing around for like 3 months. It's going to be awesome.

Now, another reason we are sure this will be one of the most meaningful tours we've ever been on is because it will be our last as a band. This is why we so cleverly named it The 7 Tour. We've always hidden this little number here and there in our music and artwork, sometimes it would appear in the sum of the numerals 3 and 4, and other times it would be sitting there outright, but it’s always been with us. As you know, the number 7 has often been used to represent completion, and that feels exactly where we are as a band.

The David Crowder*Band was formed in the year two thousand; it was the dawn of a millennium, Y2K was upon us, and out of this chaos was born the DC*B. That sounds way more epic than we intend it, but it is fact. We signed a 3 album deal with our friends at sixstepsrecords who are part of the EMI/CMG family. We didn’t want to be presumptuous, presuming there would be more than those first three albums, but we hoped. And so we began discussions about building a 6 album set, the second three, if we were ever to have the great privilege of recording them, would be loosely associated with the first three, you know, sort of like how in the creation story day one is related to day four, as in, first there is light, then on the fourth day the sun and moon and stars appear. We do these things because we are quite nerdy and also because we hope to inject meaning wherever and whenever we are able. We also like structure, and this seemed a pretty nifty structure to work within, since, well, it is one of the greatest stories ever. And sure enough, we have had the happy fortune to record five full-length albums and are hard at work on the 6th right now.

The problem, or the beauty, is that we’ve never been able to see past album 6. In the meantime, a lot of life has happened. It is now 2011 (this is for anyone who may not have been paying attention) and in eleven years there have been many twists and turns. Each of us has gotten married. New humans have arrived as a result of these marriages, 5 to be exact. We have also lost some really good friends to death along the way and have gotten to celebrate together that death is not the end of things. It’s really crazy to think that we have lived over a decade of life together. And, in the middle of all this life, we have gotten to make music that was a reflection of what was happening among us. We have attempted, to the best of our ability, to insert all of these twists and turns into our music, hoping that our responses to God in the midst of these moments would be an aid to others.

At the first of this year we began discussing what was next. For a long while, we have had a good idea what we were going to do for album number 6; we were going to record a Mass. Ambitious, maybe, but we had been working out the details of how it would connect to A Collision, you know the one with the boy and the atom on the cover. Mass happens to be a term used in physics, and this was exciting to us. But we also began conversations about what was to follow this sixth album. Some of us discussed maybe going back to school. Some of us talked about how great it might feel to be home with family more. Some mentioned maybe writing for a living, or at least getting to give more attention to it. Some talked about more music to be made and who they might enjoy making it with and how great it would be to have more diverse options open to them and the excitement they felt when thinking about those options (as in, if this was to be the period at the end of a sentence, they couldn’t wait to read the next paragraph!) And, out of these discussions, the decision was reached that this sixth album would be our last. None of us is sure what’s next, but we’re not afraid. We’re, in fact, really, really excited! And we’re sure that music will play a role in the future for most, if not all, of us, since, well, we wouldn’t know how to not have it a part of our lives. To what extent that will be, none of us is sure. We are hopeful and expecting, and praying that what is ahead of us deepens our need and experience of redemption and multiplies our ability and effectiveness in expressing the story of God in light of the call he has on each of our lives.

We are forever grateful for the support we have had from our church community, both local and extended. Really. It has been beautiful, all of it. And we will most definitely keep you informed as things progress and life’s new twists and turns start to make themselves more apparent.

In the meantime, as you can imagine, this album we’re working on is pretty special to us. Fittingly enough, it seems our little Mass has turned itself into a Requiem. We’d love your prayers as we endeavor to put a period at the end of this sentence. And obviously it was not overstated when we said The 7 Tour will be a thing you may not want to miss. We would love for you to join us for one last evening together, singing these songs that God has allowed us to carry.

With Love and Gratitude,
The DC*B

Taylor Swift Had to Fight Her Label to Add Christian Band Needtobreathe

Taylor Swift may have had to fight label bosses to agree with her decision to give Christian rock group Needtobreathe an opening spot on her North American “Speak Now” tour that begins this weekend in Omaha, Neb.

That’s what World Entertainment News Network is suggesting after talking to Needtobreathe singer Bear Rinehart recently.

“It was actually really natural,” Rinehart told WENN about the announcement made back in December. “She just called – she’s a big fan, which is really nice ... She’s been a fan for a little while ... and even though it didn’t totally make sense for us, we’re probably not what people (record label bosses) would have had, she really liked the band a lot and made it happen.”

The band has put two songs in the top 40 on the mainstream charts with “You Are Here” and “Something Beautiful.” They won two Dove Awards this year for “Group of the Year” and “Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year” for the song “Something Beautiful.”

The New Life of a Newsboy

After a long tenure of heading up the Newsboys, Peter Furler stepped away from non-stop touring, sold much of what he owned – cars, home, his shares in Inpop Records, a label he’d co-founded in 1999 that launched the careers of such notables as Superchick, Mat Kearney, Newworldson, Shane & Shane, among others – moved to the Gulf of Florida and took time to reflect, express himself through visual art, surf and play music just for pure enjoyment.

“I didn’t have a clue what I was doing next,” Furler reflects. “I’d been doing 100-plus shows a year, writing, then finishing a record for more than a decade. It was good, but it was a merry-go-round that was never going to stop.

So why a new record after leaving the Newsboys?

Although initially not planning to release any of the new music created during this time, the result of this redefining period led to the most joyful and uplifting music of Furler’s career.

“The songs never really stopped. They kept coming,” Furler says. “I’d take a long walk, and a song would come into my head… There is a fire shut up in my bones that I have not been able to hold in since I was a child. For me, I find its release through melody and testimony.”

Read the full article here.

Jumping The Broom Sweeps Up

Two wedding-tinged comedies had the misfortune of opening the same weekend. "Jumping the Broom" and "Something Borrowed," debuted closely together in third and fourth, respectively, though "Jumping" was more impressive, due to its far more modest production and marketing. "Something" made an estimated $13.2 million at 2,904 locations, while "Jumping" swept up a nice estimated $13.7 million at 2,035 locations.

The $6.6M-budgeted "Jumping the Broom" was produced by T.D. Jakes' production company. Founding pastor of The Potter’s House in Dallas Jakes told The Christian Post earlier this year that with his film company, T.D. Jake Enterprises, he hopes to change the “Hollywood machine” and widen the relationship between Hollywood and Christians, especially considering the two “haven’t spoken to each other in a while.”. This film is meant to spotlight marriage and abstinence.

Soul Surfer remained in the Top 10 at 9 and is approaching $40 million.

Actor Wes Bentley on Finding Faith While Facing 'Dragons'

Wes Bentley never imagined that another role in Hollywood would reconnect him to God as he faced all the “dragons” in his life.

He is best known for his role in “American Beauty,” but very few knew that before reaching stardom and starring in the new movie, “There Be Dragons,” he was raised, “literally in a church building” where both his parents were Methodist preachers.

Growing up in a spiritual environment only led the 34-year-old actor to think he inherited the faith, he told the Christian Post. “I always assumed I had a relationship with God, I always assumed I had that wrapped up so I didn’t even have to consider that that might not be the case and might also be what made my life more difficult.”

The assumption made him devoid of a faith and left him unprotected following his sudden popularity. “In the assumption I just pushed it away and I had to really consider where I was spiritually. I feel like I inherited the faith. And I think a lot of PKs go through that.”

The actor said he has reconnected with God, though he didn’t provide specifics, and he continues to explore faith.

Read the full article here.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader is in Top 15 of DVD Sales for 2011

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is currently #14 overall in DVD sales for 2011 and has remained in the top 5 since its release.

'Passion' Star Caviezel Still Bearing His Cross

Jim Caviezel, the star of “The Passion of the Christ” spoke about being “rejected in my own industry” after playing Jesus. He shared that before working on the role, he was warned by Mel Gibson who said he’d “never work in this town again” if he decided to go forward with the film. But Caviezel simply told him, “We all have to embrace our crosses.”

According to him, Gibson’s advice wasn’t far from the truth because after the film, he had difficulty finding a job in Hollywood, but it was not impossible. He lent his talent to films with religious subtexts like “The Stoning of Soraya M.,” “I am David” and “Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius,” among other films.

"We have to give up our names, our reputations, our lives to speak the truth," Caviezel said.

During the 20-minute evening, he also mentioned, jokingly, that Gibson had occasional profane tirades during the production of the film.

Read the full article here.