The band started under the name Zilch from dc Talk's traveling band: lead singer & guitarist Mark Lee Townsend, keyboardist Jason Halbert, and bassist Otto Price. Zilch released its first Christian rock album, Platinum, in 1997 on Gotee Records and received very little publicity. Mark Lee Townsend left the band and was replaced by then-independent artist Jeff Deyo. After performing in various clubs for a while, Gotee Records producers saw the band perform a cover of Lord, I Lift Your Name on High and suggested that the band consider recording a praise & worship album. The album was in the process of being recorded as Zilch's second album under the title Millennium, but before it was finished, the band changed its name to Sonicflood.