1. Thousand Foot Krutch is among the many new artists hard at work on new music. Frontman Trevor McNevan has had a breakthrough on the album which is set to be the accompaniment to last year's OXYGEN: INHALE. Trevor shared on the band's facebook page "I've finally after ALL this work and turmoil, seen the face of where EXHALE needs to be." We're as excited as he is!
2. If there were an award for creative album announcements, Hillsong would deserve it. The band created a video of a space launch to announce their new album Empires, which is set to release on May 26. You can see the announcement at hillsong.com/united.
3. Musician and social media master Carlos Whittaker shared a behind the scenes of "Danny Gokey dance school," in which Danny Gokey attempts to teach his band how to dance. Although Danny's success was mixed, the results were certainly fun to watch. You can see the video on Carlos Whittaker's facebook page.
4. Although Christian music frequently sees collaborations and covers, last week held one of the most unlikely pairings yet. Legendary mainstream artist Prince covered a song by Christian artist Nichole Nordeman. The song is "What If" from Nichole's album Brave, and apparently Prince decided he wanted to cover it after hearing it on Christian radio. Check Nichole's facebook page for a link to listen.
5. In case you've ever wondered how much wasabi is too much, Dan from Hawk Nelson seems to think even a golf ball sized helping isn't too much. The Afters frontman Josh Havens took a video of Dan downing the massive helping of wasabi, and although Dan played it cool, his facial expressions suggest it might have been more intense than he let on.
6. Bands encounter all kinds of food in catering while they're touring, and some venues take the cake-- or the cookie-- for creativity. This week on their Great Big Family Room tour, Sidewalk Prophets got treated to cookies emblazoned with perfect icing replicas of their logo, as well as the logos of tour partners Mocha Club and NewReleaseTuesday. It's hard to top the experience of eating your own logo in sugar form!
7. Francesca Battistelli has launched a new blog with new opportunities to share about her life and her interests outside of music. The blog can be found at honeycombblog.com, and Francesca plans to share thoughts, recipes and stories. As the blog has picked up traction, she's taken time to respond to fan comments to really stay connected with her readers.
8. If you know any local churches or venues that are looking to host a fun evening in May, Building 429 would be a good band to ask. The group is now booking May dates with Blanca and Rapture Ruckus for an evening that promises to be packed with energy.
Quotes (3)
1. "Writing a good song can change your life. Writing a great song can change the world." - Manafest
2. "The purpose of fruit is not to simply adorn the tree, but to nourish and plant more seeds. This is the fruit of grace!" - James Mead, Kutless
3. "Sometimes, when we're in the thick of it, it's easy to forget that a bad day is just a sentence in your ‘book of life!'" - Duncan Phillips, Newsboys
