Good God Father

Auburn had played a number nearly successful performances around the valley. We managed to keep things pushing along at a fervent pace. Do Not Resuscitate was actually moving on the shelves at the one local record store where we had copies being sold. Then came the name change. Choosing a new name was not at all easy. Naming bands, albums and songs never came easy for me. Masonic Weird would be where things would land, and the story wasn't exactly riveting. I was in my friend's car, when we passed by a road to a masonic cemetery, and I said, "What if I used the name 'Masonic'. That'd be weird, right?" And it was. I would receive a phone call from a friend about it, warning me of the perceptions people might have about the name. After a chuckle, I said, "Thanks for the call," and completely ignored his warning. Now, if you're on the outside looking in, you might say it was the beginning of the end for me as an artist. I didn't think so. On...

After 3 amazing years playing with my closest friends in what was, to me, a hugely inspired project, I was left to my own devices, alone. I devoted my spare time to tracking songs that I had been writing in the back room of the church youth group building, where I had been serving as a leader. The rug, it seemed, had been pulled out from under my feet, and the wind taken from my sails. Yet, I wasn't giving up. Too much had been invested, and I wasn't going to watch that all go to waste. So I let some folks know that I was still working on new material, and I needed to put together another band. John, from Joshua Fire, had teased the idea that he would continue working with me, but I suspected that the material I was coming up with was a little more abrasive than he would be willing to entertain, and besides, he had a new calling now to the mission field with a long time friend. That's when I got the call from David Rossing. He was another band, Still Speaks ,...

My memory tells me that Inexposed was the more genuine of the projects that I had going on at the time, and would set the stage for how things would develop for me in the future, Joshua Fire was the next necessary step for me to take in discovering the layers beneath the surface of what it would mean to be a professional artist on the U.S. market. Most people in music look at the business end of things with disdain, and we were no exception to this. Joshua Fire, being inspired by the more transcendent issue of the cosmos, in particular salvation through Jesus. We were preaching the Gospel, in our minds, and the music was central to that issue, and needed to be considered with sacred caution. Most of the live performances were free, and involved raising money for missions organizations. Our first performance was an outdoor evangelistic "tent revival" style event, where we performed songs, and John Marr, our lead vocalist would preach a sermon. It was a very heav...

I've decided to start a series of emails where I go over my history as an artist, and bridge the gaps between us, and give you a full context of where I'm coming from. What may or may not be clear by now is that Good God Father is the distilled work of me, Sean Lewis, after years of efforts with other bands. Music really goes back to my earliest memories, as my grandfather would allow me to play on his roland keyboard. I learned the typical few nursery rhyme songs, like twinkle twinkle little star, and so forth. Whatever songs you could make on only the black keys. Beyond that, I was all about those crazy Roland synth sounds, and LFO filters. Then by the age of 10, when my cousin had brought his drum set over to my house for his personal practice I learned my first drum beat, and I was absolutely obsessed. I had to learn the drums. So I enlisted in my school band as a percussionist. I was a bit of a procrastinator though, so I would get through that year just to f...