Bridging The Gaps: Episode 1 - Beresh't
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 forget to sign up for band the next year, and instead signed up for video production as a news anchor. My cousin had taken his drum kit from the house anyways, and I really didn't have anything to practice on. So I would get just nosy enough to pull my mom's acoustic guitar out of her closet that she'd been hiding from everyone, so it wouldn't get destroyed, and I began to learn guitar riffs. The first being Come As You Are, by Nirvana. It drove my mom crazy, because that's all I would play for months. But I slowly developed my calloused fingers to form chords, and learned a couple of progressions, the old classic, Tom Dooley, and some more Nirvana songs, of course. After a few years, my grandpa had something return to him that I had no idea about. It was a Univox U320APB 50 watt amp, and a Kay electric guitar. Now we were ready to rock!
The summer of 1998, I learned every song I ever loved. But song writing had always eluded me. I was less interested in that, and more interested in sounding like Daniel Johns, or Scott Weiland.
With the internet developing more and more all the time, I came across a songwriting app, which allowed me to plug in tablature, which had feature where I could actually play back and hear the music I had written. The was the very beginning.
I was ready to start burnin' out chops and form a band!
But there's more to the story than meets the eye. My family life was a tad bit tumultuous for a period there in those early years, which inevitably led us in to a church. At least from my upbringing, I didn't exactly grow up "in the church" as they say. So when we started, it took some adapting. I was heavily resistant to the whole thing. I absolutely loathed the music. I thought it was pandering, condescending, and childish, and really didn't understand what people loved about it so much. I saw everyone around me closing their eyes, and getting in to it, and I thought they were weak. "Church is a crutch", my grandmother used to say.
But then I had an experience, which I won't go in to here, because it was very personal for me at the time, but it was enough for me to believe, in a way that I couldn't ignore, and so I was baptized in a Foursquare Church we had been traveling 50 miles to once a week. So as a church boy, I continued to suffer with the music, but as I was learning to play, I would think in my heart, week after week, "What can I do to make this better?" Which really translated in to, "How can I make this in to rock music, and not this weak sauce adult contemporary?"
Well, this culminated in to a trip to a youth conference in Tennessee called, "Covenant High In Christ". I was never able to afford events like this, but someone who'd raised money to go on the trip had gotten in a tragic accident, so I was able to go in his stead, which was extremely humbling, since it was such a transforming thing for me. I learned a lot there, and connected with some great people, and had some very special moments, one of which was actually getting to jam with other people, for the first time ever.
So when I got back, the next year, I got my first guitar (an Epiphone Les Paul Special II), and my youth pastor gave me my first little solid state practice amp.
I was on my way to rock and roll glory. I started playing on the youth group worship team, and from then on, would become heavily invested in church worship music for the next decade or so. Playing in that context gave me the confidence to audition for the High School Jazz choir ensemble, and would play guitar for the rhythm section my Junior and Senior year. This would set the stage for me to finally form my first band with some friends that wanted to put one together, with some mixed and matched elements here and there, but ultimately culminated in what would be called, "Inexposed". I sure hope that I have some video out there somewhere of those days, but I digress... I have none at the moment, and we made no formal recording, but we did perform for a few local venues and events.
The music was all songs that I had written, and performed as a three piece with Sam Roe on bass, and David Schug on the drums.
After a couple of years, I was invited to play in another band with some church friends of mine, called Joshua Fire. This appealed to me, since Inexposed wasn't exactly a 'Christian' band, and at the time, I had very serious investment in just such a notion, as I had grown in great fervor of my faith. Needless to say, my Inexposed friends were not too happy with me about this. However, joining Joshua Fire would become one of the most foundational experiences I would have as an artist, and as an entrepreneur. We had a focused intent to make something of this band, believing that we had a great sound, and a great answer for the world around us. We poured everything in to our recording and our performances, and we had wide spread support, and had developed a very strong relationship with people that loved our music.
We would go on to track two full length releases, the first being Numatic. Numatic was my first studio recording release. I'm still working on making that one available online, but haven't made that one happen yet.
I'll leave you with our second recording, Kariss, and fill you in on what happens with Joshua Fire in the next email.
Joshua Fire - Kariss
I was a bit of a procrastinator though, so I would get through that year just to forget to sign up for band the next year, and instead signed up for video production as a news anchor. My cousin had taken his drum kit from the house anyways, and I really didn't have anything to practice on. So I would get just nosy enough to pull my mom's acoustic guitar out of her closet that she'd been hiding from everyone, so it wouldn't get destroyed, and I began to learn guitar riffs. The first being Come As You Are, by Nirvana. It drove my mom crazy, because that's all I would play for months. But I slowly developed my calloused fingers to form chords, and learned a couple of progressions, the old classic, Tom Dooley, and some more Nirvana songs, of course. After a few years, my grandpa had something return to him that I had no idea about. It was a Univox U320APB 50 watt amp, and a Kay electric guitar. Now we were ready to rock!
The summer of 1998, I learned every song I ever loved. But song writing had always eluded me. I was less interested in that, and more interested in sounding like Daniel Johns, or Scott Weiland.
With the internet developing more and more all the time, I came across a songwriting app, which allowed me to plug in tablature, which had feature where I could actually play back and hear the music I had written. The was the very beginning.
I was ready to start burnin' out chops and form a band!
But there's more to the story than meets the eye. My family life was a tad bit tumultuous for a period there in those early years, which inevitably led us in to a church. At least from my upbringing, I didn't exactly grow up "in the church" as they say. So when we started, it took some adapting. I was heavily resistant to the whole thing. I absolutely loathed the music. I thought it was pandering, condescending, and childish, and really didn't understand what people loved about it so much. I saw everyone around me closing their eyes, and getting in to it, and I thought they were weak. "Church is a crutch", my grandmother used to say.
But then I had an experience, which I won't go in to here, because it was very personal for me at the time, but it was enough for me to believe, in a way that I couldn't ignore, and so I was baptized in a Foursquare Church we had been traveling 50 miles to once a week. So as a church boy, I continued to suffer with the music, but as I was learning to play, I would think in my heart, week after week, "What can I do to make this better?" Which really translated in to, "How can I make this in to rock music, and not this weak sauce adult contemporary?"
Well, this culminated in to a trip to a youth conference in Tennessee called, "Covenant High In Christ". I was never able to afford events like this, but someone who'd raised money to go on the trip had gotten in a tragic accident, so I was able to go in his stead, which was extremely humbling, since it was such a transforming thing for me. I learned a lot there, and connected with some great people, and had some very special moments, one of which was actually getting to jam with other people, for the first time ever.
So when I got back, the next year, I got my first guitar (an Epiphone Les Paul Special II), and my youth pastor gave me my first little solid state practice amp.
I was on my way to rock and roll glory. I started playing on the youth group worship team, and from then on, would become heavily invested in church worship music for the next decade or so. Playing in that context gave me the confidence to audition for the High School Jazz choir ensemble, and would play guitar for the rhythm section my Junior and Senior year. This would set the stage for me to finally form my first band with some friends that wanted to put one together, with some mixed and matched elements here and there, but ultimately culminated in what would be called, "Inexposed". I sure hope that I have some video out there somewhere of those days, but I digress... I have none at the moment, and we made no formal recording, but we did perform for a few local venues and events.
The music was all songs that I had written, and performed as a three piece with Sam Roe on bass, and David Schug on the drums.
After a couple of years, I was invited to play in another band with some church friends of mine, called Joshua Fire. This appealed to me, since Inexposed wasn't exactly a 'Christian' band, and at the time, I had very serious investment in just such a notion, as I had grown in great fervor of my faith. Needless to say, my Inexposed friends were not too happy with me about this. However, joining Joshua Fire would become one of the most foundational experiences I would have as an artist, and as an entrepreneur. We had a focused intent to make something of this band, believing that we had a great sound, and a great answer for the world around us. We poured everything in to our recording and our performances, and we had wide spread support, and had developed a very strong relationship with people that loved our music.
We would go on to track two full length releases, the first being Numatic. Numatic was my first studio recording release. I'm still working on making that one available online, but haven't made that one happen yet.
I'll leave you with our second recording, Kariss, and fill you in on what happens with Joshua Fire in the next email.
Joshua Fire - Kariss
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