AndyRogersMusic.com - Blog

I don’t want to stir up your jealousy but I thought you might like to see around one of my ‘offices’…

Technorati Tags: songwriting, studio, office

I’m part way through the recording process for the new worship album (haven’t got a title yet - I may request your help on that too) and I thought I’d ‘kill two birds with the one stone’ as they say.

I wanted to let you hear a sample of some of the completed tracks and ask for your opinion.

In this short video you’ll hear three tracks and I’d like to know which you think would be the best opening song for album.

As an incentive I’ll credit you in the album notes (download version) if you let me have your opinion in the comments section below. By the way if you’d like a link to your website, blog, myspace etc then just let me know the details.

Let me know what you think…

Technorati Tags: christian worship songwriting, free, music, downlaods, andy rogers

If you’ve been following my musings for any length you’ll know that doing the Kingdom stuff for those on the outside has become something of a pre-occupation for me. Particularly since doing the worship in bars, brothels and nightclubs last year at various places round the planet.

So it was with interest that I read this great article from RELEVANT MAGAZINE by Brian Orme - I was encouraged, I hope you will be too - Enjoy!

There are two aspects of Jesus’ life and mission: His inside ministry and his outside ministry. His inside ministry was focused on his life with the disciples, those close to him, and his work within the religious structures of his day—inside the synagogue and the Temple.

His outside ministry was comprised of his connection with the everyday people, often those on the margins, those forbidden entry into the righteous circles, the heavy drinkers, the sexually immoral and the tax collectors.

Most of this facet of Jesus’ life was also literally outside, in the marketplaces, on the hillsides, by pools, in porticos and at parties.

Reading through the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life it’s evident that the outside ministry of Jesus takes precedent. When we collate the outside versus the inside Jesus, the outside wins in every Gospel. And for good reason. In Jesus’ own words his mission was not to come for the inside, but for the out, “I have come, not for the healthy, but for the sick.”

Even when Jesus was ministering to those on the inside, he often chose to do it in the context of the outside world.

Read the rest at http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=7448

As I write this I’m still in Nashville and I thought you might like to see how the recording of some of the songs from the 20/20 project is going.

We’ve been working on song number 3 (and others) from the 20/20 project ‘Your Name Is A Refuge (and we are refugees)’

Here’s a quick clip from the studio to let you see how it’s going.

Oh, if you’re interested I’m going to need some help with some lyric ideas for the other songs we’re working on. If you’d like the opportunity to help co-write on these make sure you’re registered over at OpenSourceSongs.com and I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime here’s the video..

My producer, Neil Andrews, is also a great worship leader and really understands recording worship music. If you need a project worked on I could really recommend his services - you can work completely remotely with him via the internet (if you don’t live anywhere near Franklin, TN) you’ll get Nashville quality without Nashville prices!

Drop him a line at nra.minimoog [at] gmail.com

Cheers - Andy

Here are two different models for Leading Worship in Bars, Night Clubs and Brothels that I have experienced recently.

Last year I had the opportunity to do two trips within weeks of each other, one to Lithuania the other to Thailand.

On both occasions we were scheduled to do music/worship in bars and night clubs but both situations were different.

In Lithuania our brief was to work with the local Vineyard church initiative in helping engage the arts and music culture of the city. We got booked to play the premier music night club in the area - we were there to entertain the paying customers. However, we really wanted to do a set that was infused with worship so we put together a set that was a mixture of covers, worship songs and one song that we had written for the occasion.

The response was amazing. The night club manager told us at the end of the evening that, in the 13 years that he had worked there and booked artists, no other band’s music had touched his heart like A Perfect Stone.

And, without sounding like hype, there was a real sense of God’s presence in the venue, especially during ‘Be Thou My Vision’ which you can see at the end of the clip below. Despite the fact that many of the revelers were doing their regular ‘bloke-girl’ night club thing!

Here’s a video clip to give you a bit of a flavour (the sound quality isn’t great but I hope it gives you an insight into how this can work).

During the Thailand trip I was waiting to play bass in the band that my good mate Ian Hannah had put together for a missions trip to ‘Pattaya Praise’, an intercessory worship and mercy ministry happening in that city. As part of that we had been scheduled to play a series of worship sets in the ‘Love Hearts’ bar and other venues.

On this occasion we were very openly a worship band and rather than being a ‘covert’ operation. The gigs involved the band and a crowd of believers all piling into the venue, with the permission of the bar owners I might add, and worshiping together.

Here’s the Thailand version in operation with our Irish Salsa band!

One of the important things in both Lithuania and Thailand is that it was a co-ordinated effort with local believers developing ongoing relationships with the influencers in their cities.

In my opinion both models work, one isn’t any better or more ’spiritual’ than the other. It depends on context and partnering with the local believers, churches and ministries.

What to you think?

Recently, in a moment of idle curiosity I Googled my own name and saw an interesting thing.

Firstly, I was was pleasantly surprised to see that 4 of the 10 links on the first page of Google were to my sites and blog.

Secondly, prominent results for other folks who share my the name ‘Andy Rogers’ were also musicians and artists, engineers (I too studied mechanical engineering) and sportsmen (I used to race motocross at expert level).

Is this just a coincidence or is there something about your destiny wrapped up in your name? - just a thought.

I know we named our kids based on what we sensed was their God given nature and call

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My good friends Kevin & Rosemary Sambrook have invited me to join them on a few dates in the US later this month.

If you’re anywhere nearby why not swing by and catch up.

I’ll be doing some music, some worship leading, some recording and some catching up with good friends.

Here’s the broad schedule as it looks so far:

Feb 24th - Silver Spring, Maryland. Immanuel’s Church  http://www.immanuels.org/ 16819 New Hampshire Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20905

Feb 27-28th - Florence, Alabama. Christ Chapel - http://www.christ-chapel.org

Mar 2nd - Brentwood, Nashville, Tennessee - http://www.newhopechurchtn.org/

Last year when I was over I had the pleasure of playing with some outstanding musicians including Neil Andrews (who’ll I’ll be doing some recording with this time) and Chester Thomspon, legendary drummer with Genesis, Phil Collins, Carlos Santana, Frank Zappa etc and all round nice guy.

Here’s a clip of Chester in action.

As I mentioned, I’ll also be doing some recording in Nashville - you’ll soon get to hear proper versions of some of the 20/20 songs!

Oh, and here’s something else you may be able to help with. I quite fancy a return to the USA in the summer (July/August-ish) and combine a family holiday with some ministry/music events.

I know it might be a bit early planning a return trip before I’ve actually gone on this one - but I wasn’t endowed with the ‘organized, forward planning gene’ so I’ve got to at least start thinking about it now to give the Lord something to work with!

If you know of good opportunities to explore for my particular brand of ‘Ethno-Celt’ worship experience please let me know.

Speak soon - Andy

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Readers of this blog may have been wondering where the last 2 songs of the 20/20 project (writing 20 songs in 20 weeks) got to. I ended up with 18 songs posted here.

Your help would be invaluable.

You might be a worship leader, songwriter, musician or you might be
none of those, maybe you have an ear for a decent song - great!  

I’d love to have you as part of the ‘pre-launch’ team.

Simply go to www.OpenSourceSongs.com and hop on board.

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Hi folks,

Every now and again I ‘rotate’ my gear.

This time it’s my trusty Ampeg B3 Bass amp that is finding its way to market at www.liquid8music.com - assuming someone doesn’t snap it up here first!

Here’s a video demo

You can snap it up for only £397 (inc FREE UK&Ireland P&P)

Also check out these independent user reviews:

This amp is studio quality all the way. it was the best sounding amp i could find, that was in my price range. I’m using a mid 70’s Fender Jazz Bass on it and it sounds awesome. But u can change the sound on this amp so easily, its good for all the styles i play. I’m in a jazz band, as well as a metal band, and my primary band (rocking blues) and i can make it sound good for all. The only beef i have with the amp, is that u can’t crank the amp the whole way with out it distorting to much to play. I’m not sure why they made the amp this way, but if you use the amp properly the thing smokes with quality.

The amp is very versatile. It is a 150w solid state combo. Its got a 9 band eq (may be a little more than an amp this size needs but it adds to it also), and a 3 band to boot. The ultra mid actually makes a large difference in the amps tone. If it is up the amp is trebly and twangy, if its down its bassy and boomish. The drive knob also helps mold the sound, but it causes the limiter light to flash much more, as well as the gain knob. I play mainly rock a blues in small clubs (god bless BUZZOFF) and this amp is great. It has also a XRL balanced line out which makes everyones lives easier, NO Di’s that shut off, or change your sound, just plug & play. The FX loop in the back is the best setup i’ve seen. It has a -15Db pad, that really helps if ur running a distortion like pedal, and a post/pre selector, that really doesn’t do much for me, but i’m sure it is usefull to someone. I wish i could have afforded the B-2 and bought a cab, but the B-3 keeps up with me for the most part (the built in DI really helps). The metal handles really help for moving the thing, it ways about 75 pounds. Its a little awkward but its hard to find a large enough bass amp thats not awkward.

Here’s the technical spec: (you can download the user manual here)

OUTPUT POWER RATING: 150 Watts RMS, 4-ohm load
TONE CONTROL RANGE: Bass: ±8dB @ 50Hz; Ultra-Mid: +5, -17dB @500HZ; Treble: +17, -22dB @ 5KHZ
GRAPHIC EQ RANGE: ±11dB @ 40Hz; ±8dB @ 80, 150, 300, 600, 900, 2kHz; ±9dB @ 9kHz
GAIN: 66dB typical, tones @ center
SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO: 75dB typical
INTERNAL SPEAKER: 15″ Ampeg Custom; 56 oz Magnet; 2.5″ Voice Coil; 4 ohm
SIZE AND WEIGHT: 20″x26″x13.5″; 68 lbs

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My acoustic guitar is 20 years old this year.

My wife bought it for me from the guy who built it, Alex Wylie. When he worked for Lowden Guitars (now Avalon Guitars) - he took what was then one of their top-line models (L32CP) and customized it with some alterations. It has a different neck profile, headstock shape, abalone inlay and fret board markers.

For all you other guitar acquisition sufferers out there here’s the spec; it has a sitka spruce top with the Lowden bracing pattern, brazilian rosewood back and sides (all solid of course) 5 piece mahogany neck and ebony fret board. Back in 1988 the L32CP retailed for £1600 ($3200).

Anyways, with all my international travel last year and more to come this year it took a bit of a battering at the hands of some, otherwise reputable, airlines. If seemed that every trip produced another hairline crack somewhere despite being housed in a decent Hiscox hard case.

This year I don’t want to take any chances so I got my hands on this RockCase I got from Germany

There is a downside though - when it’s empty it weighs more than my previous case + guitar + accessories combined!

The extra shipping charges may turn out to more than the cost of repairs in the long run - ah well, c’est la vie!

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