Audio Adrenaline racking up firsts

By Frank "Buzz" Trexler
for The (Maryville, TN) Daily Times, Winter 1996

Audio Adrenaline is a band of firsts.

This high-energy band was the first Christian rock band to perform in Hard Rock Cafe, in Nashville; the first Christian tour to play House of Blues in Los Angeles; and one of the first Christian artists to do an online forum via America Online.

But as the cut on A.A.'s recent release "Bloom" says, guitarist Barry Blair says the band is "Never Gonna be as Big as Jesus."

Strangely enough, it was at Nashville's Hard Rock Cafe that the idea for that song came about, Blair said in a recent phone interview from San Diego.

"A couple of the guys were sitting in Hard Rock Cafe ... and they were playing a song by some new band that was saying, 'We're bigger than Jesus. We're bigger than Jesus,'" Blair recalled. The 28-year-old Colombia, Ky., native said the situation brought back memories of Beatle John Lennon's similar controversial statement.

"Internally, it's like as a band your goal is to be more successful, to get bigger, you know, but there's always that humbling thing that no matter what we accomplish here on earth we're never gonna be as big as Jesus," Blair said. "We're never gonna be able to basically save ourselves. We're depending on him."

Despite the humility, the band is on its second tour as opening act for one of contemporary Christian music's hottest acts, dc Talk. The tour kicked off in Irvine, Calif., last week and comes to Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville 8 p.m. March 8. In January 1994, A.A. and dc Talk packed Knoxville Civic Auditorium.

It's apparently a combination that suits both bands well. "We're all good friends and we all share a common goal in what we're doing," Blair said.

With it's alternative flavor, the group attracts crowds that bring with them a penchant for mosh pits, head bangin' and crowd surfing. Would an outsider find an Audio Adrenaline concert much different from a secular act of the same type, Blair is asked.

"To an outsider it might look very similar," he said. "Some people might come in and think that it looks a little rambunctious."

Still, he sees a definite difference.

"I think the difference is the reason for the celebration," Blair said. "As we sing, as we play, and the audience is listening and having fun with us, it's more of a celebration of our faith, our belief and our joy, happiness in Christ. Where from the world's perspective it's probably more just a chance to maybe get away from your problems or something."

Nonetheless, mosh pits, head bangin' and the like can have some inherent problems.

A.A. found itself in the midst of a bit of controversy when an 11-year-old boy was accidentally injured by a nearby fan's banging head at a concert. CCM magazine recently features a story on the issue of mosh pits and such at Christian concerts.

Blair said while some point the finger at the bands, it's more in the hands of concert security and the venue.

Despite the favorite concert take-off of the Sunday school song "If You're Happy and You Know It" ("Bang Your Head," says the A.A. version), Blair said the band's aim is for concert goers to have good, safe, fun.

"We don't really encourage it," he says of extreme physical antics. "It tends to distract from what we're trying to do. But at the same time we do want the kids to have a good time and enjoy themselves, not hurt anybody else."

Blair said the physical celebration can smother the message.

"There have been occasions where it really felt like the audience was not even listening; they were too much into themselves, the moshing or whatever. We don't like it when that happens," he said. "But for the most part, it doesn't seem that way. It seems like it's more of .. they're having a good time, they're bouncing up and down and they're trying not to hurt each other, but they want to have fun."

Regardless, he says, "I think the message get's through. I think they're listening to the words."

Blair said he daily tries to prepare himself for delivering a message worth hearing.

"I think probably, I guess, the hardest thing to do and the most important thing that I have to do every day is before I walk on that stage is to humble myself and make sure that I'm right before God before I get up there and try to share him with anyone else," he said.

"Sometimes it doesn't happen and you're on stage and you're thinking about everything in the world besides what you're trying to do there."

Nonetheless, that preparation is an all important aspect of Audio Adrenaline's mission. "That's really the key to our ministry, the thing that keeps us going and it's the reason we're out here.

"If there's anything that I can do to, I guess, give back to God what's he's given to me, that's it."

The Rev. Frank "Buzz" Trexler is managing editor at The Daily Times and pastor of Green Meadow United Methodist Church, www.themeadow.org. You can e-mail him at PastorBuzz@nxs.net.