Audio Adrenaline: Focused on being passionate about Jesus

By Frank "Buzz" Trexler
for The (Maryville, TN) Daily Times, Fall 2005

In 1994, Audio Adrenaline came to Knoxville with the Newsboys and dc talk on the "Free at Last" tour. It was a different time for contemporary Christian music, with different challenges — particularly, the acceptance of rock-style Christian music.

For instance, during the ’94 tour, dc talk would rap:

Likewise, Audio A would get the crowd jumpin’ with its "Don’t Censor Me":

Times have definitely changed, says AA’s bassist,Wil McGinnis.

In a recent telephone interview from his hometown of "Nash-Vegas," which he describes as "home of everything under the sun; country music largely, but almost everything else, too," McGinnis talked about the changes in contemporary Christian music.

"I think the marketplace has grown extremely since when we first got into it," McGinnis said. "I mean it’s crazy, from the point of the amount of money that’s being spent on Christian music to make it great, to the amount of attention it’s getting in all kinds of public forums, videos, radios, and everything else."

He’s asked whether that has impacted the veteran rock band’s ability to get its message to the people.

"I’m not sure that it’s affected us terribly, other than it’s made it cooler. It’s not so taboo now to be in a Christian band," he said. "You know, a lot of kids out there … some of their favorite artists are in Christian music, out of all of the choices, secular or not, you know.

"So, it’s more about the music and less about the content of the lyrics, which was the exact opposite of back in the day when it was all about your content and who cares what you sounded like."

Today, McGinnis said, there is "great freedom" when it comes to Christian music.

"You can just rock out and be yourself," he said. "If you talk about the Lord, that’s great, if you don’t, that’s great, too, you know. Secular music doesn’t really care, either way."

That’s a good thing for Audio Adrenaline, but the band always seemed willing to stretch the bounds of freedom … even before it was an accepted practice. Whether it was "Bloom," which went so far as to present a high-energy, rockin’ version of Edgar Winter’s "Free Ride," to "Some Kind of Zombie," which stretched the imagination of even the hard-core AudioA fans. Nonetheless, over a nearly 15-year lifespan, the band has sold more than 3 million records and charted 18 No. 1 singles.

Now comes "Until My Heart Caves In," which frontman Mark Stuart says is "about living for God until your body collapses."

McGinnis said the title cut "is just making the statement that we want to have passion in our lives."

"For some people, they’re passionate about their girlfriend, they’re passionate about their car, they’re getting the big house, or whatever. We just happen to be passionate about something completely different," the 38-year-old McGinnis said. "This song makes the statement that we do have something to die for, we do have a real faith in Christ Jesus that until our dying is met we want to be about his things, about his business.

"And we want to do that with a fire, with a zeal, with a passion that is a unbridled and just reckless. We’re gonna do crazy things and even when it doesn’t look right, or it doesn’t sound smart, if we feel like he’s called us to it, we’re gonna go do it."

Looking back, McGinnis reflected that perhaps there were times during the band’s career when "maybe our focus wasn’t exactly in the right spot."

"But I think that’s one of the things this record is saying, that the spark is reigniting. We’re focused like we’ve never been before and the focus is on God, being very humanitarian and worrying about the poor people of America and Third World countries, and the orphans and the widows, and the elderly."

The band has "walked the talk" with that message through what is called "The Hands and Feet" project, an orphanage in Haiti that Audio Adrenaline is building from the ground up. The goal is to provide a caring and loving environment for those children, giving them a home, food, education, and the love and acceptance of a Christian family.

Meanwhile, as the interview took place, rescue operations for victims of Hurricane Katrina were still ongoing and McGinnis was asked about his thoughts.

"I’m just praying that God will use this as a wake-up call. You know, in countries around the world we’re the laughingstock of the world, just based on the way that we take care of our elderly, our poor and our homeless. So, I’m hoping that now more than ever America sees the importance of taking care of the widows and the orphans and the poor and the elderly.

"I hope that this sparks a new wave of selflessness in America that’s never been rivaled before; and that our government and our people would be about these things … the important things of life: Taking care of one another."

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.