Some Kind of Journey
Audio Adrenaline no longer
perennial opening act

By Frank "Buzz" Trexler
of The Daily Times Staff, April 1998

From their first album in 1992, a self-titled rock and rap style compilation, Audio Adrenaline has been on some kind of journey.

The journey has taken them from a "Don’t Censor Me" attitude, to the point where even an old Edgar Winter cut, "Free Ride," came out in full "Bloom." Now ... well, their latest work wails with a new guitarist cranking away on "Some Kind of Zombie."

It was "Free Ride" that lead the group to take "seven souls," on the road with them while touring with Steven Curtis Chapman during spring 1997. The band selected seven people, ages 17-21, from diverse backgrounds to "discover and document the challenges that are facing our country’s youth." The result: "Some Kind of Journey: On the Road with Audio Adrenaline – Seven Days. Seven Issues. Seven Souls." (Standard Publishing)

"During that week we talked candidly about issues like depression and apathy, life struggles and God’s grace, the relevance of the church, family issues, personal identity, prejudice and sex," says Stuart. "We were really able to take hard and sometimes controversial looks at these issues."

"It got pretty intense," Stuart said in a telephone interview from Buies Creek, N.C., where the group was playing at Campbell University. Nonetheless, he said, the band came away with some spiritual insight and a sense of healing.

"I think forgiveness – not just us toward each other, but the way God forgives," he said. "The kids on that trip brought a lot of baggage and I think they ended up feeling whole again. I think that was probably one of the coolest things: God’s enormous power to forgive and clean up our lives."

One of the most intense discussions came on Day 6, when the group looked at prejudice. While in Chicago, the group distributed soft drinks and chicken to people living under a bridge. They sang a hymn and then drove off in the vans. The result was a sense of superficiality in ministry. Some of the thoughts afterward included:

• "I felt like a fool when we said, ‘Let’s sing ‘Amazing Grace’ underneath this bridge.’ You are willing to do it because in a half an hour you will be gone," Stuart said.

• "I believe we went down there with a hear that said, ‘Let’s get some cool video footage,’" said drummer Ben Cissell.

Looking back, Stuart said Monday that despite those feelings he would likely do it again.

"I think what we achieved by going there was just showing these kids that sometimes there are flaws in our attempts and that all mission work has problems just like any other work," he said. "I think it taught us and it taught the kids to always check your motives and try to be in God’s will. I would probably do the same thing because I think it was a good learning experience."

No stranger to missions

The 29-year-old Stuart knows something about mission work: His parents were missionaries in Haiti for about four years, which somewhat prepared him for the rigors of music ministry.

"My whole family was really involved in missions my whole life. We’d go on short-term mission trips about twice a year. Then finally, my dad ended up being full-time in Haiti," he recalls, noting that his father had "spiritual grit" that came out "like John Wayne."

As to how it shaped his life and approach to youth ministry and music, Stuart said, "I think more than anything it was just the urgency of the Gospel. I learned that through missions. I also learned a lot of tenacity. Being in Haiti, if something goes wrong you just fix it. You don’t really have anybody really to rely on, other than you and God."

"I guess that was helpful in the beginnings of Audio Adrenaline, when we were driving around in an old van," he said. "It is very easy to parallel what we do to what a missionary does: We are away from home. There’s a lot of people here we don’t know where they came from, we don’t really know their background. We present a message of ministry, a message of the Gospel in a powerful but simple way. So there’s a lot of parallels. Always, every day of the show, there’s obstacles we have to overcome."

Roots of ‘Zombie’

The spiritual journey in Haiti had a musical effect, too: It was the idea for "Some Kind of Zombie."

While in Haiti, Stuart witnessed real-life zombies, in which voodoo doctors use poison to induce a death-like state in their victims, then use an antidote to bring them "back to life."

"We are here to say that only Christ can bring life to those who were once dead," Stuart says in explaining the song. "We all started out spiritually dead but God brings new, spiritual life to use through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and his resurrection from the grave."

‘High point’ for AA

The album, which is the first for drummer Cissell and guitarist Barry Blair’s replacement, Tyler Burkum, is a huge creative step for Audio Adrenaline. Stuart also sees the 65-city tour as a benchmark.

"I think right now we are probably at the high point. This is our first headline tour and we really get to use all of the tools that we’ve been learning for the last five years as a band and we get to do our own shows," he said. "The burdens of being a headliner are on our backs, but at the same time it is so gratifying to be able to share our testimony or get a little more intimate with the crowd. Because being the opening act, you just go out there and sing."

Audio Adrenaline knows something about being the opening act: The band filled 150-180 opening slots with groups such as Newsboys, dc Talk and Steven Curtis Chapman. Keyboard player Bob Herdman was quoted in a recent CCM magazine interview as saying, "We’ve been a profession opening band. We’ve had to learn as we go – how to be professional musicians, professional songwriters and how to put on a great show."

And he might even say it was all for such a time as this.

"I think right now is a great time. We’ve had, from ‘Don’t Censor Me,’ to ‘Bloom,’ to now there’s a lot of songs that we feel people want to hear. So it’s easy to play an hour-and-a-half of music from three albums."

"We’re already writing for our next record," Stuart says.

What’s it gonna be?

"Another great rock an’ roll album."

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.