| Audio Adrenaline | |
|---|---|
 original members | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Grayson, Kentucky |
| Genres | Christian rock, alternative rock |
| Years active | 1989–2007 |
| Website | http://www.audioa.com/ |
| Members | |
| Mark Stuart Will McGinniss Tyler Burkum Ben Cissell Brian Whitman | |
| Past members | |
| Bob Herdman Barry Blair David Stuart Phil Vaughan Jonathan Schneck Ron Gibson | |
History
Audio Adrenaline, along with other Christian music acts like dc Talk and Newsboys, helped fuel a revolution in the "alternative" Christian music genre. This was started by bands like Under Midnight, Mortal, Circle of Dust and the indie labels Blonde Vinyl, Frontline/Myx, Tooth & Nail, and 5 Minute Walk.Over the course of the band's career, several other Christian artists were influenced by Audio Adrenaline. These bands include MercyMe, Sanctus Real, and Hawk Nelson. Interviews with these bands are available at the Audio Adrenaline website.
Early history
The band was formed in 1986 under the name of A-180 by Mark Stuart, Barry Blair, Will McGinniss, David Stuart, and Phil Vaughan, who all attended Kentucky Christian University. The next year, the band temporarily disbanded when Mark went to Haiti for a semester. Upon Mark's return to Kentucky, the band reformed with Ron Gibson on drums. They became a popular local band, booked by the school nearly every weekend; traveling as far west as Texas, north to Chicago, south to Florida. The band did over 100 shows during this time and recorded two independent releases under the name A-180. The first was You Turn in 1989 and Reaper's Train in 1990. Reaper's Train featured the original version of the song "DC-10", also found on the first Audio Adrenaline release.The band's big break would come in the form of Bob Herdman. Herdman approached A-180 with two songs he had written, one of them called "My God", and asked A-180 to record it. After "My God" was recorded at Landmark Recording Studio, Ohio, A-180 asked Herdman to join them as their songwriter. The demo tape was sent to radio stations and scaled the charts quickly. The song caught the attention of Toby McKeehan (from dc Talk), who brought it to the executives at ForeFront Records. The label decided to offer a record deal to A-180 but had them change their name to "Audio Adrenaline". The name Audio Adrenaline comes from an incident in which Bob Herdman had been listening to some loud and fast music; he was so enthralled by it that he apparently exclaimed "This is like... audio adrenaline!" while jumping wildly.
Late in 1991, David Stuart left the band to focus more on his family. Ron Gibson also left in December 1991 as he claimed Forefront Records was guiding the band into hip-hop and away from the band's rock roots, as evident in the band's first release.
1990s
After signing their deal with Forefront, the band started writing and recording songs similar to "My God". Their first album under Forefront, the self-titled Audio Adrenaline, was released in 1992. It included "DC-10", the only track from the original A-180 recordings. The album was well received selling 75,000 copies. The follow-up album, Don't Censor Me, came the next year and featured what is considered the biggest hit of the band, and arguably one of the biggest hits in Christian music history – "Big House". The album sold 250,000 copies and launched the band into stardom. The album also includes the song "We're a Band", which remained one of their live staples until their retirement. After that, they released a live album titled Live Bootleg.In 1996, their third album, Bloom, was released. The album featured the band returning to their original rock roots, as opposed to their experiments with rap music. The album was a huge hit becoming the only album of the band to be certified gold by RIAA in 1999. It also marked guitarist Barry Blair's final album, who decided to become a music producer. Blair still contributed to a song from their next album.
With Blair gone, Audio Adrenaline needed a new guitarist. They found a temporary fill in Brian McSweeney (from Seven Day Jesus), but he decided to stay with his fulltime act. They then turned the guitars over to Tyler Burkum, who joined the band at only 17 years of age, just in time to record some guitars on the band's next album, Some Kind of Zombie. The album, released in 1997, was also the first to feature Ben Cissell as the band's full-time drummer, though Cissell had played percussion on their previous album. In 1999, the band released Underdog, its fifth studio album. The band also opened for dc Talk on the "Jesus Freak World Tour".
2000s
After a short break, Audio Adrenaline released their first greatest hits compilation, Hit Parade, in March 2001. Among Audio Adrenaline's most notable performances are three of their most popular songs, "Big House", "Hands and Feet", and the live staple "We're A Band", as well as a duet with The O.C. Supertones, "Blitz", from the album Some Kind of Zombie. It was at this time that Bob Herdman left the band to become president of a new record label, Flicker Records, which he co-founded along with Stuart and McGinniss.In November 2001, the band released a new studio album, Lift. Several critics have classified it as the best from the band. This album also marked the first time that guitarist Tyler Burkum shared lead vocals with Mark Stuart. They followed it with their ninth album, Worldwide, released in 2003. Worldwide went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album in 2004, the first of two Grammys for the band. In 2004, the band, along with former member Bob Herdman, founded a project in Haiti called the Hands and Feet Project, in which the band built an orphanage for children.
The band's tenth album, Until My Heart Caves In, was released on August 30, 2005. The album featured most of the lead vocals by Tyler Burkum, with only a few sung by Stuart. Until My Heart Caves In received another Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album in 2006. "Clap Your Hands" was also played on ESPN with football game highlights.
On January 18, 2006, Audio Adrenaline announced that they were retiring from active music ministry. The band cited Mark Stuart's "ongoing vocal challenges" stemming from vocal cord damage as the primary factor. On July 27, 2006, the band played at the popular Christian music Creation Festival for the last time. They had performed there every year since they had begun as a band. On August 1, 2006, they released their final compilation album, Adios, a farewell album containing two new tracks as well as more of the band's greatest hits.
For their final national tour in February until April 2007, Audio Adrenaline opened for MercyMe on the "Coming Up To Breathe Tour". The band performed their last live concert on April 28, 2007, at the Waikiki Shell in Honolulu, Hawaii. Their final project, which was released on August 28, 2007, is a live CD–DVD combo entitled Live From Hawaii: The Farewell Concert. The album earned two nominations at the 39th GMA Dove Awards, winning Long Form Music Video of the Year.
Reunions
On March 21, 2008, Australian festival Easterfest announced that Audio Adrenaline would be getting back together for a world exclusive concert at Easterfest '09 in Queens Park, Toowoomba.On February 21, 2012 Mark Stuart mentioned a possible Audio Adrenaline reunion on his and on the new Audio Adrenaline Facebook pages.
Band members
- Mark Stuart — vocals, guitar (1989–2007, founding member)
- Will McGinniss — vocals, bass guitar (1989–2007, founding member)
- Dave Stuart — keyboards, vocals (1986, 1991, founding member)
- Ron Gibson — drums (1988–1991)
- Bob Herdman — keyboard, guitar (1991–2001, founding member)
- Barry Blair — guitar, vocals (1989–1996, founding member)
- Ben Cissell — drums (1995–2007)
- Tyler Burkum — guitar, vocals, keyboard (1997–2007)
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