Publication Date: 11 FEBRUARY 2008
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Hundreds of thousands of young people across the globe
have heard Manchester's THEBANDWITHNONAME and their
presentation of the Christian message.
In 2007 they released their third album, DYING TO BE
THERE, complete with a new line-up, and over the summer
toured Europe and the USA.
Band member J kept a diary of their short trip to Norway over
the summer for UK Gospel.com...
have heard Manchester's THEBANDWITHNONAME and their
presentation of the Christian message.
In 2007 they released their third album, DYING TO BE
THERE, complete with a new line-up, and over the summer
toured Europe and the USA.
Band member J kept a diary of their short trip to Norway over
the summer for UK Gospel.com...
I know bang on about it a lot, but I really
can't run a website called 'UK Gospel.com' and only present news from one
sector of the scene, or just one part of the country, or on one genre of
music.
Granted, the site's primary focus is on the development of contemporary
Black gospel music, but its editorial direction appraises the industry in its
widest possible context. So there.
TBWNN's success story is largely
unreported in the mainstream
Black scene, so this was a good
opportunity to check out a little
slice of their lives...
I know you'll like it...
sector of the scene, or just one part of the country, or on one genre of
music.
Granted, the site's primary focus is on the development of contemporary
Black gospel music, but its editorial direction appraises the industry in its
widest possible context. So there.
TBWNN's success story is largely
unreported in the mainstream
Black scene, so this was a good
opportunity to check out a little
slice of their lives...
I know you'll like it...
TBWNN left to right: LEON, STRAFF, CHIP K and J
Yinka Awojobi
Content Development
UK Gospel.com
Content Development
UK Gospel.com
TBWNN - The Norway Blog
Having toured the USA earlier in the spring of 2007, it was time for thebandwithnoname to perform overseas again. We often travel to European festivals during the summer, last year we played at Flevo' in Holland and Contra Coriente in Spain. This year we are at Skjærgårdsgospelor Seaside festival in Norway.
I kept a sort of diary blog of the weekend, here's how we got on...
The time is 19.30 hours and we are aboard our plane, waiting to take off from London Stanstead Airport. I am sitting next to our dancer and choreographer TINA, deep in conversation. Suddenly everyone on the plane starts laughing! When they all stop, the man sitting behind tells us that the pilot introduced himself as Captain Ricky Martin!
Tina and I both start laughing loudly... about 5 mins after everyone else has finished.
I kept a sort of diary blog of the weekend, here's how we got on...
The time is 19.30 hours and we are aboard our plane, waiting to take off from London Stanstead Airport. I am sitting next to our dancer and choreographer TINA, deep in conversation. Suddenly everyone on the plane starts laughing! When they all stop, the man sitting behind tells us that the pilot introduced himself as Captain Ricky Martin!
Tina and I both start laughing loudly... about 5 mins after everyone else has finished.
Thursday (7:30)
Thursday (1:00am - Norwegian time)
Friday (9:00 am)
Thursday (1:00am - Norwegian time)
Friday (9:00 am)
We landed in Norway at Oslo Airport and had a two and a half hour drive to where 'Seaside' festival is taking place.
CHIPK actually came here four years ago as part of the original TBWNN trio. However, we have now expanded: 4 guys, 3 girl dancers and our trusty sound man, Phil. Eight peeps in one small flat with one small bathroom to share. Oh dear.
But it's kinda cool being in bunk beds, and everyone is so exhausted from travelling from home to Manchester to here that we go to sleep pretty much straight away.
Wake up and wonder where on earth I am. Always happens at first on tour, only this time I'm also in a different country!
Groggily remember that I'm in Norway before leaping off the top bunk to join the Great Bathroom Race. Later on, we all have breakfast together before splitting up to explore.
CHIPK actually came here four years ago as part of the original TBWNN trio. However, we have now expanded: 4 guys, 3 girl dancers and our trusty sound man, Phil. Eight peeps in one small flat with one small bathroom to share. Oh dear.
But it's kinda cool being in bunk beds, and everyone is so exhausted from travelling from home to Manchester to here that we go to sleep pretty much straight away.
Wake up and wonder where on earth I am. Always happens at first on tour, only this time I'm also in a different country!
Groggily remember that I'm in Norway before leaping off the top bunk to join the Great Bathroom Race. Later on, we all have breakfast together before splitting up to explore.
KYLIE and I head over to the main tent where we join hundreds of kids singing worship songs in their own language. After a while they start singing the TIM HUGHES song, "Beautiful One" in English!
We join in with this one, but afterwards we wonder if it was actually in Norwegian and we just translated it through the Holy Spirit? Decide it was probably just sung in English.
Between all eight of us in the team, we know only one word of Norwegian - Splurgan. As far as we know, this means absolutely nothing to anybody, but to us it sounds like it could be vaguely Norwegian, so it is the 'word of the weekend.' All of us are really pumped for the gig, which is later on tonight.
Just finished our 45 min set, it was an amazing session.
We played on a huge, outdoor stage to six thousand kids who gave us extra energy by the sheer volume of their voices! Many of them speak pretty good English, and it
We join in with this one, but afterwards we wonder if it was actually in Norwegian and we just translated it through the Holy Spirit? Decide it was probably just sung in English.
Between all eight of us in the team, we know only one word of Norwegian - Splurgan. As far as we know, this means absolutely nothing to anybody, but to us it sounds like it could be vaguely Norwegian, so it is the 'word of the weekend.' All of us are really pumped for the gig, which is later on tonight.
Just finished our 45 min set, it was an amazing session.
We played on a huge, outdoor stage to six thousand kids who gave us extra energy by the sheer volume of their voices! Many of them speak pretty good English, and it
Friday (10:00pm)
was awesome watching them sing "Great Is Your Name" with us at the end.
One of the biggest blessings being in this band is the opportunity to worship onstage and look out at thousands also engaging with God.
Although we contrived to bring some of our Mancunian weather with us (it rained in showers throughout), nothing could dampen the Spirit and it was an unbelievable experience.
After resisting the temptation of saying 'splurgan' in one of the raps, we found out afterwards that "Straff" in Norwegian actually means 'punishment!'
Fortunately "Leon" in Norwegian means 'God's grace' so we are covered. (Just joking about Leon but the bit about Straff's name is true)! We are looking forward to having
a slightly more chilled day tomorrow which should be fun.
One of the biggest blessings being in this band is the opportunity to worship onstage and look out at thousands also engaging with God.
Although we contrived to bring some of our Mancunian weather with us (it rained in showers throughout), nothing could dampen the Spirit and it was an unbelievable experience.
After resisting the temptation of saying 'splurgan' in one of the raps, we found out afterwards that "Straff" in Norwegian actually means 'punishment!'
Fortunately "Leon" in Norwegian means 'God's grace' so we are covered. (Just joking about Leon but the bit about Straff's name is true)! We are looking forward to having
a slightly more chilled day tomorrow which should be fun.
Saturday (6:00pm)
Had a lie-in this morning which was nice.
The girls taught a street dance workshop which went really well, and not long after that we performed "I Need A Witness" at their break dance showcase.
Both of these were good opportunities for us to look at some of the emerging talent that it is developing in Norway. We are always looking for more rappers, dancers and singers to join us at INNERVATION TRUST, the parent organisation behind thebandwithnoname, tbc and many other bands.
So it was great to have so many people sign up to the auditions we regularly hold. The language barrier provided an amusing incident when CHIP K was asked by one of the festival organisers to speak onstage about 'angry crowds.'
We assumed that this unusual title was referring to persecution of the Church, or opposition to the Gospel.
The girls taught a street dance workshop which went really well, and not long after that we performed "I Need A Witness" at their break dance showcase.
Both of these were good opportunities for us to look at some of the emerging talent that it is developing in Norway. We are always looking for more rappers, dancers and singers to join us at INNERVATION TRUST, the parent organisation behind thebandwithnoname, tbc and many other bands.
So it was great to have so many people sign up to the auditions we regularly hold. The language barrier provided an amusing incident when CHIP K was asked by one of the festival organisers to speak onstage about 'angry crowds.'
We assumed that this unusual title was referring to persecution of the Church, or opposition to the Gospel.
Actually it was nothing of the sort because the organiser actually meant for CHIP K to talk about the famous American gospel and jazz artist, 'ANDRAE CROUCH,' and to promote his concert tonight!
Later on at midnight tonight, we are going to be having communion onstage with the other artists, whilst an audience of 8,000 do the same.
Time to hit the road again, we are just about to set off for Oslo Airport.
We say goodbye to our Norwegian aide, an absolutely top bloke called Lars. We give him a copy of our album "Dying To Be There" and one of the T-shirts because he has been a great help all weekend.
Not only this but his name has provided us with humour, provoking several childish, Biblical jokes about 'the first being Lars and the Lars being first'.
Later on at midnight tonight, we are going to be having communion onstage with the other artists, whilst an audience of 8,000 do the same.
Time to hit the road again, we are just about to set off for Oslo Airport.
We say goodbye to our Norwegian aide, an absolutely top bloke called Lars. We give him a copy of our album "Dying To Be There" and one of the T-shirts because he has been a great help all weekend.
Not only this but his name has provided us with humour, provoking several childish, Biblical jokes about 'the first being Lars and the Lars being first'.
Sunday (7:45am)
We have had a great time in Norway, hopefully we'll be back again in the future, but for now, it's home to Manchester.
Signing off... thebandwithnosplurgan.
Signing off... thebandwithnosplurgan.
LINKS AND CREDITS
TBWNN - Official website
TBWNN - Official MySpace
TIM HUGHES
INNERVATION TRUST
TBWNN - Official MySpace
TIM HUGHES
INNERVATION TRUST
Special thanks to DAVE HALFORD - this wouldn't have happened without you....
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