About THE WEDDING BAND MEMBERS
Any Scriptures which inspire you personally as Christian
music artists?
Jeremiah 1 1-9
Trevor Sarver answered, "For me personally (Trevor)
I love Jeremiah. He just looked at God and said, Lord how in the world
will I go and speak.I'm only a youth, and God said, no don't worry I'm
going to use you to take over the nations. I love that book of the bible
cuz we're all still teenagers and really young and there's not really
anyone else this young doing what we're doing at the pace we're doing
it at and sometimes its intimidating but we know for sure that Christ
is right there along side of us using us to take over the nations even
though we're only youth."
Their Background.......
It is always interesting to see how the Lord uses an artist's
faith, musical gifts, and opportunities through family, church and community
to build a person's ability to be successful in a Christian music ministry
for the Lord.
The spiritual seeds of their Christian faith were planted
early in all of their respective lives. All four members of THE WEDDING
were blessed with a Christian-growing environment provided by both their
believing families and their respective church families in Arkansas.
Trevor Sarver, Kevin Kiehn, and Clint Robinson share with
ChristianMusic.com, about their growing up years and their early training.
Trevor Sarver shares, "In our early life stages we all grew up
in Christian homes, I myself (Trevor Sarver) am a pastor's kid. So I
was always in church and all that. The other guys have extremely Christian
based families and we've all been raised to love Christ with our lives
which is what we're trying to do with this music thing also."
Kevin shares; "Well, I was raised in a Christian
home like you usually hear from a lot of Christians, and yes I believe
I was blessed to have that. I was home schooled until my 8th grade year,
then I went to a private Christian school where I finished out my high
school years. I'm the oldest of 6 kids, most of whom are still home
schooled by my hard working mother. I have a great relationship with
my family and always have. They are very supportive of what I do and
you really need that in this business."
Trevor continues, "We all found the Lord early in
life and each had a time when we just confessed to Him "God, I need
you, come into my life and change me."
Kevin explains his experience by saying, "I accepted
Christ when I was very young. When I was 6 years old I accepted Christ
into my heart without the aid of a pastor or even my parents. I just
knew in my heart that he was calling me and I responded. So right there
in my backyard on my swing set I decided to make an eternal commitment
to Jesus Christ. Now because of how young I was when I accepted Christ,
there have been times in my life when I doubted my salvation. However,
I believe now that that was just Satan getting to me. I believe that
I had the faith of a child that day and that's all God needs is the
faith of the child. The Bible says that without that kind of faith you
can't enter the kingdom of heaven."
Clint Robinson shares his family's support of his faith
and his musical gifts, and how he, Kevin and Cody were introduced to
music ministry as teenagers.
"Well, I started playing piano when I was 7, then
when I got in to middle school I joined band. Through high school I
played percussion and competed in various regional, state, and national
competitions. Along with my family's support I was able to receive lessons
from some great professors in percussion."
Clint continues, "In junior high, me and Kevin and
Cody started playing in a worship band together that led at our church's
bus ministry, We continued to play in the bus ministry 'til we were
out of high school. Our senior year me and Kevin started playing with
Trevor and then later Cody started playing with us as well, and then
we became The Wedding."
Clint reflects on the value of this early ministry experience.
"I think bus ministry has a lot to do with preparing us for the
roll God had for us. Playing for kids who didn't have anything, and
just being able to invest and love those kids who were unloved. I see
now how much it prepared me, and each night we play its just habit to
talk to the kids and see what's going on in their lives."
Trevor Sarver, Kevin Kiehn, Cody Driggers, and Clint Robinson,
having just themselves gone through the teenage years and are still
experiencing young adulthood, can easily relate to the challenges facing
youth and young adults in our society, and have expressed beautifully
their experiences and what they learned through their music, which in
turn speaks to their listeners.
For despite their strong Christian roots and belief system,
THE WEDDING band members didn't escape the trials, tribulations, and
challenges of experiencing the teenage years, though they had the spiritual
training & relationship with Jesus and their own families to rise
to meet challenges and also in some instances get back on the right
track.
Trevor comments, "Everyone has their hard times though,
I personally have had extra hard times."
It isn't always easy being a PK (preacher's kid), and
Trevor Sarver shares his ups and downs, specifically his struggle with
the sometimes irresistible desire to "fit in" with the crowd,
and also perhaps a little with rebellion. Both are challenges that many
teens are tempted by in their quest to become independent from parents.
Trevor explains, "I just strayed away from Christ
a lot as a teen and got into stupid stuff that wasn't cool at all. Mainly
just peer pressure. The rest of the guys kept their head on straight
for sure. God's an incredible God if you just make sure that you love
him with all your heart, mind and, soul and let him teach you new things
every day."
It is a powerful tool in keeping on a personal walk with
the Lord if one has a Christian support system and a fellowship with
other Christians, as well as a consistent quiet time with Jesus, as
illustrated in the answers Christianmusic.com received from the band
to our question below.
What were/ and still are your Spiritual Influences?
Trevor reflects, "Wow, influences.Um spiritually
I do know that we all as a band look up to our parents for spiritual
guidance all the time. Obviously we look to Christ, but probably parents
second. A lot of the time we look to each other and our pastors at home
at the churches we all go to. There's so many people that you meet that
you tour with who become spiritual accountability partners too. We all
have so many friends who just randomly call us and want to know how
we're doing spiritually and that totally influences us."
Clint explains, "My parents definitely have helped
me keep it real, a lot of times when kids get out of high school and
on their own, they tend to start going down roads they were raised not
to go down, but the way my parents invested in my life kept me away
from all that."
Kevin - "As far as influences go, since I was raised
in a conservative home schooled home, and I'm not dogging that in anyway,
but because of that, the music I listened to was very limited. At the
time my parents believed that their kids should only listen to Christian
music, but not just Christian music, music that was more praise oriented.
And I am thankful for that because in a lot of ways that has made me,
as a vocalist, have a lot different mindsets as maybe others wouldn't
have".
Growing up, What were your collective musical influences?
Trevor explains, "Musically. we have such a range
on musical influences from just straight up punk rock like Rancid, (old)
MxPx, Operation Ivy, the Ramones, the Decendents. All the way to western
like Johnny Cash, Meral Haggard, and then also hard-core and metal bands
then also stuff from back in the day.the Cure, the Police, U2, and all
kinds of stuff. With 4 guys in a band that all love different stuff,
there's a pretty good variety going!"
Clint shares, "One of my biggest influences in high
school was Further Seems Forever. 3 years ago I saw them for the first
time at Cornerstone and its was the best 45 minutes of my life. And
what rules about that, is this was our first year to play Cornerstone,
and we played the same stage I saw Further Seems Forever on for the
first time."
Kevin reflects, " I got into the music scene a lot
later than other kids and all of the influences that I have are actually
just in the last 5 years. Most of the bands still tour and I don't really
have any legendary musicians that I draw inspiration from. However,
there a couple front men that I really look up to. The vocalist for
Sinai Beach (I think that's how you spell it) really touches my heart
with his testimony every time I see them."
ChristianMusic.com: How were you led by the Lord to use
your musical gifts to write and sing songs?
Clint reflects, "We just knew it, right out of high
school we felt it, we knew exactly what God wanted from us, and looking
back it's so amazing it actually worked out."
Kevin explains, "I've been in one band or another
since I was in 8th or 9th grade. And I've been singing, or whatever,
since I was a little kid. I've always known that God was going to use
me in music. I honestly had no doubt in my mind. I didn't know that
I'd be blessed with doing exactly what I wanted to do musically but
God has a way of blessing you when you give Him control and let Him
decide what you're going to do."
Trevor shares, "Man, we always had a song in our
heart. That's for sure. We always loved music and loved Christ. And
if you REALLY love Christ then you'll take everything you have and devote
it to showing people how freakin real he is and how he offers a peace
that's just insanely amazing. But we aren't gonna go and shove it in
someone's face, we're just here to put it out there and if you want
it, cool. And if you don't, that's fine also. Its their decision."
Trevor continues, "When we started this band a while
back, we knew EXACTLY what we needed to do. That was to be a legit band
that tells it how it is, but not in some cheesy way. Not saying that's
bad, just saying that's the way we personally feel called to say it.
God's given us a mountain to scream what we believe from, and the day
we quit screaming from it is the day we're dead."
Trevor summarizes, "So all in all, we were led to
lead music by just loving it and then knowing that if it's what we wanted
to do, then we were gonna do it for Christ in a real way with respect
for ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE even if they don't choose to believe it too.
With us believing it, and them not, doesn't make us any better or worse
than them, we're all just people, we're just trying to share the happiness
we have and meeting so many awesome people along the way."
Trevor Sarver, Kevin Kiehn, Cody Driggers, and Clint Robinson
all realize that how they live their lives and their behavior reflects
to the world around them, especially their fans the band's belief in
Jesus and the Christian way of life. It is true that Christians are
scrutinized and held to a higher level of behavior, even though Christians
aren't perfect, just forgiven.
In answering the following question, Trevor, Kevin, and
Clint offer what they have learned so far in their walk with the Lord.
ChristianMusic.com: Any life-molding experiences you all
would like to share with us, which were uplifting or were difficult
but shaped your thinking, you music, your outlook, your spiritual walk?
Trevor thoughtfully comments, "Man, our lives up
to this point are just molding experiences. Every day we have something
new that we take in and try to help mold us to be closer to God. Our
producer/A&R rep Mark Townsend is definitely a 'molder' if you will.
He is always keeping us grounded always reminding us that if we just
love Christ, then everything will fall right where its supposed to.
So he would definitely be an uplifting molding experience that we just
so happen get to experience every time we're around him."
Trevor Sarver expresses some frustration which exists
in the Christian music industry community, because of people with spiritual
conflicts in their lives aren't willing or able to work on it, thus
offering an example of living which isn't a good witness to being a
Christian, giving the secular world an excuse to deride Christianity.
"It rough being out in a 'Christian' market too.
I mean, lets get real.Christians have problems but it drives me insane
when people understand they have a major life altering spiritual problem
and don't do anything about it. And there's so many people like that
in this industry. I'm not perfect, never have been, never will be. But
I'm just saying that in this little 'Christian bubble' call the 'industry'
people need to realize that people see the way a lot of them are really
living and they're bashing our Christ's name from that. That would be
an experience that is difficult but at the same time, you just gotta
learn from your mistakes."
Clint shares some important values he has learned in his
life, "Integrity, being able to say no to what you are offered,
not doing things even if you think they are ok, but realize that they
would discourage and disappoint others. Live a life without compromise,
striving for the perfection and purity Christ showed. Always be aware
of who you're around and how your actions could affect their outlook
on Jesus Christ, Cause as Christians we are called to represent Christ
and His love."
Kevin reflects, "I've led a pretty mellow life. I
haven't really gotten into anything crazy. I've never had someone really
close to me die. I've never had any traumatic experiences. Pretty much
the big task for me is to try to see everyday as something special.
Even though we're doing what we love, sometimes each day can seem the
same and we can get really complacent as Christians. But we just have
to realize that God has a plan for every day and that every day can
be something new and exciting."
THE WEDDINGS MUSICAL JOURNEY
As stated above, Trevor Sarver, Kevin Kiehn, Cody Driggers,
and Clint Robinson started to express their love and gift for music
in their preteen years. In junior high, they started off playing music
in junior high in garage bands, playing in their various garages with
the support of their understanding families.
Kevin Kiehn, Cody Driggers, and Clint Robinson called
their band, LAST PLACE, which morphed into the band UNKNOWN. As UNKNOWN,
they began to play gigs out in the community, not just for their circle
of family and friends. They often opened for the local popular band,
EASIER SAID, where they met Trevor Sarver, the guitarist for EASIER
SAID, who encouraged Kiehn & others in the UNKNOWN to continue,
helping them find opportunities to play. Kevin Kiehn said, "EASIER
SAID band members were a lot more well known and cooler than we were."
In their late high school years, EASIER SAID had band
membership changes, and an opening for a drummer, and Clint Robinson
came on board. About 6 months later, when the other original EASIER
SAID members left, Kevin Kiehn also joined as the bass player, and they
became a 3 piece pop/punk band.
Deciding to go for it on a full time basis, EASIER SAID,
(Trevor Sarver, Clint Robinson, and Kevin Kiehn) went on tour, bringing
good friend and fellow musician Cody Driggers, along as a "roadie"
who proved to be valuable, working behind the scenes and playing bass
guitar part time. Because of his musical contributions to the group,
Cody Driggers became the full-time bass when Kevin Kiehn switched to
vocals and keyboard, which was the beginning of the development of their
true musical sound and style. Kevin Kiehn continued to write lyrics
for this new band's original songs, which fit like a glove to each unique
musical composition.
As their music evolved and solidified into their own unique
musical version of indie rock, they decided to start clean and renamed
their foursome THE WEDDING, inspired by the book of Revelations.
Step by step THE WEDDING followed the Lord's plan for
them. Doors continued to open for them on the tour scene, as they had
the opportunity to open for other well-known Christian bands such as
Bleach, John Reuben, Number One Gun, Anberlin, and Spoken.
Impressed by their musical talent, professionalism, and
the quality of their original songs, Bleach guitar player Sam Barnhart
became their mentor and brought THE WEDDING to Nashville's Dark Horse
Studios to make a revised demo under his direction. While at Dark Horse
Studios the band members were introduced to The O.C. Supertones and
well-known and successful producer, Mark Lee Townsend, who produced
CDs for RElient K, dc Talk, and Jennifer Knapp.
Mark Lee Townsend was impressed by THE WEDDING, and helped
them mix their new demo and later passed the demo on to BHT Entertainment,
while THE WEDDING went on tour with O.C. Supertones by their invitation,
becoming the O.C. Supertones' opening band.
Meanwhile, Rambler Records, which is the "alternative
division" of BHT Entertainment were impressed with THE WEDDING
demo and their performances on tour with O.C. Supertones as well. Soon,
they offered THE WEDDING a beginning recording contract, the golden
ring which is dreamed of by many up and coming Christian artists, groups
and bands.
In April of 2005, their first CD, THE WEDDING was released
to the delight of their enthusiastic young fans and others who are young
at heart, and open to new creative forms of Christian music.
About their Music and Lyrics -
"When something is imprinted on your heart, it needs
to be represented in your art." - Trevor Sarver:
It is always interesting to find out how artists view
their music, so Christianmusic.com asked them, "How would you describe
it?"
Trevor Sarver answered, "Our music? Energetic indie
rock with punk and hard-core influences.just good ole rock n' roll for
the masses. Ha ha ha!"
Kevin - "Energetic, besides that I'll let the listeners
decide."
Clint - "Energetic, fun, Indie rock with punk and
hard-core influences. All I can say is we play the music I love, And
I can't even describe how blessed it feels to be able to do it every
night."
Always fascinated on how the Holy Spirit and the creative
process works uniquely with each group, Christianmusic.com asked THE
WEDDING band members:
"How do you compose your songs? Do you compose from
a keyboard or guitar? Group jam sessions? Do you split the work - someone
does the musical composition and someone else does the lyrics? - Or
what comes first, the lyrics or the melody / composition?"
Kevin explains their creative process development with
Christianmusic.com:
"What we do is Trevor will usually bring some sort
of riff, or chord progression to practice the rest of us can work with.
Then Clint and Cody play along and pretty much they just play until
they hammer down the basis of a song. If we think the song calls for
keys, either me or Clint will write a part for it."
"Then, after the song structure has been decided,
I'll listen to it and write lyrics and vocal lines. It's pretty much
an even split, we all contribute and we all write our own parts. It
comes together really well, I don't think we could write any other way."
Trevor adds, "We don't have a specific way of doing
things really, we just all come up with ideas on the guitar or keys
or even just in our heads and then get together and work it out as a
band, then Kevin comes in and puts the lyrics on top of it all. Most
the time he already has the lyrics written."
Clint also shares, "Well lately, me, Cody, and Trevor
get together and jam out songs, get the basic structure down, and then
Kevin comes and writes the melody and then if need be we change some
of the music up a bit according to the vocal lines."
This team work is very much evident in their compositions
which support the lyrical messages, written by Kevin, on this CD! It
is obvious that they work well together in the Spirit, as their collective
talent and experiences have come together so well and so effectively
to present this impressive collection of songs to the listener. They
love playing music together, with the focus being on ministering to
young people, helping them by providing songs that explore the experiences
of the young and that explore who Jesus is, how He can be involved in
our lives and having a relationship with Him brings a joy and peace,
despite the circumstances of our lives.
THE WEDDING is still in the process of growing and evolving
as Christian artists. Trevor Sarver shares that he has been busy between
the band's tours, while at home in Arkansas, recording new ideas for
the band's next CD.
"Here lately I've actually just been writing a ton
for the next record with our time off from the road, even though our
1st record just hit stores, ha ha ha!" But yeah, I've been putting
some tracks down in this guys home studio in Fayetteville Arkansas where
we're from. Just to kinda have ideas still flowing and keeping the ole
brain still churning."
In the coming years, it will be a pleasure to continue
to listen to their music and see and hear how they evolve in their musical
endeavors, as they grow and change in the process of maturing and evolving
musically and spiritually. Though the music on this CD is aimed at the
younger generation to encourage them, I enjoyed and was blessed by this
collection of songs and this CD would add sparkle and variety to anyone's
Christian music library, and I recommend this listening experience.
Spiritual Content or Messages of Songs - Where they come
from.................................
As people don't live in a vacuum in this world, Christian
music artists find that what they have learned from their own life experiences,
guidance from the Holy Spirit, own spiritual journeys, and from those
people around them, are great sources for the spiritual messages / truths
found in their songs, which in turn bless the listener.
This is also true for THE WEDDINGS' lyricist, Kevin Kiehn.
Kevin shares with ChristianMusic.com, "When I write
the lyrics I take whatever state of life I'm in at that time and I try
to be honest. I try to take life experiences, as you said, and put them
in my lyrics to encourage kids. Its important people know that guys
in bands have the same problems that they do and that we can completely
relate."
Trevor Sarver confirms how Kevin creates the lyrics, which
Trevor, the other WEDDING members and their audience can relate to as
well.
"Kevin writes on all kinds of stuff but mainly based
on real life scenarios he's gone through or seen physically or spiritually.
We sing about so many things God, Life, girls, and even just a hint of
politics. Christ is in all 3 of those subjects so why not sing about
them? Kevin has a really original way to do things. He's EXTREMELY honest
in his lyrics spiritually and also with his songs about past relationships
and stuff like that about how there's turmoil but by the end of the
song its like he's told a story and how there's forgiveness and peace
at the end of a relationship gone bad. It's really cool".
Though the messages are aimed at the age group of their
fan base, others can relate to them as well. Some of the experiences
and truths explored in the lyrics, do relate to all human beings at
one time or another, though seen through the eyes of a perceptive young
person. Some of the messages apply to all human beings, no matter what
their age. The songs which explore Jesus are universal for all.