Disciple (band)


Disciple is a Christian metal and rock band from Knoxville, Tennessee, formed in 1992.

History

Early releases (1992–1998)

Disciple was formed in December 1992 by high school friends Kevin Young, Brad Noah, Adrian DiTommasi and Tim Barrett. The band played its first show in May 1993 at Topside Church of God in Louisville, TN and recorded its first three-song demo at Nightsong Studios with Producer Jesse Jones. Adrian DiTommasi left the band shortly after that for personal reasons, and Kevin Young would eventually take over the bass guitar duties. Later that year, Disciple recorded its first full length recording titled Trail of Tears at Nightsong Studios with Jesse Jones which was a cassette-only independent release. In 1994 the band recorded its second full length recording titled Lake of Fire which was also a cassette-only independent release recorded at Nightsong Studios with producer Jesse Jones.
In late 1995, Disciple released What Was I Thinking on their own independent label Slain Records. The album was produced by first-time producer Travis Wyrick, former guitar player of the band Sage. It was the first Disciple album available on CD and cassette. The band considered What Was I Thinking to be their real first album, and the previous recordings to just be "practice-runs". In 1996, the band performed a Battle of the Bands show at the Electric Ballroom in Knoxville, TN in which Jeff Lysyczyn of Warner Bros. received a copy of the band's independent CD and a few months later talks began between the band and Warner Bros.
In 1997, Disciple signed with Warner Resound Records and on October 27, 1997, released its five-song EP, My Daddy Can Whip Your Daddy produced by Jeff Lysyczyn and Travis Wyrick. The band began touring non-stop in December 1997 and the band had their first No. 1 Rock Radio single on the Jamsline Rock Chart with the song "Fill My Shoes".
In 1998, Disciple signed with Rugged Records with whom they released their second full-length album, This Might Sting a Little on June 1, 1999. This album garnered them two GMA Dove Award nominations and two No. 1 Christian rock hit songs with "I Just Know" and "Big Bad Wolf". "I Just Know" was the most played song of 1999 on the Albuquerque, NM Christian radio station, KLYT, now known as Star 88.

Later works (2000–2013)

The band released their third studio album, By God, on February 6, 2001, which went on to win the Inspirational Life Award in 2001 and earned them two No. 1 Christian rock hits with the songs "By God" and "God of Elijah", and two Dove Awards nominations.
The band later released Back Again on February 25, 2003, on their own record label, Slain Records, which earned two No. 1 Christian rock hits with the songs "Back Again" and "Wait". Kevin Young agreed with the album being called the band's Back in Black album in a 2008 radio interview with The Full Armor of God Broadcast. In October 2003 Disciple added bassist Joey Fife to the trio.
Disciple signed with INO Records and released their self-titled Disciple on June 7, 2005. This album featured three No. 1 Christian rock hits with the songs "The Wait Is Over", "Into Black", and "Rise Up", and two Dove Awards nominations. "The Wait Is Over" was the most-played Christian rock song of 2005.
They released Scars Remain on November 7, 2006. The song "After the World" was the eighth most played song on Christian Hit Radio stations in 2007 and was the band's first Christian CHR Radio No. 1 Hit. Scars Remain, the album, has so far earned one Christian rock No. 1 with the song "Love Hate " and two Dove Awards nominations. Scars Remain won the Dove Award for Rock Album of the Year, and was the band's first Dove Award win.
On January 8, 2008, Young announced in a "Disciple: The Alliance" email that Noah and Fife were stepping down as band members. However, Young said that Noah "decided to still be a part of the songwriting process and even play on the recordings." He also mentioned that "the songs that has been writing for the new Disciple project are somewhere between hard rock and southern rock." Also in that announcement was the addition of two new band members, Andrew Welch on guitar, and Israel Beachy on bass. With a new line-up, Disciple set off on the Cross the Line Tour with Superchick in March 2008. In April 2008, the band also announced the addition of Micah Sannan on guitar as well.
They released Southern Hospitality on October 21, 2008. Southern Hospitality earned the Dove Award nomination for Rock Album of the Year, and had a No. 1 Rock Hit with the song "Romance Me". Also in 2008, the band appeared on WWE The Music, Vol. 8, providing the track "In the Middle of It Now" as the entrance theme for wrestlers Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder.
On April 28, 2010, Disciple announced a new album, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, on RadioU which was released on September 14. It was produced by Rob Hawkins, although the band re-recorded the album's lead single, "Dear X ", with Howard Benson. They also revealed that they are accompanying Thousand Foot Krutch on their Welcome to the Masquerade tour, and afterwards tour with RED on their Nothing & Everything tour. They also had a tour with Ivoryline and Emery. They had their headline Rules of Engagement Tour with Project 86 and Write this Down in early 2011. Later, they joined Kutless and Newsboys on the Born Again Experience tour. They joined Skillet for their Awake and Alive Tour in late 2011. Trent Reiff officially joined the band on drums during the final stages of the Horsehoes and Handgrenades recordings sessions in early 2010 after the original drummer Tim Barrett's departure from the band.
O God Save Us All was released on November 13, 2012, with Fair Trade Services and was produced by Jasen Rauch, formerly of the band Red, with the first single, "Draw the Line", released on August 14 on iTunes. Lead guitarist Andrew Welch left the band in mid-September (Welch now plays for Thousand Foot Krutch. In November 2012 the band hosted a live video stream for the album release show in Nashville, Tennessee featuring Rich Ward of Stuck Mojo and Fozzy. Despite rumors of Ward joining Disciple full-time, Ward responded to a tweet asking if he was still with Disciple, "No, I just played the album release show with them. I love those guys." Micah Sannan and Israel Beachy amicably left the band in December 2012, and were replaced by Josiah Prince, formerly of Philmont on guitar, and Jason Wilkes, former vocalist for High Flight Society, on bass guitar. Disciple did a co-Headlining tour with Fireflight in January and February 2013 called the Save Us Now Tour. Andrew Stanton, who is also currently in the band I Am Empire, began touring with the band in early 2013.

Independent (2014–present)

In early 2014, Disciple launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund their new album, which was to be recorded and released independently. The campaign was a huge success, setting a goal of $45,000 and ending with a total pledged amount of $115,852. For this project, the band returned to producer Travis Wyrick, who produced the first seven Disciple albums. The album, titled Attack, was released on September 23 worldwide. This was Disciple's first album to feature members Josiah Prince, Jason Wilkes, Andrew Stanton, and Joey West. The band went on to tour alongside Decyfer Down, Nine Lashes and Seventh Day Slumber on the City Rockfest tour of 2015.
On March 31, 2015, it was announced that Wilkes had made the decision to step down from the band in order to support his family. He left the band after the last show of the City Rockfest tour, on April 11, 2015.
On July 21, 2016, Disciple announced the release of a new live EP, called "Live in Denmark", which was made available for free digital download.
On August 3, 2016, Disciple launched a second Kickstarter campaign to fund their eleventh album, Long Live the Rebels. The campaign ended on September 12, 2016, outperforming their previous Kickstarter with 2,012 people raising $127,675 for the album. The backers were given two brand new Disciple tracks immediately following called "Erase" and "Underdog Fight Song." On September 23, 2016, it was announced that Disciple would be partnering with Tooth & Nail Records for the release of Long Live the Rebels. The album was released on October 14, 2016.
On September 29, 2018, it was announced that guitarist Andrew Stanton had made the decision to step down from Disciple as a touring member to be at home for his family, though he would still be involved with the band in the future and contribute in writing and recording their next album. On December 5, 2018, it was announced that Disciple would be accepting auditions and looking for fill-in guitarists to perform live shows throughout 2019 following Stanton's departure. On December 8, 2018, Stanton played his final show as a full-time member.
On December 14, 2018, it was announced that Disciple had signed to Tooth & Nail Records for the release of their next upcoming album, Love Letter Kill Shot, which was released on September 13, 2019.

Members

Current
Touring
Former
Timeline


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Discography

  • What Was I Thinking
  • This Might Sting a Little
  • By God
  • Back Again
  • Disciple
  • Scars Remain
  • Southern Hospitality
  • Horseshoes & Handgrenades
  • O God Save Us All
  • Attack
  • Long Live the Rebels
  • Love Letter Kill Shot

    Television

The song "Game On" was used for numerous television showings and commercials. These include the official theme song for WWE Cyber Sunday 2006, ESPN's NFL Live on November 1–2 during the plays of the month, during Fox Sport's The Best Damn Sports Show Period, the NFL Network's Total Access show, Speed TV's Speed Report, and as background music for CBS' and Criminal Minds commercials.
In 2008, World Wrestling Entertainment invited Disciple to record an entrance theme for the tag team of Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. On February 1, 2008, Hawkins and Ryder made their entrance into the arena for SmackDown to the tune of "In the Middle of it Now." This song is featured exclusively on the WWE The Music, Vol. 8 compilation album released on March 25 of that year. Hawkins and Ryder would later do a "Superstar 2 Superstar" article interview with Disciple on WWE.com, where all parties revealed they were thrilled with how the song turned out. They continued to use the song and Curt Hawkins used "In the Middle of it Now" as his theme until October 9, 2016.

Dove Award nominations

  • 2001 Hard Music Recorded Song of the Year for "By God"
  • 2001 Hard Music Album of the Year for By God
; GMA Dove Awards
YearAwardResult
2000Hard Music Album of the Year
2000Hard Music Recorded Song of the Year
2001Hard Music Album of the Year
2001Hard Music Recorded Song of the Year
2006Rock Album of the Year
2006Rock Recorded Song of the Year
2008Rock Album of the Year
2008Rock/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year
2009Rock Album of the Year
2011Rock Album of the Year
2011Rock Recorded Song of the Year
2012Rock Recorded Song of the Year