Lets start with the name shall we? The "Read" is past tense. Then again, it would be unlikely we would be playing "Christian" Rock without having read (there's that word again) the red letters already. Make since?
I guess the band really started when I (Vie) accepted Christ at the ripe old age of eight or nine. I scratch the surface on this subject in a song called Goodbye from my solo CD (As For Me And My Music?) but there is a little story to this calling. I went to elementary school with a neighborhood girl named Sharon Harwood. We weren't what I would call "hang out" friends but we had the same teachers a lot in elementary school and we lived only two streets apart from each other so we did have a neighborhood type of friendship. The odd thing is that she had a brother a few years older named Michael that I was not friends at all with. At that age being a few years older is almost a lifetime. Different friends, different clicks etc? Anyway, he was hanging out on my street one day for some reason and we ended up playing together. He asked if he could spend the night and I said, "yeah we can sleep out in the camper". So that night he told me about Christ and His sacrifice on the cross. Needless to say I accepted Jesus that very night! This was the only night Michael ever spent the night and I don't believe, or at least I don't remember, ever speaking to him again after that. I am still awed and amazed by the fact that God came to me that night through Michael and saved me?
Jump with me now to around 1998-99. After much disobedience along with many trials and errors I came back to the camper for good. Although I was still writing and playing secular music, I was attempting to line my life up with Christ's and grow in the Lord as best I could. I firmly believed at that time that God called me to make and play music for the lost. (Non-Christian) Looking back now, I believe that I was just trying to keep one foot in the world. This was also around the time I met guitarist Yannik Morales?
Yannik and I began writing songs together and eventually formed the band Panic in 2000. We recorded a couple of demo CD's, got on a couple of compilation CD's and also appeared on a show called Vegas Webcast but nothing ever came of it. In 2004 the band dissolved without fanfare or strife and that was that. During this time however, I was growing in my faith and gaining a desire to play and write Christian music. I was finally giving up my musical desires for His. I had also been playing on my church worship team since 2002. This was my first real exposure to Christian music and hymns. This breakup of Panic had also led me to write and record my aforementioned solo CD?
Although it was a great learning experience I was never comfortable with being a solo artist. Having always played in "bands" I wanted to go back to that format. Besides, I always knew that anything I did, I wanted Yannik to be a part of?
Now here we are in Feb of 2009 and Yannik and I have formed Red Letter Read. A band in which we hope God will use to bless many people through. We have also added a shot of youth to the band with drummer Taylor DiModica. Taylor did some percussion work on my solo CD as well?
So in 2009 RLR presses on with our debut CD set for release as early as April and live shows to follow. We pray that in all things RLR God's glory will always be our main focus!
