JhePd^
Friday, March 22. 2002
Page 9
Arts and Entertainment
Making the Band/ Part 1
Going in a new direction: The Athletes
What’s
to Come
Jennifer Menster
Pilot web editor
You’ve seen their flyers
around campus. You’ve heard
their name announced during
Fellowship of
Christian
Athletes (FCA)
meetings. And,
maybe, you’ve
seen them per
form at your
church or youth
rally.
But there is
a lot you don’t
know about The
Athletes.
The band is
made up of four
Gardner-Webb
students: junior
Josh Reich,
seniors Dan
McClellan and Nick Jaeger and
graduate student Jason
Blanton.
The group came together
about two years ago when sev
eral of the guys were goofing
around in the dorm playing
blues music. For the last year
and a half. The Athletes have
led praise and worship at FCA
meetings.
“We all love music, and we
all are kind of learning the
March 22:
The
Athletes
April 5:
Tell All Are
One
April 19:
Circle 475
May 3:
Two
Tattoos
Photo by KatyBellew
L-R-Nick Jaeger, Sr, Dan McClellan, Sr., Josh Reich, Jr. all practice music for FCA onTuesday night at a local church.
music,” said Reich.
Starting the band was not
easy. Jaeger had previously
been a member of a band. He
had experience playing lead
guitar. Reich and McClellan
had a strong love for the music
and desire to learn it. Reich, a
self-taught guitarist, had expe
rience singing at praise ser
vices, and McClellan wanted a
chance to use his musical talent
as a way of expression. But, the
band still needed a drummer.
“The main part of forming
a band is networking,” said
Jaeger. “You need to know who
plays what and who plays
well.”
That’s when Blanton came
into the picture. Blanton also
had previous experience in a
band. “We clicked,” said Reich.
“From there things just hap
pened.”
Once the four guys got
together, they had to decide
upon a name. Since none of the
four guys are athletes, but they
were performing for FCA and
had friends who are athletes,
they decided to call themselves
The Athletes.
Since then, The Athletes
have played at youth rallies and
other churches. They released
one CD at a FCA meeting last
year.
Now, however, the guys
are going in a different direc
tion. While they are not aban
doning The Athletes, the guys
have come up with a new name
for themselves—Direct LINE.
The music of Direct LINE
will be mostly rock-n-roll. The
songs will be both secular and
spiritual and will be written as
the group feels led to write.
“Our inspirations are big
ger than being on campus,”
said McClellan, who along
with Jaeger will graduate in
May.
Future plans for Direct
LINE include a concert in the
Millennium Playhouse at the
end of March. They will release
a four-song CD entitled “In it
up to here.”
Direct LINE can be heard
on the Gardner-Webb radio sta
tion, and in a month. Direct
LINE will have a song on the
radio station’s compilation CD.
As for now, the guys will
continue their praise and wor
ship music as The Athletes dur
ing FCA meetings and concen
trate hard on Direct LINE.
Music group Truth’ offers community concert
Emily Killian
Pilot staff
About 150 attended a con
cert by the group Truth on
Wednesday March 20 in the
Dover Theater. SEA brought
the band here as a part of their
farewell tour after over 30
years of ministry.
The group formed in 1971.
Since then, they have recorded
60 albums and have had
numerous number one hits in
the Christian music industry.
Members of the group have
gone on to join other groups,
such as Avalon.
Truth’s members have been
raising money for the American
Leprosy Mission, an organiza-
' ' ■^that has given medical care
to 72,000 children from around
the worid suffering from lep
rosy.
They hope to build a
suigeiy center for kids in Africa
called the Truth Hospital as a
legacy to the group.
The band has gone through
two generations of musicians in
some cases. Singer Jackie
Vandermaten’s parents were
group members in the 1970s, as
she is today.
Truth has gained a solid
following over the years, as
was evidenced by the large
community turnout for the con
cert. Several local church
groups attended the event, as
did students from North
Greenville College and GWU.
“They’re ' a "well-known
group that gets a lot of publici
ty,” said Brian Maiers, SEA
Chair.
Campus Ministries Intern
Catherine Helzin told about
attending a Truth concert in the
90s.
“The last songs were my
favorite part,” she said of
Wednesday’s concert.
Despite the group’s popu
larity, the GWU concert was
the first time many students
encountered the group’s music.
“I had nver heard of Truth
before,” said senior Sabrina
Siegrist. “I was very impressed
and I thoguht the concert did a
great job informing people of
who Truth is.”
SGA Representative Jennie
Tones,' who'‘s'tarted out the
evening with a knock-knock
joke, introduced the band.
The group was around the
campus for part of the day, and
ate lunch in the cafeteria. “You
all really took care of us today
with the food and the facility,”
said Vandermaten. “Jennie
Jones really helped out a lot
today.”
During the concert, the
group sang songs from each
generation of their ministry, as
well as several unrecorded
songs.
They showed videos of
activities the group was
involved in during each genera
tion and highlighted
Vandermaten’s mother’s fight
•with a brain tumor. Both of her
p^ents shared their enthusiasm
about her becoming a member
of the group.
Other band members
shared personal testimonies
about their experiences before
joining the band and prayed
with members of the audience.
“There was a lot of histo
ry,” said Carrie Rogers, a stu
dent who attended the concert.
“It was cool.”
After the concert, the
singers stayed around to talk
with members of the audience
and to sign autographs for fans.
After over 9,000 concerts.
Truth will be playing their last
on June 16 in Nashville, Tenn.
Tickets can be purchased at
www.itickets.com