Brant Christopher News

BKD CD Recording!

noreply@blogger.com (Brant Christopher) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:31:00 +0000

Wassup friends? BKD is off to Boston to record our first CD project on Sunday Dec 5th. We are so excited to get these new songs recorded and in your hands. We will be doing some tracking at Chateau le Jesse (ie...Jesse's basement:) and heading out to Halo Recording Studios in Portland ME to track drums. We have all the vintage gear lined up to get that classic sound we are going for. It's looking like we will have a 6-7 song EP and then release a follow up B-sides project a few months later.

We are currently booking shows for 2011 and things are looking positive that we will be very busy and coming to a city near you. If you are interested in having BKD come to your town, email us with some venue ideas at bigkettledrum @ gmail.com. We'd love to come and rock your socks off.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving...we are so thankful for your love and support.

Love&Light,
BCM

Christianity Today gives "Climb" 4 out of 5 stars!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Brant Christopher) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:10:00 +0000

Check out the review:

Brant Christopher
Climb (indie)
Released September 2009
Andy Argyrakis

Our Rating: 4 Stars - Excellent

Style: Rootsy pop; compare to Andrew Peterson, John Mayer, Derek Webb, Marc Cohn

Top tracks: "Criminal," "Eyes Are Opened Wide," "Not for Sale"

Armed with a dusty acoustic guitar, a smoky voice, and understated production, Brant Christopher could very well be a dedicated T Bone Burnett fan. But as a Florida-based indie artist, he's still ascending the coffeehouse and club circuit with an ear-catching blend of folk, blues, and roots-drenched pop that sounds like a contemporary version of the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, crossed with today's most pensive tunesmiths. A message of social activism, particularly the issue of modern-day slavery, adds to his authenticity and urgency.

brantchristophermusic...version 2.0!

noreply@blogger.com (Brant Christopher) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 04:24:00 +0000

New CD... new website! Be sure to check out the pages and what is up with the tour. Lots of shows coming your way. I hit the road again this week to Baltimore and then its Columbia, MO and Manchester, NH! Hometown love baby. Looking forward to getting back to NH to see friends and family.

Ariel Hyatt from Ariel Publicity is back on board for promoting "Climb" to the media. As always, she does an amazing job... so be looking out for some press on your favorite websites! Tour blogs to start up again next week:) See you on the road. BCM

Southern CA Tour Blog - Baguettes, Baby Planes & Ben Affleck

noreply@blogger.com (Brant Christopher) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:36:00 +0000

Ring, Ring! Ring Ring! It 4 o'clock in the morning! Of course it is...it wouldn't be a week on tour if it wasn't. Hello all...1st day of the southern CA tour and things are interesting already. Lets start at the top. Drag my butt out of bed...somehow convince my Mom to go with me to the airport to save me the $100 it would cost for me to leave my car there. Get to Orlando...run through security...no issues...yeah! Sit back and have a baguette from the Starbucks inside. Nothing like a $6 stale pastry to get your morning going:) It's boarding time...get on the plane...its not too crowded. Well, that is its not too crowded except for my row. I have a seat next to the little known superhero "Emphysema Man!" Oh joy! I try to sit but he is "Spilling" into my seat with his superpowers. I decide to ask the steward..I mean flight attendant...I mean...let's just call him Serge....if it is possible to upgrade to the Economy plus section which is almost completely empty. He huffs and says I have to go back out to the counter. I say ok...go grab my ticket and start to make my way out of the plane...he meets me just outside the plane door and asks where I want to move to. I say just 3 rows up...he says "I'll take care of you." I swallow loud enough for first class to hear and manage to get out a Peter Brady "Thanks..." as my voice expresses my uncomfortableness with his eye contact through his custom Lens Crafters...if you know what I mean;) IT'S ONLY 6AM FOLKS!

Take a well needed nap on the plane for a couple hours and get up and catch up on my inbox. I decide to take a break from thinking that early and grab the new Esquire my Mom gave me for the trip (Gotta love Mom). It has Ben Affleck on the cover looking scruffy but sophisticated. A great article that shows how private he is and how he refused to pick up the reporter writing the story in his "Actual" car so he rented a car so that the reporter couldn't comment on anything about his car/life and make assumptions. Ben is a Boston boy so I have love for him and his man-friend Matt Damon. Another article in the mag talks about Tiger Woods and his comeback. I am a HUGE Tiger fan. I love how dominate he is and how much practice he puts in to make sure that second place might as well be last place. The article was written by a guy who hates Tiger. I thought to myself...wow, isn't it awesome that Esquire allows the mentally handicapped to write articles;)

Before you know it the plane is touching down at LAX. I grab my backpack and guitar and try to balance one on each shoulder as we de-plane. We get into the terminal and I make a bee-line to the bathroom. Too many sparkling waters:) I have my head down in a sleepy fog walking at New England pace (which is 8 mph faster than anywhere else) and barrel into the men's bathroom when all of a sudden I smack hard into a guy walking out of the bathroom. I look up stunned and low and behold...it's Ben Affleck. Really. Not some guy who kinda looks like Ben Affleck if the light is right and his head is turned to 47 degrees...this is actually Bennifer. I say sorry...he smiles and PUNCHES ME IN THE FACE! Just kidding...that would have been awesome though huh? He was kind and smiled and moved on with his morning. I think now how great it would have been for me to say something like..."Way to go DareDevil! What no superpowers in the Men's bathroom?! Aren't you supposed to sense that sort of thing Ben?!" But no...I missed my moment.

I head over to the next terminal as I have a connecting flight to San Diego. I look out on the tarmac to see a plane with propellors. FREAKIN PROPELLERS PEOPLE! Is this 1948? Have we not retired prop planes that carry large numbers of people? Oh wait. Is see my seat is 2C. I had a brief thought that I was mysteriously upgraded to first class. Instead I realize that I can spit to the back of the plane. Not comforting. I send a brief and probably worrisome email to my wife...just in case you know?

I land in San Diego after spending 49 minutes in heavy prayer and butt clenching. Now I have to grab my rental car and drive BACK TO LAX! Don't ask. I make it back in record time (1:58) and wait for Dave's plane to land. Have a bowl of rice at Panda Express...charge my phone...grab Dave and we are off to Westmont College in Santa Barbara for a 7:30pm show. We are going to be late. What can you do? It's LA.

We get to Westmont and have a great turnout for the show. The students were engaged and genuinely concerned for the captives. Wrapped things up there...got a late bite to eat and headed to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

What a day and its only DAY 1!
Peace&ChickenGrease,
BCM

Tour Blog Day 1&2- Pittsburgh/Philadelphia

noreply@blogger.com (Brant Christopher) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:03:00 +0000

The NFSC Backyard Abolitionist tour is back on the road this week in PA. Crazy schedule this week. The short of it is this: (Deep Breath) Flew to Pitt on Sunday..dinner appointment...Monday Luncheon...Monday night performance at Waynesburg College...I fly to Philly in the am on Tues...Meet NFSC VP Mark Wexler in Philly and perform at St. Joseph's College at 7pm...while Dave has another lecture at Waynesburg at the same time...Fly back to Pitt Wed am...Executive Luncheon...BAT show at North Way Church in Oakland PA at 7pm...Fly to San Fran at 6am on Thurs...do a BAT show at Univ of San Fran at 7pm...Friday iHOP in San Fran...Saturday off (Woohoo!)...Fly to Seattle on Sunday am...1:30pm BAT show at North Creek Presbyterian Church...iHOP after that...Fly back to San Fran on Monday am...fly back to Orlando Monday afternoon!

Wow...that took an entire paragraph!

Lets Go back, go back, go back...(Sorry Blue's Clues reference...)

I left Orlando after CAV's last church service and drove right to the airport to catch my flight to Pittsburgh. Got in and met Dave at the airport. We drove to Dave's favorite restaurant...it's downtown...it's italian...it's closed! LOL. We look around for another place to eat and find a small italian restaurant to eat at. We sit down...we wait...we wait...we watch the bartender bith about having to serve us as well as work the bar...we wait...we leave:) A few blocks down we find a Japanese Steakhouse! Yeah baby. We are both starving and wait another 30 minutes to get seated. It was worth it. Great meal.

We head to Waynesburg College to stay the night in their corporate housing. I had actually played the school 3 years ago and was familiar with the house, the school and Tom Ribar, the college Chaplain. Great guy...he met us and gave us our keys and we hit the bed. Tiring day.

Next morning we get up for breakfast with Tom...he asks the cooks to whip up some Egg & Bacon sandviches (As the The Count would say) and they were good. Back to the rooms for some catching up on email and figure out this freakin Macbook I got. Some things are great...some are retarded. Luckily I am half retarded. So I can figure out most of it. Kind of;) Nothing a call to my friend and tech wiz Mark Kendall can't fix:) He gave me a bunch of free apps to download that are must haves. I'm glad I did because I have used 2 already that I absolutely needed to do this Keynote presentation for NSFC.

Dave and I perform for the students and faculty at 7pm. Goes great. Students are engaged and want more! That is what its all about. Get back to the room and have a LATE meeting with Susan Gordon of Facebook Causes. Awesome meeting. We are releasing my new Album through Facebook Causes in the next 2 weeks! Going to be great. (Don't worry non-facebook users...we are making it available to you as well:) Finally fall asleep about 1am.

Wake up early and off to the airport to fly to Philly. Meet Mark Wexler there and we head off to prepare for the show tonight. We are both running on fumes by this point. He took the red-eye to DC and drove to Philly. My friend...the chest cold...decides to visit...gotta love that. I sound like I smoked 31 packs of filterless cigs. LOL. Nice. The ladies love it. (Who says that?!) A trip to Target gets me Poor-Boy Mucinex (The fake stuff:) and Airborne (Well...Target's rip-off brand) and I am feeling...like crap. Woohoo!

I finish the Keynote presentation and Mark and decide we need an infra red remote to control the laptop. Target doesn't have it. Tom (our GPS) tells us there is one 20 minutes away. It is 5pm and the show is at 7pm. We risk it. *note...don't do that* We hit traffic. We arrive at Best buy at 5:45pm. We are supposed to do a sound check at 6pm. Nope. Better yet...Best Buy doesn't have it. Greeeeeaaaaaat!

We have no choice but to rush back to St. Joes. We finally arrive at 6:45pm to find a band setting up on the stage. Huh? The room was double booked. We decide to set up in front of the stage and do the show from there. We use the new presentation and it goes great! Finally starting to hit our stride with the show and the visuals.

A quick stop at Qdoba for a burrito and I now sit in the hotel writing both of you who read this;) It was a busy crazy day...but worth it. *Side note - I started reading "Wild Goose Chase" by Mark Batterson for our small group and I freakin love it. Great book that addresses so many of the complaints I have about corporate worship and what some call "Church". My favorite thing thus far is Batterson telling people that Praying is great and we need to do it...but we also need to stop Praying and do something to change our circumstance. Amen brother...Amen.

A good night's sleep ahead. Let the circus start tomorrow...

CA Tour Blog - Day 5

noreply@blogger.com (Brant Christopher) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 19:37:00 +0000

Got up early to go to Foothill High School for a concert there. We arrived to our host Megan and her group of friends that were just amazing and accomodating. They were so pro and enthusiastic that it is hard not to be excited...even at 7:55am! After soem technical difficulties and sorting out how to feed their PA our stuff...we were off to the races. Huge crowd...over 1000 students. Check it out:

We rocked the school for an hour and had them wanting more! The students were engaging and truly have a heart for those less fortunate. One thing I can tell you for sure is...

We then were treated to lunch by the school and their staff/students. Delicious salad and cookies as well! Mmmmm Cookiessss......We then packed up and headed over to Palo Alto for a meeting with Kat...she is an MBA student at Stanford Business School. She is a total Rock Star. Full of ideas and questions and wants to make a difference in this world. Oh...if we could clone her...the world would be a better place.

Finished up our meeting and Ali stopped by to show us the new Website! Looks amazing. Can't wait for it to launch in the next week or so. It will have all the info you need and keep people up to date with the Backyard Abolitionist Tour. Going to be sweet.

Off to our iHOP in San Jose at the home of Eric. Eric is an executive at Apple. Had an awesome turnout. Great folk. Thinkers. Excellent questions. Pushing us to think out of the box and bring real solutions to the table. Gives you hope that world can change...

Back in the car to drive to Palo Alto and drop off Ali and then back to Half Moon Bay to get a good night's sleep. Starting to lose the battle of fighting this cold. Need some rest to keep it at arm's length. Electric Blanket HERE I COME!

Happy Thanksgiving...

noreply@blogger.com (Brant Christopher) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:31:00 +0000

I know that I have so much to be thankful for. I really don't need a single holiday to remember...I have reminders of those things everyday in my life. My beautiful wife and wonderful kids, a loving family who supports what I do and who I do it for, unbelievable friends...My brother from another mother... JT, my road fam...PW, Trick, Stephen, GW, Alan, Josh, Dan, Ross, Bonnie, Pip, Jono...My ladies...Olivia, Becka, Jenn, Amy, Allison, Nikki, Crista, Janice...so many things and people I have been blessed to know.

The work I am doing with Not For Sale and the crew...Dave, Kique, Mark, Alison, Killian, Laura and everyone at NFS. I am thankful for the freedom I have that 27 million do not. I am thankful for the God-given talents I have to be a voice for the voiceless. I am thankful that this message of freedom resonates with so many and inspires them to join the fight and end slavery forever. I am thankful that I am standing beside you in this campaign and couldn't be more in awe of the work you do with little money and even less time!

My FL church family...Mike, Pam, the office girls, the pastors, the entire Church at Viera congregation. I never thought I would be this involved with a church again. Here I sit...amazed at the work God has done in me and the hope he has replanted in the idea of "church" in my mind.

My NH church family...Dale, Dave, Mike, Rachel, the Hamels and everyone at Emmanuel Covenant Church. It is only because of you all that I still do what I do. Your constant support and prayers and unwavering belief in my calling. It is one of the strongest reminders of why I am so thankful.

It has been 7 years on the road for me. Almost a quarter of a million miles...never knowing how much is coming in or what bills will be paid...Strangers taking me in to their homes and giving me food and a place to crash as if I was one of their own family members...HUGE highs followed by HUGE lows...Great opportunities that turn to absolute crap...and moments that seemed like a waste which turn out to be God in the details. As much success and as much heartache as I have experienced...I hope that every single person that has walked a few steps or a few miles with me on this journey hears my heart when I say...

Thank you.

BCM

Exciting News!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Brant Christopher) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:26:00 +0000

I am going to give birth! To a NEW CD!!! I will be in the studio with my long-time friend and fanfreakintastic producer Stephen Gause to record my new Solo project in early Jan. Stephen produced and helped write and engineer my song Hypnotized that many of you have heard and expressed it to be a Fan Favorite! That was 5 years ago if you can believe it! Finally, Stephen and I will have a chance to do a full record together. It will be a sweet acoustic flavored project with some nice instrumetation to chew on and enjoy. The CD will be avail in Feb! Stephen produced many of the tracks on the new Downhere record which is receiving unbelievable reviews and stellar radio play. Please check that record out when you have chance.

Many of you have asked if I am feeling ok...I am great! I simply have lost a bunch of weight (31 pounds to be exact:) as I prepare to go out and hit the road and try to stay healthy. Nothing to worry about. Just cut out my affair with Little Debbie...oh the temptress that she and her snack cakes are!

I am looking forward to this new chapter in my life and hope that all of you will be a part of it.
BIG LOVE and lots of heart felt blessings to you all!

BCM

New Website!

noreply@blogger.com (Brant Christopher) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:10:00 +0000

Hey folks. I will be using Blogger as my new website and journal from the road for 09! I suppose I need to catch you up on several things...

1) Fort Pastor is on hiatus. I am not going to say we are completely done, but we are going to be pursuing other projects for the time being. Jono is back in Oz and attending University there while getting a chance to be with his girl, JT has moved to north Florida and is writing unbelievable songs like a madman and performing some solo shows as well. We had a great run of over 3 years together and it was time for us to shift gears and refocus to more personal efforts. I love those guys like brothers and we will forever be Fort Pastor to the throngs (more than 2) of fans we have made over the years.

2) I have been appointed the Artist-in-Residence for the Not For Sale Campaign. Not For Sale is an organization that fights human trafficking around the world. There are 27 million slaves in the world today, including over 200,000 in the US, and my new partnership will take me all over the world next year with author/founder David Batstone for the "BackYard Abolitionist Tour".

The Not For Sale “Backyard Abolitionist” Tour is a multimedia event that brings together lecture, film and music to expose the human trafficking epidemic. Not For Sale founder, Dave Batstone and myself perform together weaving songs into stories while being supported by riveting video; all in an effort to emotionally connect the audience with the global slave trade. It is a gripping night of heart breaking truth and inspirational victories.

About Dave Batstone:

Bono refers to David Batstone as a “heroic character”. A professor of ethics at the University of San Francisco who started his “career” guarding Salvadorans and literacy teachers from death squads, Batstone was a member of the founding team of Business 2.0 magazine and is the founder of the social venture firm, Right Reality. He writes regularly in USA Weekend edition as “America’s Ethics Guru.” He traveled around the world investigating the slave trade before writing Not For Sale, the book associated with this campaign. Winner of numerous national journalist awards, Batstone's first book "Saving the Corporate Soul" was named the 2004 Business Book of the Year at the Nautilus Awards. Batstone was named National Endowment for the Humanities Chair at the University of San Francisco for his work in the technology field.

Batstone served as Executive Editor for the social justice publication Sojourner’s Magazine and has appeared on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams as well as CNN, ABC, FOX, BBC, NPR, Australian Broadcast Company, and German Public Television.

Exciting times to say the least and I couldn't be more moved to help David and his team bring awareness on this invisible epidemic.

3) I am finishing up writing for my next Solo Project and should have something for you all to listen to in a few months. I am hoping to get it done by Feb. New songs...new sound...new vision...old me:)

I am looking forward to sharing stories from Dave and I's travel and hope to see you all on the road next year for the BackYard Abolitionist tour!

Peace,Love,Light,
BCM