The Lads
The Lads | |
|---|---|
| Origin | New Zealand |
| Genres | Pop Christian rock |
| Years active | 1993-present |
| Members | Steve King Mark Millard |
| Past members | Paul Cotton Bennett Knowles Chris White Matt Chapman Kristian Bennett Bjorn Bennett Tim Smith |
| Website | theladsband.com |
The Lads are a New Zealand Christian rock/pop group that was formed in 1993. In early 2005 the band moved from New Zealand to Nashville, Tennessee.
History
The Lads are an American-based New Zealand band active since the late 1990s. They have played at many church services, youth events, camps and high schools around Australia and New Zealand.[1] Before moving to America, they were a popular act at Parachute Music Festival, and performed at each festival, except for 2006, up until 2007. In August 2010 The Lads confirmed via Facebook that they will return to New Zealand for Parachute 2011. It will be their first New Zealand concert in four years.[2] As well as live tours across the USA, the Lads also produce a TV show which is shown on TV stations around the world.[3] The show uses the bands humour to teach kids about certain principles and are based around action taking place in the bands HQ and their hangout Murrays Milk Bar. At the end of each show Murray will do a monologue about that weeks episode with reference to the theme then followed by a live performance by the band.
The founding members of The Lads, Mark Millard:vocals/trombone/saxophone/drums, Steve King;drums/vocals, Chris White;keyboards/trumpet/vocals, Bennett "Ben" Knowles:bass/vocals and Paul Cotton:guitar/vocals were friends as children, growing up together at the same church - Wellington South Salvation Army - in Wellington, New Zealand. All bar Paul were born and raised in New Zealand. Paul was born in Canada and shifted with his family when he was 12 to New Zealand. As such he speaks with a Canadian accent. He is also the older brother of TrueBliss singer Joe Cotton.
They started out writing songs for fun, and became known as "Lads.".[4] This quickly changed with the success of their second album, Arbor Day. The Lads had a string of number one hits on Christian radio in Australia and New Zealand, and were invited to headline all of the major Christian festivals throughout New Zealand and Australia. These early performances the band had no dedicated lead vocalist with all bar Paul sharing this job. Mark became the primary lead vocalist by the time of Lost @ Sea album with Chris and Ben taking lead vocals occasionaly most notably Ben sings the song "Understand" from Lost @ Sea album which gained huge radio airplay in New Zealand and was later featured on TV show Dawson's Creek. The song Alone also featured.[5]
In 2000 their album Lost @ Sea won "Best Gospel Album" at the New Zealand music awards[6] and their 2002 their Album Marvel followed suit, taking out the prize again.[7]
Before recording of the Marvel album in 2001, Paul Cotton decided to leave the band to pursue a teaching career, although he had some input on the writing of some of the songs on that album, Rimu Tahu from the band Royal Rumble [8] temporarily filled in as live guitarist but Pauls permanent replacemant was Matt Chapman, who only appeared on the album Marvel and later developed RSI and was replaced by Bjorn Bennet in late 2002.
After their self-titled fifth album The Lads their focus began to shift towards a younger age group. Their aim, after a few trips to the USA to tour was to try and break into a larger market by living there in 2005. It was during this time that Chris and Bennett decided to leave the band and move back to NZ. Bjorn's older brother Kristian filled in on bass for early performances after the move to the US but has not been formerly replaced since his departure with the band using loops and backtracks to fill in instruments vacated by former members. Kristian now plays in a new version of Royal Rumble along with Rimu Tahu.[9] Chris continues to have some creative and lyrical input into the band and can be seen on live footage filmed in New Zealand from the Live at The Thunderdome DVD. Paul has also had guest slots on performances in their home city of Wellington New Zealand on tours back to New Zealand.
Bjorn left the band in 2010 to pursue music with his wife Tara[10] but can still be seen in cartoon form on promotional material and on videos displayed during live shows. He was replaced by Tim Smith. Tim can be seen on the Live at Thunderdome DVD and on Season 2 of the Lads TV show but has since left the band and returned to New Zealand. To date he has not been formally replaced
Christianity
The Lads are a band made up of Christians, writing both songs of praise and worship as well as contemporary music.
Current Band Status
Steve and Mark live in Nashville and tour on a regular basis, usually for no more than 2 weeks at a time. In November, 2012 they were in Australia and in December, 2012 they toured some of New Zealand, including playing in a Christmas Concert in the rural Southland township of Winton. They were back in NZ for the Parachute Music Festival at the end of January, 2013 and for the weekend only.
Band members
- Mark Millard - vocals
- Steve King - drums, vocals
Former members
- Paul Cotton - Original Guitarist
- Bennett Knowles - Original Bass player
- Chris White - Original (and only) keyboardist
- Rimu Tahu (Royal Rumble) - Briefly replaced Paul Cotton for NZ Tour.
- Matt Chapman - Guitarist replacing Paul.
- Kristian Bennett - Bass, replacing Bennett. (Bjorn's older brother)
- Bjorn Bennett - Guitarist replacing Matt Chapman
- Tim Smith - Guitarist replacing Bjorn Bennett
- Elliot Richardson- Tour guitarist for Live at Thunderdome DVD (only member not from New Zealand)
Discography
| Date of Release | Title | Label | Charted | Certification | Catalog Number | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albums | ||||||
| 1993 | People I Regularly Associate With (P.I.R.A.W.)§ (demo) |
- | - | |||
| 1996 | Arbor Day | - | - | |||
| 1998 | Lost @ Sea | - | - | |||
| 2001 | Marvel | - | - | |||
| 2003 | Alive In Concert | - | - | |||
| 2005 | The Lads | - | - | |||
| 2007 | The All New Adventures of The Lads | - | - | |||
| 2007 | Creator | - | - | |||
| 2007 | Whoa | - | - | |||
| 2008 | Secrets of the Universe | - | - | |||
§Only 2000 tapes were ever made of P.I.R.A.W and is somewhat of a collectors item for fans.
DVDs
In 2005, the band released a live DVD called Alive in Brisbane.
In 2011, the band released "Live at The Thunderdome" a Lads TV special DVD with an extended episode intermixed with live performances from their 2011 Parachute Music Festival performance in New Zealand
References
- ^ http://www.muzic.net.nz/artists/35.html
- ^ http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Lads/6222228531
- ^ http://www.smileofachildtv.org/watch/schedule_programs.php?p=232
- ^ http://www.muzic.net.nz/artists/35.html
- ^ http://www.freewebs.com/everythingdawsonscreek/seasonfourmusicguide.htm
- ^ http://www.nzmusicawards.co.nz/2009/10/29/2000-winners/
- ^ http://www.nzmusicawards.co.nz/2009/10/29/2002-winners/
- ^ http://www.muzic.net.nz/artists/495/royal-rumble
- ^ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Royal-Rumble/114978818562813?sk=info
- ^ http://www.bjornandtara.com/