It’s probably fair to say that new wave, synthpop, and industrial bands were actually the first to produce Christian electronic music. Deitiphobia, who were then known as Donderfliegen, had already been making music for a few years in the late eighties/early nineties, and various members of that band had side projects under many different names. One of the most notable was Wigtop, a group comprised of Brent & Heather Stackhouse, who took the Deitiphobia rhythms away from the industrial sound and more towards a much dancier, synthpop sound, mainly fronted by Heather’s vocals.

Joy Electric

For me it all started with Scott Blackwell in 1992 with his albums “Walk On The Wild Side” and “A Myx’d Trip To A Gospel House.” While other groups may have been around first, this was the first thing I ever heard on the radio and was my first exposure to electronic dance music. Myx’d Trip featured the vocals of people like Sandra Stephens and Allegra Parks, and delivered gospel house versions of classic church hymns and songs. Wild Side featured a lot of the same people, but the album was made up of original material with more mainstream house sounds that had a clear evangelical message. The title track was actually techno flavored, and the opening stated, “Let the dead bury the dead, and let the dead play dead music! Let the dead mourn, we which are alive ought to be happy and merry. But it certainly wasn’t some of this cold, dead funeral music, you hear in some of these cold, dead, modernistic so called organized churches.” Not only was the musical declaration very controversial for it’s time, so was the content of the track, although I never remember hearing any fuss about it. It mainly dealt with discussing pre-marital sex, a subject that was taboo in CCM at the time. Some of the best samples that were laid into the song were recordings of Scott Blackwell talking with teenagers about abstinence until marriage being the only true safe sex. “I don’t need birth control, I need self control. Is sex safe if you have to wear a condom to protect yourself from a disease that will slowly, brutally, kill you?”

Both of these albums released on Myx Records, which was fronted by Michael Sean Black at the time. In launching Myx he also released a third album called Jyradelix. This was a collaboration between Jyro & Jerome and The Psycho Lizards. The two bands knew each other because Jerome from Mortal, and Johann from the Lizards are brothers. Jyro and Jerome went on to become the Industrial legends Mortal which released some of the most timeless music ever made, and they eventually progressed into rock music as they became Fold Zandura. The Psycho Lizards went on to release albums under the names Mindbenders and Erinfall. Mindbenders had some techno tracks on it, but was pretty heavy with trance. It had a few standout tracks that were awesome, but a lot of it was filler material to me. Erinfall was much better and incorporated guitars in the music giving some of it a real alternative feel along the lines of The Chemical Brothers and FatBoy Slim. Jyradelix was a beautiful blend of hard techno and industrial, with a dash of rave thrown in at the end. It was very ahead of it’s time for the Christian market and as a result received some brutal magazine reviews. A few years later the same magazines were praising albums made by the same people and most people who own the album still speak fondly of it today.

These 3 albums from Myx Records in 1992 are the ones who made me aware of electronic dance music and infected me with a love for it. After that, I discovered some of the older Slava stuff I hadn’t known about and fell in love with that as well. That same year Max Hsu and Ian Eskelin teamed up with some other folks to form the band called Zero, which released the album “Ravenous”. This album was ahead of it’s time as well, and featured a hybrid of styles mixing techno, rave, hip hop, house, funk, and industrial all together. Each song focused on a different style from that spectrum for the main vibe, while the others were innovatively mixed in lightly to take it in a different direction. Another group called Syco released an album called “Kommand” at the same time that had a few good tracks and a lot of neat ideas, but was very under produced and unbelievably cheesy at times.

In 1993 The Prodigal Sons burst onto the scene with their album “Tekno Theology” on the Metro One Music label. While a few albums in the past had featured techno songs, this was Christian dance music’s first full length techno release. JR Barbee, Chris White, and Greg Hobgood hit us with techno that was so hard a few magazines called it industrial when they reviewed it. The album was a giant step forward in the quality of dance music, and while there were plenty of samples that delivered the message, they felt a lot less contrived, and a lot more like a natural part of the music. Chris White was responsible for a lot of that as he dropped samples in and gave it a lot of the DJ feel with his records. Greg Hobgood mainly took care of producing the music, and JR Barbee did a lot of the MCing at live events and helped with the music as well. One of their tracks “Satan is Dead” was a parody of another track that was out at the time called “James Brown is Dead” by LA Style. Neither were actually dead, but it was a humorous rip on them all the same. Another track called “Madolyn Vs The Sons” cleverly used samples of Madolyn Murray O’Hair which were recognizable, but unintelligible, followed by a loud male sample saying “We have to get God back into the public schools of America!” Some standout tracks from the album were “Believe” and “Power of God” which were both hardcore Techno tracks. I think this was the first Christian album that had a 150 BPM track on it. This was probably the best of all The Prodigal Sons albums, which is ironic because it is the lowest budget being recorded in Scott Blackwell’s backyard! They released another album on Metro One called “Return” a few years later that was an impressive techno album, but in later years Chris White left the group and the DJ sample vibe went with him. They continued to release albums after that, but turned to more of a trance feel leaving their techno roots behind.

Scott Blackwell also released his second album “Once Upon A Time” in 1993, which featured a Prodigal Sons track called “XYZ” and a wide variety of tracks ranging from dancehall to jackswing, to tribal and funk. Sandra Stephens and Allegra Parks were vocalists on the project again, and one of the most memorable tracks is “Love is not a Four Letter Word”. A Myx’d Trip to a Gospel House 2 was also released the same year, and this time Max Hsu from Zero joined the team. This album remade classic hymns once again, but this time the vibe was much harder. A few original songs were included like “Free Indeed” and “Get On Up”.

A big change happened in 1993 when Michael Sean Black asked Scott Blackwell if he would like his own label. Scott founded N-Soul Records, and the very first album he released to launch the label was “Take A Long Hike” by The World Wide Message Tribe. This was one of the cornerstones of Christian dance music in my opinion, as the group infused high energy dance music with pop sensibilities and made it highly accessible to the radio and the mainstream. This was also the first Christian dance band distributed to the USA from the UK, and while dance music certainly has a great deal of its roots there, many of us had never heard a European dance band before. This is how we met Zarc Porter, Elaine Hanley, The Heavyfoot, and the band that quickly caught fire and swept the nation, dominating the radio with their sound. They went on to become one of the most famous Christian dance bands of all time, and even saw major charting and play in secular music with their single “The Real Thing” which released on vinyl, and received the remix treatment from Markus Schulz and C.L. McSpadden.

Scott Blackwell also released his third album “The Real Thing” in 1993, and it was largely a collaboration with Zarc Porter who he had met through the World Wide Message Tribe project. This album delivered some great techno, acid jazz, ambient, and of course house music tracks. He also released a concept album called Raving Loonatics which featured comic book art on the CD cover and jacket of the project of superheroes patterned after the rave culture. The content was sermons by well known preachers laid over the top of techno and trance beats. Probably the most well known track from the project was “Man in the 5 th Dimension” which featured Billy Graham’s very first sermon laid over a music bed created by Steve and Lee Jane Nixon, aka The Rhythm Saints. Other producers who worked on the project were Zarc Porter, Max Hsu, Greg Hobgood of The Prodigal Sons, and Johann Fontamillas and Wilson Peralta of Mindbenders.

NGM’s renowned group Heartbeat had recently disbanded, and in 1993 some of the members of that group formed a new one called 65dba. With their album “The Great Awakening”, they became the first electronic artists to ever appear on Integrity music, which was mainly known for releasing worship albums. The album had some enjoyable worship material with a light electronic influence in it, but was largely toned down for the target audience of the label. In 1994 the group hooked up with producers Zarc Porter and Scott Blackwell to release more of a high energy album called “Shout”. Its focus was mainly dance pop, but it did contain several club-friendly remixes at the end.

In 1996 the group’s membership dropped to just Robbie Bronniman and Shaz Sparks, and the group shortened it’s name to DBA. With their new name they released “Bubble”, and delivered some sugary sweet europop that was received very well and quickly became one of the most influential dance pop albums of the era. They also released a remix from that album to vinyl that was called “3D”. It was some of the finest trance that had been released at the time and quickly became a classic. It is now one of the most sought after rarities in Christian dance music. Robbie and Shaz continued to develop their talents and their fan base, and they became talented enough to make albums that had enough pop sensibilities to be accessible to the mainstream, and release vinyl remixes that were readily snapped up by the underground DJs. They currently have a home with “Hojo” aka Howard Jones’ label Dtox Records and have enjoyed some major success in the secular scene.

In 1994 Joey Belville appeared with an album called “Defend Your Joy”. His brand of vocal heavy, uplifting synthpop garnered an immediate cult following, and The Echoing Green quickly became one of the top electronic groups in the scene. That same year, the former Newsboys member, Corey Pryor, and his wife Danielle emerged as Sozo. The group’s name was a greek word which meant “saved and delivered”, and their europop album “Purity” released on Scott Blackwell’s N-Soul Records with influences from groups like Blackbox, Snap, and C&C Music Factory that was right on target with what was popular at the time. They released another album called “The Walk” a few years later, but it was more pop than dance and did not seem to be received as well.

Virus was another innovator to appear in 1994, and their album “Analogue” introduced us to the much more underground sound of trance, and some harder, edgier rhythms. They released a double disc album in 1996 called “Odd” which was much more chilled, and ambient. All of their albums were released by Scott Blackwell, and they even tackled a few side projects such as “The Bubblebaby Experience” which introduced some of the experimental kinds of trance around the world at the time; and “Ambient Theology” which was designed as an ambient worship CD complete with a Bible study in the jacket.

Steve Nixon, who had introduced Scott to The World Wide Message Tribe, had decided to come work for N-Soul in the USA. He and his wife Lee Jane created The Rhythm Saints. The debut album “Deep Sustained Booming Sounds” was actually more of a pop album featuring vocals from Sani of WWMT, and novelty items like the cover of the classic Tremaine Hawkins track “Fall Down”. They quickly switched gears to a more underground sound with their next album “Golden”, which featured a much more progressive house sound and received a very flattering review in Billboard magazine. Their third and last album “Continuum” featured remixes of earlier tracks and brand new material all rolled up into one of the finest progressive house albums ever released, and a definite inspiration to the whole new generation of artists to come. “Expansion (Time & Space Mix)” still has the ability to put me in the zone with every listen.

Last but not least, 1994 brought us Prophecy of P.A.N.I.C. with their album “Manic Panic” which released through Scott Blackwell to introduce a very underground sound of dark and dirty techno from Brian Scroggins and Danyen. They also released a double disc set in 1995 called “Soul Reactivator” that had some super hard gabber on it, some gorgeous techno, and some smoothed out ambient type songs that were very pretty.

1995 brought us one of the most talked about groups in Christian dance music, and in the opinion of many one of the greatest groups of all time, Paradigm Shift. Scott Blackwell had made one of the biggest discoveries in dance music history. Their brand of progressive house and trip hop was so far ahead of it’s time UK DJs were scrambling to own it, and it was still being played years later while other albums were hitting the bargain bin. There is no doubt these guys probably made the biggest impact in the history of Christian dance, and they are still recognized for their amazing talent almost 10 years later. This was also the same year that the infamous Nitro Praise series was created, and while the name is spoken of distastefully by many these days, that first album was really something special and innovative. Many dance albums from many labels have followed suit over the years, but Scott Blackwell was the first one to marry praise songs and electronic dance music together. It wasn’t until later when the label was run by someone else, and the idea had been copied by so many others; that the series became so contrived and monotonous.

In 1995 the DBA crew began working with NGM again, and with a group of collective others began producing under the name Hydro. Their first album “Spiritualization” released through NGM in the UK and a year later was distributed to the USA through N-Soul. It featured a laid back remix of the Celtic group Iona’s song “Beyond These Shores”, and was mainly chilled trance and some various styles of house. Their real history maker was the second album “Aborigination” which was released through NGM in 1997 and distributed to the states through N-Soul in 1998. This was one of the most creative albums I’ve ever heard, and is one of my favorite albums of all time. The project was made up of songs that were in languages from all around the world: Celtic monks chanting, Aborigines yelling and pounding on drums, an ancient Russian prayer, Scottish bagpipes, African languages and singing, and sounds from every part of the world all praising God over electronic dance music. This project was largely Robbie Bronniman, Ray Goudie, and Shaz Sparks, but it also introduced us to Andy Hunter, Kenny Mitchell, and Jon Schorah aka Cedar. It was indeed an innovative album and an impressive piece of art that broadened our idea of worship, as “the rhythmic excursion spans the globe”.

AJ Mora and Scott Blackwell met each other in 1996 when AJ saw a guy wearing an N-Soul shirt and asked him if he knew Scott Blackwell, and it turned out he WAS Scott Blackwell! The two hit it off and AJ released his debut album “Transformed” through N-Soul Records the same year. The album featured the underground Los Angeles house sound as well as some smooth tracks like the classic “I Found Something Real” featuring Sandra Stephens. AJ was also a founding member of The Movement who wrote the infamous song “Jump” that has been heard worldwide. He also partnered with Richard Humpty Vission in the Aqua Boogie Records venture. He teamed up with Scott on a number of projects like “Holy Hard House” and “Gospel Housing Authority” over the years, and released a second AJ Mora album titled “Soul Of A DJ” that was packed with quality house and a strong Gospel message.

Jeremy Dawson also happened to find N-Soul Records in 1997 and released his album “E-Majn” under the name Cloud2Ground. It featured some of the most emotional and beautiful trance anyone had heard, and was immediately a favorite with songs like “Melt Into Minor”. A few years later Jeremy met Chad Petree and suddenly Cloud2Ground was a group of two. In 2000 they released their second album “The Gate <Beautiful>” which far surpassed the first on many levels. “Boomerang” was an instant trance classic and a radio hit, and the title track was beautiful, emotional Drum & Bass. Chad and Jeremy went on to become the Trance legends Slyder who released vinyl on labels like Moonshine and Generation, and received spins from big names like Dave Ralph and Paul Van Dyk.

Andy Hunter and Martin King teamed up with Robbie Bronniman and Tanya Farthing in 1997 to bring us one of the finest Drum & Bass albums of all time through NGM with Trip “Cultural Shift”. The album was distributed by N-Soul to the US in 1999 and was packed full of lush, emotional soundscapes that were beautiful and dreamy, and was contrasted by an equal number of hard edged drum & bass tracks that gave us a feel for what UK drum & bass was really like. Andy Hunter has now began releasing his own music, and tracks from his worship album “Exodus” which have seen use in major motion pictures, network television shows, and of course the radio. He also had several singles from the project release to vinyl that saw major club play from people like Armin Van Buuren, Sasha, Digweed, Dave Ralph, Gabriel & Dresden, Sandra Collins, Pete Tong, Chris Fortier, and many more.

Our drum & bass education continued in 1998 as Joey Davis and Jamey Wright teamed up to create Faith Massive and released an album on N-Soul called “Drum & Bass for the Masses”. The album was full of spirituality and was received very well in both the Christian scene and the secular scene. In 1999 the second Faith Massive album “Visions” was released, and although Jamey Wright did contribute one track to the album it was largely Joey Davis now. The album was intelligent drum & bass, and was some of the smoothest and most beautiful music you were ever likely to hear. Joey received nods from D&B artists worldwide, and many were impressed and surprised that he was from the USA and not the UK. Joey has now formed Devout Artists Records and is releasing all sorts of the best in drum & bass and breaks from artists around the world. Jamey Wright also founded Tastyfresh.com which was Christian dance music’s first real source of information on the internet. He then began producing more progressive house flavored tracks under the name of DJ Seven originally, and finally as Formant before he decided to lay down his music and focus on spending more time with his family.

1998 also brought us the band known as Sheltershed. Their unique blend of old school techno, electro, industrial, and synthpop quickly got them a lot of attention. They were quite successful as an independent band for sometime, before Scott Blackwell signed them to his new label Myx Records in 2003 and released “International Plastic”. The group collaborated with Ultrabeat, The Echoing Green, Joy Electric, Deitiphobia, and many more artists to bring us some of the best music the scene has ever laid ears on.

I am fully aware that there were most likely bands producing music in Europe at the same time people like Scott Blackwell and Deitiphobia were blazing the trails here in the states, but because I’m not aware of them I cannot write about them. I also barely touched just the beginning of the scene, and did not cover a great deal of territory; or this article would be even more obnoxiously long than it already is. There were many artists who I thought about but did not have the time to mention like Antidote, Dr Onionskin, Shiloh, SecretArchives of the Vatican, and Coretex just to name a few. I did not deliberately leave anyone out or ignore their accomplishments, and this is by no means a definitive or complete history of Christian dance music.

Hopefully it is a good look at some of the major players who started things and shaped the music we enjoy today; and my hope is that this is a decent stab at this unrecorded history. I’m hoping it can help or inspire others to pick up the torch and fill in the blanks. I also hope that as we look to our past we realize that this is not a manmade scene, but one that God created, and that we remember where we came from and that it inspires us in where we are going.

 Artist Links:

• Scott Blackwell
• DBA
• Deitiphobia
• The Echoing Green
• Joy Electric
• Andy Hunter
• Shaz Sparks
• The World Wide Message Tribe
• Wigtop
  

Label Links:

• Devout Artists
• Flaming Fish
• Metro One
• MYX Records
• NGM
• N*Soul Records