My guitar playing was self-taught: While still in high school, I traded a friend eight cassette tapes for the classical guitar collecting dust in the corner of his bedroom. It seemed like a fair trade to us both, especially since the guitar belonged to his sister who was living elsewhere at the time. The year was 1989.
Fast forward a few years to 1991, my junior year in college: I had learned to crudely play said guitar and found myself more interested in creating my own songs - lyrics and melody - over learning "cover tunes" by other artists.
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| L to R: Original Narrow Road members: Kent, Greg & Adrian, 1993 |
During my junior year, I befriended a soul who held the same musical interests: We both wished to create original material; we both wished to form a band, and we both wished to gift God back with the gift of music He had given to us. This friend's name was Greg.
Greg and I began meeting up in my dorm room and, using a two-track audio recorder/mixer, we put down a few original tunes to tape. From among those songs, two offerings eventually made their way onto Narrow Road albums: "Your Sorrow is My Crown" and "Of Jagged Rocks and Cornerstone." When Greg and I felt our homemade tape was complete, I labeled our venture "Narrow Road," taken from Matthew 7: 13 -14.
Later into the '91 semester, Greg and I, along with another college friend, performed "Your Sorrow is My Crown" from the auditorium stage at a college event. The song was met by enthusiastic applause, and one college professor commended us for its melody and lyrical depth as we descended the stage steps. The experience was very encouraging to Greg and me.
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| Greg at Petit Jean Mountain, band photo shoot, 1993 |
'91 rolled into '92, and somewhere down the line, I bumped into an old friend at a movie theater. That little meet-up proved to be quite significant. Adrian and I had known each other since middle school, circa 1982.
Through "catch-up" conversation, we were both pleasantly surprised - and intrigued - when discovering we shared a passion for music. I filled him in on the menial project Greg and I had been working on. Adrian, in turn, shared that he was formerly in a band, and then he relayed a most curious account:
Adrian had recently spent some time in Germany, and while there, he envisioned being in a Christian-oriented rock band. "Your name kept coming to my mind," he told me.
I was definitely intrigued. Adrian knew I was a Christian, but he had no idea from our former school days that I could play an instrument, much less that I was interested in being in a band. "We're looking for a drummer. You play drums?" I inquired.
"Yes, I play the drums... And guitar and bass," he replied.
Of course, I took his number down. Keep in mind: This was an era before cell phones. I made my way back to my college dorm, excited and eager to fill Greg in.
Greg was elated to hear the news, too. "You gonna call him?"
"Yeah, I'll call him," I replied.
"Have you called Adrian, yet?" Greg was asking me a now-familiar question. Sometimes it was posed as, "Whatever happened to that Adrian-guy?"
"Yeah, I really need to call him." I've no clue as to why I kept putting off contacting Adrian, other than the fact that I was simply timid about calling him on the phone. It had been a while... We were casual friends since middle school... What would I say?
Finally, as Greg's prompting arrived more frequently, I buckled down and placed the call. Adrian was receptive, curious as to what took so long.
Practices were initially held midday at my parents' house. We were indoors and laying the groundwork for who would do what. Turns out, I had the drum kit though Adrian would play my drums; Adrian had a bass, yet I would play his bass and sing lead vocals, and Greg would be the guitarist.
Our trio began working on the three songs I placed on the table: A rocker called "Fire!", the middle-of-the-road "Instant Replay," and the already crowd-approved "Your Sorrow is My Crown."
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| L to R: Original Narrow Road members: Adrian, Greg & Kent (seated), 1993 |
The noise was kept to a minimum as we practiced indoors the winter of '92. We sat in the round with an acoustic guitar and worked on vocal harmonies and structural arrangements for each song. That February, when the ice slowly began to melt, we took our midday practices outside in my parents' backyard. Midday served best to ward off the frostbite.
With drums set up and instruments in hand, Greg worked his magic with his rudimentary sound system that we transported from his college dorm room. We had to work rapidly as his sound system allotted twenty minutes of work time before fizzling out for a rest period. After a ten minute rest period, twenty more minutes were allotted to us... Lather, rinse, repeat...
It's a wonder we made any progress, working around Greg's intermittent sound system, my learning to play Adrian's bass, Adrian using my dilapidated drum set, and the frigid cold. Yet, somehow, we managed. We managed to get three songs under our belt as a trio.
In the cold with menial instruments as marginal musicians... I was on top of the world - I was in a rock band!
(Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. - James 1:17)
As iron sharpens iron,
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- K -
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| L to R: Original Narrow Road members: Kent, Adrian & Greg, 2003 |
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