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Sep 10 2005 8:00P Night of Joy 2005 Lake Buena Vista, FL Oct 1 2005 8:00P Central Washington Wenatchee, WA Oct 7 2005 8:00P Halifax Forum Halifax, Nova Scotia Oct 8 2005 8:00P Luis Palau Festival Washington, DC Oct 9 2005 8:00P Billy Graham Association St. Johns, Newfoundland Oct 20 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Fort Smith, AR Oct 22 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Texarkana, AR Oct 25 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Wichita, KS Oct 28 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Oklahoma City, OK Oct 29 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Springfield, MO Oct 30 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Grove, OK Oct 31 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Kansas City, MO Nov 3 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Marion, OH Nov 4 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Tipp City, OH Nov 11 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Baltimore, MD Nov 12 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour West Palm Beach, FL Nov 13 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Jacksonville, FL Nov 14 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Jacksonville, FL Nov 18 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Merrill, WI Nov 19 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Minneapolis, MN Nov 21 2005 8:00P Strong Tower Tour Omaha, NE Dec 27 2005 8:00P Birmingham Birmingham, AL Dec 28 2005 8:00P Xtreme Conference, Branson, MO Dec 29 2005 8:00P The Amway Gross Hotel Event Grand Rapids, MI Dec 31 2005 8:00P WinterFest Lynchburg, VA

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It began about a decade ago with bands like Delirious and Sonicflood?a movement to express praise and worship through a modern sound. In the years since modern worship has inundated the music industry?much to the chagrin of some critics. Which leads to the release of Strong Tower by Kutless, where the question might come up, why has a young, successful rock band joined those who?ve recorded modern worship. ?Our record label brought the idea of doing a worship record to us. They believed that fans would like it. We were unsure of the timing since we?ve only done two records, but after prayer and thought, we decided to go ahead and do it,? says Kutless frontman Jon Micah Sumrall. ?After we made the decision, our goal became to make a new, fresh, revolutionary sounding record. There?s a certain sound that you hear on worship CDs nowadays and we wanted to break outside that sound. I began to think about Sonicflood?s very first record and how I had never heard worship like that before. We wanted to bring that feeling back.? Strong Tower is about more than bringing the flavor of Kutless rock to worship music though. It?s a chance for the band to share its own worship experience through songs that have inspired band members in various worship settings?whether in Kutless shows or in home church fellowship. It?s an expression of who the band is, and has been, since its beginning. ?We started in college as worship band. That?s what originally brought us together,? remembers Sumrall. ?On Thursday night we would lead an upbeat alternative style of worship. That?s where we first started playing together. It wasn?t until later that we decided to do original music and play shows. Our roots are in worship but even so, we see all the music we write and perform as act of worship; anything that glorifies God is worship.? Before Kutless and producer Aaron Sprinkle could give the music a fresh sound, the band had to choose the songs to rework and reinvent Kutless-style. Sumrall says the band deliberately chose songs that would be widely familiar. ?We?ve discovered in our travels that you can go to different parts of the country and find that different worship songs are popular. We wanted to pick a handful that would be familiar nationwide, songs like ?Draw Me Close,? ?Take Me In? and ?Better Is One Day.? ?You can only rock out certain songs. ?As the Deer? really wouldn?t work, so we had to find songs that made sense and fit a heavier style. The heavier Kutless style can make songs more emotional, in almost a power ballad sort of way, so there here had to be a balance in choosing songs that made sense in that edgier, heavier style. ?Anyone who picks up the record will hear the Kutless sound. They?ll hear songs that they?re familiar with, some original Kutless songs and songs from our home church. Listeners will get the worship experience that Kutless has had over the years.? On Strong Tower, Kutless introduces new songs like the title track by Marc Byrd (?God of Wonders?) and Third Day?s Mark Lee, ?Jesus Lord? and ?In You We?re Living? (songs from the band?s home church) as well as its own ?Ready for You.? ?I wanted to write a song that churches would be able to incorporate into their worship time,? says Sumrall. ?The idea behind ?Ready for You? is about coming to that place to be ready for God, to meet God in worship. I?ve found we have to get to a place where our hearts are open in worship, where we have to let go of thoughts and distractions to hear from him. It?s allowing him to take control and do what he wants in your life.? The band?s arrangement of ?Better Is One Day? from Tooth & Nail?s Empty Me, Vol. 1 is also included as is the song ?All of the Words? from Sea of Faces. ?We decided to use ?All of the Words.? It was written intentionally as a worship song for Sea of Faces. It talks about how all the words could never describe our love for God. I could sit here and try to explain my love for the Lord, but it would take me forever to explain. So I?m just going to throw up my hands in worship. It?s about the expression of love that I have. It just made sense to pull this song over.? Kutless discovered that rearranging worship music for a rock band was more difficult than it had originally anticipated. ?We had the idea going into this project that it would be easy,? says Sumrall. ?Most worship songs use only four chords. But when we sat down to come up with new guitar parts for any song, we couldn?t believe how hard it was.? The band found it especially trying to arrange a song after hearing it played a certain way for so long. ?Every church plays it differently so we all had different versions around the table, or we discovered that we knew different lyrics to the same song. We never realized how a song could change over time. Everyone expected it to be fairly simple but it turned out harder than expected.? In the end Kutless feels that it accomplished its goal?creating a fresh sounding record of its favorite worship songs, carefully crafted in Kutless style. The band and its trademark sound and passion are recognizable, and fans will be able to rock out while enjoying the purpose behind the record. ?We?re ready for people to hear it,? says Sumrall. ?I think people will be able to pop it in their CD players, turn it up loud and sing along. We hope that it will be a refuge wherever they go.? ?Here Why We're Kutless We wanted our name to represent the impact of what Christ did for us on the cross. Christ took our beating and paid the wages of our sin (Romans 6:23). He took our cuts for us, leaving us "Kutless." Timeline August 2000 Ryan Shrout, Kyle Mitchell, Stu and Jon Micah Sumrall meet their freshman year at Warner Pacific College. September 2000 Call Box (the precursor to Kutless) is formed to play worship at Warner Pacific. June 2001 James Mead is added to call box ushering in a new direction and harder sound for Call Box. October 2001 band named changed to Kutless. August 2001 Kutless meets Seth Ebel, A&R and Marketing for Tooth & Nail Records. October 2001 Kutless signs recording contract with BEC/Tooth & Nail. December 2001 Kutless enters studio with Aaron sprinkle to record selftitled first album. February 2002 Kutless hits the road on their first tour opening for Slick Shoes, PAX 217 and The Supertones. July 2002 Kutless releases their first record on BEC Recordings/Tooth & Nail. The self titled release goes on to sell 150,000 units and Kutless becomes the biggest selling new artist of the year in the CBA market, and the largest selling outofthebox band in BEC/Tooth & Nail history. September - November 2002 Kutless embarks in the van, wives included, and does 40 shows on their own, sometimes playing to 12 people. October 2002 Kutless first single "Your Touch" hits number 1 on the R&R Christian Rock Charts. February 2003 Kutless gets their first tour bus. Yeah! February - April 2003 Kutless gets their first shot on the big stage opening up for Audio A and Mercy Me on The Go Show. March 2003 Kutless first CHR single "Run" becomes the longest charting song in the history of the R&R CHR chart, peaking at number 4, and hitting number 1 at Rock. June - August 2003 Kutless maintains heavy touring schedule and plays all the major festivals for the first time. September & December 2003 Kutless heads back to the studio in Seattle with Aaron Sprinkle to record their 2nd record, Sea Of Faces. September - October 2003 Kutless headlines Festival Con Dios with the Newsboys and Plus One. February 2004 Kutless releases Sea Of Faces. March - April 2004 Kutless embarks on their first headlining tour with Thousand Foot Krutch, FM Static, and Falling Up. Downloads Buddy Icons: . Myspace group You can join Kutless' myspace group by clicking hereand clicking join. Help spread Kutless around! We need you. Other useful info. You can find our shop here And a great thanks goes out to my nephew who has helped us so much and still is please give him your greatest gratitude! You can add him here. We appreciate all the fans support through our last couple of years and will be striving to make everyone happy and enjoy christ through our music. God Bless Everyone and Kutless hopes to see you soon. Video: Strong Tower

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