This Beautiful Republic was an American

Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus, typically performed by self-proclaimed Christian individuals. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Ch ...

band signed to

ForeFront Records ForeFront Records is a contemporary Christian music and Christian rock record label founded in 1987 by Dan R. Brock, Eddie DeGarmo, Dana Key, and Ron W. Griffin. It was purchased by EMI in 1996 from Dan R. Brock and Eddie DeGarmo, and is a divis ...

in November 2006. They are best known for their song "Right Now". The group appeared on the Christian television show ''

The Logan Show ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' on December 9, 2006. The band ended in 2011 after releasing a three-song EP of covers that had been recorded before their lead singer left in 2009.

History

This Beautiful Republic started out of Toledo, Ohio, in 2004. Ben Olin joined the other members of the group after they lost their lead singer. All of the members in the newly formed group besides the new drummer, Cameron Toews from California, went to high school together at

Toledo Christian Schools Toledo Christian Schools is a non-denominational, co-educational Christian school in Toledo, Ohio. Mission Toledo Christian Schools working with Christian families, provides a college-preparatory Bible-centered educational program to educate, ...

. When asked about the origin of the band's name, Olin replied, "We wanted something that’s catchy, but that’s something that’s really inclusive. It represents the kingdom of heaven on earth. We get a glimpse when we interact with each other as Christians, and push each other. We hope it’s like the kingdom, pre-heaven." The group was signed to ForeFront Records in November 2006. They released their ''Casting Off'' EP on January 7, 2007. Shortly after, on April 3 they released their full-length debut album, '' Even Heroes Need a Parachute'', from which they released their first single "Casting Off". On July 8, 2007, "Learning to Fall" was officially released on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

as a part of the '' Learning to Fall - EP''. In the following week, "No Turning Back" was released as a standalone single. Their second album "Perceptions" was released August 19, 2008. The track "My God" features

Aaron Gillespie Aaron Roderick Gillespie (born July 18, 1983) is an American musician, best known for being the original and current drummer and clean vocalist for the metalcore band Underoath and the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock ...

, of

Underoath Underoath (stylized as Underøath or UnderOath) is an American rock band from Tampa, Florida. It was founded by lead vocalist Dallas Taylor and guitarist Luke Morton on November 30, 1997, in Ocala, Florida; subsequently, its additional member ...

and

The Almost The Almost is an American rock band from Clearwater, Florida, fronted by Underoath drummer and vocalist Aaron Gillespie. Formed in 2005 as a solo project by Gillespie, the band currently includes guitarist Jay Vilardi, bassist Jon Thompson, and d ...

. In late 2009, the band announced on their myspace page that lead singer Ben Olin and This Beautiful Republic had decided to part ways. Ben now sings worship at CedarCreek Church in Northwest Ohio. This leaves only 3 band members remaining. In 2010, the band announced they were no longer with Forefront Records and were now independent. In 2011, a farewell address was posted on the band's website informing fans that the band had decided to stop making music together. As a last act the band released "The Covers" EP featuring cover versions of "Wonderwall" by Oasis, "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley and the hymn "How Great Thou Art."

Tours

To promote their album, the band went on two separate tours. The first tour was as an opening act for Sanctus Real with

Needtobreathe Needtobreathe (stylized as NEEDTOBREATHE) is an American rock band from Seneca, South Carolina. The band is composed of Bear Rinehart (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Seth Bolt (backing vocals, bass), Josh Lovelace (backing vocals, keys), Randall H ...

, and the second was with Dizmas and Ever Stays Red. They were also on tour once with Spoken, Falling Up, and

Family Force 5 FF5 (formerly known as Family Force 5, The Phamily, Ground Noise and The Brothers) is an American Christian rock band from Atlanta, Georgia. The band formed in 2005 by brothers Solomon "Soul Glow Activatur" Olds, Joshua "Fatty" Olds, and Jacob " ...

. In 2007, This Beautiful Republic performed at several notable festivals including

Lifest Lifest is an annual Christian music festival that takes place in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, at the Sunnyview Expo Center. Lifest has the slogan "A Party with a Purpose." It is one of the largest Christian music festivals in America. History Lifest start ...

Alive Festival Alive Festival, located in Mineral City, Ohio, is an annual Christian music festival. It features many Christian musicians and popular Christian bands, as well as several Christian speakers and worship leaders. The festival began in 1988 and cele ...

, Godstock,

Ichthus Festival The Ichthus Festival is a Christian music festival in Wilmore, Kentucky. Held 44 times from 1970 to 2015, the event was originally a Christian-music answer to Woodstock but developed into both the longest-running Christian music festival and ...

Soul Fest In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

Frizon Festival Frizon () is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. See also *Communes of the Vosges department The following is a list of the 507 communes of the Vosges department of France. The communes cooperate in the f ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, and

Flevo Festival The Flevo Festival was an open air Christian music festival held each August in the Netherlands. The festival was first organized as the Kamperland Festival in 1978 by the Dutch arm of Youth for Christ and became a private foundation in 2002. Th ...

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In 2009, the band joined the

Creation Festival Creation Festival, commonly shortened to Creation, is an annual four-day Christian music festival in the United States. According to its organizers, it is the "Nation's Largest Christian Music Festival." Average attendance is between 50,000 an ...

tour, along with Jars of Clay,

Thousand Foot Krutch Thousand Foot Krutch (often abbreviated TFK) is a Canadian Christian rock band formed in Peterborough, Ontario, in 1997. The band has released eight studio albums, two live albums, and three remix albums. The band currently consists of foundin ...

, Audio Unplugged, B. Reith, and

FM Static FM Static is a Canadian Christian pop punk duo based in Toronto, Ontario. The band was formed in 2003 as a side project for Thousand Foot Krutch. The band consists of Trevor McNevan and Steve Augustine. The original lineup included John Bunne ...

Musical style

Former lead singer Ben Olin describes the band's sound as "Take

Silverchair Silverchair were an Australian Rock music, rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Ben Gillies on drums, Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got thei ...

and put in some

Jimmy Eat World Jimmy Eat World is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Mesa, Arizona. The band is composed of lead vocalist and lead guitarist Jim Adkins, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch, and drummer Zach Lind. They h ...

and you get sweaty, honest rock that has great melody, driving guitars, and other cool guitar stuff."

Discography

Albums

*2007: ''Casting Off EP'' (released January 7 on

ForeFront ForeFront Records is a contemporary Christian music and Christian rock record label founded in 1987 by Dan R. Brock, Eddie DeGarmo, Dana Key, and Ron W. Griffin. It was purchased by EMI in 1996 from Dan R. Brock and Eddie DeGarmo, and is a divi ...

) Two songs from this three-song EP appear on '' Even Heroes Need a Parachute''. *2007: '' Even Heroes Need a Parachute'' (released April 3 on ForeFront) *2008: ''

Perceptions Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...

'' (released August 19 on ForeFront) *2011: ''Covers EP'' (released independently on March 9)

Singles

The band's first single, "Jesus to the World", got as high as No. 25 on the Christian CHR chart. Their single, "Going Under", reached number No. 5 on the Christian Rock chart. Their next single, "Right Now", was released in May 2007, and it peaked in the Top 11.Christian CHR National Airplay
, August 3, 2007, '' R&R'', Retrieved August 1, 2007 *"Jesus to the World" (2006) *"Going Under" (2007) *"Right Now" (2007) *"Black Box" (2007) *"Learning to Fall" (2008) *"No Turning Back" (2008) *"Beautifully Broken" (2008)

Compilation appearances

*2006: ''

WOW Next 2007 WOW Next 2007 is an album in the WOW series, comprising twelve top Contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an as ...

'' – "Jesus to the World" (from '' Even Heroes Need a Parachute'') –

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

*2007: '' X Worship 2007'' – "Cloud Cover" (from ''Even Heroes Need a Parachute'') – ForeFront/EMI

References

External links

This Beautiful Republic
at

Purevolume PureVolume (formerly Unborn Media) was a website for uploading and streaming of music files, the first independently run of its type. PureVolume was created by Unborn Media, Inc; Mitchell Pavao; Brett Woitunski; and Nate Hudson, all from the Univer ...

Video Interview with This Beautiful Republic
{{Authority control Christian rock groups from Ohio Musical groups established in 2004