The W's
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The W's were a
Christian ska Christian ska is a form of Christian alternative rock, and subgenre of ska and ska punk which is lyrically oriented toward contemporary Christian music. Though ska did not constitute a genre within the Christian music industry until after third ...
and
swing revival The swing revival, also called retro swing and neo-swing, was a renewed interest in swing music and Lindy Hop dance, beginning around 1989 and reaching a peak in the 1990s. The music was generally rooted in the big bands of the swing era, swing e ...
band, formed in Corvallis, Oregon in 1996. Success came quickly to the band and their first album, '' Fourth from the Last'', was a sleeper hit, unexpectedly having had the strongest debut of any Christian album to date for its distributor. They toured the United States several times with a variety of artists. Touring highlights include Pope John Paul II's 1999 visit to St. Louis and dc Talk's ''
Supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
'' support tour. Their mix of "swing pop" and ska was uncommon in the
Christian music industry The Christian music industry is one aspect of the broader music industry, with a focus on Christian music and subgenres such as gospel music, southern gospel, contemporary Christian music, contemporary worship music, and even traditional church m ...
. They were more popular within
Christian music Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christianity, Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence and lament, and its f ...
than their neo-swing counterparts such as the
Squirrel Nut Zippers Squirrel Nut Zippers is an American swing and jazz band formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, by James "Jimbo" Mathus (vocals and guitar), Tom Maxwell (vocals and guitar), Katharine Whalen (vocals, banjo, ukulele), Chris Phillips (d ...
or
The Brian Setzer Orchestra The Brian Setzer Orchestra (sometimes known by its initials BSO) is a swing music, swing and jump blues band formed in 1992 by Stray Cats frontman Brian Setzer.Partridge, Kenneth (2021)Hell of a Hat The Rise of ’90s Ska and Swing Penn State U ...
. Their songwriting was known for its irreverence and frivolity and for its reflections of the band's faith. Before breaking up in 2000, the group released two albums, topped Christian rock radio and sales charts, and won two
Gospel Music Association The Gospel Music Association (GMA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 for the purpose of supporting and promoting the development of all forms of gospel music. As of 2011, there are about 4,000 members worldwide. The GMA's membership c ...
awards.


History

The W's formed as a
ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...
band at
Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...
in Corvallis, Oregon in 1996. The lineup consisted of Andrew Schar (lead vocals, guitar), Valentine Hellman (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Todd Gruener (bass guitar), and Zak Shultz (drums). All were attending Oregon State and were residents of Avery Lodge. The band was spearheaded and envisioned by Shultz, but he moved to Seattle to work for
Brandon Ebel Tooth & Nail Records is a record label founded by Brandon Ebel in California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle where it is today. History Brandon Ebel and Michael Knott conceived the label as a joint venture, before Knott back ...
with
Tooth & Nail Records Tooth & Nail Records is a record label founded by Brandon Ebel in California in November 1993. The label later moved to Seattle where it is today. History Brandon Ebel and Michael Knott conceived the label as a joint venture, before Knott backe ...
. By September 1997 Shultz had left, and the group was joined by Bret Barker (trumpet), who Schar met through
Campus Crusade for Christ Cru (until 2011 known as Campus Crusade for Christ—informally "Campus Crusade" or simply "Crusade"—or CCC) is an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. It was founded in 1951 at the University of California, Los Angeles by ...
, and James Carter (alto saxophone, background vocals). Peter Kelly drummed during middle to the end of 1997, but he broke his arm in a skateboarding accident a few days before recording. Kelly stayed in Philomath, Oregon, got married, and became a youth leader. The band then recruited Brian Morris to replace Kelly from a local punk band. The W's discovered a break when a mutual friend from Eugene, Aaron James (employed at the time by Five Minute Walk Records), offered them a spot opening for Five Iron Frenzy in Concord, California. Following the CD release party for
Five Iron Frenzy Five Iron Frenzy is an American band which formed in Denver, Colorado, in 1995. Best known for playing ska punk music characterized by an offbeat sense of humor and prominent Christian themes, Five Iron Frenzy was one of the pioneering figure ...
's '' Our Newest Album Ever!'' in November 1997, they signed with Frank Tate's Five Minute Walk Records. Within a year they produced their first album, '' Fourth from the Last''. The album was released when neo-swing was popular. In its opening week it sold almost 9,000 units, representing over half of the total stock that had been manufactured. This was the highest-selling band debut to date of any album for Five Minute Walks's distributor, Chordant. This also placed ''Fourth'' at the No. 4 spot on both '' Billboard's'' Heatseekers and Top Contemporary Christian charts. Despite being pulled from the shelves of
LifeWay Christian Resources Lifeway Christian Resources, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is the Christian media publishing and distribution division of the Southern Baptist Convention and provider of church business services. Until the end of its physical retail presence ...
stores for containing indecent words (eg, ''suck'', ''butt'') The W's sold over 31,000 copies in five weeks, and eventually over 200,000 units, peaking at No. 147 on The ''Billboard'' 200. ''Fourth from the Last'' received the
Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards ceremonies presented annually and have been held in Nashville, Tennessee exce ...
for Modern Rock Album of the Year in 1999. "The Devil Is Bad" was The W's hit single from the record. It peaked at No. 1 and No. 6 on the Christian rock and hits radio and charts respectively, and won the Dove for Modern Rock Recorded Song in 1999. The song was also released on the double Platinum certified annual compilation '' WOW 1999''. In late 1998 the band appeared on the cover of ''7ball'' magazine (pictured right), representing the widest media coverage the band garnered throughout their career. The cover reflects the visual signature of the band at the time. ''Fourth from the Last'' was themed around bowling, a sport which band member had mixed feelings about. At least one member (Todd Gruener) was said to hate the sport, while Andrew Schar had played in a league. Closing out 1998, the band played some dates with one of their mainstream counterparts,
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is a contemporary swing revival band from Southern California. Their notable singles include "Go Daddy-O", "You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby)", and "Mr. Pinstripe Suit". The band played at the Super Bowl XXXIII h ...
, and alternative band
Cracker Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to: Animals * ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies * '' Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker" Arts and entertainment Films ...
. They played at
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...
's visit to St. Louis in January. Note: They played to crowds outside the main venue. From late that month until May the band opened for
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 in Christianity, Jesus. This music is typically performed by Christians, Christian individuals. The extent to whi ...
group dc Talk on their Supernatural Experience tour. During this time "Moses" entered Christian radio as a second single and peaked at No. 3 on the Christian rock radio charts. That May the band went into the studio to record their second and final album, '' Trouble With X''. Summer brought further touring and appearances at
Christian music festival A Christian music festival (also known as a Jesus music festival or simply a Jesus festival) is a music festival held by the Christians, Christian community, in support of performers of Contemporary Christian music, Christian music. The festivals ...
s."The W's: Tour Schedule", now hosted at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
.
That fall the band embarked on the national Holy Roller Tour with
The Insyderz The Insyderz were an American Christian ska-punk musical band, band from Detroit, Michigan. They formed in 1996 and disbanded in 2005. The band reformed in 2009, but have not been actively playing shows in the last few years. The Insyderz are on ...
, Five Iron Frenzy, and Justin McRoberts.Holy Roller Tour handbill
Retrieved November 15, 2006.
. Shows on this tour were held at roller skating rinks across the country. In November ''Trouble With X'' was released, peaking at No. 21 and No. 25 on the ''Billboard'' Heatseekers and Top Contemporary Christian charts respectively. Some copies of ''Trouble With X'' included "The Rumor Weed Song", which was made for the episode '' Larry-Boy and the Rumor Weed'' of the children's video series ''
VeggieTales ''VeggieTales'' is an American Christian media, Christian Computer animated, CGI-animated series and multimedia franchise created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki under Big Idea Entertainment. The series stars Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumb ...
''. The song was also included on the ''
WOW 2000 ''WOW 2000'' is a compilation album of 30 contemporary Christian music hits and four bonus tracks that was released on October 26, 1999. The album hit No. 29 on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 chart in 1999, and No. 1 on the Top Contempor ...
'' compilation, which also achieved double Platinum sales. Touring continued in 2000 alongside labelmates
Five Iron Frenzy Five Iron Frenzy is an American band which formed in Denver, Colorado, in 1995. Best known for playing ska punk music characterized by an offbeat sense of humor and prominent Christian themes, Five Iron Frenzy was one of the pioneering figure ...
, Philmore, and
Soul-Junk Soul-Junk is an experimental genre-hopping Christian rock and hip hop group from San Diego, California. Background The roots of Soul-Junk began in 1993 when Glen Galloway began experimenting while touring in Europe with his rock band Trumans ...
. Drummer Brian Morris departed and was replaced by Courtney Stubbert. The W's commenced recording for a third album, though it was never released. One song from the sessions, "Somewhere Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" was released on the compilation ''Take Time to Listen Volume 5''."The W's Music"
Retrieved November 15, 2006.
The W's broke up in December 2000, citing artistic differences.


After the break-up

Some members continued to produce music following the demise of The W's. Gruener and Morris joined Corvallis friend Mark Cleaver in the
indie band Independent music (also commonly known as indie music, or simply indie) is a broad style of music characterized by creative freedoms, low-budgets, and a do-it-yourself approach to music creation, which originated from the liberties afforded by in ...
Bendixon.Bendixon Biography. Now hosted at the Internet Archive. Bendixon released two albums, ''Bendixon'' (1999) and ''Slaying of the Dragon'' (2000). Their sound was comparable to
Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Brian Bell (guitar, keyboards, backing ...
or
All Star United ''All Star United'' is a Christian rock band that was formed by solo artist Ian Eskelin in 1996. The band is known for clever and sometimes sarcastic lyrics, as they frequently use their songs as vehicles to lampoon perceived excesses in Wester ...
, and like The W's most of their songs could be considered fun or witty. Schar and Stubbert formed the band Alpha CharlieThe W's News, formerly hosted at nerdmusic.com. Now hosted at the Internet Archive. and released one album, ''...and I wait'' (2002), before breaking up in 2004.Alpha-charlie.com, now hosted at the Internet Archive. Early member Shultz moved to Los Angeles in 1997. Bret Barker and Valentine Hellman appeared on Five Iron Frenzy's 2000 album '' All the Hype That Money Can Buy''. Barker appeared on Dennis Culp's solo album, '' Ascents'' (2000), '' Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo'' (2001) in both the additional musician credits and as a recording engineer, and as an engineer on '' The End Is Near'' (2003). Barker joined
The O.C. Supertones The Orange County Supertones (a.k.a. The O.C. Supertones, or simply The Supertones) were a Christian ska band from Orange County, California. The band was signed to Tooth & Nail Records and its imprint, BEC Recordings, before becoming an indepe ...
in 2004 and played with them until their breakup the following year.


Style

The music of The W's is similar to
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is a contemporary swing revival band from Southern California. Their notable singles include "Go Daddy-O", "You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby)", and "Mr. Pinstripe Suit". The band played at the Super Bowl XXXIII h ...
,
Royal Crown Revue Royal Crown Revue was a band formed in 1989 in Los Angeles, California. They have been credited with starting the swing revival The swing revival, also called retro swing and neo-swing, was a renewed interest in swing music and Lindy Hop danc ...
, and
The O.C. Supertones The Orange County Supertones (a.k.a. The O.C. Supertones, or simply The Supertones) were a Christian ska band from Orange County, California. The band was signed to Tooth & Nail Records and its imprint, BEC Recordings, before becoming an indepe ...
, but less ska-based than the latter. ''
HM Magazine ''HM Magazine'' is a monthly, digital and print on demand publication focusing on hard music and alternative culture of interest to Christians. It is based in Houston, Texas. Originally published as ''Heaven's Metal'', it was renamed to ''HM'' in ...
'' commented that "the closest thing in the Christian market was
Ralph Carmichael Ralph Carmichael (May 27, 1927 – October 18, 2021) was an American composer and arranger of both secular pop music and contemporary Christian music. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of contemporary Christian music. Early life and career C ...
's big band project" (''Strike Up the Band'', 1995). Though they were often cited as
third wave ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...
or swing revival, their overall sound did not fit neatly into any musical genre. Band members generally agreed with this assessment: Andrew Schar noted that "Our music gets labeled swing, but we're not really swing", and sax player James Carter, "I think 'swing' and 'ska' are just terms people are comfortable using. I don't think they completely describe the music we play at all". Bass player Gruener described their music as "kinda ska, kinda swing, kinda rockabilly, kinda crazy, kinda punky". ''
Cross Rhythms Cross Rhythms is a Christian media organisation based in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It operates an FM and online radio station, produces radio shows sent internationally, and its website has resources about contemporary Christian music. His ...
'' provides the most concise explanation: "This is Swing Ska!". Reviewers, who noted a lack of depth in songwriting, regarded both of The W's albums as "fun". ''CCM'' reported that lyrically, their songs "swing between subtle spirituality and general goofiness." Elsewhere this style was described as "an odd marriage of reverence for God with forced attempts at irreverent wackiness." While the ''Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music'' cites this as a "subdued approach to ministry", other commentators saw it as a disappointing lack of spiritual message, especially on ''Trouble With X''. ''Trouble'' was much more themed on Christianity than their debut, although its nature was
philosophical Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
rather than spiritual. Characterized by James Carter, "The last album, we wrote about our everyday lives... the majority of the songs were about skateboarding and stories we made up. This album, pretty much every song is about Christianity." The band leveled criticism at the church and Christians generally, sometimes using sarcasm, reminding one reviewer of
Steve Taylor Roland Stephen Taylor (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, music executive, film maker, assistant professor, and actor. A figure in what has come to be known as Christian alternative rock, Taylor enjoyed ...
. "Tip from Me" is about breaking broad perceptions of Christianity and the Church. The purpose of the song was to acknowledge problems with the church, say to the non-Christian that "Yeah, we see the problems too," and a call to the Christian to act to fix them. In the song "Stupid" the band used the example of abortion clinic bombings (see, for example
Eric Robert Rudolph Eric Robert Rudolph (born September 19, 1966), also known as the Olympic Park Bomber, is an American domestic terrorist convicted of a series of bombings across the Southern United States between 1996 and 1998, which killed two people and injure ...
) to make a pronounced statement about hypocrisy. Several songs draw directly from biblical stories. The song "Moses" is about struggles with faith and insignificance. It draws inspiration from several biblical figures and stories, including
Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...
' Burning bush,
Gideon Gideon (; ) also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth, was a military leader, judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites is recounted in of the Book of Judges in both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible. Gideon was th ...
,
Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...
's denial of Christ, and
Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...
's role in the death of
Stephen Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...
to show how God can use anybody for his purposes. "Used Car Salesman" paints a colorful description of
the Devil Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or 'e ...
, selling sins as used Hondas. Other songs, such as "Dexter", and "Frank" retell parts of the lives of band members. "J.P." tells about how a friend of Valentine Hellman encouraged him to leave the party scene and rededicate his life to Christ. "Hui" retells the 1987 film '' North Shore''. More mundane topics include the hardships of school ("101") and of touring and making music professionally ("Two More Weeks", "Open Minded"). Another notable song was their cover of
John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American Country music, country and Folk music, folk singer, songwriter, and actor. He was one of the most popular acoustic m ...
's "Country Roads", which some thought worked well as a swing tune.


Discography


Albums

* 1998 '' Fourth from the Last'' * 1999 '' Trouble With X''


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ws, The Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups from Oregon Musicians from Corvallis, Oregon American Christian rock groups American ska musical groups Christian ska groups Swing revival ensembles Third-wave ska groups 1996 establishments in Oregon 2000 disestablishments in Oregon Musical groups disestablished in 2000