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Temple Veil Mailing List
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Mountain Perspective
November 7, 2011 | 9:45 pm
Greetings to all,
One of the beautiful aspects of being on the road (and there are many) is meeting amazing people and taking in incredible new scenery every day. A couple days ago, in Billings, MT, we met a guy who offered to take us flying around the area for the afternoon in his private plane. After prepping the plane, we spent the next couple hours soaring over the Beartooth Mountains, the Yellowstone River, the Big Horn Mountains and River, Black Canyon, Custer’s Last Stand, etc., before returning to Billings just in time for sound check.
As depicted by the names “Beartooth” and “Big Horn”, these mountains are anything but gentle and smooth. In fact, the jagged terrain of these areas is responsible for the deaths of much wildlife and many humans each year. One careless move, and these rugged ridges will send even the most experienced hikers falling to their demise.
Flying at an altitude of 8,000 feet alongside the crest of these ranges; however, gave us an entirely new perspective, previously unattainable at ground level. From our new vantage point, the pitch of each peak seemed much less severe. Through the window of the small aircraft, we could easily discern the best possible land route for crossing over the mountains. We were able to effortlessly spot the dead ends and the debris along the trails, as well as the clear and open paths leading to the summit. The golden hue of gently rolling wheat fields in the opposite valley brightly glistened beyond the dark peaks. We were completely awestruck at the view of these magnificent mountains in their entirety.
While taking in this picturesque scene, I began thinking about the obstacles we’ve been facing recently as an artist as well as in just day to day living. These thoughts continued into thoughts of all of you and the many different obstacles each of you face in your own lives, whether it be in raising a family, or in facing a parent who doesn’t see eye-to-eye, whether it’s a difficult boss, or the complex logistics of self-employment, whether it’s a disability, or the financial burden that this economy has been taxing on nearly all of us. No matter the dreams, goals, and aspirations you are striving to reach, treacherous mountains are protruding on your path to achievement.
Just as the aerial perspective totally changed our outlook on the Beartooth and Big Horn Mountain Ranges, sometimes taking a step back and looking at the big picture of life can entirely change our perspective of the obstacles that are currently staring us in the face. By slowing down and backing away from the cliff that is hovering directly over us, we can then perceive and assess the situation in it’s entirety, thus revealing the clear path to take. Though the path is rarely ever easy and unforeseen circumstances nearly always occur, scoping things out and knowing where the path leads will undoubtedly help us to prepare and endure the rough stretches that we know we will encounter along the way. Let us all take a step back and soak up the breathtaking, panoramic view of our own lives this upcoming week. You may just so happen to see a clear cut road nearby the dead-end path you are currently struggling against that will lead you to the summit.
Brysson
DeRock
~Temple Veil
     
     
What is Success?
July 23, 2011 | 12:19 am
Greetings to all,
We hope all of you are having an enjoyable and relaxing summer, and keeping cool in all of this record breaking heat around the northern hemisphere. On our end, this summer has been anything but a vacation, as we are in the middle of the heaviest tour schedule of our lives. We’ve been traveling and performing nonstop all over the country, hitting up favorite spots along the way as well as discovering new places we never even knew existed; all the while, enjoying every single second of every day. Honestly, the only thing that bums us out is how little time we’ve had to connect with and build our online community, but it’s been so amazing to connect with so many of you out on the road.
A couple of nights ago we were sharing a meal with a pastor, as we often do before or after our church performances, and he asked us this question: “Do you consider yourselves a successful artist?” This question brought up a much bigger question. What is success? In the music industry, success is looked at in a variety of ways. According to the record industry, success is measured in things like album sales, ticket sales, ticket prices, merchandise sales, online and digital sales, Billboard charts, Grammy awards, and so on. While artists always strive to improve in these areas, are these really the key factors in making a music career successful?
Having been down the record industry driven road before, we had to ask ourselves: Is selling a lot of albums really a success when you’re in six figures of debt to a record label to produce and market that album? Is having a huge turnout at a show really a success when the ticket sales still can’t cover the fuel and maintenance it takes to get your entourage of buses and semis full of equipment to that event? We’ve come to a point in our career where we’ve gotten over having stars in our eyes, and define our career success in music in a way that anyone should define success in any career.
Success is not always found in the dollar amount or the social status, but always in the provision. In other words, do you have what you need when you need it? Provision can come in so many forms other than money. Just recently, our tour van was in desperate need of new tires. At the same time, there was a family death in the band, and the money we had set aside for tires, needed to go towards airfare to the funeral and back. So then, what about the tires? A tire shop in MS, who believed in what we are doing, put a brand new set of $600 tires on the van. Did we have the money? No. But did we have the provision? Yes. So was it success? Absolutely.
Regardless of what we do, and where and when we do it, we all ask ourselves at some point if we are successful at what we are doing. The next time you question your own success in your career, don’t question the scale no matter how big or small; instead, question the balance of the scale. Do you have the provision you need to balance the needs that you have? Not necessarily the provision you want, but the provision you need? And most importantly do you know who your Provider is?
Brysson
DeRock
~Temple Veil
The Message
February 15, 2011 | 1:46 pm
Greetings to all,
We are so excited to announce that "Party Song" will be featured on the sound track to an upcoming movie titled "The Message"!
"The Message" is a full feature film that was made to bring awareness of God's ever presence and His ability to enable us to experience His love in never ending ways and through many different outlets. The production company, Integrity Films, has two main goals. First, to tell a story that showcases the power of prayer and the meaning of God in our lives. Second, to bring to the audience a quality film that is educational as well as entertaining.
The Plot...
Jake, a 30 years old IT programmer is about to receive a very important message... from God.
Jake's never been much of a believer in anything, not even himself. He's content with the life he has simply because it's comfortable. Working in the same job for almost ten years, no big goals for himself, other than the fact that he's engaged to a young woman named Kate. Pretty much your average Joe, that is... until a series of strange occurrences start happening to Jake.
It all started when he noticed a strange screensaver suddenly appeared on his coworker's computer screen. The desktop background was an old picture of a camping trip he took with his family over 20 years ago. As he's trying to figure out the origins of this photo, he begins to remember the day that picture was taken. The memories of that camping trip start to haunt him throughout the day.
His mother, Iris, is a devoted mother and Christian, who never gave up on her son or God. Her faith and prayers are answered as God starts to reach out to Jake in different events, and using Jake's medium to get his attention. Jake, ignoring the messages, brings God even closer. God doesn't give up until he sees a re-born Jake. Finally a Message is fully delivered, proving again that for God, there are no limits. He is everything and everyone.
Again, we are excited and so grateful to have our music be a part of this film produced by Liss Cartagena for Integrity Films and directed by Ben Rosa. You can view the trailer by clicking here and learn more at www.messagethemovie.com. Also, if you are interested in showing the movie as a fundraiser for your church or organization, you can find more details at www.pangelo.com.
Brysson
DeRock
~Temple Veil
One Year Later
January 21, 2011 | 7:45 pm
Greetings to all,
We are a few weeks into this new year already! At the turn of each new year, we all tend to reflect on the successes and failures of the past year and set goals for the upcoming year. Did you make any new year's resolutions this year? Where are you with those resolutions just a few weeks later? Studies show that 88%-92% of all new year's resolutions fail. Why?
The answer is simple. Distractions. We live a world that constantly bombards us with more and more distractions. Our brains are constantly being fed new bits of information that eat away at our ability to focus. Digesting information any longer than a text message or status update has become difficult for many of us. Some of us even crave these distractions. We check our phones and Facebooks in the middle of anything and everything out of sheer habit without even realizing that we do that. If you're even still reading this blog and you haven't already been distracted it's a miracle.
So we set awesome goals for ourselves, but goals take hard work and continued focus. We set out excited and focused, but soon distractions set in, causing our focus to be lost, and we fall right back into our old habits and complacent lifestyles. In the midst of so many distractions and so many things demanding our attention, where should we set our focus and what should we orient our goals toward? The answer is found in Jeremiah 32:39, "And I (God) will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship Me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants."
See, our only purpose here on this earth is to worship our Creator and to be His enjoyment. Worship is much more than an act, it's a lifestyle. When our focus becomes set on a lifestyle of worship, everything else falls into place. A little over a year ago, we embarked on a new journey called Temple Veil with one goal. The goal is to live a lifestyle of worship to our Creator and to travel the world to inspire others to do the same, using whatever means we have been blessed with.
The music industry is a tough business, and it's very easy to get sucked into the latest industry trends and doing whatever it is that will take you to the top. While we are called to be good stewards, and there is an important business side of life, every goal and decision should point towards a lifestyle of worship. The key is always balance. We live extreme lifestyles in an extreme society making balance so critical to attain, which is only achieved through a lifestyle of worship.
So after one year on this Temple Veil journey, we have had the opportunity to do and experience some amazing things beyond our dreams. Our adventures have taken us across North America with over 200 stops in 40 US states and Canada as well as the release of our debut record and radio single. None of those things could have ever happened for us outside of a lifestyle of worship.
We have many goals for 2011 as we are sure you do also. Some of ours include beginning work on a full-length album, making a music video, building a new website with lots of cool features for you, and of course making as many tour stops in as many places as we possibly can. But each of these goals are just ways to contribute this year to the ultimate goal which remains unchanged a year later and for every year to come.
The key to all of us reaching our goals this year is to set them under our single goal and purpose of worshiping our Creator. So next year on New Year's Eve, the question won't be about how many pounds we lost, or whether or not we got to go on that dream vacation, or how many albums we sold. Lives based on those types of goals are never satisfied because no mater what is attained, it is never enough. The question at the close of 2011 will be did we live a year of worship that was pleasing to God? If the answer is yes, then 2011 will be a truly satisfying year, and anything else that happens along the way will just be an added blessing instead of the focus - just the way God intended it. Let's all do this together and hold each other to it for 2011!
Brysson
DeRock
~Temple Veil
Radio
December 28, 2010 | 12:44 pm
Please take a moment to support Temple Veil by calling and requesting our music on any K-Love, Air1, and Way-FM radio stations nationwide. Visit www.klove.com, www.air1.com, and www.wayfm.com for a list of stations. Also, please request Temple Veil on the following local radio stations.
United States
Alabama
Birmingham (WDJC) 93.7-FM (p): (205) 741-9352
Mobile (WBHY) 88.5-FM Power 88 (p): (251) 473-8080
Florida
Fort Lauderdale (WREH) 90.5-FM Reach FM (p): (877) 732-2400
Fort Myers/Naples (WMYE) 91.9-FM The Call (p): (239) 652-0567
Gainsville (WJLF) 91.7-FM The Joy FM (p): (800) 456-8910
Live Oak (WOLR) 91.3-FM The Edge (p): (386) 362-3042
Miami (WMKL) 91.9-FM The Call (p): (305) 662-7736
Ocala (WHIJ) 88.1-FM The Joy FM (p): (800) 456-8910
Sarasota (WJIS) 88.1-FM The Joy FM (p): (800) 456-8910
Tampa (WBVM) 90.5-FM Spirit FM (p): (813) 287-9286
Tampa (WCIE) 91.5-FM The Joy FM (p): (800) 456-8910
Georgia
Taccoa - (WTXR) 89.7-FM The Eagle (p): (706) 489-9897
Kansas
Manhattan (KHCA) 95.3-FM Angel 95 (p): (785) 537-9595
Michigan
Detroit (WRDT) 560-AM The Word (p): (313) 272-5600
Muskegon (WHEY) 88.9-FM,100.9-FM Hey Radio (p): (231) 563-6280
Saginaw (WPRJ) 101.7-FM Fuse FM (p): (989) 465-9775
Nevada
Reno/Wadsworth (KRNG) 101.3-FM Renegade Radio (p): (775) 575-7777
North Carolina
Asheville (WGNW) 95.7-FM Good News Warrior Radio (p): (828) 633-0079
North Dakota
Fargo (KXBQ) 95.9-FM Dive 95 (e): mail@dive95.com
Ohio
Canton (WNPQ) 95.9-FM The Light (p): (330) 492-9590
Cleveland (WFHM) 95.5-FM The Fish (p): (216) 525-0955
Pennsylvania
Altoona (WRXV) 89.1-FM Rev FM (p): (877) 307-3836
Virginia
Chesapeake (WJLZ) 103.7-FM The Current (p): (757) 631-7777
Fairfax (WEBR) (p): (703) 560-8255
Norfolk (WJLZ) 103.9-FM The Current (p): (757) 631-7777
Virginia Beach (WJLZ) 88.5-FM The Current (p): (757) 631-7777
Wisconsin
Chippewa Falls (WWIB) 103.7-FM (p): (715) 723-2555
Canada
New Brunswick
Kedgwick (CFJU) 90.1-FM
Ontario
Kitchener (CJTW) 94.3-FM FaithFM (p): (519) 741-9430
Ottawa (CKCU) 93.1-FM (p): (613) 520-2528
United Kingdom
Liverpool (7WCR) 92.1-FM 7Waves (p): 0151 639 3094
If your local Christian radio station is not on this list, please call them and request Temple Veil anyways! Let us know who your local Christian stations are so we can get in touch with them and hopefully add them to this list. We are so grateful to have the opportunity to have our songs played on radio stations around the globe. Please help us to continue to reach more and more people. Thank you!
Brysson
DeRock
~ Temple Veil
Musician Life, Chapter 3
December 22, 2010 | 10:24 pm
What are the first thoughts running through your head every morning when you wake up? For some of us, we wake up excited and ready to start whatever we have planned for the day. For others, we dread the thought of leaving our cozy warm bed. Whether it's that hot cup of coffee, the amount of time left before arriving late to work or school, or what to do with a day off, our morning thoughts generally always consist of our plans and desires for that day.
Have you ever woke up wishing that all your plans for the day would be wrecked and everything would go wrong? Of course not, but nevertheless that sometimes happens. The question is not whether or not your plans will go wrong, but what your response will be when it does happen. Touring artists know for a fact that all plans are subject to change. In the lifestyle of living on the road, plans are never definite, and just when you think they are, something happens and plans change. While we always prepare for and even expect a change of plans during each tour, there is always one thing we never want to face, and that is cancellations.
Last minute cancellations cut the lifeline for touring artists. Even if the venue eventually honors their obligation to pay, legal things take time with no guarantee, and so a cancellation means no meals and lodging as well as being stuck in an unknown place for a day or more. This can be exciting or terrifying, depending on your personality, but either way, it's a huge inconvenience and ultimately frustrating.
Such was the case for us this past summer while we were touring the west coast. We were scheduled to fly from Portland, Oregon to Alaska to play at a weekend festival and then at a church on Sunday, before flying back to Oregon on Monday. Also, at this time, we needed $1000 to complete the next stage of the UnEARTH record. Two days before our flight, the entire event was cancelled, leaving us in Oregon, nearly the farthest place possible in the continental US from our residence in Tampa, FL. Having been so extremely excited to play in Alaska and now with nowhere to go for an entire weekend, and the $1000 we needed lingering over us, we tried not to let the disappointment and frustration get the best of us.
We googled area churches and randomly called one, explaining the situation and asking only for a floor to crash on; and in return, we offered to lead worship or play a few songs for their Sunday service. The pastor told us he would love to have us come and play a few songs for them, and he gave us an address to a place where he told us we could stay for the weekend. We followed our GPS to the address to discover he had put us up in an incredible 5 star hotel downtown. After checking in, he called and invited us to go out for steak with him. On Sunday, the congregation responded to our music in a huge way. We were so incredibly blessed just to see them blessed. After the service, the pastor handed us an envelope and said, "Here's a little something for you guys.", and then a member of the congregation took us out for some Thai food (one of our favorites!). When we got back to the hotel, we opened the envelope and found a check for $1000, the exact amount we needed for the record.
Things like this don't happen by following our own plans. We think we have it all figured out, and then panic when our plans fail, but there is a God who has a perfect plan. He knows our needs and what is best for our lives better than we know ourselves. You may never be stranded somewhere over 5,000 miles away from home, but it's guaranteed that somewhere along the line your plans will fail. Will you panic or allow God to carry out His plan? Proverbs 19:21 says "You can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail." We were given the opportunity to make some amazing friends, finish our record, and seriously touch many lives all through a mega failure of our own plans. Our challenge to you is to wake up in the morning sometime and ask God to ruin your plans for the day so that His purpose will prevail, and just see what happens.
Brysson
DeRock
~Temple Veil
Pre-Order
October 4, 2010 | 9:28 pm
Car Accident - PLEASE HELP!!
August 28, 2010 | 1:19 am
 
Temple Veil Car Accident - PLEASE HELP!!
On Wednesday, August 25th, 2010, Temple Veil (van pictured first) was traveling westbound on US-30 near Mansfield, OH at 70mph when a mini-van (pictured second) crossed the highway right in front of us. We instantly collided with the mini-van, sending it into a 180 right in the middle of the highway while we eventually came to a stop in the median. Miraculously both vehicles avoided all of the other vehicles on the highway with semi trucks passing in the shoulder. The incident resulted in the arrival of three state troopers, three ambulances, and two fire trucks. Everyone involved was shaken up and a little beat up, but after being checked over by the paramedics, we all walked away with nothing more than high pulse rates, bruises, and headaches. We definitely had angels watching over us.
The driver of the mini-van was cited by the state police, and a great friend came and picked us up and took us to the home of family who live only an hour away from the scene. Another real blessing. Then as we began making phone calls, things grew from bad to worse. First, we discovered that the driver of the mini-van was not the owner of the vehicle. Then we discovered that he had given the police false contact information. His insurance company has not once called us and after calling them repeatedly for the past two days, they finally told us that the driver has never called them, and they have not been able to reach him, and until they are “proven liable”, they will not so much as even provide us with a rental vehicle. They said liability could take up to twenty-one days to determine, and they will absolutely not compensate us for the shows we have to miss.
This leaves us stranded with no vehicle and missing shows, and no guarantee on how much we will even be given for the van to put towards a new vehicle. We will not allow this to stop us from our calling. We will not cancel anymore dates. Now it’s God’s turn to shine and provide for us as His Word promises. Being that we literally “live on the road”, we have been praying for an RV (such as the one pictured below) for quite some time now to be able to have a better mobilized office as well as somewhere to stay during any off days.
Thank you all so much for all of the prayers and support, and we ask that you continue to earnestly pray with us during this whole process. We also desperately need your help. If you or you know of anyone who would possibly be willing to donate or very reasonably sell us a Class C Ford style RV that is in good enough condition to travel North America for several years, then please call or text 813.421.2137 or email templeveil@gmail.com. Please consider a donation to help us purchase our next tour vehicle and stay on the road by clicking the “Donate” button below. Thank you so much!
DONATE
Please consider a donation to help us purchase our next tour vehicle!
Brysson
DeRock
~Temple Veil
RYFO
August 12, 2010 | 12:27 am
Greetings to all,
While we typically write blogs to inform you about our upcoming tours, releases, etc, we really want to take a moment to tell you about an online community called RYFO ( www.ryfo.org) that we have been a part of since we formed Temple Veil. The RYFO Network is a community that cares for the unique physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of touring musicians. The website partners with individuals, companies, and organizations across the continent to offer touring artists a diverse range of services at no cost. Many artists of all levels, from just starting out to many of today's top bands, desperately need and make use of these critical services. If you support music and what music does for people, and you would like to get more involved in the lives of those who are out there making music happen for people, then RYFO is where you need to be. They offer several ways for you to get involved.
One of the biggest issues that touring artists face every single day is where they are going to stay that night. Bands are often faced with choices such as spending what little money they have on a cheap hotel room or else sleeping in their van and putting their health at risk without proper sleep and nutrition in order to save that money to invest in their upcoming album or merchandise. Through RYFO, you can open up your home for a night to give artists a place to rest and regroup when they are passing though. Just last week, we had a day off in eastern PA and there happened to be a RYFO home available in route to our next show. We were able to meet some incredible people, catch up on some business things, and have some great food and sleep. However, all too often there is not a RYFO home in route to the next show, and this is where we need you to head over to www.ryfo.org and change that by opening your home to touring artists.
If you don't have a home to offer, you can still get involved in many ways. Artists rely on their vehicles to get them to their concerts, and they need things like food, haircuts, gas, etc, along the way. As a business owner, if you feel the urge to help artists when they pass through your town by offering them a free meal at your restaurant, or an oil change at your shop, or a haircut at your salon, and on and on, then please connect with www.ryfo.org to help us in these areas. If you don't have a home or business, you can still support your favorite artists by signing up and "adopting" them on the site. By adopting them, you will see the artist's needs and requests, and you will be able to help and support them by praying for them and helping them find ways to take care of their needs and by bringing them shampoo and toothpaste or cookies when they are playing in your area.
Also, RYFO has allowed Temple Veil to take donations via text message. We need to have all of our CD's printed very soon in order to have them by the September 21st release date. This is very costly for an independent artist with no label/financial backing. If you could, please text the phrase "ryfo 117" to the number 85944 and reply "yes". Just $10 will be added to your next phone bill and that will go directly to fund the final production of the UnEARTH EP. Again, please go to www.ryfo.org and see how you can become a part of your favorite touring artists' lives. Thank you all so much for the continuous support.
Brysson
DeRock
~Temple Veil
UnEARTH
July 29, 2010 | 8:05 pm
Greetings to all,
We hope you all are having an incredible summer and that you enjoy the remainder of it. It has been an absolutely unbelievable summer for us. We've had the opportunity to literally see the entire country coast to coast as well as Canada. The scenery we've seen along the way has been breathtaking, but even moreso, the people we've had the opportunity to meet, worship with, and fellowship with have made this tour unforgettable. This summer has really been a time of revelation and uncovering in our own lives and for this band.
While this first Temple Veil record is just an EP, it's not just an EP. We took eleven songs into the studio with us in April and wrote another one while we were there. From those twelve songs, working with our producer Tim Neely, we careful chose five tracks to form the EP. We very thoughtfully crafted the tracks to flow together and put loads of work into the orchestration and layering of each song. The songs well express the diversity of our individuality while still flowing together as a coherent unit. These tracks we chose for the EP are a perfect balence of reflecting where we've been, representing where we are, and unveiling where we are going. We feel this will be the best quality release to date of any of our previous musical endeavors.
We all live life together. We share in the same struggles, joys, frustrations, and excitements. The reason we write songs and perform concerts is to unite us all together through music in the realization that none of us are alone. In choosing a title for this EP, we wanted to represent where we are personally and musically as well as where the music on this record takes you. The EP will be titled UnEARTH, a word by definition that means to uncover or bring to light. The songs on UnEARTH uncover who we are as people and musicians as well as bring to light where this Temple Veil journey is taking us. Our hope is that through the music on this EP, each of your hearts will be uncovered before our Maker, the true Light.
All of the mixes for UnEARTH are now complete and the record is currently being mastered by Nathan Dantzler at The Hit Lab in Hollywood, CA. Nathan has mastered many records for many great artists such as Trace Adkins, Audio Adrenaline, Sonic Flood, Tree 63, Reliant K, etc; and we are super stoked to have his expertise in the mastering of this EP. We are also wrapping up the artwork and getting everything ready for pressing. We have already began taking pre-orders at all our live appearances, and a big thanks to all of you who have already pre-ordered. The first single, along with some pre-order packages, will be posted on our sites within the next couple weeks. The release date for UnEARTH has been set for September 21st. We really can't wait to get it into your hands.
We have many stops along the way between now and the September 21st release of UnEARTH, and we also have a lot planned for after the release. While we have some really cool tours in the works, and we're already writing for the full-length, we aren't getting so caught on where we're going that we miss where we are. We are living every day of this amazing journey in Temple Veil to it's fullest and making the most of every moment. We're really looking forward to sharing a lot of moments with you all over the remainder of this tour. All the best!
Brysson
DeRock
~Temple Veil
Upcoming Debut Album
April 13, 2010 | 5:22 pm
Greetings to all,
We hope all is well as summer is quickly approaching. It's been an incredible journey already for us just six months into this project. We were told we were crazy to go on the road with no established name for the new project, no album, and no merchandise, but we were given a call and we followed that call even though it made no sense. We dove head first into touring and over the past couple months we have been so blessed to have already performed over 75 shows in over 20 states for thousands of amazing people.
There have been some shaky moments along the way, but God has provided above and beyond for us. At one point we put our last fifty buck in the gas tank and drove to our next show in Oklahoma only to run into an ice storm and have the show cancelled. All of our phone bills, etc were also due at the time and no show equals no money, and no gas means no getting to the next show, and no phone means no getting more shows. It was a frustrating situation. Just before our phones were scheduled to be shut off, we got a call that a random, unexpected check made out to us arrived in the mail and the amount was the exact amount of all of our bills. The point is that while not all of us may be called to sell everything we own except our guitars and violins and drive around the country in a van playing music for people, all of us do have a calling placed on our lives. And no matter how crazy it seems or how much it doesn't make sense, when we are obedient to that calling, even when it's really difficult and even when it's not what we want, we will be taken care of and blessed in unbelievable ways.
The number one question we have been asked on the road is, "Do you have a CD?" When we started Temple Veil the purpose was to leave people after the show in a more intimate place with Christ and not to market CDs in the venue's lobby, and that still is and will continue to be our main focus and purpose. After some discussion with our management, we've had an awesome opportunity present itself for us to work on a record with a very talented producer. So in light of wanting to reach more venues as well as leaving you with music to listen to after the show, we will be officially going into the studio next week to record our debut acoustic EP.
We will be heading into Orangudio Studios in Columbus, OH to work with producer Tim Neely (Pulse Records, Mark Townsend - DC Talk, House Of Heros, Daryl Wicker - Point of Grace) and engineer Drew Bullock (Everyday Sunday, Red Flecks). We will keep you updated along the way with the progress of the record and everything as far as a release date, pre-ordering, track list, etc. We are really excited about putting this together. It will be unlike anything we've ever done.
After a few weeks of tracking in the studio, we will be heading back out on the road on an extended coast to coast summer tour. This will be our first time to tour the west coast as Temple Veil, and we are really looking forward to going back out there with something fresh, new, and totally different. Our dates are filling up and we can't wait to see all of you. We do have some slots still open here and there across the country, so if you, your church, or venue would like to have us, send us an email to templeveil@gmail.com. Even if we can't make it this summer, we will go ahead and schedule you for next fall. See you soon!
Brysson
DeRock
~Temple Veil
Musician Life, Chapter 2
December 24, 2009 | 3:11 pm
Greetings to all,
The appropriate way to begin would be to say "Merry Christmas." We really do hope that you all have an amazing Christmas. The word "Christmas" is a word that sparks an emotion as it falls on the ears. This emotion completely varies amongst different people. For some, thoughts of Christmas spawn warm memories of rare time spent with family, and for others it's the holiday decor: the lights, the tree, the presents, the cookies, Santa. Many people think of sipping a steaming cup of hot chocolate and sitting by a warm fireplace while the sound of carols on the radio drown the howling winds that scatter drifts of snow across the lawn, yet some consider enjoying a glass of wine on the beach while the setting sun reflects on the rolling waves, casting long shadows across the infinite grains of sand. Christmas does not evoke emotions of joy and peace for everyone, however. Thoughts of loved ones lost, depression, loneliness, and poverty plague many minds during this season. Regardless of what emotion you feel by the mention of Christmas, there still remains an emotion.
The thought behind Christmas is one of sacrifice. God gave His Son to us as a sacrificial gift to all mankind. The idea of the holiday season is to metaphorically sacrifice a bit of ourselves and give to others. But what are we really sacrificing, and what are our motives? We give a sliver of our accumulated material wealth, and in return, we accumulate more material wealth. Can this even compare to that of giving your only son for the disgustingness of humanity and getting spat upon in the face in return?
Being on the road and in the music industry, we are constantly around many different artists, and it seems that artists are often engaging in conversations about all the millions of things they sacrifice to be in music full-time. While it is very true that almost everything in a conventional lifestyle must be given up in order to pursue music as a career, how is following your God-given calling and talent a sacrifice? Sacrifice would be giving up your calling to follow your own selfishness and missing out on the reward God has for you, but we seem to have no problem in making that type of sacrifice. The problem is that we have so missed the mark on what God's reward actually is.
In our materialistic world we seem to only comprehend materialistic rewards. For artists, we think that God is really rewarding us by the bigger the flat screens in our tour buses, the more albums we sell, the cooler our intelligent lighting show is, the more rare guitars we have, and the bigger the venue we can sell out. We measure our status and success by these realms, and wonder what happened when it all comes crashing down, and we are stuck six figures in debt to our record label; meanwhile, the next up and coming artist has already stolen our spotlight while traveling in their nice tour buses, and we are long lost and forgotten. The truth is that every show we play is one performance closer to our last. When it's all said and done, the question is what was more important: The comfort and luxury of the vehicle in which we traveled to those performances and how good we looked under those lights? Or the legacy that we left living in the lives of our audience through the music which we used to positively touch their souls? What is the true reward here?
Revelation 4:11b states, "For You created everything, and it is for Your pleasure that they exist and were created." Our reward in life is simply to have lived a life that is pleasing to God. The book of Hosea is an incredible example of this. Hosea was called to marry a prostitute in order to be a living example to the nation of Israel. From the outside, many would look at his life and say "That sucks!", but in his obedience, he was incredibly rewarded with having lived a pleasing life to God and his legacy positively changed an entire nation far beyond his lifetime. We can spend our lives making a name for ourselves and accumulating awesome stuff, but when all of our material wealth has been stripped away, passed on, or destroyed, what is left? How meaningless and purposeless to have not lived a pleasing life to God! We have one lifetime to achieve this. It's never too late to begin today.
Brysson
DeRock
~Temple Veil
Musician Life, Chapter 1
November 3, 2009 | 12:47 pm
Greetings to all,
It's so crazy to be thinking that Thanksgiving is coming up this month, nevertheless, it'll be here soon. We were just discussing how bi-polar the lives of musicians are. There are so many ups and downs in this industry. It changes hourly at times it seems. In our other project, we carry an expected persona, and very rarely have the opportunity to blog and talk about a lot of things that really go on in our lives. Now having Temple Veil as a very different outlet, and being that this endeavor is as stripped down, raw, and real as it gets, we want to take the opportunity to be very transparent with anyone who is interested and share some of the amazing things that go on in our every day lives.
We are currently on day 3 of our 25-day first tour with Temple Veil in route from Lake City, FL to Bluffton, SC. The first 2 events went well and nothing crazy, unexpected, or out of the ordinary happened. What is crazy and extraordinary is the fact that we're even out here on the road. As full-time musicians, our primary source of income comes from live performances. Sure, there's CD sales, Itunes sales, online merch sales, royalties, etc, but after management, labels, and retailers take their chunk, the percentages actually received by the artist are very small. The expense of being on the road is a whole other story in and of itself. In other words, we only do this because we love it and we are called to it, and no shows equals no income. With that being said, it's been an interesting past few months since our we came off the road with our other project and started Temple Veil.
While we've been spending countless hours putting everything together for Temple Veil, our performances have been limited to here and there on weekends. During this time our diet has been very strong in Raman noodles and water to say the least, and when the brake line in our van broke a week and a half before tour, we thought it was all over. Transportation obviously is a critical part of touring, and just one week out, we had zero money to fix our current and only means of transportation for our passion and our livelihood.
The brainstorming began of course, and all of our thoughts revolved around how to come up with the money to fix this problem. We've faced so many similar situations before and it's always funny how we always seem to react the same way every time. All of our brilliant ideas to come up with the money failed, as often they do. Then we just so happened to receive a phone call from someone we just so happened to meet many months earlier when we happened to be touring through the same area, and he happened to know someone who happened to be willing to come and take a look at our van. A couple hours later, this guy driving a big cargo van whom we had never met just showed up exactly where we were. The next thing we knew, his van converted into a mobile shop and he had our van jacked up and tore apart, and without a word he disappeared and reappeared with the all the parts we needed. Before we knew it, the brake line, along with every minor issue with our van, had been fixed. Meanwhile, we were trying to figure out a way to tell this guy we didn't have the money for all of this amazing service he just showed up and provided. We asked him how much we owed him and he just smiled, said "Be blessed", jumped in his van, and drove off.
We have become such a money driven society. Our primary thoughts revolve around "If only I had the money, I could do X..." Even though we have the God of the universe at our fingertips, we can't even fathom the thought of praying for someone to show up and fix our vehicle for free. We pray for the money so we can take care of everything ourselves, but God is so much bigger than that. His perfect, amazing plan puts our weak, humanistic ideas to shame over and over again, and yet we still don't get it. In the midst of a collapsing economy where millionaires are going bankrupt and chaos is everywhere we turn, it is so important to remember what Jesus says in Matthew 10:29-31 that "not even a sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it, so don't be afraid; you are more valuable to Him than a whole flock of sparrows". We put our faith and security into money and so many things and then freak out when these things let us down. The only true security we have is God. No matter what happens, He's got us. He's way bigger that Wall Street.
Brysson
DeRock
~Temple Veil
Temple Veil. The Beginning.
October 9, 2009 | 6:34 pm
Greetings to all,
We hope yall had a great summer this year and are now enjoying the fall. For the northern half of us, it feels nothing like fall here in Florida. We've had quite an eventful summer and fall on our end with many new adventures and endeavors. It's been a real change of pace. We ventured to Tampa, FL in mid-July to work with Rick Maya and an organization called Faith Tampa Bay www.faithtampabay.com. Rick has connected us with several churches around Florida, and we've been leading worship and performing acoustically, all the while working on our other musical endeavors. After some thought and prayers along with some long discussions with Rick and amongst ourselves, we decided about six weeks ago to pursue this acoustic project a little more.
For the past several weeks we have been working endlessly to create a name and a web presence for the duo, along with booking a tour and writing and rehearsing the music. Our first tour as Temple Veil embarks on October 31st and will be covering the southern and eastern United States over a span of 24 days. We cannot tell you how excited we are just to get on the road and connect with new faces as well as cross paths with several friends we've made along the way of previous touring endeavors. It's really exciting to bring you something fresh, raw, and real on a different musical spectrum than anything we've ever done in past projects.
We are taking things as they come with Temple Veil. We are discussing the possibility of a record after the November Tour, but we will cross that bridge when we get there. Right now we are putting all of our efforts and energy into making this tour the best that we can possibly make it. We will do our best to keep you updated from the road, and if at all possible, come connect with us at one of the stops. We would love to see you.
Brysson
DeRock
~Temple Veil
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