The Lasting Hope

Pop rock group The Lasting Hope have begun a Faithlauncher campaign for their upcoming EP titled "Sunsets & Second Chances". See the video and quote from their page below.

Hey guys, Logan (Oakes) from The Lasting Hope here! We are so happy you guys are still with us! We have experienced so much in the three years we have been a band! It is crazy to think that three years ago we were trying to get a 30 minute set for a church lock in, and now we are taking trips to Nashville to work with a producer who has worked with each of our favorite bands. We are so thankful that we have had the opportunity to minister to people with the talents that God has given us.

We spent the first few years as a band really trying to figure who we are, but we have finally found our sound, and we have 5 guys who are determined to pursue our ministry as far as the Lord will take us. Just to give you a quick insight on the band I will introduce you to each one of our members:

Eryn West is our incredible drummer. He and I started the band back in 2010 for a church lock-in. Eryn leads worship at his home church in Crothersville, IN on Sunday mornings. He is also an awesome bowler who actually formed a Bowling League for his High School three years ago.

Logan Trowbridge is the man on the keys. Unlike the rest of us, he was so professional in the studio during the recording of the new single from our upcoming EP, that he did it in one take! Logan leads worship on Sunday mornings at his home church in Scottsburg, IN and is an avid comic book reader.

Josiah Crawley, our super cool and energetic bass player, joined our band a year ago. He actually gave up guitar and learned the bass in order to play with us. He has added so much to our sound and live performances. Josiah enjoys going to shows and ordering way too many clothes online.

Craig Banister, our guitar player, has been with the band since the start. He rocks the background vocals, and if you want to see an awesome afro, check out some of our early band pics! Craig is the proud father of two hermit crabs.

And, I’m Logan Oakes. I started out on lead guitar, but was convinced to take over lead vocals about six months ago when our frontman left. Though hesitant at first, I am slowly finding and sharing my voice! I love cats, though I have never owned one.

This band started out with a singular vision, but has grown into a calling to ministry. None of us can envision our lives without it. We all have a strong passion for what we do, and feel blessed that God has given us the ability to minister to other youth. We want to be role models, giving kids someone to look up to in this secular world.

God’s plans for us have been set in motion, but in order to be invited to minister, we have to have a product to share. We have begun the recording process, paying out of pocket for our first single, Something New, but are financially tapped out. Rather than going through a record label, we have decided to independently release an EP. We want to have control over our future as a band and to do that this is the best route. The downside is the cost.

Most people do not realize what goes into making an album. An artist has to pay for the producer, musicians, mixing, and mastering; not to mention the costs of album artwork, packaging, creating the physical CD, and shipping. We also need to travel to Nashville to work with a Christian producer who can help us develop and record the best music possible. Needless to say, we need financial support and backing.

We would never ask you to do this without a great deal of thanks and some epic perks. Those of you who support us will have the opportunity to receive tons of our awesome merch, along with our even more awesome new EP! Oh, and did I mention, we will get to spend quality time with several of you; whether it be when we sing you a song on Google+, or when we come to your house to play a private show for you and your friends. We have an extremely great and loyal group of fans who we know will make this campaign a success. Our goal is $6,000. We know we can do this with your help! Invite everyone you know to join the party and let’s raise $6K+.

Please also keep us, our campaign, and our ministry in your prayers. We would not be here if God had not called us to this journey; we ask that He bless the path that lies ahead! We would like to invite each of you to join us on this next exciting adventure! - - CM Addict

If you plan on going to one of The Lasting Hope’s shows, you better be ready to put your hands in the air, jump around and sing along.

As lead vocalist of the local Christian pop punk band, it’s Caleb Henderson’s job to get the crowd involved. He grew up singing at church and in choirs, but being the frontman of a band was new territory. He, however, has adapted quite well.

“It’s something I never experienced, really, getting into a crowd and getting them going, but it’s something fun,” Henderson said. “It’s crazy to understand how people are worshiping and getting that into God whenever you’re just having a good time.”

His bandmates feed off of that energy. “I think it’s a lot of adrenaline,” lead guitarist and backup vocalist Logan Oakes said. “It’s very upbeat, a lot of jumping. It’s a good time. We have a lot of crowd singing. Caleb’s really good about getting the crowd involved with singing. It’s very high energy.”

Drummer Eryn West claims he has “the best seat in the house” because he gets a full view of his bandmates and the crowd getting into the music. “There’s just a lot of energy,” West said. “Most of the time, the guys will be coming back and jumping on my drum set and getting in my face and stuff. It’s just a lot of fun.”

Craig Banister, who plays rhythm guitar and sings harmonies, said he likes jumping around and looking at people in the crowd, while the newest member of the band, bass player Josiah Crawley, said he likes “the energy of being able to play live.”

The band, which also includes Logan Trowbridge on piano and keyboard, has accomplished a lot since its inception two years ago. The original members are West and Oakes, who are from Crothersville, and Banister, who is from Seymour.

“My pastor at my church asked me about getting a group of guys together to play at a church lock-in,” West said. “(Oakes) was the first one I asked because I knew he was a really good guitarist. I asked him, and he said, ‘Yeah,’ and he knew Craig, and then we just kind of got some guys together. We really enjoyed it that night and thought we did a pretty good job, so we just wanted to keep practicing and see where it takes us.”

After doing a couple of shows, the band began looking for a lead vocalist, and Oakes remembered hearing Henderson in a musical and knew he would be the perfect fit. Along the way, Trowbridge joined the group, and then he got his cousin, Crawley, on board. Henderson is from Crothersville, while Trowbridge and Crawley are from Scottsburg.

The Lasting Hope’s first full-length CD was “Closer than Before.” Oakes said he writes a lot of the lyrics and music.
“We started out as a Christian contemporary rock group, and we were really grungy type, and it wasn’t really our style,” Oakes said. “We don’t know why we went that way. So we moved to more of Christian pop punk stuff, and it feels like it fits our genre better. Our new music video that’s out, you can tell it’s more our style through that.”
That video is for the band’s new single, “Forgetting Yesterdays.”

“We recorded with Wayne Deaton, and we sent out the single to a lot of people and got a lot of good reviews back from it,” Oakes said. “It’s been on the radio a couple times. We’re kind of just hoping to expand that and just take it to the next level, try to go as far as we can with it, whatever God’s will is for it.”

Banister, who is a student at the University of Indianapolis, said shooting a music video was a first for the band.
“I’m involved with the television crew at the University of Indianapolis, and they were interested in doing a video for us,” Banister said. “So I texted everybody, and everybody wanted to do it. We didn’t really know much about it going into it and it being a full-day thing, but it was really a good experience.”

While the band members are grateful for their CD, music video and live shows, they agree that the Christian aspect is most important. “I feel like God is the reason why we do all of this,” Oakes said. “We say at every one of our shows, ‘This is our band, this is our ministry,’ because we’re not preachers, but we have talents and we feel like that’s what God gave us, so we should use them for him.”

Spreading a message, Henderson said, “is important to me because the youth now, this generation, it’s crazy. The fact that we can put on music that they like, but we have our Christian aspects to it, it makes a huge difference, and people hear that. It’s going to uplift them.”

Banister added, “I think out of everything having to do with the band, it’s the most important. It’s what we all have in common. It’s what we all gathered together to do, and we travel to spread the word.”

As the group moves forward, it’s going to continue to lean on God. “I really feel like it’s a possibility that we can go further with this, we can continue to keep going at it,” Oakes said. “That’s my goal, that’s my dream, and that’s one thing I’ve always wanted to do.”

Crawley said, “These guys are all my good friends, and I enjoy experiencing road life with them, touring and stuff. It’s all in God’s hands, and it just depends where he wants to take us.”

Banister said he is “fine with whatever happens.” “I think what God wants to happen will happen no matter what,” he said. “I’m satisfied with where we’ve gone and wherever we go.”

The fact that everyone in the group is on the same page about the future is a big deal, West said. “We want to do what God’s called us to do,” he said. “Right now, we feel like we’re in God’s calling, and if he wants us to keep going forward, we’ll keep going forward.” - Seymour Tribune

Midwestern up-and-comers The Lasting Hope seeks to expand their fan base with the release of this summer’s 5 song EP Sunsets & Second Chances. Musically, the band delivers catchy, polished, upbeat pop/rock eerily reminiscent of Relient K. A closer look at the credits reveal that Producer Mark Lee Townsend may be responsible for the similarities- in a good way.

The overwhelmingly transformational nature of GOD’s grace serves as the core of the EP’s lyrical content: addressing our imperfection, regret and seeming powerlessness in the face of desperation. This gives the EP a worshipful slant and “keeps things real.” The music is ebullient and sanguine, preventing the overall demeanor of Sunsets & Second Chances from becoming dark & depressing. The acoustic guitar & piano-driven "On Your Way" reveals the heart & soul of the band, managing to both captivate and surprise the listener.

Sunsets & Second Chances should tide fans over until their full-length follow-up to 2011’s Closer Than Before drops. Fans of Relient K, Hawk Nelson, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Stellar Cart, Yellowcard, etc. will find something to raucously celebrate on The Lasting Hope’s latest. - New Release Today

First off, If you don’t know who The Lasting Hope is (which is understandable) then check out our awesome interview with them HERE. To give you a quick recap of how I ran across them. I was playing some online video games and listening to Slacker radio (yes, males can multi task) when out of nowhere something that sounded like old school Relient K and Hawk Nelson came on… and I didn’t recognize the song. Let me clarify something, I have every single album and EP by both of those bands. Hearing a song by one of them means I must have been living under a rock. As it turns out I had not been living under a rock. The Lasting Hope is a new Christian artist that has the sound of Relient K with a singer who reminds me of old school Hawk Nelson. Talk about a match made in heaven. Upon hearing “Something New”, I was inspired to reach out to them and see if I could have an exclusive interview. Well, that happened and despite being an adult male, I kind of got a fan boy crush on the band. Do not get me wrong, I like Relient K’s new sophisticated sound and Hawk Nelson was starting to grow a bit stale before the lead singer left and they changed it up. However, there is something that draws me to the old school musical style of both groups. Mark Lee Townsend is The Lasting Hope’s producer which helps me understand why they sound a bit like Relient K (in all the good ways). Townsend has produced for Relient K and Owl City.

Sunsets and Second Chances is a 5 song EP that is burning a hole in my CD player. Before I actually review the album, let me throw some other quotable lines for them to use to advertise. The Lasting Hope may be the last hope for old school Relient K fans. Logan Oakes for Pesident ’16! Sunsets and Second Chances saved my marriage and got me a raise at work! I am not sure if that last part is true. The EP as a whole is solid. It kicks off with “Records” and really sets the tone for what to expect. “Lifeline” is a bit slower but somehow I caught myself singing along without even realizing I was doing it. Maybe that song has subliminal messages… The Lasting Hope is brainwashing me! I bet they don’t use that as a way to advertise themselves. “On Your Way” is the middle of the album and here we experience a deeper message and subsequently, it causes you to think about how you are living as well. “Forgetting Yesterdays” would be completely forgettable if it wasn’t for the piano. Oh did I not mention that? The Lasting Hope has a piano in all of their songs and it rocks! If you have ever listened to Yellowcard then you know how much that violin adds to their band and makes them unique. For The Lasting Hope, they have a pianist and he enhances every song to give it the extra kick it needs to stick in your head. Finally we get to “Something New”. This song makes this whole EP awesome and worth it. You will find yourself listening to “Something New” and “Records” over and over again.

Overall, the EP is a solid effort by The Lasting Hope and I cannot wait till they release a full fledged follow up album. A little birdy told me that they are currently writing said album so be on the lookout! I highly recommend this EP for fans of Relient K, Hawk Nelson, and Yellowcard. - Geeks Under Grace