Author: Michael Witthaus

Faith-based acts play SNHU Arena

With soaring harmonies and epic instrumental breaks, it’s easy to mistake We The Kingdom for a Nashville pop act like Little Big Town or Lady A. Composed of brothers Ed and Scott Cash, Ed’s children Franni Rae and Martin, and Andrew Bergthold, a close family friend, the multi-generational group hits all the modern country cues.

Here’s the twist: We The Kingdom isn’t trying to be Fleetwood Mac with a pickup truck and cutoff jeans. They’re rocking for God, with lyrics pulled from a prayer book and delivered in ministerial fervor to born-again crowds. It’s a successful act; the group was named Contemporary Christian Artist of the Year at the 2021 Dove Awards, the genre’s Grammys.

They’re currently on the road with headliner Casting Crowns, part of an 18-city run stopping in Manchester on May 14.

When it was announced, WTK was third on a bill that included Hillsong Worship. They’re now providing lead-in, as the latter group, part of an Australian megachurch, withdrew from the tour last month. This came amidst allegations of sexual impropriety at the megachurch that led to the resignations of its founder and several leaders, and the closure of several church campuses.

In a phone interview from Moline, Illinois, Andrew Bergthold alluded to their own reckoning with church leadership. In 2015, an exposé in the evangelical magazine Christianity Today detailed accusations of sexual and spiritual abuse at the Gathering, a church in Franklin, Tennessee. Ed Cash, co-writer of the top worship song “How Great Is Our God,” was a Gathering member and had been sharing profits with its founder, Wayne “Pops” Jolley.

Ed and Scott Cash left the church soon after; Jolley died in September 2016. We The Kingdom formed two years later at a Young Life camp in Georgia. The first song they wrote together, “Dancing On The Waves,” was for a service there, and addressed what they were experiencing — in different ways — at the time.

“The band started in the midst of a time where we were all very shaken in our idea of faith and what church looked like,” Bergthold said. “You hear man speak about God and you build an idea of God — because you have to — around what man says about God. You learn from other people and you grow.”

Bergthold was heartened by the many fans who said “Dancing On The Waves ” had aided in dealing with their own crises of faith. “All the time people come up and say, ‘I was hurt by the church and this song helped me reconcile with the Lord.’ They know they’re loved by Him; it’s unbelievable.”

As to their music’s positive effect on others extending to Dove trophies, gold records and arena tours, Bergthold modestly demurs. “I think it’s really beautiful that the Lord would use our story,” he replied, waving off fame as fascinating but not much else. Above all, Bergthold and his bandmates want to elevate fans and help them find hope in their spiritual quest.

After standing at the crossroads of belief in mortals and faith in the spirit, Bergthold came out healed.

“The leadership of the church got very messed up, and we were left wondering what is actually the truth of God and what is a bit of the lies and manipulation of man; or even the good intentions, but misleading of man,” he said. “We started literally in the middle of us having to reconstruct a bit of our faith system in our love of the church and man. God’s really redeemed our story.”

A follow-up to their debut studio album Holy Water will arrive later this year, after being delayed by the pandemic. They expect to play a few selections from it at their SNHU Arena show, including “Miracle Power,” which Bergthold thinks may be the new record’s first single.

“It’s actually one of my favorite songs we’ve ever written,” he said, “so I think people will be pretty excited about it.”

Casting Crowns featuring We The Kingdom
When: Saturday, May 14, 7 p.m.
Where: SNHU Arena, 555 Elm St., Manchester
Tickets: $27.75 to $124.75 at snhuarena.com

Featured photo: We The Kingdom. Courtesy photo.

Falmouth’s Crooked Coast hits Manchester

On its latest EP, Glass House, Crooked Coast turns in a heavier direction. Songs like “Hell in a Handbasket” and the title cut are as edgy and gray-limned as 2017’s reggae romp “Go Slow” was buoyant and bright. Some of the shift came with urging from producer Courtney Ballard (Good Charlotte, All Time Low), but much of it reflected the challenge of making music in a pandemic.

“There was so much uncertainty; it was just a crazy time to be in the studio writing with everything going on,” guitarist, singer and lyricist Luke Vose said by phone from his home in Falmouth, Mass. “It wasn’t a conscious decision. We just kind of followed the sound that was exciting us.”

Vose, along with co-guitar player and vocalist John McNamara, bassist Ben Elder and drummer Shaqed Druyan, worked hard to maintain the momentum of a band that had sold out their first hometown CoastFest in 2019 and had big plans for the following year before it was cut short. They played a series of shows in fans’ yards on a flatbed truck, and on the water for a Fourth of July concert, which was filmed for a documentary.

“Your limits were your imagination, because nothing traditional was happening,” Vose said. “So it was like, what can we do that’s totally out of left field? That was something we came up with, and it was super fun. We didn’t announce it or anything, we just popped up there for anyone who was in the area, in kayaks or on the shore.”

As with many independent bands, the music is only the beginning with Crooked Coast; branding and building buzz are vital, and their job. Uniquely, they also run their own retail store, an effort born of necessity when Vose needed to convert a second bedroom he used as a merch warehouse into a nursery. Fortuitously, a rental car agency had vacated the floor below their rehearsal space, and the price was right.

The shop has become a community hub.

“When we’re in town on the weekends, we open it up, we do special events, art shows; we did a book signing,” Vose said. It’s also a tourist attraction. “We have people come from out of town to visit the Cape, and now it’s like a part of their trip.”

On his own, Vose boosts the regional scene by writing about it in a column for the Falmouth Enterprise called “Listening Local.” When he took it over in the mid-2010s, Vose wasn’t a journalist.

“It definitely was a learning curve, but I wound up really enjoying it,” he said. “I really liked hearing other musicians’ stories, and every time I talked to someone I got a new perspective on something in life.”

Crooked Coast is expanding Glass House into a long-player they hope to release later this year. A single will drop in May.

“We’re doing what we can to line up business-wise and get the best splash the album can make,” Vose said, noting that the harder mood continues on it, “but there’s some more poppy stuff, and our bass player actually sings lead on a song that he wrote, which is awesome.”

If plans play out, the new record will coincide with Crooked Coast’s Memorial Day set at Boston Calling, where they’ll share the stage with Metallica, Weezer, Glass Animals and several other acts. In August they’ll appear at the three-day Beach Road Weekend festival on Martha’s Vineyard. The event includes national headliners like Wilco, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, The Avett Brothers, Guster, Dawes — and one that Vose is particularly excited about.

“I grew up a big fan of Beck, so that’s a little surreal … me as a young kid would have been very impressed to hear some day you’re going to play on the same stage as him,” he said. “We’ve been working on the Vineyard for quite some years now, building a following. To see our name on that poster is pretty awesome.”

Crooked Coast
When: Friday, May 6, at 9 p.m.
Where: Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St., Manchester
Tickets: $10 at the door;crookedcoast.com

Featured photo: Crooked Coast. Courtesy photo.

Friends and fans gather to help injured Tupelo employee

Just before dawn on April 8, Mark Shamaly was struck by a hit-and-run driver on the Everett Turnpike in Merrimack. He sustained multiple injuries, including head trauma, a fractured pelvis and ribs, and chest cavity damage. He’d stopped to help a motorist who’d been in an accident, something that surprised no one who knew Shamaly.

The director of security at Tupelo Music Hall in Derry, Shamaly is a familiar friendly figure to patrons of the venue. Owner Scott Hayward and his crew, along with Mike Smith, who books comedy there, quickly came up with a plan to help — a benefit show to raise enough money for him to have at least six months without worrying about his bills.

“It’s one of those situations where you could see how an employee has affected everybody around them,” Hayward said by phone on April 20. He noted that most of the $50 tickets have been sold, and a GoFundMe page launched by Shamaly’s wife had raised nearly $30,000. “Everybody was just really struck by this, so there’s been a huge wave of support.”

Smith was hosting a Tupelo show when he got the news, and immediately wanted to do something for him.

“Mark is such a great guy,” he said. “He loves the comedy shows and loves the comedians.”

The comics love him as well; Hayward said Smith placed eight quick phone calls and received affirmative responses from everyone.

The Laugh-A-Palooza benefit will be held on Sunday, May 1. Comics performing include Francis Birch, Jason Merrill, Matt Barry, Kyle Crawford, Kennedy Richard, Joe Yannetty, Chris Pennie and Steve Bjork.

“You’ll never see this many comedians on one show,” Hayward wrote, adding that a few special guests may also stop by.

Many of the comics got on board out of fondness for the Tupelo community, even if they weren’t close with Shamaly. Steven Bjork has worked there since its days in Londonderry.

“I jumped at the chance,” he said by phone. “Though I didn’t necessarily know all the circumstances, I knew somebody at the Tupelo needed some help.”

Matt Barry was effusive in his praise.

“Tupelo is one of my favorite places to perform, [and] in comedy you don’t always know what you’re walking into,” he said in a text exchange. “To be on a stage that’s so high-tech, with all the lights and the curtains, is a real trip. It makes me feel like Axl Rose (in a good way).”

The Manchester comic was also grateful to Tupelo for being one of the first venues in the country to do outdoor shows when the pandemic hit.

“They were looking out for performers in a time when not a lot of places were … when a venue that’s taken such good care of me over the years asked for a favor, ‘Yes’ was the obvious answer,” Barry wrote.

Birch said via text, “It feels good to make people laugh supporting an amazing cause. Tupelo and Mark have always been good to me, set me up for success. This feels like an appropriate way to do my part.”

Photographer Jerry LoFaro said of Shamaly in a post on the Tupelo Music Hall Community Facebook page, “I know when I walk in the door he’ll greet me with a big hug and a smile. We always convene and pal around a few times throughout a show, and he’s usually my photographer when I get the chance to pose with a visiting artist. It’s no surprise that he would put himself in harm’s way to help someone in need, but what a cruel price to pay.”

The Laugh-A-Palooza event will be livestreamed to Shamaly in his hospital room. For those unable to attend, or if tickets sell out, donations can be made via a special $25 ticket link on the Tupelo Music Hall page.

Laugh-A-Palooza – A Benefit for Mark Shamaly
When: Sunday, May 1, 6 p.m.
Where: Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry
Tickets: $50 at tuplelohall.com
Donations can be made at gofundme.com/f/pefyfw-hit-and-run-please-help.

Featured photo: Mark Shamaly. Courtesy photo.