Sarepta History...

I've been in contact with one of the guys from Sarepta and he's recently sent me a history of the band. Thought I'd post it here so everyone can find out a bit more about them.

I think it all started back in early 2007, when myself(Kristoffer
Davidsen) , Leif Jones Johannesen, and Odd Jarle Hovden started jamming
together.
We just played some covers, ZZ Top, Deep Purple, Lynyrd Skynyrd etc etc.
But we found out that just playing rock´n roll was really empty!

So we founded Sarepta in the summer 08 (I think), and decided that this was going to be a Christian Rock band.

The lineup at this point was:

Kristoffer Davidsen - Guitars
Leif Jones Johannessen - Bass Guitar
Odd Jarle Hovden - Drums and Percussion
Ivan Thorsen - Vocals
Ingar Langaker - Organs and Keyboards

Things were going very well for Sarepta at this point, we had gigs every week, and had to turn down a lot of people.
Although we didn´t get paid for any of them!
Money at the time was no issue.

When
we had reached what we thought was the peak of our careers ( haha ),
and the monday came, there were some disagreements in the band.
All of wich led to the departure of keyboard player Ingar.
Don´t
get me wrong, there are no hard feelings, but his musical expression
were so different from what we wanted in a keyboard player.

But the search for a new keyboard player didn´t start right away.
Instead, me and Leif Jones had been going to some concerts where this local bloke; Johnny Nilsen, played bass.

He seemed to be a really experienced Worship bass player, so we asked if he was up for a jam....
And
with Leif Jones being a really good guitar player as well, Johnny was
from that night, and still is the bass player in Sarepta.

We now had 2 guitar players, and the line up was:

Kristoffer Davidsen - Guitars
Leif Jones Johannessen - Guitars
Odd Jarle Hovden - Drums and Percussion
Ivan Thorsen - Vocals
Johnny Nilsen - Bass Guitar

After
a gig we had the 24th of december 2009, we hooked up with one of
Norways best vocalist, who also is an awesome organ player!

We hung out all night, and we flirted with the idea of him being our new organ player.
And there we were; Mads Pedersen was our new organ player!

And so:
Kristoffer Davidsen - Guitars
Leif Jones Johannessen - Guitars
Odd Jarle Hovden - Drums and Percussion
Ivan Thorsen - Lead Vocals
Johnny Nilsen - Bass Guitar
Mads Pedersen - Organs and Keyboards, Backing Vocals

We were almost finished with "Smokin´ Vineyard", when all of a sudden, a shot in the dark.....

I received a phone call, it was Ivan Thorsen saying he was going to quit the band, and for no reason.
This was 2 or 3 weeks after his wedding, so we hadn´t spoke too much at that time.

So there we where, with an almost finished record, with some vocal parts missing.
I remember being quite desperate.
It
was known a couple of weeks later that Ivan and his wife, was going to
have a baby... But no one knows if this had anything to do with him
leaving.

Then we had many names of singers we were going to try out.
But why bother..... Mads Pedersen took over vocal charge, and MAN, didn´t he blew us away!!

So there you have it, the Sarepta line up as it stands today:

Kristoffer Davidsen - Lead & Rhythm Guitars
Leif Jones Johannessen - Rhythm Guitars
Odd Jarle Hovden - Drums and Percussion
Johnny Nilsen - Bass Guitar
Mads Pedersen - Lead Vocals (And also the piano and keyboard parts)





Fundy

very interesting, thanks for sharing Fundy.

It's always interesting to read the story behind the band.
Thanks fundy for sharing.
I hope you'll soon have the lyrics complete to share with us.
I'm interested in the lyrics of "Smokin' Vineyard".

That's a cool story about how they evolved into the band they are today.

Fundy,

Thanks for sharing- that's an interesting story. Since you are in contact with the band, perhaps you could ask how is it possible to obtain their CD.

Again, Nordic Mission is not practical due to the high cost of shipping. Perhaps you could recommend CD Baby to them.

Thanks,

I've sent an email asking the quesiton. I'll let you know if and when I get a response.



Fundy

I had to play their songs this morning. Good stuff!

The answer...

At the moment the album is only available on the nordic mission site, local stores, iTunes, and Spotify.

But we are currently working on some distribution deals, but as you know people don´t buy their CD´s these days...

But I´ll pass the message, and propose CD Baby to the guys and the small management :-)

Also, CD sale has been good, and is good, and now we are in the process of making new material to our second album!
There´s a battle going on in these last days, so we best be ready for the Lords coming!

Fundy

I have really been digging this band!! Thanks for information!!! You guys are a great bunch!!!
Timshell64