Jonathan speaking: Someone asked me to define the "Testament (the band)" formerly "Iplan Christian Rock" sound awhile back....
It was the first time anyone had ever asked me "that" question, and it had me stumped for awhile. That said, after giving the question a great deal of thought, I responded, "If you can picture KISS and Joan Jett meeting Third Day in an abandoned warehouse, for a knife fight you're on the right track."
Testament (the band) is mostly an electric guitar driven machine, featuring powerful vocals, and catchy lyrics . The songs are typically riff based, positive, and uplifting.
Doc Miller: Songwriting, Vocals
John Edgeman: Bass, Sound Reinforcement
Jerry Miller: Drums
Matt Miller: Guitar
Jonathan Wilson: Songwriting, Guitar, (on CD also: Rhythm Guitar, & Bass)
We have 3 guys in the band with the last name of "Miller" - but they are not related.
Yes! In fact, we are planning (we're always planning) a summer church tour in SC. The idea is to recruit 3 or 4 other unsigned SC Christian bands, and do a tour at each other's churches (please contact me if you're interested). If everything goes as planned, we should have 3 or 4 concerts at churches, and a few warmup gigs at some of the local venues around Columbia.
Influences:
Classic Rock to include: Joan Jett, Tom Petty, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Free, Black Crows, Ted Nuggent, Doobie Brothers, Eagles, KISS, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac
Christian Rock: Third Day, Switchfoot, Johnny Key (Indie), Chris Tomlin, Stryper, Matt Redman, Passion UK, Russ Taff, Todd Agnew
Jonathan's Preferred Axes:
1. 1992 Gibson Les Paul Standard
2. 1997 Gibson Les Paul Double Cut
Matt's Preferred Axes:
1. 1989 Gibson SG Special
2. Fernandez Sustainer
John's Bass:
Fender Squire Precision
Jonathan's Amplifier:
Laney LC-30 (Class A Tube) - "This one goes to 11"
Matt's Amp
Line 6 Modeling Amplifier
John plays his bass through a Behrninger Ultra-G (direct box)
Jerry only uses the best drums: Pearl (and anyone who says different can meet him out back for a prayer session).
Jonathan speaking: The story of the band... well, believe it or not, I never really had a desire to form a band, or write my own songs, or perform them.
Filling in for the regular lead guitarist in our church band when he was sick was about the extent of my public aspirations as a musician.
Then one day I wrote a song - completely by accident (I Can See You). I planned to give it to a friend who had her own band, but she thought I should perform it. That may have been a nice way of saying "Thanks but no Thanks", but I didn't pick up on it at the time. A few months later, I wrote another song (While There's Still Time), and I was on my way.
A couple years later, I had a backlog of songs, but was completely stuck since I'm not really a singer. This being the case, things really didn't get going until I hooked up with singer/ chiropractor Matt "Doc" Miller - who was been so strong in the areas I was not. We were able to record 4 original tracks, but things didn't really get to serious until we decided to try and form a band. We added drummer Cayce Anda to the group to form the core of a real band. Before we'd had the first rehersal as a 3 peice, we added Matt "Guitar" Miller on electric guitar and John Edgeman on bass - and a 5 piece band was born.
After a few jam sessions, Cayce moved to Miami, Florida, and took his PA system with him. A month or two later Doc requested a leave of absence to spend more time with family. After a few years of floundering, I sort of gave up the idea that this would ever be something we'd do as a consistent hobby. It's fun to think about, but I doubt it'll ever get off the ground.
Anyway, that's how it all started, we'll see how it progresses. Regardless, I continually remind myself that God has a way of using the weak and unaspiring among us to do great things.
Someone once told me that Vincent van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime - which was bought by his brother, so maybe there is some hope. Of course, it turned out that van Gogh actually did have talent.
