Sonic Flood
| Sonicflood | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Nashville, Tennessee, United States |
| Genres | Modern worship, CCM |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels | Gotee, INO, Resonate |
| Website | www |
| Members | Rick Heil Ron Robinson Phil Snowden Derek Wyatt Chris Bevins |
| Past members | See: Members |
Sonicflood (sometimes stylized as SONICFLOOd) is an American contemporary worship music band from Nashville, Tennessee, that has been touted as "The Fathers of the Modern Worship Movement." The group took the name "Sonicflood", a reference to a line in the Book of Revelation, chapter 19, verse 6.
They released their debut album at a time when such music was gaining commercial success in the Christian music industry. In turn, their success fed the contemporary worship music genre, expanding its appeal.
Since their debut, Sonicflood has sold almost two million albums, and produced top worship hits (often as covers) including "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever", "Resonate", "Cry Holy" and "Here I am to Worship". In the early years of their existence, the group earned two Dove awards and three further nominations, and one Grammy nomination. Additionally, their eponymous debut took Gold status, and spawned several No. 1 hits on Christian radio.
The band originally formed in 1997 under the name, "Zilch". Zilch began as dc Talk's traveling band, forming into an independent act in 1997. The initial recording lineup was lead singer and guitarist Mark Lee Townsend, keyboardist Jason Halbert, bassist Otto "Sugar Bear" Price and drummer Rick May. Zilch released its first album, Platinum, in 1997 on Gotee Records but received little publicity.Platinum featured a modern rock sound with clear influences from 1960s pop music. One review cited the sound as being similar to that of All Star United, and another to Weezer plus pop and hip-hop influences.
This release was not praise and worship music, which the band would soon become known for, but contained more standard fare, including songs on topics like friendship, complacency, and priorities. Overall, the band was characterized as not taking themselves seriously, for instance by including a cover of the Schoolhouse Rock! song "My Hero, Zero", and reflected in the band's name, which was taken from the song by the same name written by The Monkees. Likewise, the title of the album was a play on their own status as musicians. "We're appointing ourselves superstars with a 'Platinum' album..." Jason Halbert told one reporter, "That basically means !," Their song "In The Sky" is an answer to two hits at the time, Joan Osborne "One of Us" and Dishwalla "Counting Blue Cars", opening with the line, "... she asked if God was just a slob like us, well maybe something there is lacking," the second verse begins with, "Let me tell you all my thoughts on God, cause I just met with Him this morning..."
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