Are You A Chad, Caleb, Alan or Joey? Meet Anthem Lights
Anthem Lights is a four-piece pop group who recently released their new album, Escape, featuring 11 original tracks. The band spoke with us about their origins and their recent foray into the pop genre.
The Band's Beginning
Anthem Lights members Chad Graham, Caleb Grimm, Alan Powell and Joey Stamper all started out as students at Liberty University.
"It began as a solo project for Chad that Alan was writing for him," the band explained. "When Chad decided to make it a group, he started searching for pop artists that might be interested in being a part."
Chad met Caleb, and he joined the band before Alan decided that he wanted not just to write for the group, but to be a part of it.
The group discovered Joey on Facebook after learning he'd won a singing competition.
"Light Of the World"
The band started off in the Contemporary Christian Music industry, and their name was inspired by their faith.
"Matthew 5 calls believers the 'light' of the world, and our music at the time was very 'anthemic,'" they explained. "We liked those two ideas so we simply put them together."
In the beginning, Anthem Lights felt that CCM was their calling, but over time, they've transitioned into different forms of music.
"Over the last few years, we have realized we are actually more gifted at making music in the pop world and connect with a different audience than we first thought," they said. "We now consider ourselves a pop group."
Rise To Fame
Since the band's formation, they've amassed a huge fan base online, including nearly 300,000 followers on YouTube. They claim that there's no secret to their success. Instead, it's about putting in the work.
"We just work really, really hard," they explained. "'Quality content, often' has been our mantra regarding all things online. Specifically YouTube. We are very intentional about creating music, videos, social media posts, etc. and connecting with our fans online on a DAILY basis."
"Escape"
The band released their debut pop album, Escape, on October 14, 2014.
"The theme of Escape can be summed up in that word exactly," the band said. "Though the word 'escape' appears in a couple different songs on the album, we also kind of look at this record as a departure from all of the musical and lyrics rules we used to hold ourselves to as a band."
As a pop group, the band finally have the chance to explore elements of their musical style like they never have before on an album.
"It's our 'let your hair down' record," they said. "It's just fun. There is no agenda on this album, except to highlight the good things in life, and to love and enjoy the people you're doing life with."
The Fans
Throughout Anthem Lights' transition, they've been incredibly thankful for continued support from their fans.
"We're excited about this new chapter of our band's career, and the opportunity to reinvent ourselves in a way," they said. "We owe it all to our fans for endlessly supporting us and making this music ride worth all of the hard work."
To keep up with all of the latest from Anthem Lights, be sure to keep up with them on YouTube and Facebook. You can also join the discussion in our community at Sweety High.