“Our goals when the group was formed are the same as they are today, which is to reach audiences and spread the Word of God through our music, our lyrics and our lives.”

This comes from Kyle Phillips, the lead singer and guitar player for 7th Seal, a Christian rock band based out of Union City.

According to Phillips, the band got started when Richard Fagan, drummer, found Phillips and two of his friends when they were in the basement of their church writing and singing songs they had written.

As their songwriting matured, Fagan found himself in the role of drummer. Eventually, Fagan asked one of his friends to come and help out the band as guitarist. That friend was Ray Haney, who went on to become the lead guitarist for the group. In 2006, Chris Baggett was added to the group when he answered their flyer for a bass player.

“The group got its name from Revelation 8:1-3,” says Phillips. “That’s the way we saw our music, as being lifted up to God with the prayers of all the saints. It’s our hope that our songs and music will be pleasing to Him like the incense from the alter.”

One of the most interesting things about this group is the list they gave of their influences: Rush, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, The Who, Bon Jovi, Ted Nugent, Metallica, Staind, Incubus, Pillar, Kutless, Third Day, Kids in the Way, Spoken, Staple and Emery.

“It’s always hard for us to describe or to catergorize our music,” says Phillips. “We all have so many different tastes and influences which in turn influence our writing. Our songs can range from praise and worship, to guitar-driven blues and jazz, to more classical style rock and even modern alternative rock. We have a wide variety of sounds and yet we feel all of it is unique to 7th Seal. We also feel it’s because of this variety that we have reached a wide variety of audiences.”

To date, the boys have played around 100 shows all over West and Middle Tennessee, as well as Western Kentucky and hope to branch out even further. They’ve already recorded a 5-demo CD, which was realeased in 2005, and have just completed a full-length CD called Past Yesterday, which they hope to have out by early January at the latest. Currently, they are taking bookings for their Christmas concert, which Phillips says they have been playing for about 3 years. “We’re also looking forward to getting out and promoting our new CD.”

If you want to learn more about 7th Seal, you can check them out at www.myspace.com/7thsealministry, or email them at benskillips@yahoo.com.

“We all feel we have been called by God to play Christian music,” says Phillips. “We’ve heard it said ‘Write what you know’, and all four of us have experienced Christ’s salvation in a personal way and we just want to share that experience with anyone and everyone who will listen. We are passionate about our faith and our music. We are just trying to give hope to a generation that has otherwise been deemed hopeless.”