The full version of Third Day's Coca Cola commercial can now be found on my YouTube channel. It's a song called 'Always - Third Day' and it aired on radio stations in June 1997.
The following was published about the jingle in the Herald and Review from Decatur, IL on May 3rd, 2002: Third Day approached Coke with it's own version of a jingle. "It was something we did for fun," says Third Day guitar player Brad Avery. "Me and Mac (Powell, the band's singer) put something together. We thought, 'Other people are doing it, so we might as well.' The whole idea is for us to get our music out there. If I had some moral issues with Coke or with some product, I might question it. But why not? Whether it's TV spots or whatever."
I recently came across a live recording from Third Day which I'd never heard before, and I thought it'd be cool to share it with y'all. It's a live performance by Third Day, recorded in 1995 (shortly after they signed with GrayDot records). The song is a medley, consisting of the following songs: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus / Can't Help Falling in Love / With Or Without You.
This is the second track from the album Live at the Strand which was released in 1997. All tracks were recorded live at The Strand in Atlanta (GA), while the Strand was operated by Mission Music Ministries.
Back in 1997, Third Day wrote and recorded a radio jingle for Coca Cola. The song was called "Always - Third Day" and aired on radio stations in June, 1997. I've read interviews where they mentioned this commercial, but I can't seem to find those anymore.. I believe Mac mentioned it at the time and said that he and Brad did most of the work on it. It was also mentioned in the archive feature that used to be on the Third Day website. You can find the partial radio jingle (and the photo that was taken for the commercial) below. Enjoy!
Here is a live performance from Third Day in 1997 at Liberty University Exit. This is by far the best performance of I Deserve I've ever heard, a lot nicer than the studio version because of the fabulous outro! I haven't had time to work on extensive posts but I'm sure you'll enjoy this video.
Also, a few months ago I found some interviews with Brad and Third Day which I hadn't seen/heard before. I might post those another time. There are also some audio interviews which I may type out because I personally prefer reading interviews instead of listening to them. Feel free to contact me if there's anything else you'd love to see on the blog.
Well, looks like I'm back again. It's been quite a while since my last post. The past year or so, I didn't really know what to post. Then I got this idea that I could do some re-runs of old posts, maybe expand them a little bit. So here I am, blogging again.
We're starting these re-runs with something really old school. I posted some of this back in 2013, but now I can share some more stuff. In this post we're going back all the way to the early 90s, when Brad was 20ish and still had his sweepin' long hair. I've always had a fondness for the 80s/90s era and the past always kind of intrigues me, so I thought it might be cool to share the stuff I've found from Brad in bands during the early 90s, before he moved on to Third Day. I'm including all kinds of cool things such as old videos, photographs, newspaper articles and interviews.
Okay, first things first. Obviously, Brad has been in some bands before Third Day. This is what he said in an old interview about him being in those bands:
"I had the opportunity to play in some bands in Illinois (most notably Fields of Youth and Skin King) but after those I toured for a couple of years with a couple Top 40 / Rock cover (hair) bands from Florida called FreeFare and XL."
FreeFare and XL were bands that were put together by a talent company called Young American Showcase.
"I didn't jump into my first band until my freshman year of college when I did some touring with a company out of Florida. We did assemblies in schools using pop music to promote self esteem and stay away from drugs and alcohol themes. That's where I really cut my teeth. I was forced to learn pop music and how to play leads since I was the only guitarist in the band and that forced me to start developing my own style and my own voice on guitar. I did it for 2 years and it was grueling! Basically we did three shows a day. We'd set up in the morning at a school, do a show, tear down and go to the next school for an after lunch show, then do another one that night! We did about 500 shows per year for 2 years so it was a lot of playing, traveling and little sleep! It taught me a lot, including how to get along with people since we were a bunch of guys from all different backgrounds. During my second year, not only was I a performer but a performing manager as well so I learned a lot about PR. That allowed me to kind of get my head around the business side of things too."
These are photo's which I found on eBay a couple of years ago. They're photos from a Fields of Youth tape called Secret Things. This tape was released in August 1992. The ad isn't on eBay anymore, but I've still got the photos. You can see the cover, the tracklist, some of the lyrics, who was in the band, who the band thanks and a small photo of the band. These images are rather small, but you can click any image to enlarge it.
I haven't been able to find tracks from the Secret Things tape, but I do have some other cool things for you. (Kerry Cox, thank you so much for your help on this post!) First off, here is a Fields of Youth song called "Fear to Fly". It was the ninth track from their album "The Embrace" (1993).
The second thing I have is even more fun. These are video recordings from two of the church practices/performances Fields of Youth did in the early 90s. I do not own these videos, all rights reserved to Mike Gallas.
Okay, on to the Young American Showcase stuff. This is a video recorded in 1991 at Currituck High School. Brad is playing for Free Fare (one of the bands put together by Young American Showcase). Brad is wearing a white T-shirt and playing a pink guitar.
Below you can find a bunch of photos of Brad when he was playing for Young American Showcase. (Thanks a lot, Troy Stone!) Oh, I hope you don't mind scrolling.. Blogger won't let me post these images in a neat gallery or something like that. And - same as always - , just click these images if you want to enlarge them.
Brad is the second person from the right.
Brad is the second person from the right.
Brad is the second person from the left in the back row.
Brad on the left.
Brad on the left.
Brad on the right.
Brad is in the back row, second person from the left.
Yep, that's Brad.
Brad is the second person from the right.
Brad is the second person from the right.
Brad on the left.
Brad on the left.
Last of all, I have two newspaper articles in which Brad was mentioned when he was playing for Young American Showcase. The first one is an article about Free Fare. It was in the Sasota Herald Tribune from February 2, 1991.
The second article is an article about XL.
This was all of the stuff I have collected over the years. I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed creating it. Of course, I also still take requests for blogposts, you can send those over to bradaveryfanbase@outlook.com. You can also send me random comments, suggestions or questions about Brad or my blog, share your story, tell me what kind of content you'd like me to post or tell me whatever you like. Anything is welcome.
Below you can find a video of 630, performing their song Together at North Point Community Church. This was performed with Brad Avery for Valentines Day 2017.
Below you can find a video of North Point Community Church's Christmas Eve Opener, performed on December 24, 2016. Brad Avery is standing on his usual side of the stage.
Below you can find a video of North Point Community's 2009 Christmas Opener. Brad is playing on the left side of the stage in the North Point West Auditorium.
Below you can find a video of North Point Community Church's parody of Queen's We Are The Champions. Performed on
November 27 at North Point Community Church with Brad Avery.
Below you can find a video of North Point Community Church's version of Mumford & Sons' Believe for their series Who Needs God? Performed on August 14 at North Point Community Church with Brad Avery.
Below you can find a video of North Point Community Church's 90s Boy Band Opener, performed on July 24 at North Point Community Church with Brad Avery.
Below you can find a video of the cover North Point Community Church did of Guns & Roses's song Sweet Child O' Mine. This was the opener for their service on June 26, 2016.
Below you can find a video of North Point Community Church's version of Phillip Phillips's Unpack Your Heart for their series Adress the Mess. Performed on May 15 at North Point Community Church with Brad Avery.
Below you can find a video of North Point Community Church's version of Styx's Renegade for their series The Bad Boys of Easter. Performed on March 13th at North Point Community Church with Brad Avery.
Below you can find a video of Woodstock City Church's version of X Ambassadors' Renegades for their series The Bad Boys of Easter. Performed on March 6th at Woodstock City Church with Brad Avery.
I know, I know, I have been offline for a quite a while, but I have been really busy. So first off, happy new year! In the meantime, y'all have had the time to check out the latest additions to this blog.
Anyways, it's been a while since I posted something, so I thought it was about time for something new. That is why I started looking for some new video material with Brad Avery playing in it (sorry for the dangling preposition). I know it is rather late, with Christmas being almost a month ago, but I found North Point Online's Christmas Celebration from 2015, with Brad playing the guitar. You can find the entire celebration in the video below. Enjoy!
As you may have noticed, I changed the URL for this blog. It used to be www.bradavery3d.blogspot.com, but I changed it to www.bradaveryfanbase.blogspot.com.
If you have any other questions, suggestions or ideas about my blog, feel free to share them with me. You can always email me at bradaveryfanbase@outlook.com.
I am currently working on a page about Brad's gear. That page will contain a gear list with most of the gear which Brad used when he played for Third Day. Up until then, you should check out one of Honeycomb Cargo's videos. During the first minute of that video you hear a part of an unreleased Third Day track, written by Brad.
First of all, I recently found this video of Brad playing Pharrell William's Happy at North Point Community Church.
Secondly, I would like to ask all of you to support Brad in his new career in any possible way. As you may know, Brad is now founder and COO for Honeycomb Cargo. I think he does an awesome job, trying to protect our environment from pollution. Please play for Brad, that God will bless him and his family and help Brad with his new career.
And last of all, don't forget that you can always email me at bradaveryfanbase@outlook.com if you have any questions or suggestions about my blog or Brad, or if there is anything else you would like to ask me. I love receiving emails from my readers.
Easter is already a few months behind us, but I didn't get my hands on North Point's Easter Opener until today. Below you can watch a video of their Easter Opener for 2015. The music starts a little later. And of course, Brad Avery is playing in it, too.
