As you can read here, Brad has been in some other bands before he joined Third Day. One of those was Fields of Youth. In this blogpost you can find several photos of their 'Secret Things' tape, as well as some videos from live performances. Currently, another one of their tapes, 'The Embrace', is for sale on eBay. The tape was released in 1993, and features the following tracks:
If you know where to find digitalized Fields of Youth tracks, please get in touch with me! I'm trying to build a post with old songs and bootleg material, and any help would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to email me at bradaveryfanbase@outlook.com if you have any questions or suggestions. Thank you!
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.
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 added a few new pages to Brad Avery Fan Base.
First of all, there is the gear page where you can see an extensive list containing most of the gear Brad Avery used when he was still with Third Day. I included photos and information for every guitar, amp or effect pedal.
Secondly, there is the song page where you can find a list with songs written by Brad Avery. I included audio clips, lyrics and Brad's explanation and story behind the song.
And last but not least, I added a FAQ page where you can find answers to various questions, such as why Brad Avery left Third Day, what Brad Avery has been up to since he left Third Day and what instruments Brad plays besides the guitar.
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.
I am pretty excited to announce that I can finally post a new interview with Brad Avery. You can find a list with old interviews on my blog, but those are all old ones that Brad did when he was still with Third Day. The new interview which I'm talking about was with Brad Avery and Joe Parrilli. Together they are the founders of their company Honeycomb Cargo.
In this interview, Brad and Joe discuss the Honeycomb Cargo concept, which they call a God sized idea. They also talk about their views on their company and the cargo market and a lot of other business-related stuff. Brad also talks about his faith and coming off the road. It's really cool to hear how excited and positive Brad and Joe are, and I love how they humbly share their hearts and stories and how they talk about their faith in God.
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.
As you can see, I added another new page to this blog: a photo gallery. In this gallery you can find a lot of photos of Brad Avery. Check it out and let me know what you think!
As you can see, I added a new page to this blog. On this page, you can find various interviews with either just Brad Avery or with Third Day including Brad. You can also find full magazines there, and in these magazines you'll find at least one interview or article with or about Third Day with Brad Avery or just about Brad. I sorted these interviews and articles by date, as far as I could find the dates of the interviews.
Today is the Christmas Service at North Point Community Church, and Brad's playing there today. Sorry for the late mention, but you can still check it out. If you want to join them online, they have services at 2 pm, 6 pm and 10 pm tonight (EST). And Wednesday they have a rebroadcast at 8 pm.
Looking for an educational and inspirational book about the faith of George Washington, the Founding Father of the States? Check out the book Brad Avery's wife, Mindi, wrote about it! It's called "The Faith of Our Founding Father" and was published October 22nd, 2013. You can order it on Amazon, click the image below to get there.
Brad will be playing in North Point Community Church this Sunday, 09/08/2013. I guess I didn't make this clear before, but you can watch him play live at northpointonline.tv. There are services at 9am, 11 am, 4:30 pm and 6:30 pm this Sunday (all in Eastern Standard Time). There is usually a rebroadcast the next Wednesday at 8pm. Enjoy!
This music was presented to Brad's younger brother when he married this summer. The first song is Brad on guitar on the left, his sister Jenna vocals, his brother Chad keyboards and his brother Grant on the right on the guitar. In the second song, Brad is on the guitar and singing, Jenna on the keyboard and Grant on guitar.
Enjoy!
Well, I got the question if there is any chance of Brad recording a solo album in the future. I actually asked his wife this week:
"Has Brad ever considered starting a solo music career? I'm sure it's such a waste when a gifted person like Brad would never do something in the music again. So, do you think he might record a CD? Perhaps not now, but in the future?"
Her reply was:
"There are no plans for Brad to start a solo music career. He still honors God through playing his guitar most Sundays and travels almost every month playing at confrences. Nothing like he used to though, which is a blessing to our family."
So if you want to see Brad live, go out and visit Northpoint Community Church. He also plays on their last album, "Live: Here + Now". Here is the promo:
Check out 0:45, that is Brad playing the guitar. You can buy the album on iTunes here. Hope that helps!
If you're still interested in Third Day, after Brad's departure, you might enjoy my two new posts on my weblog about Third Day: www.thirddaylover.blogspot.com. The blog is all about the other 4 members of Third Day, and the last two posts are about Third Day's upcoming, brandnew record, and about Mac Powell who told that he is making a country album. So check it out!
As you can read here, Brad has been in some other bands before he joined Third Day. One of those was Fields of Youth. In this blogpost you can find several photos of their 'Secret Things' tape, as well as some videos from live performances. Currently, another one of their tapes, 'The Embrace', is for sale on eBay. The tape was released in 1993, and features the following tracks:
