“Pastor Woody (James Woodin of St. Andrews United Methodist Church) approached me and suggested we get the local bands together for an event,” said Rachel Wilson, rhythm guitarist for The Rabbit & the Renegade, who helped organize the So Long Summer Event.
The So Long Summer Event is at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 8, at St. Andrews United Methodist Church, 35924 U.S. 280 in Sylacauga. Presale tickets are available for $5 each and tickets are available at the door for $7 each.
“Pastor Woody thought it would be a good idea to promote local bands,” Wilson said. “We are definitely excited about it. We have a bunch of good artists performing.”
Sylacauga bands The Rabbit & the Renegade and Keep Your Guard will perform with Abandon Kansas, from Wichita, and Everett, from Montgomery.
Cassidy Wood and Billy Lutz formed The Rabbit & the Renegade about two years ago.
“We started in an unused bedroom in my house with guitar and drums, and I would program loops with keyboards and synthesizers and a bass part that would play along with us,” Wood said.
Wood said The Rabbit & the Renegade performs ambient pop-rock with spiritual lyrics.
“I’ve always thought of Billy as sort of a renegade (not in a bad way) and I was thinking about naming it ‘The Renegades’ or ‘The Refugees,’ but I was in a pet store and saw an incredible rabbit,” Wood said. “‘The Rabbit & the Renegade’ just popped into my head and it stuck.”
Wood said the band’s name goes with the band’s message.
“I see the renegade as a wolf or fox character, so the two animals are polar opposites, hunter and prey,” he said. “It’s kind of like the verse, ‘The lion will lay down with the lamb.’ It’s a message of peace and getting past our differences.”
Wilson joined The Rabbits and the Renegades in November 2008, and Patrick Shirley, on bass guitar, joined in March 2009.
Shirley said the band members compose their own songs.
“All our songs are original,” Wilson said. “Cass does the majority of the writing, but whenever one of us comes up with a cool riff or beat, he likes to incorporate that into a new song.”
Clay Morris organized Keep Your Guard less than one year ago. Keep Your Guard performs Christian Metal (or Hardcore) music.
“I organized the band because I really wanted to do something with music to bring glory to God’s name,” Morris said, who does vocals and writes lyrics for the band.
Morris said the other band members, John Norton, Denton Damron, and Tyler Swearingen all attend Sylacauga High School together.
Swearingen, who plays bass guitar, said the band writes some of their own music, and plays cover songs as well.
“Clay writes the lyrics, Denton writes the guitar parts and helps me write the bass guitar part, and John does his thing on the drums,” he said. “Lyrics usually come first with us. Clay’s got a notebook full of songs waiting on the right music and the right time.”
“I’ve always loved music, but it never really occurred to me that I would become a musician,” Morris said. “I just knew I was going to do something in the ministry, like become a youth pastor. But now I can testify and preach through my music.”
Morris said former band member Lee Arnett came up with the band’s name.
“What’s cool about the name is it means different things to different people,” Morris said. “To us, it meant that you should keep your guard, or watch your back, because Satan can do some crazy stuff to make you follow him rather than the One and Almighty God. God has equipped us for this war, for the things we face in this life, but there are those who will try to come from behind us and take us down. That’s why we should trust in God, and guard our hearts from evil, because God can and will help us conquer it.”
For more information or tickets call St. Andrews United Methodist Church at 256-378-5199.
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