For those of you who have not heard, HXCChristian.com will have a comp album due out around March 16th.  Special thanks to our pals at Thumper Punk Records who helped with all the heavy lifting on the comp.  “We at HXCChristian.com are really excited for this comp album to be released,” says Josh of HXCChristian.com, “not only did a ton of great bands step forward to contribute to the album, but the proceeds will help HXCChristian.com to continue to have a great presence at music festivals such as Cornerstone.”  While HXCChristian.com keeps it overhead low by a pure DIY ethic, we really like to do it up at Cornerstone.  Last year, we had an official generator tent where we were able to have bands do “meet-and-greets” with all the folks who attend Cornerstone.  Leroy – lead singer for War of Ages, Andy – lead singer of A Plea For Purging, and the guys from Debtor, all came out to answer questions about the band, life on the road, and how God has used them to reach out to people at shows.  We also had a pancake breakfast with Call to Preserve, and a free spaghetti dinner where we must have fed 200 people.  We look forward to doing it bigger and better at Cornerstone this year.  So, by purchasing a download of this comp, or buying the disc will help support our efforts.

Enough about us…..Who is on the comp?  Well, we had 25 bands volunteer to put a song on the comp.  It is just short of a full disc of music.  There are two sides of the comp, hardcore vs. punk.  Here is the track listing:

Side A (Hardcore Side)
1.   Welcome to Hardcore Christian Radio
2.   “Familyhood,” In Shepherds Arms, Armor of God
3.   “Nineteen Eleven,” Braveheart, Speak to These Bones, 1981 Records
4.   “Pale Rose,” Messengers, Anthems, Facedown Records
5.   “Keep On Smiling,” Gorilla Warfare, Keep On Smiling
6.   “Big Question,” Carrying The Fire, Demo (2011)
7.   “Lazy Sunday,” Those Who Fear, S.O.T.S. Demo (2009)
8.   “The Seed,” Killing Years, Demo (2010)
9.   “Control Freaks Who’ve Lost Control,” Divinity Theory
10.  “Bare Heights,” Debtor
11.  “Voids,” Strengthen What Remains, Humanity, On The Attack Records
12.  “Season of the Starved Wolf,” A Hill To Die Upon, Infinite Titanic Immortal, Bombworks Records

Side B (Punk, Oi! and Ska Side)
13.  Welcome to Hardcore Christian Radio
14.  “Old Rugged Cross,” False Idle, Hymns of Punk Rock Praise, Thumper Punk Records
15.  “Revolution,” True Liberty, City of the One, Wounded Records
16.  “Walking Dead,” The WAY, The Fight Is Ours, Thumper Punk Records
17.   “Lost Cause,” The Kings Kids, Thumper Punk Records
18.  “Take Me Away,” The Rekoning, The Road Less Traveled, Facedown Records
19.  “They Hate You” (originally performed by FBS), Grave Robber, Exhumed, Rottweiler Records
20.  “Standoff,” FBS, Live Grenade
21.  “Mad At The Girls,” Lust Control, This is a Condom Nation, Captive Thought Publishing
22.  “You Forgot Something,” Unshackled, Overcoming Years, Thumper Punk Records and Caustic Fallout
23.  “Another Day Gone,” The Hoax, Stumbling Through, Thumper Punk Records and Caustic Fallout
24.  “Boxcutter,” Skamikaze!
25.  “10,000 Ladders,” Send Out Scuds, High Score
26.  “I Wanna Let You Out of the Box,” Destroy Nate Allen, Until My Ankle’s Better
27.  “Hope, UniSEF,” Can These Bones Live?

AND….for the big reveal, we have been teasing folks with what the album cover would be.  I am big fan of the punk DIY style and lifting an existing design or album cover.  SO…we were huge fans of the Christian Aerobics album that was released many years ago.  And we thought, what a better way to honor such an interesting piece of Christian art/Americana than to update it to “Hardcore Aerobics?”  After all, anyone who has ever been in a pit knows that it is a real work out!  Folks that buy the physical album will also get some cool info on the insert including an exclusive on the how and why the site was started.

How much? Digital downloads will be available and will be priced at $5, physical copies of the CDs will be $10 plus shipping ($2.50).  Also, we should be able to take orders on this site or from Thumper Punk Records.  So check back often before the 16th for more details.

Thanks for your support, thanks to the great folks at Thumper Punk Records, Caustic Fallout, Seth from False Idle, and all the fantastic bands that have contributed to the album!  See you at Cornerstone 2011 and God bless!

Band Name: The Rekoning
Music Style: Punk/Oi!/Hardcore
Location (Home Base): Riverside, CA
Myspace Page: www.myspace.com/therekoning

Q: Where did the Rekoning get its origins from? How did the name come about, there must be some meaning behind the way you spelled The Rekoning.

A: I was watching the movie Tombstone one day and in the movie Doc Holiday says, “It’s not revenge he’s after, it’s the reckoning.” Then I found a scripture in the Bible in Isaiah 10:3 about a day of reckoning which hits kind of hard to the heart, which is fitting for us. We then decided to change the spelling of the name to The Rekoning since there were about 30 Gothic Metal bands with the regular spelling and a polka band that had the copyrights to it. Those polka bands are sneaky.

Q: Who are the band members? What does everyone do when they are not playing?

A: Shawn Montoya plays drums and does construction when he’s not playing and he always smells nice. Tommy Gun plays bass (and standup bass) and when he’s not playing he does construction as well. I (Josh Northcott) play guitar and sing lead vocals and when I am not playing I work as a Web Technician in Redlands CA.

Q: What bands was everyone in prior if they were?

A: Tommy was in a band called the Sandbox Bullies and both Shawn and I played with few different bands that didn’t do very many shows.

Q: I can count 4 different bands that I hear when I listen to the new album “The Road Less Traveled,” The Dropkick Murphys, The Bouncing Souls, Maybe a little Flogging Molly and some Social D, where do you get your influences from?

A: Many of our influences came from music we listened to growing up. Songwriters like Dwight Yoakam, Neil Diamond and Paul Simon are a big influence on the writing style and certainly find its way into some folk style breakdowns in our music. Bands like The Pogues and The Dropkick Murphys are certainly an influence by how they blend Irish folk music and make it nasty and awesome. We also love the good-ole Oi punk rock and are constantly influenced by bands like CockSparer, The Business, and Blitz. Also our love for bands like Hanoi Rocks, Bouncing Souls, The Deal, Toy Dolls and many others just find its way in their on the influences list. I guess you can say we have a wide range of influences.

Q: What music are you guys listening to right now, any bands you are listening to that we should all checkout?

A: Right now we’ve been listening to the Riverboat Gamblers new album which is pretty awesome. We’ve also been listening to this band that you should all check out called Call To Glory, they are an awesome band with an amazing love for God.

Q: How has Strike First Records helped out the band?

A: Those guys have been such a blessing to us. Basically they picked up this album right before we were about to put it out ourselves. So they helped us get our album out to stores and places we probably wouldn’t have been and also put us in a position where more people could find out about us. Also, we’ll be playing the Facedown Fest next month as well…the list goes on. (if you want to go and buy their album click here.)

Q: I know that you guys played a killer show with The Deal and No Innocent Victim (The Deal’s first show since their reforming), and it looks like you have another show in March with The Deal and our pals Braveheart (we love Isaac), How was the show with The Deal and NIV?

A: Yeah we’re looking forward to playing with The Deal and Braveheart this month. We love both of those bands. To answer your question, playing with The Deal and NIV was a very special show. I think it’s hands down our favorite show because all the bands playing that night were all old friends. We’ve known the Deal guys for a long time. I grew up with Rick and Derek so it was really great to finally play a show with them again and to hear those old Deal songs again. This was our second time playing with NIV and every time we play with them they always kick our spiritual butts. Best show ever.

Q: Looks like you guys play a lot of West Coast shows, are you planning on touring this year at all?

A: We’ll be doing some mini tours this summer and I think we will be at Cornerstone this year as well so be sure check out our summer dates.

Q: Looks like you guys are playing the Facedown Fest this year on Apri 3rd & 4th, what bands are looking forward to seeing play there?

A: We’re really looking forward to seeing most of the bands on the label to be honest with you but to narrow it down were really excited to see Sleeping Giant again and Take it Back!, also War of Ages and Plea for Purging is going to be awesome too. Also seeing our buddy’s of Wrench in the Works is going to be great too.

Q: You guys are definitely a Christian band, how does your faith influence your music?

A: Our faith is the main influence in our music. Once I got saved it was almost like I couldn’t really write about anything else. Our faith in Jesus Christ is where the passion and all the drive comes from. Our prayer is that this music plants a seed in people’s hearts as well as be one big source of encouragement.

Q: A lot of your songs reflect the Christian lifestyle and how you take “the road less traveled,” do you guys sometimes feel that the “church” or “by the book Christians” sometimes don’t get what you are doing?

A: We’ve been very blessed with the support we’ve had from churches. We have ran into a few people who thought the music was too loud or that the style didn’t represent Christianity but in reality the style of music doesn’t matter, what matters is if God is a part of it. But it’s not a debating matter although Christians debate stuff like this all the time. The truth is that God has different churches for different people, for some, they feel closer to God by singing hymns and worshiping in a more traditional way, and for other it’s the latter…there is no right and wrong way. But we do need to support one another if God is a part of what they are doing.

Q: Anyone ever questioned whether you are in fact Christian?

A: We’ve had messages from people who questioned if we were Christian because it didn’t sound like Christian music that they were used to. But we have more people come up to us after a show and let us know that they didn’t realize we were Christian until they saw us play.

Q: Where in the bible do you as a band draw influence? What inspires you as a band (or individuals)?

A: Oh man there’s a lot. I think a lot of inspiration comes from Paul’s letters to the churches. On this record, the book of 1st Corinthians has a lot of influence regarding songs like “I Believe” which is really an anthem of being strong in the faith and really being the child that Jesus died on the cross for you to be. But for the most part, each song draws multiple influences from many different places in the Word.

Q: Anyone at shows ever given the band a hard time about being Christian? On the flip side, have people ever come up to you after shows to talk about Jesus?

A: It’s happened a few times. It’s mostly a shock for people when they have realized that we are a Christian band instead of give us a hard time about it. But we have gotten a lot more people come up to us at shows and asked us to pray with them or talk about Jesus with them.

Q: What are the future plans for the band, can we expect another album?

A: Yes, we are going to continue to play wherever anyone would have us and you can certainly count on another album in the future.

Q: If you could give the hardcore/punk scene any message, what would it be?

A: Listen to other bands and other styles of music. Also, be excellent to one another.

Q: Feel free to give any shout-outs, or anything you want to add!

A: Yes, check out these other great bands like, Flatfoot 56, Our Corpse Destroyed, The Last Hope, Faith Snakes, Call To Glory and The Scurvies, you won’t be disappointed.

Thanks for reading, God bless, and as always, go and check out the forum to discuss God, music, and life. Have fun and fellowship!