Home    Events    TobyMac "Winter Wonder Slam" With Special Guest Relient K, Family Force 5, and introducing B. Reith

TobyMac "Winter Wonder Slam" With Special Guest Relient K, Family Force 5, and introducing B. Reith

Knoxville Coliseum

Nov 30th, 2008

TobyMac
is more than just your run-of-the-mill triple threat. He ranks among the most successful artists in Christian music history in terms of radio success, sales power and critical acclaim. He is also universally recognized as a creative force, an artistic maverick and a prophetic voice for racial reconciliation, social justice and a fierce devotion to faith and family. Plus, he's the most humble and approachable merchant of cool on the scene today. Having toured incessantly since launching his solo career six years ago, tobyMac and his band Diverse City are absolutely electrifying onstage.

Relient K
With Five Score And Seven Years Ago—Relient K's fifth album in seven years and the follow up to 2004's mmhmm, the band's third consecutive Gold album—some are bound to ask, has the pop-punk band, ahem, matured a bit? Well, yes—sort of. While the new album isn't chockfull of their characteristic puns and concludes with an 11-minute, 115-track tour de force entitled "Deathbed," rest assured, Relient K has not lost its quirky sense of humor.

The first track, the a cappella vignette "Plead the Fifth," for instance, is written from the viewpoint of an 19th century man with an outlandish conspiracy theory about Lincoln's death and it features lead vocalist/guitarist/pianist Matt Thiessen using his mouth to simulate each instrument of a drum kit. "Crayons Can Melt On Us For All I Care," which takes longer to say than to play, is a classic Relient K goofball aside. And while the epic "Deathbed," which includes Switchfoot's Jon Foreman on guest vocals, has a somber setting as its title implies, the masterfully woven tale of a man's life and death brims with witty observations and aural ironies.

Family Force 5
A phoenix rising from the ashes of the Dirty South, Family Force 5 creates a lethal mix of punk, rock, funk and mind-altering grooves that's guaranteed ghetto music straight from the heart cut with a healthy dose of fried grits.

Formed 2 years ago in Atlanta, Family Force 5 redefines Rock from the South, combining OutKast with Rage Against the Machine and Beastie Boys with the White Stripes.

Imagine Rick James fronting the MC5 or Ronnie Van Zant as lead singer for the Gap Band. No other band mixes new wave guitars with the nasty groove that can only come after a lifetime diet of fried chicken and collard greens.

B. Reith
Depending on your perspective, B. Reith is a perfect fit for Gotee Records, or else perfectly indicative of the kind of artists Gotee has gravitated toward over the last five years. Either way, one thing is clear: Once tobyMac discovered Reith's music in 2006, the young Milwaukee native was bound to be right at home with the Gotee label. Of course, Gotee is in something of a transitional state these days after recently regaining independence from EMI. That might explain why this national debut is only five songs long, though The Forecast EP offers just enough to get a decent feel for B. Reith (the "B" stands for Brian, yo).