Thebandwithnoname

thebandwithnoname
Also known as	tbwnn
Origin	Manchester
Genres	Christian music nu metal hip hop rap grime Crunk rock
Years active	2002 - 2010
Labels	ICC, Spring Harvest
Associated acts	World Wide Message Tribe Hoolio and Ad-Apt Doug Walker TBC
Website	www.thebandwithnoname.com
Members
Chip Kendall (Chip K) Leon Henderson David Strafford (Straff)
Past members
Jonathan Moore (J) Adam Brown Bobby Joel Stearns James 'Jimmy' Adams

thebandwithnoname (referred to as "TBWNN" by fans) were a Christian band who were launched by Innervation Trust in March 2002, as a "flagship" band. Alongside sister band to TBWNN, girl band TBC. Innervation Trust is a Christian charity that exists to recruit and resource schools teams, dubbed "Collectives", each dedicated to a major city in the UK. Innervation Trust is the product of Mark Pennells and Zarc Porter, a songwriter/producer partnership also credited with writing most of the music for, and co-founding, the World Wide Message Tribe. After 7 years of promoting the Collective bands throughout every region of the UK, they have been replaced by new project Pop Connection. Working with Andy Silver, Pop Connection will spend a week teaching children at a primary school a number of songs (usually 7) as a choir and the next week will perform these songs in their local church or activity hall/centre with an audience. They also have a recording day to make their very own pop album. TBWNN hosted their final ever gig at the Stockport Plaza on Saturday 4 September 2010 and have since disbanded.

Name

As an advertising device to raise the profile of the band at its launch, Innervation opened a competition for fans to give the band a name. Fans were invited to vote via the internet for a new name, and the most popular ones were placed in a shortlist from which fans could vote for their favourite. However, the band had already released a single ("Take Up The Tempo", which would also appear on their first album The Blitz), and performed a high-profile launch concert at Soul Survivor 2002 & In 2007, both under the name "thebandwithnoname". Fan response was in favour of the name being retained.

The Blitz

thebandwithnoname's debut album "The Blitz", produced by Zarc Porter, was released almost as soon as the band's lineup was finalised. thebandwithnoname were then a three-piece group, the members being Adam Brown (known as Presha while with thebandwithnoname; now goes by Adapt); Bobby Joel Stearns (known with thebandwithnoname as The Bobsta); and Chip Kendall (known in thebandwithnoname as chipK). The "Blitz Tour" took place in 2002/2003, a 60-date tour to promote this album, and also featured Doug Walker (Manchester-based singer/songwriter) as a support act. Bobby Joel Stearns was later one-third of electrosoul outfit Unklejam. Adam Brown features on the first single release of Innervation's newest project, Bebe Vox.

Schizophrenix

Schizophrenix was the band's second album, and launched the band further into the Christian music scene. The album received very positive reviews. However, Bobby Stearns, and later Adam Brown, left the group shortly after the release of Schizophrenix to pursue individual careers. A long period of reduced activity followed for the band, with Zulu Yengwa (a rapper) and Joshua Philip Oluwadare Morohumobo Kofi Alamu (a singer known simply as "Josh" whilst appearing with thebandwithnoname) occasionally featuring alongside the only remaining original member of the group, chipK. For some time Innervation failed to recruit any new members for the group. During this time, thebandwithnoname added dancers, Tina Mann and Helen Kendall (chipK's wife) and went on a two and a half month tour of the USA. The tour was organized by Tom Miyashiro of Faith 2 Faith Ministries International, who by the end of the tour helped recruit and send American musicianaries to the UK to work in Innervation's bands. Tom released a book in 2006 entitled, "Schizophrenic" as a compliment to the Schizophrenix album.

Interim lineup

At the end of 2005, thebandwithnoname announced a new lineup. chipK remained along with three new members: Leon Henderson, stage name Q Kid, a rapper from Milton Keynes; Jonathan Moore, stage name J, a dancer and singer from London; and David Strafford, stage name Straff, a singer from Kent. The Innervation Winter Tour 2005 premiered this new lineup, a 13-date tour across the UK. American musicianaries Carissa Jardio (who later married Zulu from the second tbwnn lineup) and Kylie Evans (2006) were added to the band as back up dancers alongside Tina and Helen.

Dying to be There

The band's third album, Dying to be There, was released on the February 23, 2007, and has garnered extremely positive reviews including a 10 square review from Cross Rhythms. Thanks to a record company systems failure, several copies were sent to Christian bookshops early and sold well before the release date. In addition the album was sold in the US by the band, before the album was released in the UK. The album won two Album Of The Year awards in the UK and the first song on the album "Do Or Die" was the most played song of 2007 on the UK's CR Radio.

New lineup

In late 2008 Jonathan Moore (stage name "J") left the band in order to work on other projects. This year the band features session drummer Tom Pearson (stage name "Kuvey") and guitarist James Adams (stage name "Jimmy") on stage with them. Leon is also spending time DJing as well as rapping. Jimmy's last performance with the band was at Greenbelt 2009; he has since been replaced by new guitarist Joel Atkins.

The4Points/The Best of thebandwithnoname

The band's fourth, and final, album, The4Points/The Best of thebandwithnoname, was released on February 19, 2010 and has also received a 10 square review from Cross Rhythms. The album contains the best songs from all three albums but also contains 3 new songs titled "the4points", "Heroes Fall" and "Space Cadet". "The4Points" track featues LZ7 along with The Pop Connection Choir, Love and Joy Gospel Choir, Sanctified Gospel Choir, tbc, Shell Perris, Blush UK, 12:24 and 4 Kornerz.

Trivial

• chipK appeared on popular TV show The Weakest Link presented by Ann Robinson^[1]

External links

• thebandwithnoname's official site
• Interview with the band (most recent lineup)
• Interview with the band (original lineup) shortly before completion of "Schizophrenix"
• Interview with the band (original lineup) shortly after the release of "The Blitz"

References

1. ^ Cummings, Tony (September 2002). "thebandwithnoname's Chip K talks to TV presenter Ann Robinson about his faith". Cross Rhythms (70). http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/news/Jesus_Loves_Ann_Robinson/24121/p1/.