Newsboys have shared an replace six weeks after longtime frontman Michael Tait abruptly left the band, revealing God has “regularly proven His faithfulness” to the group regardless of the current shake-up.
“The final six weeks have been fairly a journey, however via all of it, God has regularly proven His faithfulness to us. We’re enthusiastic about our future, simply the 4 of us,” the group wrote in a Tuesday social media put up.
“We even have been engaged on new music this month, and we are able to’t wait to begin sharing it with you! Our first launch of 2025 is a brand new model of How Many Occasions, which was the primary music Adam wrote when he joined the band. Newly titled How Many Occasions (oh how You like me), this model appears like the precise music to share first as we enter this new season. It releases in every single place you hearken to music on March 14th. Thanks for the love and assist, it has meant the world to us!”
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The replace, signed by members Adam Agee, Jody Davis, Jeff Frankenstein and Duncan Phillips, marks one of many first since Tait, who led the band for 15 years following Peter Furler’s departure in 2009, introduced his choice to step away in January.
“Whereas this may occasionally come as a shock given I’ve been touring ever since school, I’ve made for me what’s a monumental and heartfelt choice that it’s time to step down from Newsboys,” Tait wrote. “This choice doesn’t come flippantly and has been a shock to even myself, however amidst prayer and fasting, I’ve readability that that is the precise choice.”
The departure, which got here simply weeks earlier than the launch of their Worldwide Revival Nights tour, left Newsboys scrambling to adapt, in the end turning to Agee, the band’s guitarist who joined the group in 2023, to step into the lead singer function.
Agee revealed in a later interview that the group re-recorded “How Many Occasions” that includes his vocals as an alternative of Tait’s.
“That was one of many issues that we’ve been scrambling to strive to determine and get accomplished,” Agee defined. “That’s truly a music that was one of many first songs I wrote for this Newsboys challenge a few years in the past, and at last, it’s getting launched. However I had sung a bunch of background vocals and the whole lot on there, however I hadn’t accomplished the lead vocals. So we popped again into the studio and acquired that accomplished actual fast.”
Agee, previously of Stellar Kart and Audio Adrenaline, turns into the fourth lead singer in Newsboys historical past. At a January present following Tait’s departure, Agee informed the group, “We’ve been via quite a bit this week.”
“When the information hit us every week in the past,” he mentioned, “it brings up numerous questions like: ‘What will we do? Will we transfer ahead?’ These ideas come into your head, man. Ought to we hold it up? Or will we preserve going?”
“I need to inform you guys one thing that with this band, with Newsboys, generally the messenger would possibly change, however the message stays the identical.”
Previous to his stint because the lead singer of Newsboys, Tait was a part of the CCM rap-rock group DC Speak, from 1988-2001, alongside TobyMac and Kevin Smith (Max). Earlier than becoming a member of Newsboys, Tait additionally led his personal band, Tait.
In a 2023 interview with The Christian Publish, Newsboys keyboardist Jeff Frankenstein mentioned he believed the Christian music band’s longevity was attributable to their dedication to biblical fact.
“I believe our longevity is a testomony to our hearts and the place we’re as folks, as a result of it’s totally unusual in any style {that a} band would keep collectively for over 30 years,” Frankenstein mentioned.
“I believe that one of many cool issues about Christian music, versus pop music, is that everyone knows deep down that music impacts folks and has a function and God gave us that reward. In a pop music state of affairs the place the whole lot’s about you and your profession, you may see why these issues flame out so rapidly, as a result of they’re simply primarily based round both folks’s egos or simply selfishness. On this state of affairs, all of us have a typical function the place we all know that music can actually change folks, as a result of we have seen it occur.”
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Publish. She will be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
