Looney Tunes CD's

I Wish We All Could Win is the debut album from the Christian rock band The Afters. The album contains their Dove Award-nominated hit single "Beautiful Love". The album is notable for having two tracks on it used as theme songs. The aforementioned Beautiful Love was used for the MTV reality series "8th and Ocean" while the track "Until The World" was used as the theme song to the ABC Family drama Beautiful People.

Personnel

*Joshua Havens - Vocals, Guitar

*Matt Fuqua - Vocals, Guitar

*Brad Wigg - Bass Guitar, Vocals

*Marc Dodd - Drums

Critical response

The website "Soul Purpose" remarked in their review: "The Afters display talent belying their short existence. ... engag the listener on a personal journey. A glimpse of the soul is rare indeed the Afters debut effortlessly captures that." More often than not, critics have approved of the soulful pop rock The Afters deliver on this disc, regardless of its more overt religious themes.

*Jesus Freak Hideout gave the album 4½ stars out of 5 commenting that "The Afters' approach to worship is a classy and thoughtful."

*Christianity Today.com gave the album 3½ stars out of 5 and added that it effectively "manage to straddle the fence between what Christian and mainstream radio is willing to play."

*Allmusic gave the album 3½ stars out of 5.

Charts

*Top Heatseekers: #40 (2005)

Awards

*CCM magazine selected I Wish We All Could Win for the Editor’s Top 10 Albums of 2005

Album cover

The album cover features a turtle and a rabbit, possibly referencing Aesop's fable of "The Tortoise and the Hare". The album title could be referring to the race that the two of them had in the story.

References

Category:2005 albums

Category:The Afters albums

pt:I Wish We All Could Win

Artist/Band Information

The Afters are a Dove Award-winning Christian rock band founded by Joshua Havens and Matt Fuqua. Havens and Fuqua first worked together in a Starbucks coffee shop in Mesquite, Texas, where they played for customers, before deciding to form a band. They added Brad Wigg and Marc Dodd, who were also employed at the same Starbucks, under their original name of Blisse. Their song "Never Going Back to OK" was the most-played song on R&R magazine's Christian CHR chart for 2008., R&R magazine, Retrieved January 6, 2009

History

Screaming Mimes (1999-2000)

As a precursor to Blisse, Matt and Josh performed several shows around Dallas as The Screaming Mimes, a reference to a St. Francis of Assisi quote "Witness at all times. Sometimes use words." The songs during this period were largely the same as they would be performed and recorded as Blisse. While Brad was a founding member of the group, he took time away from the band to perform with his own blues project, playing lead guitar. Shows at the Door in Deep Ellum were filled in by Dallas bassist Eric Kitchens.

Blisse (2000-2002)

Under the name Blisse, the band recorded a six-song EP in 2000. From this they made enough money to cut their first album, When the World Is Wonderful, which was released independently in 2001. This album contains songs also released on their major label debut album I Wish We All Could Win. In 2002 they released a live concert DVD filmed at a local Dallas club called The Door.

I Wish We All Could Win (2002–2006)

The band changed its name after discovering that another "Blisse" already existed. Settling on "The Afters", they continued to play local clubs in the Dallas area. They were eventually discovered by INO Records and signed to a four-record deal. After this, word of the band got to Epic Records, which signed the band to a deal for mainstream promotion and distribution. Their first major label album, I Wish We All Could Win, was released on February 22, 2005. The first single from the album was "Beautiful Love" written by Josh Havens about a time when his wife was abroad doing humanitarian aid. The single's music video led The Afters to a 2005 MTVu "Streaming Woodie" award. In addition, "Beautiful Love" became the theme song for the MTV show, "8th and Ocean" about the life of female and male fashion models living in Miami, Florida. The song was also featured in the 2006 film, "Just My Luck". Furthermore, the song "Until The World" featuring the album was the theme song for the American drama television series that aired on the ABC Family Network "Beautiful People", created by "Michael Rauch".

Never Going Back to OK (2006–present)

The Afters are currently promoted through INO Records and Columbia Records. In an update posted on their official website, the band went into the studio in August 2006 to start recording their second album, Never Going Back to OK. It was originally scheduled to be released on December 26, 2007 as per a post on their MySpace blog, but was ultimately delayed and released on February 26, 2008. NewReleaseTuesday.com, retrieved February 2, 2008

The first single from the album, the title track "Never Going Back to OK" premiered on October 16, 2007 on Total Axxess. It was also released as a streaming file on The Afters' MySpace page on November 10, 2007.. The song hit the R&R magazine charts in December 2007. It hit #1 on the R&R CHR chart in March 2008 as reported at Weekend 22; Retrieved March 11, 2008. and R&R magazine ranked it as the most played song on U.S. Christian CHR radio in 2008.

In spring of 2008, the band began their own headlining tour along with Falling Up, Ruth, and Everyday Sunday.

Future

The Afters stated in their Twitter account that they started recording their next album on October 27, 2009. Twitter.com 2009 The album is called Light Up The Sky and will be released on September 14, 2010. Christiansonic.net Retrieved June 14, 2010

Band members

* Joshua Havens - vocals / keys and guitars

* Matt Fuqua - vocals and guitars

* Jordan Mohilowski - drums

* Dan Ostebo - bass guitars

* Brad Wigg - guitars / bass guitars and vocals (former)

* Marc Dodd - drums (former)

Discography

Studio Albums

Live albums and DVDs

* Live @ the Door (2002) (As Blisse)

EPs

*Never Going Back to OK - EP (2008)

Tours

The Afters have toured and played shows with artists such as MercyMe, Lifehouse, Vertical Horizon, Styxx, Anna Nalick, Better Than Ezra, Howie Day, Everclear, Jeremy Camp, TobyMac, Hawk Nelson, Family Force 5, Sanctus Real, Mainstay and others.

Awards

References