Help Us Reach the Top 10!

Wow, our video for You're Not Alone has reached the list for a potential top 10 of 2010 on the Gospel Music Channel. We'll need your help to get it there though. Follow this link and vote as often as you can to help us reach the top 10.

http://gospelmusicchannel.com/vote

And since you're in a music video voting mood you can vote for us on CTS's "Most Requested" too. This is a TV show based in Ontario Canada. It's always nice to do well at home! To vote there follow this link!

http://www.ctstv.com/mostrequested/index.php

And in case you haven't seen it, here it is!

Just to keep you in the loop we just received the first draft of our new music video for "The Song You Sing" off of our newest Two At A Time project. It's looking really great. Once we have that totally completed we'll be sure to let you know!!

Glenn

Live Online Show

Watch us live online from South Carolina this weekend, October 23rd. Our friends over at Steelroots.com are broadcasting the show. We're taking a short break from the "You're Not Alone" tour and are doing the "Gimme Shelter" event which will feature us, The Wrecking and Philmont. Show starts at 7:30pm EST. Here's the link to check it out. http://www.steelroots.com/live

We've been enjoying a busy fall on our "You're Not Alone" tour. Thanks to everyone who has come out to see the show. We had the privilege of having Rush Of Fools on the road with us for the previous 8 shows and we'll be welcoming Chris Sligh back for the last 6 shows. Hope to see you there!

You're Not Alone Music Video

Thanks to Steelroots for putting together this great music video for us. We had a great time working with them. To see some behind the scenes footage from the making of this video you can also check out our youtube page at youtube.com/thebanddownhere.

CANADA TOUR WITH MICHAEL W. SMITH

Today we are on our way to Winnipeg after playing the 4th of 11 shows with Michael W. Smith across Canada over the next two weeks. So far we've had great shows in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa. Here's what we've got left:

May 5 - Winnipeg, MB
May 6 - Winnipeg, MB
May 7 - Saskatoon, SK
May 8 - Red Deer, AB
May 10 - Kelowna, BC
May 11 - Vancouver, BC
May 12 - Victoria, BC

This is a historic tour for us: it marks the first time we will be joined by family on an extended tour in the bus. We are excited to have Glenn's wife and 2 boys out with us - it will definitely add a new dynamic to life on the bus.

NEW ADDITION TO THE THIESSEN FAMILY

In case you missed it, Jeremy, Erin, and Liam welcomed Karis Joy into their home on March 8th. She is healthy and fat (funny how those those things go together in our early years). Liam is still warming up to the idea of having to share the spotlight, and Erin is reminiscing about the good old days when sleep was a reality. Thanks to all for your thoughts, prayers, and gifts on the road.

NEW RADIO SINGLE "YOU'RE NOT ALONE" AVAILABLE MAY 11TH

We are currently working on a new studio album which will release late this year (hint: being a last-minute Christmas shopper may actually pay off this year!). The first radio single "You're Not Alone" from the yet-to-be-named album will be available for download May 11th via all digital outlets. Click here to listen to a sneak peek of the song. Make sure you call and thank your local radio station when you hear it on the air.

BUSY FESTIVAL SEASON

We have a very busy summer festival schedule and hope to see you out there at some point. Here is a semi-comprehensive list of where we'll be:

Frenzy Festival - Edinburgh, Scotland - June 12
Fuel Festival - Ballymena, Northern Ireland - June 12
Atlanta Fest - Atlanta, GA - June 17
Creation NE - Shirleysburg, PA - June 30
Spirit Westcoast - Salina, CA - July 3
LifeFest - Oshkosh, WI - July 10
Hills Alive - Rapid City, SD - July 18
Creation NW - Enumclaw, WA - July 22
Kingdombound - Darien Lake, NY - Aug. 3
Inside Out Soul Festival - Gilford, NH - Aug. 4
Rock the Desert - Midland, TX - Aug. 6
Rock the River West - Surrey, BC - Aug. 7
Unity Festival - Muskegon, MI - Aug. 12
Downpour Festival - Great Falls, MT - Aug. 14
Rock the River West - Calgary, AB - Aug. 21
Rock the River West - Edmonton, AB - Aug. 28
Rock the Light Festival - LaCygne, KS - Sept. 3
Lifelight Festival - Worthing, SD - Sept. 5

We are discussing some ways we can make our short time at each festival even more memorable for you - make sure to stay tuned as we figure that out! (On a sidenote: if you have a connection with a private jet and pilot who would consider it an adventure to donate their time and resources for the summer, please email us - we'd love to talk with him/her. I jest... sort of.) Keep your eyes open for some money-saving opportunities in the upcoming weeks as we partner with these festivals.

"TWO AT A TIME: SNEAK PEEKS AND B SIDES"

To help tide you over until the new album comes out, we're excited to release at festivals this summer a 2-disc project called "Two At A Time: Sneak Peeks and B Sides". This is an album of - you guessed it! - sneak peeks of the new album as well as some never-before released songs (if you were a participant in one of our past listening parties you may recognize some of these tunes). This will only be available online and at our merch table, so make sure you come by to pick it up and say hi!

HARK THE HERONS RELEASES THEIR DEBUT ALBUM

If you haven't heard yet, Glenn has been working on a side project with Kalyn, an old family friend. The result is "Under Skies", a vibey folk record that will keep you hooked from start to finish. Click here to download the album from iTunes - or just visit www.harktheherons.com to see what's new.

New Music, Tulsa, Jeff City and KC!

Not sure if something has changed but lately our shows seem to be a lot more packed! This past weekend we played in Tulsa, OK, Jefferson City, MO and Kansas City, MO. Every show was full! And in Kansas City we had a full house 10-15 minutes before showtime which meant they had to turn people away!! Full houses sure make for a fun show for us. So thanks to all who worked so hard at putting the shows together and thanks to everyone who showed up! Especially you crazies who drove 5 hours to get there! (Tom & Dianna!) We saw many familiar faces and met lots of new friends. Definitely one of the perks of the job!

We were also fed like kings. The bus was overflowing with sweets and treats. Pastries, cinnamon rolls, brownies, cookies, candies, chocolates and more! We had to wade through it all to get to our bunks. Candies were probably spouting out the exhaust as we drove down the interstate. At least I was able to bring some home to my wonderful wife since we missed Valentines together.

Next week we'll be hitting the studio to record a couple of new songs. We'll be working with producer Mark Heimermann again which is great! He produced songs on our last two albums and seems to produce the ones that make it to radio so hopefully that can happen again. These will be part of a new project we're working on releasing by the summer.

Just a reminder, if you haven't joined our Facebook Fan Page to do so. The bulk of our updates are happening there and we do stop by to check it out too. So it's a great place to leave comments.

Until next time . . .

Glenn

Cruise/Marc Update

For those of you who may have missed our Twitter updates after the cruise, we want to assure you that Marc did make it back into the U.S. quite easily. More easily than he should have I'm sure but when you pray for something for so long I guess that's what happens.

Marc approached the customs agent and started to dig his passport out of his bag. While he was doing this she asked if he was carrying any fruit or vegetables into the U.S. He said no then without seeing any ID or asking any more questions she dismissed him. He was through quicker than any of us!

He did eventually receive his paperwork yesterday. So if we want to leave the country again anytime soon we'll now be OK.

So thanks again for your prayers. Things worked out great and Jason was quite happy we didn't have to put on the Jason Germain show although I'm sure he would have done great!

Here's a pic of our group. We were happy to have our friends Algernon and Teryn join us. It sure made for lot of laughs!! You may notice Jeremy's wife Erin is missing. We really missed having her out with us but she was quite busy with their little Liam at home and only a few weeks away from baby number two arriving.


GL

Downhere Chord Charts

We've had a few requests recently for chord charts for some of our Christmas songs. You can find chord charts and lyrics to all of the songs from Ending Is Beginning as well as charts for How Many Kings and Christmas In Our Hearts at our web site. Just click on "lyrics/guitar chords". We'll be adding other original Christmas song charts from "How Many Kings - Songs For Christmas" soon too. Enjoy!

www.downhere.com

How Many Kings Songs For Christmas

How cool is this? Today we release our very first Christmas album. This is also the first album we fully self produced.

You may be wondering what kind of arrangement of these songs you can be expecting. Well of course we have some fun as you'll hear in Good King and We Wish You and 5 Golden Rings. Jeremy has a short solo, a vocal solo that is. Jason's dog makes a brief appearance. This is the second album in a row for us with trombone on it. (That's odd.) I (Glenn) use a Juno award for percussion, as well as a mixer.

You'll also hear songs of praise and songs of reverence to our new born savior. Songs like Silent Night, Glory To God and What Child Is This. Marc also sings in his native French for the first time on this album.

We added some strings to the original version of How Many Kings to update that one a little. Then we thought it would be cool to "cover" our own song. So we recorded a completely different version of How Many Kings with Jason singing. New harmonies new ideas but still the same song. I think it turned out very cool.

So there's a brief preview for those of you who haven't heard it and for those of you who have now you have something to listen for!

To order now you can click here and we'll send you one or you can click here and download it from itunes. If you have the time there are a couple things you could do to help spread the word.
1. Add you review to whatever site you picked it up from.
2. Review it on your Facebook page
3. Let your friends know you just bought the album by updating your Facebook/Twitter status and give them a link to do so too!

Below are a few links to articles and reviews about the new album.
CMSpin.com
Titletrakk.com
NewReleaseTuesday.com
Article about the title track How Many Kings

And we can breath now.

So we've been home for a week after a very long 25 day trip which included a tour in Canada from Toronto ON to Vernon BC as well as 3 U.S. festivals. Our Canadian tour with Building 429 was a great experience. 500 kids were sponsored through World Vision in the 13 shows we played!! That is incredible! Leaving a tour knowing that 500 lives have been directly impacted really helps making the time away from our families more bearable. Kudos to Jason Roy of B429 for doing a great job presenting the needs of these kids to our audiences.

Tim Horton's (a popular Canadian coffee and donut shop) is definitely better off because of our visit too. I'm pretty sure we stopped there at least once every day and often it was more than that. We did have one bizarre driving experience during the tour. During our trip across the west side of Ontario we decided to follow our GPS even though we knew which way to go. It's always the same argument.

"Well maybe it knows a faster way."

"No, that can't be faster, I've gone that way before."

"Then why would it suggest it?"

"Fine, let's try it."

Well next thing we knew we were on a dirt path (aka road) where the branches from the trees on either side were touching our van and we were traversing over massive bumps and puddles, trailer and all. This is the kind of road that only 4 wheel drive vehicles should be using but for

some reason the old Garmin had much confidence in our old trusty van and trailer. After a good 30-45 minutes of driving on this road we made it out to the "main" road. We stopped at a fishing outfitter/gas station and after talking to the owner gave up all hope of having lunch that day. The next gas station was hours away. Good thing we stopped. Eventually of course, we

made it to our destination and thankfully the rest of the trip was smooth sailing. Thanks for praying!!

After 14 shows in our home country where we got to see family or good friends every single night we left Vernon, British Columbia and headed for Montana. The reunions were not over

though because we were heading to Jeremy's in-laws to play a show at their church and spend a little time with them. I think most of us have recovered from our afternoon on the lake. Here

are a few pics. Jeremy's father-in-law successfully knocked all of us off the tube at least once! (Below, Glenn, Marc, Dave Jason)

After Montana it was festival time. Rock The Light in Kansas City was first. Beautiful location and thankfully the rain held off for the show. We reconnected with the Casting Crowns folks there too! Then it was off to LifeLight in Sioux Falls SD. We played the same night as our good friend and label mate Lanae Hale. I'm sad to say between traffic and a miscalculation in time we arrived slightly late but the festival and audience were really forgiving and we had a great show! From South Dakota we were headed to our last show in Peoria IL. This was a great way to end the tour. It was a free show and once again, even though it had rained on and off all day

the rain stopped for show time and they had over 2000 people there! Below are a couple of

pics that some of our Downhomies took. Thanks Mindy and Liz!

So it was a full trip and we had fun but we are all happy to be back in our own beds. So now we're taking some time to do some writing and tend to the myriad of things that were missed while we were away.

Glenn

New Wheels Campaign

As you may or may not be aware, we have been dealing with some significant van issues lately with costly maintenance required to keep it on the road (isn't that always the case when you pay a vehicle off!). Now, thanks to the generosity of one donor, we find ourselves with the opportunity to potentially "move up" in transportation. Getting out of a van and into something larger will provide us with the following:

• an overall safer mode of transportation
• a more comfortable means of transportation
• the opportunity to take other artists out on tour with us and offer them transportation
• the opportunity to have our growing families travel with us

Over the course of our career we have tried to be good stewards and keep our expenses as low as possible - that's why we've been in a van for the last 10 years! We do not feel it would be good stewardship on our part to take on a large loan to finance a new vehicle. Instead, we are inviting you, our friends and fans, to see if you want to help finance the new wheels. The plan is simply this: over the next month we will share the need and give people the opportunity to donate via The Downhere Foundation (you will need to scroll down and click on the "Donate to the Downhere Foundation" button in the right column). At the end of September we will look at the total amount raised and decide at that point what direction we will go. We basically have three options:

1. USED TOUR BUS - our first choice, but also the most expensive. For the amount of shows we play a year, this would make sense.
2. CONVERTED SHUTTLE BUS - our second choice. This wouldn't be able to tow as much or ride as smoothly as a bus, but would still be more comfortable and safer than a van.
3. NEW 15-PASSENGER VAN - our final choice. We will go this route only if insufficient funds come in.

We are trusting that the Lord will make his plans for us clear through this makeshift fleece. The decision will be made for us based on how much money comes in. You can help in the following ways:

• DONATE... Every little bit helps. Many have donated already simply from an earlier blog post announcing the creation of the foundation back in June (if that is you, THANK-YOU.) We can now offer tax receipts for all gifts. You can also give gifts-in-kind (stock options, real estate, etc.). So if you or your business are in need of donating some money for tax purposes, we are now set up to be able to issue the necessary paperwork. Donation instructions are above. If you would prefer to give via check, please email us (theband@downhere.com)so that we can give you the proper instructions.
  
  
• INVITE YOUR FRIENDS TO GET INVOLVED... We would love it if you would share our story with your friends and family and invite them to become a part of our story as well.
  
  
• PRAY... We are so thankful for your faithful prayers over the years - this season is no exception. Please pray that the Lord would move in peoples' hearts to give and that we would be confident in our decision the end of September.

Thank-you again for your thoughts and prayers - as you think of us this week pray that we complete this Canadian tour strong and make it back home to our families safely. Hope to see you on the road!

The International Year

2009 is turning out to be quite an international year for us. In April we traveled to Vancouver BC to be a part of the Canadian Juno Awards celebrations. In May we were back in Denmark for some lovely time there.

June saw us again in Northern Ireland for a festival called FUEL. If you didn't catch it, while we were there Marc did a little impromptu performance of In The Light with Kevin Max formerly of DC Talk.

We're ending this summer with a Canadian tour. It's been a while since we've toured Canada so we are pumped to be able to play our home and native land again. This tour will bring us from Toronto to Vernon British Columbia.

In September we'll be back in Ontario for a weekend at my home church in Cambridge. I'm looking forward to that! Then in October we're returning to Western Canada for the Covenant Awards as well as a few Alberta shows.

And lastly, in November we'll be doing about a week of shows in Norway as well as maybe Ireland. We've played Norway before but it was such a short visit. Last time we were there it was for a festival called Seaside. We were in the country for no more than 12 hours. But man was it beautiful!

So yes, quite the international year for Downhere. On top of everything I mentioned above we've still been playing throughout America all year. We've even been able to hit up three camps this summer, two of which were beach camps plus 6 U.S. festivals. Can you tell we're having fun?

All that said, I hope we'll be in your area sometime soon so we can get a chance to say hi.

Glenn

Donate to the Downhere Foundation

We have had a rather trying couple of weeks as far as the van is concerned. Only by the grace of God did we make it to every show, but it has been rather expensive as we've had to pay for multiple repairs, truck rentals, etc.

Many of our fans and friends have been asking how they could contribute financially to help offset those expenses. For starters, let us say thank-you. I firmly believe that we have the most generous and gracious supporters in the industry. Time and time again we have been blessed unexpectedly, whether in the form of goodies at a show or financial gifts. We have recently set up the Downhere Foundation which will allow us to accept your gifts and give you tax deductible receipts in return. If you would like to contribute to the Foundation please click on the button below. This will take you to a secure page where you can give whatever you would like.

Thank-you in advance. We are so thankful for you and are humbled that you would want to help us out financially as well. We look forward to seeing you on the road!

Donate to The Downhere Foundation Fund

On the Road Again!

Today we're back on the road for a solid amount of time - 10 days, to be exact. We've had the last couple of weeks off (basically) which have been fantastic. My wife and I were able to get the nursery painted for our upcoming kid (Baby Rockstar is due Dec. 26th), we attended a couple of baby showers, we watched some football, and we were even able to have some people over for dinner! I know the other guys enjoyed their time off too - getting some regular exercise, finishing up projects around the house, reconnecting with friends, pursuing hobbies, etc.

And now that all comes to a screeching halt. For the month of November and the first two weeks of December we will be BUSY. First November: we'll be wrapping up the second half of the Ending is Beginning Tour with The Michael Gungor Band. We've got shows scheduled in OK, MO, TX, GA, PA, VA, and TN. Then we get almost a week off to recover (i.e. eat lots of pumpkin pie and turkey!) before we start the Bethlehem Skyline Tour with shows in OK, TX, AL, PA, MI, and WI. Lord willing (and please feel free to pray for this with me!) my son will wait until his daddy gets home off the road before bursting on the scene.

So it's going to be a full next couple of months - but good at the same time. Make sure you're signed up for our email newsletter via www.downhere.com - there will be more information and updates coming via the newsletter early next week.

Blessings to you all - thanks for being such faithful supporters! We look forward to seeing you on the road as always...

Jeremy

"Here I Am" in the Top 5

Here's our big news of the week: "Here I Am", our current radio single, broke into the Top 5 at Christian AC Radio this week! You can check out the chart here. To read a post about the song and listen to it, go here. If you get a chance, call your local radio station and thank them for playing our song!

A Couple of Days Off...

"Day off"? What is that? That's something my wife and I are wrestling with. This week we have a few days off, but Tuesday we played in the rain out at Debate 08 in Nashville - so much for a day off (it might have been easier to swallow if it wasn't raining so hard out that hardly anyone was there... but no one could have expected that). I'm looking forward to just hanging out at home today (after running a few errands this morning) taking care of my sick, pregnant wife. We hit the road again to Arkansas on Saturday for a show before having nearly two weeks off - that's going to be glorious! We may disappear off the radar for some of that time... and if we do, just be praying for lots of rest. Thanks!

Jeremy

Manufacturing Issue Delays Delivery of Pre-Ordered CDs

Hey all! We've received a few emails in the last week about this and so I wanted to make sure everyone knew what the situation was. Much to our chagrin, it appears that a number of you have STILL not received your pre-ordered CDs. Unfortunately, we have absolutely no control over this - all of this stuff is handled by a third-party company. We double-checked to make sure these albums would either arrive early or on time (we had some problems with this on the last album) and were assured they would.

However, before I completely throw our distributors under the bus, the real culprit THIS time around was the actual CD manufacturer. They went bankrupt and closed their doors without telling anyone. Our label didn't find out until they went to pick up the product days before it was to be shipped out to all the retail outlets (including the online distributors). Needless to say, they missed the deadline for shipping which has resulted in some pretty major consequences: some of your CD orders have been delayed, and our CD will not be available in mainstream outlets (i.e. Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Circuit City, etc.) until January.

So... I say all that to hopefully help some of you understand why your album has not arrived yet. For others of you you'll have to work a little harder to find the album (it should still be available in all Christian bookstores). Thank-you for your patience and understanding - we wish it was a different story, but the Lord knows exactly what He's doing... we've just got to hold on for the ride.

Thanks so much - looking forward to seeing you on the road this fall!

Jeremy
Check out my blog!

First "Ending is Beginning" Tour show a success!

It's a beautiful day here in Virginia... and I'm exhausted. Last night we played in Uniontown, PA for the first show on the "Ending is Beginning" tour. It ended up being a great night, but as all first days of tours go, it was a LONG and tiresome day. Our hosts were great - we played in a really cool old theater and Len the theater "dude" was a great help (sometimes with venues like this the "dude" is extremely unhelpful). With this being our first time setting up the lights, meeting and working with Michael Gungor and his band, and just getting everything ready to roll, we literally started loading in at 9:20am and didn't stop for a break until 11pm when we arrived at the hotel at the end of the night.

Then this morning we hit the road at 6am so that we could drive to Williamsburg, VA for an outdoor show tonight. I'm excited about tonight - we're going to see some great friends and it sounds like they've done a superb job promoting this show. It's being billed as a "release party" for our new album and they're expecting around 1500 people - I hope we've got enough CDs for everyone! Regardless, it's going to be a fun night - I just wish I wasn't so tired! Oh yeah - and Michael Gungor had to leave his driver at a hospital in Uniontown this morning as he went in for an appendectomy. I'm thankful I'm not him today!

So with setting up the lights and sound for a second day, a messageboard chat this afternoon, and another early morning tomorrow (we leave for the airport at 5:15am to fly to TX where we'll be launching our record on-air at K-LOVE with Jon and Sherry Rivers) we've got a lot to think about today. Your prayers for health and strength would definitely be appreciated. Take care, and I hope we'll see you on the road!

Jeremy

Sneak Preview

For those of you itching to know more about the new album "Ending is Beginning" here's a great site for you to check out.

http://mylastamen.wordpress.com/

It's a song by song explanation/devotional for each of the songs on the new album. Jason and Marc took lots of time working on these and we think it'll give you some insight into each of these new songs. Enjoy!

Glenn

New Myspace Home

www.myspace.com/thebanddownhere is now the new official home of downhere on myspace. We have been having problems with our old address and now (as you may have noticed) we don't even have it anymore. So until we can get that sorted out, if we can get that sorted out this is where we'll be. You can hear our music here including some of the new tracks from Ending Is Beginning. You can follow our blog here and leave us comments! This is where we will look!

And how about the new design? I think it looks pretty snazzy. I think snazzy is a word one of my old grade school teachers used to use. I like it though, kinda sounds like jazzy with a little sna to it! We'll keep this new site updated with the latest info on our upcoming release "Ending Is Beginning" and you can pre order it here too! I'm telling you, this is a pretty cool place to be! thebanddownhere on myspace is it!

Tell your friends, send bulletins, post blogs! We're only allowed to send out up to 400 friend requests a day so it's going to take your help to spread the word! We love you all! Thanks!

Glenn