For pop/rock band Sidewalk Prophets, fans are family. And for the band that originated at Anderson University, this means inviting their fans into their entire recording and touring process. Comprised of Dave Frey (lead vocals), Cal Joslin (bass), Daniel Macal (lead guitar), Blake Bratton (keys/B3) and original co-founder Ben McDonald, who recently stepped off stage to work full-time as the group’s manager, Sidewalk Prophets is intent on putting the message of the Gospel front and center and keeping their fans in the mix every step of the way. From letting fans suggest concert cities and venues and assembling album artwork based on fan-submitted photos to building tours around fan engagement, Sidewalk Prophets proves they put their fans first in every aspect of their work as they craft songs that point to something bigger than themselves.
With a career spanning three major label studio releases—2009’s These Simple Truths, 2012’s Live Like That and 2015’s Something Different (plus 2013’s celebrated holiday offering, Merry Christmas To You)—and multiple hits, including “The Words I Would Say,” “You Love Me Anyway” and “Live Like That,” among others, Sidewalk Prophets remains a mainstay at Christian radio. The Dove Award-winning band has sold over 736,000 albums and 1.6 million digital downloads. In addition, the group has garnered five No. 1 songs, nine top five radio singles and more than 24 million views on YouTube. They’ve been nominated for a Billboard Music Award, multiple K-LOVE Fan Awards and four Dove Awards, taking home the New Artist of the Year Dove in 2010. Over the course of their career, they’ve played for more than 2.5 million fans, and counting.
Known for spending more days on the road than anywhere else, Sidewalk Prophets’ most recent tours have morphed into interactive experiences for the band and fans alike. The Great Big Family Room Tour welcomed attendees into an intimate living room setting where they were greeted at the door by the band members themselves. Meanwhile, their highly-successful Prodigal Tour combined film, music and top-notch production for an unparalleled immersive experience. The band will continue to set precedence with their creative live shows as a part of this fall’s Big Church Night Out Tour, alongside Newsboys, Blanca, 7eventh Time Down, and others.
Sidewalk Prophets’ latest album, Something Different (Fervent/Word), also found the band approaching their creative process in an innovative way. Instead of scheduling a string of co-writes in Nashville, the longtime friends holed up in a secluded cabin on a lake in Pennsylvania for an extended amount of time to pray and write. “All these things were happening in our lives at that time, but here we sat, on the peaceful serenity of this lake. It was a different way to approach writing. Instead of a clock-in and clock-out approach to writing, we were in the moment, in this environment for days on end asking God to fill the quiet but remove the distractions and burdens, and allow Him to speak through us,” Frey shares of the process. “I think the whole experience facilitated, in turn, a different way to show our hearts to the world.”
Produced by GRAMMY®-winner Seth Mosley (for KING & COUNTRY, Newsboys), Something Different has generated a string of Gospel-centric anthems, including “Prodigal,” “To Live Is Christ,” “Impossible” and “Come to the Table,” all of which reveal the heartbeat of the band’s missional vision. “There are so many different people we’ve met on the road—so many lives—and they’re all different,” Frey offers. “We’re all separate people. We all have our stories, but it’s the same God who connects us, and He is the something that makes us different.”
With a career spanning three major label studio releases—These Simple Truths (2009), Live Like That (2012) and Something Different (2015), plus 2013’s celebrated holiday offering, Merry Christmas To You—and multiple hits, including “The Words I Would Say,” “You Love Me Anyway” and “Live Like That,” among others, Sidewalk Prophets remains a mainstay at Christian radio. The Dove Award-winning band has sold over 736,000 albums and 1.6 million digital downloads. In addition, the group has garnered five No. 1 songs, nine top five radio singles and more than 24 million views on YouTube. The band originally formed at Indiana’s Anderson University, and since signing with Fervent Records/Word Entertainment, they’ve been nominated for a Billboard Music Award, multiple K-LOVE Fan Awards and four Dove Awards, taking home the New Artist of the Year Dove in 2010. Over the course of their career, they’ve played for more than 2.5 million fans, and counting. Known for spending more days on the road than anywhere else, Sidewalk Prophets’ most recent tours (The Great Big Family Room Tour, The Prodigal Tour) have morphed into interactive experiences for the band and fans alike. Sidewalk Prophets will continue to set precedence with their creative live shows as a part of this fall’s Big Church Night Out Tour, alongside Newsboys, Blanca, 7eventh Time Down, and others.