Like all young musicians, there came a time when the members of 7eventh Time Down began wrestling with the future and whether music was a career, a calling or a carefree pastime. “There was a moment where I said, ‘okay God, do I need to stop doing this? Or do I need to keep doing this? I thought this was the plan you had for me, but if that’s something different, I’ll follow you down that road.’ I felt a huge confirmation in the spirit. For me that’s when everything in my life started to shift focus and change.”

The other members experienced similar epiphanies. “The funny thing is it wasn’t us as a band saying, ‘Hey guys, let’s have a band meeting and we’re going to do this,’” recalls Williams. “It was God in our own lives as individuals. He was calling us for our own purpose and there was personal change in our own lives, discovering within ourselves what it means to chase after Jesus. That personal journey we were each on became part of the whole journey that 7eventh Time Down was going on.”

The journey really kicked into high gear when the band met musician/writer/producer Scotty Wilbanks (DecembeRadio, Unhindered, Echoing Angels) backstage at a show. “He really helped us with songwriting and taught me as a writer to be real hook-minded and real melody-minded,” says Howard. “If you are playing rock songs or worship, people want to know the words and they want to sing along.”

7eventh Time Down recorded their BEC debut with Wilbanks at the Rockporium in Atlanta. “Sonically it’s got a lot of heavy guitars because that’s the music we love,” says Van Zant. “Everything has to be big. At the same time I think all of us like to listen to music that we can hear what is going on vocally and lyrically, so the melodies to us have to be something that we’d want to sing along to.”

7eventh Time Down’s big, bold in-your-face brand of rock is inescapable, but it’s the message that’s most important. “Lyrically I hope we make a statement that’s inspiring for people to live like Jesus,” says Howard. “For us, the biggest goal is for them to not only believe in Jesus but to start following him and start to ask themselves some tough questions–What is it going to mean for me to look like Jesus where I’m at in my job? At school? Or for parents in that relationship with their husband or wife or kids? And for non-believers, I hope it’s inspiring for them to want to know who Jesus is. We want to present the gospel in a way that is intriguing and makes it a train that you want to jump on board.”

7eventh Time Down has experienced God’s grace and goodness and are compelled to share the good news. “We’re excited about being Christians and we want that to be the message of our record,” says Williams. “We want people to know that being saved and believing in God is exciting to us. I call it warfare, but it’s the most beautiful type of warfare because it’s warfare with no casualties. We’re warriors in a spiritual warfare. This is our craft and lyrics, guitars, bass, drums, melodies are our weapons and our tools. It’s a beautiful type of warfare. It’s love and excitement.”