Audio Adrenaline

Audio Adrenaline Finding Their Roots as A-180

What you might not know is that Audio Adrenaline the rock band wasn’t originally known by that name. The group started out as ‘A-180’ back in 1986 when the boys were still at Kentucky Christian University. The original members were Mark Stuart on vocals, Barry Blair playing guitar, Will McGinnis playing bass, David Stuart on keys, and Phil Vaughan on drums.

After a year of playing shows, Mark made a trip to Haiti causing the band to halt performing for a little while. After that time, the band reformed inviting Ron Gibson in to take over drums. Over the next two years the band would play more than 100 shows and record two albums, You Turn and Reaper’s Train.

The group’s success really began when they came across a man called Bob Herdman. He brought two self-written tracks to the band with the hopes that A-180 would record them. The band did in fact record one of the songs My God in Ohio at Landmark Recording Studio.

It was there that the band took Herdman on board as a fellow songwriter. The song eventually came across the ears of prolific DC Talk frontman Toby McKeehan who started Audio Adrenaline’s relationship with contemporary Christian music’s ForeFront Records. It was then that their name was officially changed.

Audio Adrenaline at the ForeFront of the Industry

Following their join with ForeFront, AA began to write more music in a similar vein to My God, which had given them so much success up until then. This wasn’t necessarily a natural process for the guys as the rock-inspired musicians had to mold themselves into hip hop artists. Because of the different direction the band had taken, Dave and Ron left the band in 1992.

Later that year, the group released their first studio album which was self-titled Audio Adrenaline. The Christian Rock band saw the album received well with one song, DC-10, selling 75,000 units. The band’s most successful song would come from their next album, Don’t Censor Me, which was released a year later in 1993. Big House and We’re a Band were standouts on the album, helping it sell more than 250,000 copies.

The Height of Success for Audio Adrenaline

With the momentum running from Don’t Censor Me, Audio Adrenaline was linked to Christian Rock band DC Talk as well as Newsboys, both of whom they opened for on tour. It was later on in 1999 that the band released their album Bloom which became RIAA certified gold.

Around this time, the group said goodbye to Blair, their guitarist, causing them to search for someone new. Their solution came in the form of 17-year-old Tyler Burkum who went on to straight away recording the guitar parts for the upcoming album, Some Kind of Zombie.

Towards the turn of the millennium, the band’s fifth studio released was put out entitled, Underdog. The album experienced success on the charts, peaking in the Billboard Top 100 at #76. They went on to open for DC Talk on one of their biggest ever world tours, Jesus Freak. Underdog features a variety of successful hits for the band, but none more exciting than a revisited version of their already released DC-10. The band took the original hip hop beat and turned it into a sweet swing groove, which added just enough flavor to get their fans wanting more.

Audio Adrenaline Announces One Last Album

With the success of Underdog in 1999, the band decided to take a brief break from writing and performing. They came back strong in 2001 though with the release of their greatest hits album Hit Parade. They resurrected fan favorites such as Big House, Hands, and Feet, and We’re in a band for the album, on top of collaborating with The O.C. Supertones for their track Blitz. Blitz first hit the airwaves on the album Some Kind of Zombie. After the release of their hits, Herdman parted ways with the group to pursue a position as president of Flicker Records, a label he co-founded alongside Stuart and McGinniss.

As time goes on The final months of 2001 saw the group bring out a brand-new album entitled Lift. Some voices from fans as well as critics have hailed Lift as the best album that the band has released. It was this kind of coverage that inspired the group to follow up with their ninth studio release, Worldwide, in 2003. The album eventually won the band a Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album.

In 2005, the time had come for one last album from the group, which came in the form of Until My Heart Caves. Fans didn’t know it at the time, but this would be the last studio album they would get from Audio Adrenaline.

Adios Audio Adrenaline Early in 2006, the band announced its departure from the music ministry naming vocal damage as the leading factor in the decision. Their last show was a meaningful one, returning to a venue they had played every year in their thirty-year career. The original lineup came together to perform one last time at Creation Festival which will go down in the memory of their fans forever. As a parting gift, Audio Adrenaline released a compilation album entitled Adios, celebrating their success over the years and farewelling all those who had been along for the ride.