Asking 7

Band History: The first time Clifton Bond and Nathan Haller got together was in December of 2002. They spent an afternoon playing christmas carrols and talking about doing a concert however the plans never formalized. They sort of considered themselves a band but never really got together again until August. That summer both of them plus Jedie Elliott were leaders at the KWC vacation bible school (VBS). At the end of the last day the three of them (Clifton Bond, Nathan Haller, Jedie Elliott) went to the sactuary at started playing. That fall (2003) they began to get together more often although still not on a regular basis. Also that fall a guitar player named Jared Brasset joined the band. He only stayed for a few months because he decided to move in with his dad who lived to far away for him to come to practices. The following winter (2004) Asking 7 (still without a name) wanted to do a concert. However because they had no fans they decided that it would be a better idea to wait and make a CD first. Unfortuentally Jedie Elliott's dad took a sabatical leave from his position at KWC and moved his family to Kentucky for a year (July 2004-July 2005). Because of this they decided to wait till July 2005 to record. Even though they weren't recording till July Clifton Bond started planning the CD with the other two via email. They also tried to come up with a name. Some of the names they came up with were "The Jesus Rockers" "The Bedheads" but the name that was chosen was "The Men In White." That summer they recorded "Times Forgotten" their first CD. Unfortuentally because they didn't record it the "proper" way (in a studio) it was never sold commercially although the one music manager who listened to it commented:

"...let me say how impressed I am that at your ages you put out an entire full length CD of COMPELTELY original material! For any local talent, that is an extreme rarity, as many find it quite difficult to write that much without having to do at least a few covers of other people's songs. This clearly points to the dedication of the group, to both the gifts you've been given, as well as to the One who has blessed you with them. To that I must tip my hat!"

At the end of the summer (before they knew that they weren't selling the CD) Clifton Bond and Nathan Haller said goodbye to Jedie Elliott as a band member. His dad had decided to go lead another church and moved the family to Buffalo, New York. Because Clifton Bond and Nathan Haller had no plan of destroying the band they Welcomed Josiah Bentum in to the band in January 2006. At this point they also started planning a second CD titled "Jesus, Light of the World." They also at this point started trying to get together regularly. In Febuary they welcomed a fourth member into the band, Dakota Arthur on accoustic and elctric guitar. This was a windfall for them as Dakota Arthur not only played guitar but also Violin, Banjo (occasionly), Mandolin (he hasn't yet but we're working on him) Drums and knew alot about sound and recording equipment. From this point on they started getting together regularly Sunday afternoons every two weeks. This continued until mid-September when they started getting together every week. Then in late October they started getting together any time two or more of them were available. Why were they getting together more often? Well in November of 2006 they recorded a Demo CD with three songs on it which they hoped to sell in order to raise more money and finish the CD. At this point they also decided to change their name some of the names the came up with this time were "Cornerstone" and "LaCROSS" however the name that was chosen was "Asking 7." Unfortuentally a few weeks after they had finished recording Nathan Haller decided that he was too busy to continue playing with the band and quit. This caused a somewhat frantic search during which Clifton Bond sent out this email to a number of his music contacts:

Hey all, Thursday night my band's singer left the band so I am looking for a new singer. We are also accepting musicians. If you know of anybody who would be interested in joining please forward this to them. We ARE welcoming girls as well. In the past we haven't but since we changed our name (yes that is why you didn't recognize the email address) we are. The requirements are as follows:

Is a born again christian.
Is able to work well within a group.
Is able to come to practice on a regular basis (we usually practice Sunday Afternoons although if we are preparing for something (recording day, concert, etc.) we will practice more)
Is in the age range or 14-17 yrs. old.
Again if you know anybody who meets these requirements please forward this email to them.
thanks,

Clifton Bond

This email resulted in Mandy Sauve joining the band at the end of January 2007 as a vocalist.

2007 was a boring year in the life of the band. we did one small event in April but after that we just practiced by ourselves. I