Ken OBrien - Humble Beginnings, Prodigal Son, Fathers House

Email: kenobrien@darkcalm.com

	From 1974 to about 1988 (that's a guess) I was in a gospel rock band, which had several name changes,as well as line-up changes.When I joined the group it was known as Sons of Light, then it became Sounds of Truth. Alithia and Apocalypse followed, and it finished under the name Philadelphia. Over the years the group performed at countless high schools, as well as Dallas Brookes Hall in Melbourne, Festival Theatre in Adelaide, and in Canberra, Broken Hill, Goulburn, and Central Coast in New South Wales. We saw numerous people come into a relationship with Jesus during this time. As it happened, I came into a relationship with Jesus Christ in 1974 after attending one of this group's performances. It wasn't long after this that I joined the group myself. During the band period I developed in song writing as well as musicianship. I played 12 string (its a Guild F212 XL), keyboards, and had a long stint on bass (Fender Jazz) as well. Some of these songs appear on the albums already released, more appear on the forthcoming album Fathers House, as well as more recent songs. After the group disbanded I eventually moved away from the Lord. This was not a good time in my life.
		There came a point however when God called me back to Himself. This was a humbling experience. Gradually things picked up, and I found that my music was returning. It was in this period I wrote Prince of Peace and Prodigal Son. As things progressed, I felt the need to actually record these songs. Over the years in the band, the song Nazarene Man was the one that established me in the group, and sort of became like my signature tune. This was the first song I developed for recording, closely followed by Prince of Peace; in essence, the two beginnings, hence the title of the first album: Humble Beginnings. Prodigal Son was the natural choice for the title of the second album, recorded the following year.
	The rest of the old songs, as well as some new ones were developed over many months, with the aid of a Technics 8 track sequencer. I quickly found that 8 tracks was not sufficient, so I upgraded to a 16 track model. The years I spent in the band have been invaluable for this work. If nothing else, its been a great experience, and its been fun.
		Over time I've been active in various churches in the music area, although have not been so for quite some while now. It is now time to get back into it, and have started to do so. The next album Fathers House is progressing slowly, but is nearly ready for the studio. So where am I now? Check it out ... www.compasschurch.com.au
	When I'm not doing music, I work as a computer programmer in the Finance & Treasury industry, having a Bachelor of Business degree in Banking & Finance. I have also found that programming is something of a hobby as well (MS Access and Visual Basic). Now I have another steep learning curve as I look at web design.