The Choir is an atmospheric alternative rock band currently comprising Derri Daugherty on guitar and lead vocals, Steve Hindalong on drums and percussion , and Dan Michaels on saxophone and Lyricon. Long-time bass guitarist Tim Chandler died in , and guitarist Marc Byrd was the fifth member of the band between β As of , the band has released 21 full-length studio albums , four EPs , six live albums , one single-disc compilation album , one retrospective box set , and is still actively recording new material.
Chandler, who was also the bass guitarist for Daniel Amos , introduced Hindalong to Daugherty, who was the band's roadie and sound man. The band's first official recording was the track "It's So Wonderful," released in on the compilation album What's Shakin' , which also included early work from Undercover, Altar Boys and The Lifters. This song was one of the few times that Daugherty wrote both lyrics and music; as the band developed, the majority of the Choir's lyrical output would come from Hindalong.
The Choir made a high-profile move to Myrrh Records in with their next release, Diamonds and Rain. Dropping the "Youth" from their moniker, they would be known as the Choir from that point forward. The Choir's lineup also changed. Chandler was the primary bass player until 's Wide-Eyed Wonder , when Robin Spurs replaced him on that album and tour, but she left the band during the recording of 's Circle Slide. Sauerbrey returned to the band for those recording sessions, and remained with the Choir for two more years until Chandler rejoined the lineup for the independently-released Kissers and Killers.
In the s and early s, the Choir toured extensively within the United States, and was most notably the first band on stage at the inaugural Cornerstone Festival in Chicago in With much of the contemporary Christian music , or CCM, industry centered in Nashville, Tennessee , the band opted to make a permanent move there. Despite the belated awards attention, both Hindalong and Daugherty have gone on record numerous times over the years about the limitations of the CCM distribution model, [ 2 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ] the musical and lyrical expectations from record labels, [ 23 ] [ 22 ] [ 9 ] and their rejection of the term "Christian band" to describe the Choir, [ 24 ] [ 25 ] [ 26 ] [ 27 ] [ 28 ] as the band never fit the "Christian music" mold, according to Hindalong.
To us, music is not a means to an end. It's not a tool. We're not going to meet your expectations. Instead, the band soon realized they were primarily interested in writing music about their everyday life experience, [ 30 ] [ 31 ] inspired by the music of bands such as Romeo Void , [ 4 ] the Church , [ 32 ] and My Bloody Valentine. If they can't make a living promoting our show, then they're not going to book us.
