Shake Me Up - Anthony Lance

Anthony was born on July 14th, 1984 in Stoke on Trent, England where his father and mother worked for a missions organization for a number of years. At the age of about four, Anthony came back to the U.S. with his family and settled down in Tulsa, OK where the missions organization was based. Anthony originally learned to play guitar from his dad who helped lead worship at the house church they were attending. In 8th grade Anthony began taking guitar lessons from a Harley-riding blues guitarist named Mike Bruce who inspired him to improve and to try new sounds. At about 15, Anthony put together his first band which was called “Reign” and consisted of two other guys- Ben Prosser and Aaron Smith. This band was a “garage band” in every sense of the word. However, the band never really left the garage and therefore did not last very long. In high school Anthony joined with good friends Josh Ross and Nathan Smith to form the band that took on the name “Sailbus.” Eventually the band added Patrick Bubert on the drums and began to record songs for the first time. Anthony bought a Boss Br-8 digital recorder and together they recorded an entire album of songs written by Anthony and Josh. The CD was titled, “The Arc Sessions” and was recorded in a friends backyard garage. The band did a few small gigs but after senior year they split up as Patrick and Anthony left for college. However, the summer after freshman year at Valparaiso University Anthony returned home and Sailbus reformed. The band added a bassist named Dan and keyboardist Dave McClendon who helped turn the band into more of a jam band. They did a number of gigs at coffee houses and so forth, but again the band split up as everyone went back to school in the fall.

Freshman year at Valpo Anthony recorded and released his first solo CD called “In the Quiet of my Closet.” The title was chosen because when Anthony first started recording the tracks for the CD he had to do them in his bedroom closet in Tulsa so that his family could sleep at night. He sold about 100 CDs but never really went anywhere with the songs until sophomore year when he joined forces with Drew Detzner, Joe Aicher and Mike Scott to form the band “Silver and Grey.” Sophomore year at VU the band competed in the campus Battle of the Bands and made it to the final round after only practicing together three times. The band still rocks out today although Anthony is no longer a member.

Towards the end of Sophomore year Anthony was asked by Jeff Haanen to help lead worship at Campus Crusade for Christ which at that time was in its first year at VU and in desperate need of worship leaders. This started a musical shift in Anthony’s life back towards his roots in worship songs. Junior year when Anthony studied abroad in China he helped lead worship at an international church and at a few small Christian bible studies on campus. It seemed that Anthony was like a prodigal son returning to the music that he had first learned to play guitar to and grew up singing. By the end of junior year Anthony was writing songs again, but this time they were worship songs. After some coaxing Anthony decided to begin recording some of the new songs in order to put them together into a new CD, his second solo CD. With the help of Silver and Grey electric guitarist Drew Detzner, Sailbus drummer Patrick Bubert, roommate violinist David Foelber, close friend Justin Steinbrinck and many others, Anthony constructed his latest album, “Where do I Begin?” which he describes as the best song composition and recording quality of anything he has ever done.

Anthony plans to continue studying to get a master’s degree in Chinese Studies from VU while pursuing music and promoting his newest CD. Anthony’s long-term plans are to eventually live and do ministry in China, hopefully starting a worship movement among young Chinese believers. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.