Christ, Lord

The lights dim and music notes sound here and there as everyone gathers around one side of the small, white-washed room. The audience hushes in anticipation. Suddenly, a rush of music erupts from the focal point of the crowd. A slow and hypnotizing accordion, a powerful upright bass, a burst of trumpet, and a heart-wrenching violin capture the emotions of everyone in the room. Christ, Lord is playing, swaying with the crowd, as a part of the crowd, in a captivating unison. The music is much more than music, it’s an experience.

Christ, Lord plays at GFloor

Christ, Lord formed in August of 2009 and now consists of six members: Christian Ballew, 23, on accordion and vocals, Brandon Camarda, 22, on trumpet, Adam Mincey, 24, on upright bass, Ryan Gregory, 27, on violin, Billy Mitchell, 30, on drums, and Ryan Lamb, 22, on guitar.

Christ, Lord recently reformed, adding Billy Mitchell, former drummer from the Back Pockets, another Atlanta band. Mitchell has since taken on responsibility for booking the band.

The band played at Dashboard Co-Op's "Ground Floor" while images from the film "Holy Mountain" were projected onto a blank brick wall behind them, on Oct. 8. 

Christ, Lord’s next tour is scheduled for New Year’s, where they plan to travel around the Southeast, playing a New Year’s show in New Orleans.

The band plans to release their second full-length album in November. The new album is expected to have ten new songs which will be “much more musically developed and organized,” according to Camarda, with an “upbeat and energetic” feel, but still moving through a sequence of emotions. Their previous album was recorded entirely from improvised live sessions.

Christ, Lord plays at GFloor

Their most recent tour was in March, a small tour with The Back Pockets. Over the summer, the band played house shows, including the Living Walls Fundraiser at The Big House in mid-July.

Christ, Lord’s latest album, titled “Magnalia Christi” is made up of dark, eclectic songs eliciting a wide range of emotions. Each track has a Latin title, or is named after a mythological creature. The album itself has what Camarda calls a “dark, slow, sad mood.”

“It takes you through these ups and downs, powerful moments, a very wide span of emotions,” described Camarda.

Camarda says he’s most excited for Christ, Lord’s future. “I think this is the first time in Christ, Lord’s history that I feel confident. It’s been a collective movement of everyone in the band to make the band work, and everyone’s really excited.” 

Ground Floor: A Unique Atlanta Art Experience

Gas is going for $3.49 at the Exxon station on Edgewood Avenue in Atlanta. A few cars occupy the pumps. Just beside the gas station, in a meager stretch of grass between the parking lot and an old building, a crowd of people mingles. Images from the 1973 cult film “Holy Mountain” are projected onto a deteriorating brick wall, and Christ, Lord plays an all-acoustic performance at Dashboard Co-Op’s “Ground Floor.” An ambulance flies by, illuminating the accordion as Christian Ballew sings into a megaphone.

Glitter Stars

Dashboard Co-Op is a non-profit organization founded by Courtney Hammond and Beth Malone that promotes the work of artists. On Saturday, Oct. 8, Dashboard Co-Op organized a free art exhibition featuring the work of eight artists in five unoccupied buildings on Edgewood Avenue between Sound Table and Music Room, and glitter stars on the sidewalk signified which buildings featured a gallery.

The featured artists included P. Seth Thompson, Iman Person, Justin Rabideau, Nathan Sharratt, Henry Detweiler, Nikita Gale, Aubrey Edwards, Lee Deigaard, while the bands BOSCO and Cassandras played at Music Room and Christ, Lord performed on the street. The exhibited art ranged from photographs to paintings to curious creations hanging from the ceiling, a mixture of textures, the tangible, and the surreal.

Jordan Sullivan 

“The mix of music, art, and street scenery was a true Atlanta experience,” said Jordan Sullivan, a 23-year-old law student at John Marshall Law School. “Dashboard Co-Op has an incredible way of mixing artists and musicians so people of different cultures and tastes can come together and vibe.” He said that he’d never been to an event like the one on Saturday.

Brandon Camarda (left) and Christian Ballew of Christ, Lord

“The band shared a similar makeup as the Atlanta crowd – an eclectic group of music lovers of varying backgrounds,” said Sullivan. “It made me feel in touch with the universe.”

The non-profit organization hosts two major exhibitions per year, typically in underused areas of Atlanta. On Sept. 30, they organized FLUX 2011 at the Castleberry Hill Arts District, an event filled with every kind of art, including iron pours.