Hello Friends of ReignDown,

We KNOW it's been TOO LONG since we've communicated!
So sorry!

What's up?

Well so much has gone on in the life of the band, inside and out.

Transitions in life, changes, additions etc etc.

First off yes, ReignDown IS still alive!  And yes, we are hoping to get back on our performing feet soon.

What's been going on the the past year - year and a half?

Well the core of the group Kim/Katy were at the height of what we loved to do...perform, then some thing changed in our lives.
Good things.
Katy had a sweet baby girl, and new mom decided that the being a mommy/wife would take first place over the band.  She has settled into a new church home and is blessed with a chance to do worship with them.  The new fam is happily moving forward in new areas as parents, worship leaders and whatever else God is leading them to out there, in Queen Creek Az. 
We are happy to report that our creative sides are still being pondered. Perhaps some collaboration in the future and recordings?!

Next, Kim decided to take a job as a music teacher and professional musician outside of ReignDown which consumed most of 2008/2009.
Then, as an another amazing blessing, she too had a bundle of joy to call her own just this month!
Kristianna Jenae Steele was born October 27. 2009!
Now, new directions revealing themselves she is looking to "get the band back together!"

We have a new prospect in lead vocals... Tiffany Nunnelly.  An experienced worship leader/singer with a heart for modern worship/pop/alt and great experience to back up her talent.

We are pursing new performance avenues as well as writing new material.

So our current lineup consists of...

Vocals- Tiffany Nunnelly
Guitar - Kim Steele
Bass - Jerad Shephard
Drums - Jonathan Shaeffer

We are excited ONCE again to see what the Lord will do in us and through us!

We'll continue to keep ya'll posted as to new music and performances.

Thanks for sticking with us and being our friends/fans.

~ReignDown~

Well, yes, things are moving together nicely as our new bassist Jerad is getting settled in the ReignDown family.
and. YES we are looking forward to working with Jonathan Shaeffer again on drums.

New developments in the sound of ReignDown are still emerging.
We will make more announcements on the first full band performance and possible demo recordings too.

We are also kinda excited to see what the old ReignDown will do in digital distribution/sales/promotion and also creatively. Eventually the two will be separate and the new ReignDown will, most likely have a new name.

There is a chance there may even be more additions to the ReignDown family to come, but we feel it's in God's hands to lead here, those who will be the members.

These are the latest developments and we will keep you updated on our progress as we are pretty excited for the future.
Thanks so much for your friendship and support!!!

~ReignDown~

 

So we just got back from Tennessee.

Good times!

I am writing this from purely my (Kim's) perspective, so it may have a bit of a slant because I love the place soooo much!

We got in on 9/13 and played Friday nite, Saturday and Sunday.

Some highlights are on my personal page...

www.myspace.com/grrlguitarist

But some other highlights I can include are...

Well, I touched on this in my personal blog but, something about Saturday nite.

It was so super cool just to have fun, just pure fun, no pressure. Quite frequently I found myself just really taking in that moment as once again (like at the cd release show) I looked across the stage at Katy in that place where she just connects with the music, with the players, with the audience and I am so blessed to be there.

I loved Sunday because we got to do what we do best, serve during the time of worship with special music.  I don't think I can recall a better sound and a better time where we just gelled.  And the gracious people there who welcomed us into their home, their church were so cool. Thank You to the folks at New Life Church in Columbia!

We'd like to thank our good friends Mike Hoover and Corey Batorski for their friendship and hospitality.

What I do remember on Saturday, and although this could happen anywhere really but for the first time it was me and Katy sitting down in the acoustic guitar room at the Guitar Center and jamming, we spent a little while together just pickin'...haha.  I can't wait to do some more and maybe do some instrumental stuff together both recorded and live soon, she's really finding her way around the guitar and soon she'll be takin over...watch out! 

I especially liked going to my favorite guitar shop...Gruhn's guitars.   One of the sales guys offered me an incredible deal on a Taylor that I almost couldn't resist.  I still think about that and how that instrument was just MADE for me!

Well, we are now eagerly awaiting the trip to Chicago next and other upcoming shows.

We had a logo guy/graphic artist create some cool work for our cd that we are trying to get up on our site as our background, so look for that to show up sometime real soon!

Thank You Tennessee!

We'll be back!

Kim Steele

~ReignDown~

 

Well, so, alot is happening.

First off we have to thank you THANK YOU sooo much for all your kind words and support through messages and comments we've received lately, it means so much...so keep them coming!  haha!  No seriously we love hearing from you in everyway!

Well, we have some new news..

We are SUPER excited about being selected to partner with The Bible League to be an "artist partner".  They hand select a few bands to represent them.  So as a part of being an artist we will be traveling to Chicago to learn more about them, fellowship with the other artists and get a chance to perform our music too!

So as you can see, we have some cool things coming up as far as ROAD TRIPS!

Yay!

We've also been invited to come to Nashville to do some shows, so in one weekend we hope to hit at least one club and a Sunday morning church service to share some special music.  Will you please pray with us that we can manage to schedule this trip and get the air fare all taken care of and all too, it will be an awesome opportunity!

We have to admit though, one really special engagment that is in the future will be the opportunity to share the ministry with the Perryville women's prison.  There will be anywhere from 1000 - 4000 women who we will be able to share with.  Of all the exciting opportunities, well, this one will be very special.

We are excited to get out there and see these events unfold and we DO so much love your prayers and support.

Thanks so much for being our friends!

Oh and as a funny side note...

Well I don't think you know this but Katy is one heck of an awesome guitarist.  So we decided to showcase her abilities and put her on guitar and Kim on keyboard during one service recently at ASU.  It was a hoot!  We loved it, and may attempt it again sometime soon...ya never know!?

take care ya'll and hope to see ya soon!

~ReignDown~

 

Well, many of you might be surprised that we've included a traditional hymn in on our latest cd.

Probably for you newer fans, you think of us as a pure pop band.  It's is really funny though, because before this cd we were more indie/acoustic maybe?

Anyway, the painstaking processes we took to write, re-write, re-arrange, produce, record, mix and master the finished songs was of great signifance to our new "sound" YET...

Our hearts will always be in worship.

And even more so, Katy has really brought to the mix her love of traditional hymns.  So one day when we were deciding what to put on the EP we thought it'd be fun to include a hymn.

How should we do that?

Maybe re-write a traditional one and put an updated modern chorus in it.  Or maybe modernize a traditional hymn?  We approached it from different angles.

But finally we just decided to leave it rather traditional.  The strength of the song itself really spoke volumes to what we wanted to convey about our message and music.  So to keep it in it's original form as much as possible was important to us.  That's where Katy came from and that's where I heard the heart of the song speak to me as a listener and worshipper.  So that's what we did!  Of all the production and mastering/mixing etc etc.  it was really a breath of fresh air for us to just sit in a room together with a coupla mics and record this straight.  No production, nothing fancy.  Then my friend Tim Sadow came in, and the pro he was, laid down a super cool violin track over what we did.  And that was it!

It was decided earlier on the budget we wanted to work with, so it was said that there may be a good chance we wouldn't have time to include the hymn.

There were very few things we pushed for but the hymn was one of them.  And we are soooo thankful that we were able to include it...

Where would we put it in the song order?

Well we thought about it and from what we talked about, Katy and I we decided that we wanted to end the EP with the hymn because of it's wonderful simplicity.  The lyrics of the other songs pointed to struggles..."set me free let me rest, tear off these chains that I've locked on myself"  Also failures..."Here I am so weak, here I am so incomplete" yet in the midst of all of that there was hope in the end and so in the end of this recording we wanted to absolutely point and outline the hope and how we feel about the Lord. We wanted it at the end as a way of saying, no matter what the struggle, we want to stay near Jesus, where we can find rest.

Near The Cross...

Jesus keep me near the Cross, there a precious fountain, free to all a healing stream, flows from Calvary's mountain.

In the Cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, Til my raptured soul shall find, rest beyond the river.

Near the Cross a trembling soul, love and mercy found me, there the Bright and Morning Star sheds it's beams around me.

In the Cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, Til my raptured soul shall find, rest beyond the river.

Near the Cross I'll watch and wait, hoping, trusting ever, til I reach the golden shore, just beyond the river.

In the Cross, in the cross, be my glory ever, Til my raptured soul shall find, rest beyond the river.

 

Kim

~ReignDown~

 

Well, we've finally made it!

The NEW ReignDown EP CD is HERE!!!

 

Our cd release show...

North Phoenix Baptist Church Chapel 

(5757 North Central - on the SE corner of Central ave and Bethany Home Rd in central phx)

- July 20th - 7-10 p.m.

FREE ADMISSION!!!

 

Special Guest Artist...Brittany Hill -  www.myspace.com/brittanyhillmusic

 

Please say you'll come, we'd love to meet ya!

~ReignDown~

 

We are happy to announce we have some new things going on as ReignDown continues to grow and progress.

First off we want to extend a BIG THANKS to Diane Wallace who shot our promo photos!  She does awesome work!

http://www.snapfactory.com

 http://dianewallacephotos.blogspot.com

 

Second, we are actually starting to play out more!  yay!

We were wondering when we'd ever get to see our instruments again.  We have some worship opportunities coming up and our CD release show that we are SUPER excited about!  We have a few of the shows listed and have more to add soon.

Third, we are happy to announce that our band is growing.  We have been playing with some awesome musicians and are continuing to meet more.  Thanks so much for the response from all you guys who want to be a part.  We appreciate your enthusiasm for the music and look forward to playing both as a full band and still once in a while as the duo we used to be.

 

We also renewed our subscription to SonicBids, so we now have a new electronic press kit available.  So far we've actually been selected through SonicBids to be a part of some cool opportunities.  Some labels that distribute cd compilations have requested our music.

 

So, next stop?

LOGO design, that should happen THIS week and finalizing the photos for the cd cover.

THEN...it's off to the duplicators!

We are excited for every step of this interesting new journey we've been on.

Kim and Katy

~ReignDown~

 

p.s.- we just wanted to add that it's been an extreme pleasure to work with Jonathan Schaeffer, who brings some cool talent to the mix...drummer, guitarist, bassist...we are excited to see what more we can do together!

 

 

It is finished!

Okay just the recording, mixing and mastering.

The cd design...well, that is a challenge because neither Katy or I have decided any thing final yet.

But we're workin on it...hard.  As well as merchandise and a whole promo/marketing plan.

So if you got a cool idea for a logo??? haha

Maybe we should have a contest!?

Anyway, what is on the myspace site is alllll new!

"Set Me Free" and "Angels". 

Let us know what ya think?

 

Who we NEED to thank:

 

Rob Payne - producer/arranger/sonic mastermind

Corey Batorski - a member of the mutual admiration society, and drummer/percussionist extraordinaire!

Bryan Kuban - bassist/recording engineer

Ralph at Phase Four in Tempe- mixing engineer

our FAMILIES for not seeing us for many days while we wrote, arranged, had production meetings and recorded the past month or so!

 

We hope you like it?!

So it's actually gonna happen.

This whole cd recording!

Wow it's been a whirlwind of interesting turns and processes.

There has been much changes to our songs, re-writes (per our producers request...haha!). Some emotional releases of sorts, some important decisions, some changes of venues and....

Next week we WILL start recording.

By April 23rd we will mix, then design begins on our logo, cover, posters, stickers and shirts, and then soon after we will master, the same week will have a photo shoot, by the end of that week we will send everything out for duplication!

Wow!  We can't wait to share!

We hope you will stay tuned.

By early May it should all come together!

Honestly it hasn't been without a few bumps in the road but we know this is something we are supposed to do right now.  Thanks for your never ending prayers and support.  It means so much to us, especially when things get crazy busy, just to know we've got friends and family by our side.

We luv ya!

Kim and Katy

p.s.- a special thanks to Rob Payne (producer), Corey Batorski (drummer), Bryan Kuban (engineer) and our families for helping us and being behind us!

It's been a while since we've mentioned anything about the band.

So it is with much enthusiasm that we give you an UPDATE!!!

Katy and I have been writing...and writing and pretty much writing.

Let me back up first...What went into the writing?  Well, long talks together, inspiration from Katy's journal entries, prayer time, and just long afternoons/late nights and anything else we could fit in of working, re-working on new material. 

At first it was...let's make a new demo!  Then it was, let's book a little studio time, then it was, well,  to do this RIGHT (which we really felt led to do) we need to hire a producer, engineer, studio, someone to mix and duplicate too.

That's what we've done.  The new EP will feature 5 songs...4 originals and one hymn in a more "traditional" sense (maybe a little Allison Krause inspired?)

We hope to feature more piano, guitar leads, violin, maybe a bit of cello and an overall full band sound.

Very pop, very deep lyric inspired, but ultimately very personal as we share our stories and ideas that have been tugging at our hearts that we believe we are supposed to share.

Hopefully as a little icing on the cake there's a possibility we'll have merchandise...

Shirts, posters, stickers along with the nice shiny new EP by May!

Hang in there friends, the best is yet to come...we hope!

Thanks for your prayers!