Texas band Afters follows debut hit with "Never"

By Deborah Evans Price

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Buoyed by a relentless road schedule that strengthened their mettle, the Afters have defied the notion of a sophomore slump with "Never Going Back to OK," due February 26.

The Christian rock band traces its roots back to a Starbucks in Mesquite, Texas, where frontman Josh Havens and guitarist Matt Fuqua worked while honing their infectious pop/rock anthems. They enlisted bassist Brad Wigg and drummer Marc Dodd and became popular on the Dallas music scene before signing with Simple/INO, which introduced the band in the Christian market.

The Afters' 2005 debut, "I Wish We All Could Win," began getting attention, and Sony BMG signed on to work the band in the mainstream market. The set spawned the hit "Beautiful Love," which has sold 239,000 digital downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and helped earn the band the best new artist trophy at the 2006 Dove Awards for gospel music. U.S. sales for the album are at 92,000 units.

Dodd sees the title track as a challenge to stop going through the motions. "That song encourages people to try to make an impact on the world, and help someone change their perspective on how life can really be," he said. The tune is No. 20 on Billboard's Hot Christian Songs chart.

On the less serious side, the album features "MySpace Girl," a true story about a friend who met a girl at In-N-Out Burger in Los Angeles, then began corresponding via MySpace and eventually married her.

An animated viral video for the tune is on the band's MySpace page as well as Seventeen.com and features the Afters' cartoon counterparts re-enacting the story. Some of the band's MySpace friends were chosen to be part of the clip, which premiered February 13.

The Afters will hit the road on a headlining tour this spring with Falling Up, Everyday Sunday and Ruth as supporting acts.

"We haven't changed our strategy or who we are one bit," Havens said. "When we started nine years ago we would play in churches and we'd also play in clubs, bars and high schools. We had a very diverse fan base from the very beginning. We are a band. We're Christians. Our faith is important to us, and obviously elements of that are going to come through in the music that we write, but ultimately we are a band. We want to make great music and play for anybody who connects with the songs."

Reuters/Billboard