start when you became 12 years old . It was there before . It ’ s really interesting to research the history , and then try to figure out where it ’ s going from here .
[ WM ] Where did you grow up ?
[ Randy ] I was born in Denison , Texas , but most of my formative years were in a little town called , Rialto , California . You know in the 60 ’ s you had the Rolling Stones and the Beatles going strong and in Rialto , California … I don ’ t know what was in the water there , but there was a garage band on every block . So , I grew up in a town where there was just a lot of talent and a lot of musicians . When I was coming up as a guitar player , there was never a time when I was the best guitar player in town because there was always at least a dozen great guitar players around . It was really a healthy musical environment .
[ WM ] Live music in the 60 ’ s and 70 ’ s was quite different from what we are experiencing today . Can you compare some of the differences ?
[ Randy ] Earlier , I was in a band called Psalm 150 and that was a bit like being in Earth , Wind , and Fire where it was a big horn band . So , the Sweet Comfort guys saw me play in Psalm 150 and they were really impressed with the band . Back then they were not called Sweet Comfort Band , they were just Sweet Comfort . They were going around with “ little ” Bryan Duncan on the piano ( laughs ) and a bass player and drummer . They just seemed like such a little band , and they got tired of people telling them , “ You ’ re going to be good as soon as you get a guitar player !”
After they saw me play with Psalm 150 , somehow , I got roped into the band . I had just started to lead worship at Calvary Chapel Riverside . I think at the time I was about 20 or 21 years old and Greg Laurie was a few years older . You know , they started the church and next thing you know , there are 1000 people !
Now in those days , I would come out in front of
this large crowd , armed with only an acoustic guitar . There were no “ worship bands ,” you know . And you ’ d sing these songs that everybody knows . There were no screens . There were no lyrics . You had to do songs that your audience already had memorized . You ’ d also only play for like five or ten minutes and then Greg would come out to preach .
So , the bass player for Sweet Comfort brought me into a jam session and next thing I knew , we were rehearsing to play at Knotts Berry Farm . Now Knotts Berry Farm was a huge audience and I had never done stuff that big . After I had played with them at Knotts Berry Farm and Disneyland and whatnot , they said , “ Hey , we ’ re going to do a record !” So , we used to joke about how when I first came on with the band it was just , “ Hey come play with us on this tour …” It was years later , and I was joking with the band how they never officially asked me to join . It was always one gig at a time . So that lead to about ten years of touring around the country .
Back to your question about comparison … a big comparison in my mind back in the late 70 ’ s and into the early 80 ’ s , we were really benefitting from the Jesus Movement . We would have a concert and it always seemed that there were thousands of people , and we would watch dozens if not hundreds of people get saved . Then when I came back in the 80 ’ s with Allies , it had become a more corporate thing where you have a booking agency , a recording company , and a manager . There were so many business aspects to putting a band on tour that it became much more of an industry . They started calling it CCM , Contemporary Christian Music . So , the feeling was , you know … in the early days , I remember doing dates with Petra and Keith Green , Daniel Amos , Randy Stonehill , and Rez Band and it was all not very far removed from being garage bands . We were very casual and very friendly and just swept up in this wave of the Jesus Movement .
Later , with Allies there were bands that were like us . There was White Heart who was similar to us , and Petra would be considered similar . So , we ’ d go out and realize there are a bunch of bands out here and we all have record labels and we ’ re all competing … it was always friendly , you know . In my mind , I ’ m always partial to the 70 ’ s because we were just swept up in something that just seemed so much bigger than all of us . Then in the 80 ’ s there were record labels and agencies thinking , “ Hey , we
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