| The Threshing Floor Interviews Live Wire Zine May 1995
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| The Threshing Floor Reviews Cross Walk Magazine April 1995 |
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Live Wire Zine May 1995 A slice of the conversation between Live Wire and
Threshing Floor My interview of Threshing Floor began with only one band member present: Steven Padilla (I was early in an effort to appear some-what professional.) Threshing Floor is Stephen Padilla (lead guitar), Sandy Padilla (vocals and rhythm guitar), Bill Carol (Bass), and Martin Yang (drums) Live Wire: Tell me about the beginning of Threshing Floor. Steven: It all began in, hmm, 1991. Yea, 1991 sounds about right. I had just married Sandy and become a Christian the year before, and 1 had a bunch of songs. I thought about forming a band. I knew I wanted it to be an alternative band, to play modern rock. I also knew I didn't want a female singer, be-cause I had never worked with a female singer before. After about six months of fruitless advertising, trying to find a male singer, Sandy wanted to try out. But I wanted a male singer, she wasn't right. I didn't think she could do it. She had always just done pop, adult contemporary- all straight forward stuff. But, uh, I let her try out. She did really good. At first, I was really amazed. So for the first year, no, almost two years, it was almost all acoustic, me on guitar, and Sandy singing. Everyone was growing in the style. (About now, Sandy walked in, ready to offer her input) LW Has the focus of the band always been the same? Sandy: We've always thought the main focus should be to reach out to those who don't know about all the love the Lord has to offer. LW: Who writes the music and lyrics? Steve: Sandy writes it all. LW: What stuff will you be playing at House of Commons? Steve: We have a bunch of new music - we're about ready to go into the studio to record another album. All we have to do is get every-one rehearsed. We'll primarily be playing the new stuff But we will go acoustic for some of the older songs. LW: Where did you get the name Threshing Floor? Steve: It actually comes from the Bible. I couldn't think of anything, so I looked in the concordance. I thought about what our music was about- I didn't want it to be to dorky. Threshing floor captures the theme of what our songs are all about. It is used to describe how we need to separate our old self from our new self. Another meaning is a judgement described by Jesus in which the believers will be separated from the non-believers.
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Stick Man Fred
Newsletter April 1994 The Threshing Floor is an absolutely wonderful band From Sacramento, CA. The Threshing Floor is made up of husband and wife team Steve(Guitar and Keyboards) and Sandi Padilla(Vocals). Evan Parandes(Drums) and Dave Hawley(Bass and Guitar) add their expertise to give this young group a very bright future. CD: Steve, let's begin with the beginnings of the band. Did you wake up one morning and say to Sandi, "Hey honey, let's start a band"? Or how exactly did the Threshing Floor begin? SP: Well, I originally started this band when I had written some songs and was playing around with the idea of starting a Christian band. I put out an ad for a vocalist. I was searching for about six months trying to find the right one. I auditioned all kinds of people and never found anybody. The whole time in my life Sandi was kind of egging me on, "Let me try. Let me try." I thought "yeah right". I just didn't think it was her style. Finally when I was just frustrated with not having any success, I said, "Okay, let's give it a shot. Let's see what you can do." She totally surprised me. She was just about perfect. Her voice just fit perfect with the music that I was doing and writing. Since then, we've been recording and playing around for almost 2 and a half years now. CD: Is your lyric writing a combination effort? SP: How it works is I come up with the music and usually the melody. She helps me define the ideas. We come up with the words together. I just usually sing into a cassette, and I improvise whatever comes off the top of my head. Usually if there is a hook in there then we'll go with that. She is really good in the lyric department and helps me define what I'm trying to say. CD: Moving into your musical style, what went into forming your present sound? SP: I've always been influenced by modem rock alternative sound. Mostly I draw upon my influences which range from what I call the more easy listening alternative. With our new album, we've done a lot of different things. Under the drum tracks, we have a lot of dance loops going on. Sometimes we'll have three bass parts going on at the same time. I'm mostly influenced by that Euro-layered guitar kind of sound. When we first started, our sound was just acoustic guitars. So, it was a really folky thing. It wasn't until we got into the studio, and we started arranging this stuff that our present sound started taking a life. I knew that was the direction I wanted to go. It was hard getting to that point. When we got our drummer that is what really helped us get to that point. Drummer, Evan Parandes, played with a group called Cause and Effect. They had a national hit. I think it was like fifty something on the Billboard. It was a Euro techno pop thing, and he came in and really helped us in our direction. He was like "the beats need to be lie this" and "don't do this because that sounds typical". He really pushed us to go for a really different sound., That helped us gain a lot of direction. CD: I need to be honest. I listen to this album and think if only more people could hear you, they would absolutely love your stuff. Do you ever feel this way when you are waiting for the next booking or a call from a label saying that they are interested? Do you ever get a frustrated feeling? SP: Well, not right now... Well yeah, right about now.(Laughs) The tape that we've been selling, I never intended for anybody to hear except record companies and people interested in booking us. My plan was to take that demo tape and immediately start on our album. But that stuff just doesn't work out the way you want it a lot. So that ended up being sold. Now, we've got our album coming out. It's going to be done in May. It is 11 songs and 3 remixes. That's the one I'm hoping is going to get a lot of attention. We've got CD's and cassettes and the whole nine yards. We're trying to get in all the catalogs. CD: What has been the feedback from your first tape? SP: It's been real positive. A lot of people like it. A lot of people that are into that style. I keep calling it easy listening alternative because it's not in your face alternative. And there's a lot of people who want to hear that but there's not a lot of bands who are doing that because it requires the musicians to kind of sit back and let the song writing and the singer take the main focus. Which a lot of musicians don't like doing that. They want the guitar to be the focus, the bass playing or the drums to be the focus. Our focus is song writing. That's our strong point. So, we've gotten a lot of good response. On the other hand, there's been some kind of tuff response too. This just maybe the area that we're in but we have had a hard time trying to find churches to play in. I think this has to do with alternative music in general. It reaches generation X. The twenty something crowd. A lot of churches are not very interested in reaching those people right now. We're finding out in our own little community right here that we're having more success playing in clubs and bars than we are in churches. And yet we don't have to change our style or our message. They are just more open to it. It's a really strange... CD: Irony... SP: Yeah, irony that we're experiencing just right here in Sacramento. CD: What is your favorite type of show to play? SP: I do prefer Christian events, but I really prefer playing it when it's organized. When the leaders have decided that we're going to have this band play and then we're gonna have a speaker come. And they try to work together as a team. Seems that most of the one's we play are very slapped together and "let's just do it and see what happens". The ones that have thought behind it and we work at it always end up having better results, people getting saved. That's what I prefer. The going into bars is different. We can't preach really from on stage. We let our music speak and then we sit back and try to start relationships with people there. And hope that we can reach people that way. CD: How are you received in the clubs? SP: Really well. We do all our own music. All originals. What I found out is that most of the people in the club scene really don't care what your saying. They just want the style. Once and awhile, we'll get someone to come up to us and go, "You guys are Christians, huh?" because they've been paying attention to the lyrics. And then we say "well yeah we are". But they are usually not negative about that. CD: What are the goals for the Threshing Floor? SP: One thing is to get this CD done. We've been working non stop around the clock for the past six months with the recording and mastering and getting all the art work done. It's finally at the manufacturer now. We're just waiting. When that comes back, I want to get it heard. Hopefully get it played in radio stations. Short term goal is we're going to try and play at Cornerstone this year. Hopefully that will work out. Long term goal, eventually want to be doing this as a career. CD: I have a tough question. What is one word that describes the Threshing Floor? And then you can explain it. SP: I don't know if I've ever thought about that. That is a tough question. I want to say original or different but that's not totally true. We are credible. I think credible. That would be the one word I would really want people to associate us with. Because we do both scenes, the Christian and the secular. I would hope that Christians would respect that we are trying to reach out to people in a unique way. I also hope that people who are not Christians who don't understand what we are doing would at least see that we really care about what we do and we're trying to do it in a way that has credibility and integrity. CD: Where does Jesus fit into the Threshing Floor? SP: He is everything. Christ put me and Sandi together as husband and wife. He made our kids. He pretty much controls our whole life. Aside from the Threshing Floor, my income, my real job, is working for an We make radio programs that get broadcast in Russia. So ever since I became a Christian, I've been in ministry. I've only been a Christian for about five years. Christ has supported me the whole way. So, how much Jesus is a part of the Threshing Floor, he is the reason the Threshing Floor even exists. I doubt that we would even be a band if it was not for Christ. I can't see the two being separated. It would just be futile to me. CD: Do you have any prayer requests for yourself and the band? SP: We constantly need prayer because of the scene we're in doing secular gigs. We need prayer for protection so that we can continue to do our work. Sometimes we get into a lot of spiritual warfare because of where we're at. We're in such dark areas. The confusion about what we do. Because there are still some churches that really don't understand what we're doing. Our own personal churches are very supportive. But there are others like "Why are you even out there doing that?" or "You shouldn't be out there.", We just need prayer that Satan would not try to infiltrate us and keep on confusing Christian and others that we're around. That's probably are main issue right now.
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The Essence Newsletter May 1994 I've known Threshing Floor for over a year and a half now. When I heard their first demo, I had great confidence in their commercial possibilities (played GMA last year). But, each group has to stretch and TTF is no exception. But they continue to improve with time. I talked to Steve Padilla, guitarist; keyboardist, songwriter about some of the changes The Threshing Floor have had to deal with. What about the original song arrangements did you do differently? Well, we didn't change it too much. We did have them on eight track, now we have a sixteen track recording. So, we decided to just do it again and we came up with more idea, more guitar layering. More of a live sound? I guess more of a raw sound. Before the guitar was (recorded) direct without a lot of effects. This time we were able to use our amps. So, there was more energy in the songs. We had Dan Elliott playing bass on most of the songs. He came up with some better bass lines. The first song is intense. It has a techno sound...it' s tight. We decided to put that song on first, because we wanted people to know right away that it wasn't going to be the same old folky rock thing. It's probably the most unique song compared to what we've been doing. How long did the process take to go back and redo the stuff? We started in October and so it took us about six months. The reason is my keyboard got stolen and our old bass player decided that she wanted to be in another band. It took us about two months to find a new bass player. Once we got that down it was pretty simple from there. In fact we borrowed a real nice mike and did all the lead vocal tracks in two days! You're doing some shows, mostly clubs. How's that going? It's unique, at first we were really timid about it. Actually, so far we've been getting better responses from the coffee houses then we've ever had in churches. So, we feel that this is definitely where God's leading us. Our last church experience was a bad one. So, that was sort of a nudge that we are going in the right direction. There seems to b a stygma that Christian artists run into of, "If I play in a Christian concert or church, I need to say all the right things," as far as ministry goes. (Not all Christian artists are called to preach. - ed.) This last weekend I had a serious case of insomnia. I was watching these guys on channel 19, late at night. There's this really goofy show it's called "Those two dudes," and it comes from Modesto. It's these two Christian metal heads, it's like Wayne and Garth. But they're on there talking about the DC Talk show they went to recently. Saying stuff like, "Yeah, I was at the show, and I was hoping they'd talk about Jesus. And when they did I took out a twenty dollar bill and put it in the plate." Man, you could see how easily TV evangelists can fall. There's a thin line between preaching and name dropping. Anyway, you're working on new material already? Yeah, we've got seven new songs, I think we're only going to use three or four...and we're looking at October for the new project to be done. We have a new drummer, Ed, and he's a pounder. With Dan on bass, I think we're getting more of a band feel now.
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The Sacramento Union, Sunday, May 2,1993 Padillas keep in harmony Sandi and Stephen Padilla of Sacramento make music together. And that music has strengthened their Christian faith. A songwriter, Mrs. Padilla, 28, is also the mother of two toddlers. Paul is 2 1/2, and Anna is 17 months. But despite being a full-time mother with a very demanding schedule, she is able to achieve personal fulfillment by being musically creative with her husband. Padilla, 25, is an audio engineer and producer for the Word to Russia (WRT) studio in West Sacramento. "Word to Russia is a radio ministry that produces Christian programs with Bible teachings and a children's show," Padilla said. "I do the music end of that. We produce it here and send it out to the Far East." His job is to put together the music for piano or guitar compositions. He finds people in the area's Russian community who have musical talent. They come into the studio and Padilla puts the appropriate instrumentation to their ideas. "I just see how much I can add to it," he said. Although family has been an evolving thing for the young dad, he said it’s always meant commitment. Not only to his immediate nuclear family but all of his outside family. And when his grandmother passed away recently, he found a healing from within in deeply rooted extented family bonds. A romantic at heart, Padilla revealed that his relationship with his wife brought him to the Christian faith. Before marriage, they visited a counselor and he found his faith. That led to happiness in marriage. "Before, I'm not sure what I was living for. Maybe just to try to make it as a rock 'n' roll star," he said. "But now I have a lot more direction in my life." Work, family, church and music are the cornerstones for their lives. And the opportunity to perform and write songs together makes the workweek a happy thing of the past for Mrs. Padilla. "I don't think I've put anything on hold. I did attend school, then I pursued my working career. I worked myself up from being a receptionist to an administrative assistant position at a talent agency in town," she said. "But I did get married and have the children. Now I'm able to be at home with them." In addition to family responsibilities, she and her husband are working as a team musically with their band, call the Threshing Floor. Their Christian-based, modern-rock band often plays gigs at a coffeehouse called the Pilgrim Cafe. They will play a concert here in July. They also have performed at outreach events and other concerts at their church in Roseville - Valley Springs Presbyterian. "I just want to help minister and encourage young Christians in their relationship with God," she said of her musical aspirations. She met her husband through a musical opportunity. He was working on a project at the San Francisco College of Recording Arts. They needed and singer, and the rest is history. Since then, they have been co-writing music and performing. "It's been musical harmony ever since," he added with a chuckle. The harmony of family life is also very important to Mrs. Padilla. She nurtures the day-to-day bonding, understanding and caring of her two children. She loves being a mother at home, focusing on their needs and supporting her youngsters with a secure environment. The couple share much in common, but their children are opposites. Rambunctious Paul, according to Padilla, might follow in his parents' footsteps musically, but at the moment he fancies himself a train engineer or a garbage-truck driver. Anna is the quiet one. She is really reflective, observing situations before she gets into them. Rut mainly, she's busy trying to learn to talk at the moment. The future for the Padillas will include reaching out to the community through music. They are trying to encourage other aspiring musicians in the area. "We want to focus on our family while we are in the young years," she said. "It's always been a dream to pursue the music industry full time. We're making some real inroads there."
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Cross Walk Magazine April 1995 I know the name sounds like it's going to be thrash, but I assure you it is not. What The Threshing Floor is, rather, is a great retro/alternative/ pop outfit. This is a great disc that would spin at any college party (pardon the expression) or hang-out. The first time I played the disc, my wife and I (for some unbeknownst reason) just went goofy. We couldn't stay still (I think I' m gonna sue). The Threshing Floor offers up quality Christian music that is relevant in today' s ever-changing music industry, and is especially great for groups. I took it to a party with my college age Bible study group and everyone was asking who was playing, wanting to know where they could get a copy. The production is topnotch, as well as the songwriting and musicianship. Sandi Padilla' s vocals ride atop the musical waves like a bottled message of hope in search of anyone who will listen. The opening songs "Threshing Floor" and " Believe" are great intro cuts, drawing the listener into the disc with an almost irresistible sound. Probably my other favorite cuts would be "My Life" and "Come Around." They have a great feel and display more guitar work than a lot of the other cuts. All of the songs on this disc contain memorable melodies that will play ping pong in your head all day long. If you' re looking for something with a fresh sound that will get your feet moving, The Threshing Floor is definitely for you.
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Valley Music News
March 1995 Sacramento is blossoming with local talent. Today the variety of talent and choices of shows to see are constantly growing like wild flowers. Two local bands that are blooming with talent are Threshing Floor and Stigma. Threshing Floor have a pop modern sound. This band takes me back to the early 80's, when new wave was one of the main genres of the music scene. Sandi Padilla has a sexy, captivating, but refreshing voice. However, their music has a funky rhythm that more resembles hip-hop. The band consists of husband and wife team Sandi Padilla (vocals) and Steve Padilla (guitars, keyboard, vocals), and Ed Scola (drums). Although their vocals have an eighties' edge, they are all nineties and are a fun band to see live. I saw them at the Fox and Goose a while back, and they are a must see band.
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The Essence
Newsletter, May 1994 Here is the long awaited "debut" from TTF. The demo didn't count as a debut, but that's ok, because those songs are included and reworked. There are also plenty of good new songs on this fourteen track CD. The first new song happens to be the first song, which is the title track. I had never heard the song before and I didn't get to the rest of the album until I'd heard "TTF" again about five more times. There are some ultra funky rhythms and grooves that incorporate Hip-House, 70's cool and modern sounds. It'll keep you out of your chair for a while! "Believe" was redone and there are some extra percussive sounds that don't work for me as well as the original. But, I'm terrible when it comes to changing things around (just ask my wife, when she changes the living room around). The vocals are better than ever and all done within two days. "Twisted and Broken", the bands best song from their demo is now one of the standouts on TTF. The Threshing Floor not only have radio potential, they are already being played on KWOD's "Sounds of Sacramento" show. They've only played an earlier version of "Shut My Mouth." But the new one is much better. Hear for yourself!
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The Stick Man Fred
Newsletter January 1994 The Threshing Floor Have you ever wondered what an alternative Out of The Gray would sound like? The Threshing Floor is the answer. This is in no way a comparison or an insult. The Threshing Floor can certainly stand on their own next to Out of The Gray. The closest comparison for those of you who need one is Six Pence None The Richer. Even though I attempt not to use Christian to secular comparisons (Reasons why in the next issue), a comparison to the Cranberries struck me while the song played in the theater showing the wonderful movie, Shadowlands. Sandi Padilla's voice is beautiful. The most impressive moments seem to correspond with the most intense. While listening to the tape, one can not help but to feel that The Threshing Floor makes music as an art. The art of this album is filled with a depth of color unknown by this listener since The Innocence Mission's Umbrella CD. Splendid strokes of red, blue, and yellow intertwine with black and gray to paint a lyrical and musical portrait of life. The picture is not one you just sit and admire. This portrait continues to be created on every new listen. If you're not careful, the paint will jump out and splash you.
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CCM Magazine June 1993 Most of the modern rock and alternative world are sure to enjoy a five song demo from The Threshing Floor who tastefully combines elements of The Sundays, U2, Annie Lennox, and Out of the Grey. Their music not only sacrifices flamboyant indulgence for considerable song writing, but is further enhanced by Sandi Padilla's obsessive vocals. The group recently made the trek from California to Nashville to participate in this year's GMA New Artist Showcase.
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The Essence
Newsletter April/May 1993 Twisted and Broken The Threshing Floor (Spagnum Moss) - Even though this is only thought of as a demo, I considered the husband and wife duos (Steve and Sandi Padilla) latest project good enough to be called a full-fledged EP and therefore must be reviewed. The first thing I noticed when listening to Twisted is a tasty vocal style and solid song-arranging. I think one way to find out if a song is timeless is it's humability. After listening to the original rough demo version in October at WTR studios, the title track and My Life were still fresh in mind months later. The songs were completed with live instruments and the vocals were reworked. I've noticed that Sandi has found her voice in the music. Her inflections suit the melody perfectly. The guitar and bass are handled expertly by Dave Hawley and Steve. If Dave continues to play guitar with the group, then Threshing Floor will have to fight off labels with a stick. Drumming duties were also done skillfully by Evan Perandes. Unfortunately, Evan couldn't join the band at GMA. Hopefully, we'll be able to catch everybody this summer. The band is working on new material for the fall.
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The Threshing Floor. For ordering info, write to the band at 3616 Kings Way #l, Sacramento CA 95821.The name is taken from the prophetic writings of both the Old Testament and Jesus. The music is taken from the modern rock/ pop sounds of 10,000 Maniacs, Annie Lennox and even Over the Rhine. Based out of Sacramento, California. This band may just spur another round of California creativity that marked the 90' s with the likes of the 77' s, Peacock, Vector and others. The female vocalist, who was not identified in the package I got, has a solid voice that packs a wallop while scaling at least a couple of octaves. She has a " whiny" edge that adds impact and thrust to the well-written lyrics. Throughout each number, the lead guitar penetrates and then lades, in the style of Robin Lane and The Call. Very cool indeed. I found myself enjoying this more with each repeated listening, alternately focusing on the guitars, then the vocals, then the lyrics, then the percussion and bass. This band is solid through and through. As they mature and their exposure increases, The Threshing Floor should have a broad national audience comprised of middle aged rockers, the older teen set, college age and those of the secular realm who respect good music. "My Life-addresses the realities of a life changed by the Lord. The listenable " Come Around" explores the generic "you" who touched the singer at just the right time, The songs could be used in a wide evangelistic sense, with the sound and feel of modern rock but the realities of the Christian faith evident. "Believe" asks the question " Is there more than this" and then walks the doubter through his questions of faith This is good material for a band who should have a contract soon if the record companies were smart (they aren't). The worst part is that the tape has a mere five songs, leaving you with a hunger that won't be satisfied until the next release. ++++ (David Rupert)
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