I arrived at the Kirk today around 12:45pm to find the room that we usually pray in before Sunday morning service starts completely transformed. It is now the control room complimented with candlelight and a luminescent LED light in the corner. The worship center is now the room where we track the drums. The walls are lined with guitars, amps, mics, cymbals, and snares.

It’s now 2am on Thursday morning and we’ve been tracking since yesterday at 11am. Mic placement and tuning adjustments took about 5 hrs. Now we’re tracking one of our songs. We’re making progress with every take. Im getting quite sleepy. It’s a fun, yet long process.

: : josh

Dness tracking drums

We officially began recording our first, full length, worship record on Monday. Set up is done and we couldn’t be any happier. Tonight we laid down scratch guitar and vocals for three of our original songs: A New Day, Set Free, and You Are. We wrote a new chorus to the song A New Day that we hope will be powerful in cooperate worship gatherings. Tomorrow, Dness and Josh arrive to begin tracking drums. Chris Pyron is also helping out with the record. He’ll be filming the making of the record in 1080p with his new HD camera.  We’ll be making blog updates here at ryanfitzband.com almost every day.  You can also follow us on twitter @ryanfitzband for day to day updates on how the record is coming along.

: : ryan

We’ve been on a big push to finish some songs lately — it seems as though they’ve been floating in mid air for a while now. We’re determined to pull them from the stratosphere before we start recording in less than two weeks. A song that we’re really excited about is a song called “A New Day.” The song is an anthem shouting “Praise be to God, Almighty.” Focused around Lamentations 3, the song speaks of a new day, light, and life. We’re excited for you guys to hear it. You’ll be able follow how the record is tracking along right here at http://ryanfitzband.com.

: : ryan

Has anyone slept on a “chair bed?” We had our first experience of this recently. Let’s set this story up. We were in Arkansas on a Saturday morning. The plan was to head to Tulsa, OK, rehearse that evening, and play Sunday morning. Moffett, our bass player, plays with Ben Rector when he uses a band. It just so happened that Moffett was playing with Ben that Saturday night. The guys and I decided to wait around on Moffett to finish the show with Ben so that we could all ride together. I’m going to give you the reader’s digest version of the story. Moffett finished the show with Ben at 12:40 a.m, Moffett called us at 12:45 a.m. saying their cars had been towed, we picked Moffett, Joe Kane, and Chris Wylie up at the venue, we hunted down their cars, they paid to have their cars released from the towing company, we left Moffett with his car so he could go load his equipment, we headed to Sprindale, Moffett meet us in Springdale, we left Springdale, AR just after 2 a.m. bound for Tulsa. We arrived in Tulsa at the top of the hour — the top of the fourth hour, that is. At that point we decided to sleep at the church. So, we loaded our gear in, found a room with chairs, pushed some chairs together to form beds, and lights out at 4:30 a.m.

Despite the set backs the hours before, we seemed to play well that morning.  Here are a couple of photos of our luxurious, “chair beds.”

: : ryan

Ryan enjoying a "chair bed."

One of the "chair beds" we put to use. Designed by RFB. All rights reserved.

We have some exciting news to share with you. We’re set to record a full worship record in July! We’ll be tracking all instruments and vocals the last two weeks of July. Our good friend, Joe Kane is producing the record. Along with some familiar worship songs, the record will also include a few of our original songs. We’re excited to make the record and see how God uses these songs for his glory.  I hope you guys are doing well.  We hope to see you soon!

: : ryan

It was a wet and rainy Easter in Tulsa for us. That didn’t stop more than 2,300 people from walking into The Kirk to praise Jesus for what He did for all of us. It was a honest celebration. As we planned the music for the worship services, we wanted to capture the excitement that Jesus had risen and is alive, but at the same time, give people an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifice that conquered sin and death. The Spirit was faithful by showing up and revealing himself to us in a powerful way. Here’s the set list from this past weekend’s Easter services.

Salvation Is Here (B) — Hillsong United

All Because of Jesus (B) — Steve Fee

Your Grace Is Enough (A) — Chris Tomlin

None But Jesus (B) — Hillsong United

Jesus Paid It All (B) — Passion

Happy Day (B) — Tim Hughes

After the last service on Sunday, the whole band and a lot of our families had a HUGE lunch at the family’s house we stay at here in Tulsa, OK. I think Moffett had triplets (as in three times through the food line)! My personal favorite was the homemade chocolate pie — thanks Mom! We, as a band, have some pretty exciting things coming up in the next three months. Keep swinging by ryanfitzband.com to see what’s going on. Here are some photos from Easter weekend at The Kirk.

: : ryan

RFB @ The Kirk on Easter '09.

RFB @ The Kirk on Easter '09.

Dness getting ready to fire the loopage.

Ryan and Josh laying it down.

Thanks to the students at FBC Springdale for an incredible night of worship — God’s Spirit was definitely moving. May you continue to grow in your faith. We busted out the new RFB tshirts at this event — hot off the press. Students seemed to like ‘em. If you want a RFB tshirt you can find them under the “Merch” tab at ryanfitzband.com. We’re gearing up for Easter at The Kirk in Tulsa. I’ll tell post a set list early next week. Here are a couple of photos from the Collide event.  

RFB @ Collide, FBC Springdale

RFB with guest speaker Clayton King

 : : ryan

We’ve been holding off for a while now to tell you some exciting news.  As of March 1, the RFB is playing Sunday mornings at The Kirk in Tulsa, OK.  We love this because we are now plugged into a constant community of people who are passionate about praising our God.  We’ll be playing at weekend retreats, but you will be able to find us most Sunday mornings at The Kirk.  If you’re in Tulsa, come worship with us.

Tomorrow I (ryan) am picking up our newly designed, RFB, american apparel tshirts.  All the design work turned out to be brilliant.  That brilliance belongs to Brandon Horner.

Our new website should be up in the next few days.  We’ll let you know when she’s up and running.  Until then, keep dropping in.  If our words ever become stale and predictable let us know and I’ll start telling stories about undiscovered mammals.

: : ryan

A couple of weeks ago, we traveled to Tulsa to have custom molds made for our ears. The point of all this is to have custom, Westone, ES3, in ear monitors for the band. The process is really cool: First, they stick a camera with a light on it down your ear. The camera is hooked up to a t.v. monitor and displays a clear picture of the inside of your ear.  They look all the way through your ear canal until they can see your ear drum.  You’ll know when you see it because it appears to shine, like a star.  Next, they insert a small piece of cotton deep into your ear.  Don’t worry, there is a piece of string attached so they can pull it out. After that, they get this device that looks exactly like a caulking gun and fill your entire ear canal with a special paste. The paste is cold at first, but warms up rather quickly. Once the past is in your ear, you have to keep your face in the same position for about 7 minutes — this gives the past time to harden. If you move your face around, it could slightly change the shape of your molds — not good. Clearly, trying to keep our faces in the same position was the most challenging part of the process because we were giving our best effort to make each other laugh.  Once the past is firm, they pull on the string, attached to the cotton ball deep inside your ear, which pulls the entire mold of your ear out. Finally, they put it in a box, write your name on it, and ship it off to Westone to be made into a custom in ear speaker. If you’re ever in need for some in ear monitors, go visit Dr. Armstrong. They are great people. Here is a link of the exact Westone in ear monitors we got: Westone.  

I hope you’re doing well. Keeping dropping by and see what’s going on with the Ryan Fitz Band. Here are some photos of our recent custom molds experience. Enjoy. 

: : ryan

Derek checking out the inside of his ear on the monitor.

Josh getting cotton shoved deep into his ears.

Ryan having his ear filled with blue paste. That stuff felt funny.

Our molds in their boxes ready to be sent to Westone.

We (Ryan Fitz Band a.k.a. RFB) have been on the road a lot lately.  We’ve had some incredible times of worship with so many students.  The relationships we’ve been blessed with are amazing.  God is doing some incredible things which we as a band are pumped to share with you, soon.  We’re working on a new website that will be up and running in the next couple of weeks.  Until then, drop in every couple of days and check out what’s happening.  I hope God has been stirring in your hearts. Here are some photos from a few of the last events we’ve played.

: : ryan 

RFB @ Eagle Heights Harrison, AR

RFB with speaker Ron Harris.

RFB @ The Kirk Tulsa, OK. Josh is gettin' it.

Derek and Josh couching it between sets.