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Artists

Firm Foundations prides itself in the quality of artists appearing at the festival. Over the years acts such as Delirious?, One Hundred Hours, Robin Mark, The Band with No Name, My Spoon and many more have graced the festival stages during the weekend.

For more information on Artists that have appeared check the previous festivals page.

Appearing in 2008...

Bands, speakers and workshop leaders are starting to be confirmed for 2008. We will have the latest updates and information on who is playing during the weekend on here first so be sure to check back regularly.

Bands

Here is who are confirmed so far:

29th Chapter

A unique Hip Hop and Rap act with a huge desire to share the Gospel with young people, 29th Chapter, part of the Acts 29 vision, will be exploding on to the main stage on Saturday night.

Website: www.29thchapter.com
MySpace: the29thchapter

yfriday

One of the UK's top Christian bands, yfriday will be bringing their unique style of worship to Firm Foundations. On the back of their 2008 live DVD, The Universal Broadcast, don't miss your chance to see them perform with passion and energy.

What's your favourite Bible verse and why?
Philippians 3 - if we really do all that stuff then the world would be a very different place.

What's currently playing on your MP3?
Snow Patrol.

Why is this year's Hope 2008 theme important to you?
We were inspired by the upcoming year of Hope to write a song called One Hope on our Universal album. God's church working together, unified, and mixing social action with Gospel presentation is something that can only impact our nation.

What food couldn't you live without?
Curry.

Website: www.yfriday.co.uk

My Spoon

Christian rock band My Spoon and Firm Foundations favourites are back this year. We asked vocalist and guitarist John OB:

Have you been to Firm Foundations before? If so, when?
FF was the first festival My Spoon ever played at - I believe it was four years ago on corner stage. Since then we've released two EPs and an album. We've been playing two to three gigs every week for the past two years, but we always make time to come back to FF because we really appreciate all the support our fans at FF have given us!

Why is this year's Hope 2008 theme important to you? My Spoon have already played at various Hope 08 events around the UK this year already. It's been really inspiring for us as a band seeing so many different churches, festivals and Christian organisations catching hold of the same vision and just doing something in their communities to show them the hope that Jesus is to this world!

What food couldn't you live without?
Yellow snow - man that stuff is tasty.

In your opinion, what's the greatest film ever made?
Our favourite band film is Cool as Ice, starring the musical genius and respected actor that is Vanilla Ice Ice baby!

Website: www.passthespoon.com

Satellite

Satellite are Birmingham based band comprised of Ian on vocals, Steve on guitar, Adam on keys, Matt on bass and Sam on drums. They will be playing FF for the first time, although some members have played on the Big Top stage under other guises.

Website: www.satelliteband.co.uk

Magnus

A group of former FF goers, which in Latin means magnify, will lead the evening celebrations. The music group is Pete Hopper, Barry Griffiths, Jason Rowles, Tim Rosier, Ed and Jo Dring, all former members of the Firm Foundations Worship Team. This group first played for us on the Fringe Stage at Firm Foundations a few years back before leading morning worship only 3 years ago. Now having had a break from Firm Foundations while concentrating on leading worship in their own churches we welcomed them back in 2007. They will lead worship in the evenings in 2008.

KJC

King Jehoshaphat's Camel is the Boys' Brigades central worship group. They are a group of young people from the Brigade who have a passion for God and are gifted in the areas of Music, Drama, PA or Public Speaking.

Website: www.kjc.org.uk

Blush UK

Blush uk are three girls with an attitude… an attitude to see thousands of people reached with the good news of Jesus Christ through their music! Despite a top selling debut album, ‘Sunshine’, and the release of their new EP ‘Ear Candy’, the girls remain firmly committed to the high schools of Manchester and the recruiting and training of radical young evangelists through Genetik - The Tribe Academy. With an urban pop sound similar to the likes of Girls Aloud, Pussy Cat Dolls, Pink and Sugababes, Nic, Lucy, and Jess bring a mixture of energetic dance performance and edgy pop melodies that you don’t want to miss! Their kooky new image is relating to their audience like never before. These girls have played the Royal Albert Hall, The NEC, Manchester Apollo and many more top hot venues. This year they will be hitting the festivals such as, Soul Survivor, Spring Harvest, Frenzy and Grapevine. You can also catch them on RMusic TV and God TV.

Website: www.blushuk.com

seventyseventimes

seventyseventimes (77x for short), formerly known as Punk Worship, will also be taking to the stage at Firm Foundations. We asked MaFt, the vocalist/guitarist:

When did you become a Christian?
I became a Christian in 1995 at Spring Harvest in Skegness. I was pretty lonely at the time and going through a rough time at school and a talk on friendship and God always being a friend really hit home. I'd been brought up to go to church but this time it really meant something!

Why is this year's Hope 2008 theme important to you?
Our new CD is called Hope After All and features the song Hope of the Nations, which makes the point quite clearly that there IS hope, and that Jesus can give you that hope. There are far too many people putting themselves down because they're not happy with their bodies, because they're somehow 'different', because of abuse, because of death and suffering - but Jesus can overcome that. He gives us hope and a security that we are loved exactly as we are. We just need to accept ourselves and accept that Jesus was put to death for us!

What food couldn't you live without?
Being from Bradford I feel obliged to say curry; but because I like to be different I'll have to say Ro's mum's prawn fried rice - it was gorgeous and Ro's lucky as he gets to eat food like that every day! (Sorry Mum).

What's currently playing on your MP3?
Which one?!

Website: www.seventyseventimes.co.uk

Sounds of Salvation

Hailing from the south of England, 10 peice ska/rock band Sounds of Salvation specialise in reaching out to young people. They have been playing various different Christian events and church meetings since forming in 2005.

Website: www.soundsofsalvation.co.uk

EmpireNation

EmpireNation is a brand new, fresh from the can, Christian four-piece indie/rock band performing at Firm Foundations for the first time. They hit the music scene in spring 2007 with a powerful new mix of contemporary music and worship - trying to bridge the gap between secular styles and modern worship, taking influences from bands such as The Killers and Editors, and adding their unique twist.

What are you most looking forward to about Firm Foundations?
We're looking forward to totally rocking out and bringing something new! You won't know what hit you!

Why is this year's Hope 2008 theme important to you?
Because this is our breakout year as a band - we really want to inspire people!

What's your favourite Bible story and why?
The story of Job, because he stuck in there, even when things were really tough!

What's currently playing on your MP3?
A mix of Jimmy Eat World, Editors, classical, and, of course, our latest EP - it rocks, yeah!

Divine Calling

Divine Calling will be playing and helping with worship at this year's Firm Foundations. We asked band leader Matt Wright:

Why is this year's Hope 2008 theme important to you?
Hope is important to me as we all hope that every young person at Firm Foundations makes a commitment to God, whether it's big or small.

When and where did you become a Christian?
I became a Christian when I was 17 whilst doing a month of trekking round Mongolia for my Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award.

What's your favourite Bible story and why?
David and Goliath because it shows that no matter how big a challenge in life is, if you ask God to help you he will help you overcome it.

In your opinion, what's the greatest film ever made?
The greatest film ever? It has to be Lord Of The Rings.

Evolution Band

Evolution Band will be playing on the V2 stage on Staurday afternoon. The band members are The current line-up is: Helen Gardiner (vocals), Matt Riches (lead guitar and vocals), Lauren Brown (electric guitar), Andy Turner (acoustic guitar), Matt Rowlands (bass guitar) and John Metcalf (drums).

Website: www.evolution-band.blogspot.com

The Royal Welcome

Four piece band from Leicester have been sharing their passion for God around the midlands for the past two years, supporting a number of top bands. Their first EP 'Red Moon' was released in 2006.

Website: www.theroyalwelcome.tk
MySpace: theroyalwelcome

Speakers

Andy Hawthorne

Andy is from the Manchester based The Message Trust. Formed in 1992, The Message reach out to young people in the toughest areas of Manchester.

Formally a member of The Tribe, Andy is also one of the founders of the Hope 2008 revolution.

Website: www.message.org.uk

Lorne Campbell

Lorne Campbell is a director of Youth for Christ.

Website: www.yfc.co.uk

Sonya Newton

Avanti Ministries evangelist Sonya will be speaking at Firm Foundations for the first time - although she did used to be in the Girls' Brigade.

Why is this year's Hope 2008 theme important to you?
If you've had problems in your life and God has helped you through then you need to pass that information on to everyone else. Hope 08 can be the time that you start to show others that hope in God.

What else are you doing to support Hope 2008?
I helped with some local outreach during the Easter break, but as I travel a lot I plan to spread the Gospel wherever I go this year and I'm determined to show that there is hope with God.

What food couldn't you live without?
Cooked breakfast - I know it's bad for me but I love a good breakfast.

In your opinion, what's the greatest film ever made?
The Passion.

Website: www.avantiministries.com

Paul Kerensa

Paul is a stand-up comic and writer for sitcoms and sketch shows - and he's a Christian.

When did you become a Christian?
On a Pathfinder/CYFA Venture Holiday on a riverbank near Coventry - I was on a canal cruise on the Grand Union Canal. It was the first time I stopped seeing the church as somewhere to go to get out of the house, and I started realising that the Bible wasn't just a historical record, but a truth that you can live.

Which celebrity inspires you most?
Paris Hilton. No, hang on, not Paris Hilton. Richard Curtis, that's it. A prolific writer, always hits the mark, keeps himself to himself, just gets on with it, and also finds time to have a massive moral conscience by getting Comic Relief off the ground. Fantastic stuff.

What food couldn't you live without?
Kebabs - more specifically, a large doner in naan bread with mild chilli, mint and a bit of lemon.

What's currently playing on your MP3?
For my show for the Edinburgh Festival I'm forcing myself to listen to types of music well outside my comfort zone. So right now it's 101 Dance Hits. A lot of it's rubbish, but yesterday I've Got The Power by Snap came on, and that was great - old school.