What’s it like when you embark on a project with someone you haven’t spent time with in person – you’ve briefly met them before but then gotten to know them better on FaceBook … it’s kind of a modern day social reality. That’s how it is for Hannah and I – Hannah won Sing2Win – the fundraising contest I setup with Mercy Ships to give contestants a chance to win thousands of dollars of prizes by auditioning for my Mercy Ships fundraising song and then competing to win the favour of the judges and the masses online.

Sharon Walls from Mercy Ships and I hooked up with Hannah in Auckland to get to know her a bit more and to hand over her prizes. She also shared some thoughts about Sing2Win.

Ladies and gentlemen I’d like to introduce the one … the only … Hannah Horsfield!

Hannah is also in the running for New Zealand’s Got Talent so give her your VOTE!

While Hannah and I are planning our path to the studio to record “Hope On My Horizon” how would you like a free copy? You can get “Hope On My Horizon – Live” by signing up to my Backstage Pass below – I’ll also keep you up to date on the journey to the studio that Hannah and I take.

Let’s hear it for Hannah!
Pete

Thanks to everyone who made comments on the different lyrical choices I had for my song “Wrinkle Free” – I’ve got the final lyrics nailed down and a rough demo of the song ready for the producer.

So here is the Back Stage view of “Wrinkle Free” for you to listen to and comment on …

NOTE [Just in case you’re a detailed person you’ll notice there is one line in the demo recording that doesn’t match the final written lyrics – can you spot it?]

So what do you think of the lyrics or the song? What would you want to say to the producer about it before he heard it?

Grab your favourite blender … drop in a dollop of Day of Fire rock, a slosh of Switchfoot guitars, douse with Delirious’ devotion to God, aerate with Audio Adrenaline gutsy vocals, blend with 30 years of performing for 500 to 5000 in venues from Godzone to Bucharest, Romania to Shanghai, China to Plovdiv, Bulgaria … and you’ve got my music.

So if you like guitar driven songs and gutsy vocals with sweat flying on stage then I’ve got free music and videos just for you – signup and get an exclusive Backstage Pass PLUS a FREE live recording of the soon-to-be-recorded song “Hope On My Horizon” below:

Take a look around and sample some videos and music … if you like it then please sign up and get even more free stuff!

Pete
Music With A Mission To Rock Your World

On ANZAC Day our nation wakes to dawn ceremonies gathered around those who put their lives on the line for us and for our freedom. It’s a paradise here in New Zealand but history has shown our freedoms and Kiwi way of life have a high cost … young men, fathers, husbands, and brothers have protected and paid for that and we remember them today.

Some stood in the cold dark morning air – at attention – like statues while we paused to honour them and remember our ANZAC’s.

Some were not there – they lie silent in other lands – they never returned after giving their lives for to protect and defend.

Lest we forget …

With their hair a little whiter, their step not quite so sure

Still they march on proudly as they did the year before.

Theirs were the hands that saved us, their courage showed the way

Their lives they laid down for us, that we may live today.

From Gallipoli’s rugged hillsides, to the sands of Alamein

On rolling seas and in the skies, those memories will remain.

Of airmen and the sailors, of Lone Pine and Suvla Bay

The boys of the Dardenelles are remembered on this day.

They fought their way through jungles, their blood soaked desert sands

They still remember comrades who rest in foreign lands.

They remember the siege of old Tobruk, the mud of the Kokoda Trail

Some paying the supreme sacrifice with courage that did not fail.

To the icy land of Korea, the steamy jungles of Vietnam

And the heroic battle of Kapyong and that epic victory at Long Tan.

Fathers, sons and brothers, together they fought and died

That we may live in peace together, while at home their mothers cried.

When that final bugle calls them to cross that great divide

Those comrades will be waiting when they reach the other side.

Ken Bunker

I’ve been in so many meetings with people trying to solve a seemingly impossible problem and someone inevitably chirps in with …

I understand entirely what they mean but I grimace inside.

When you’re back’s against the wall if ALL you do is hope then it’s not likely that anything will CHANGE.

Hope does two things to me – it makes me admit that I need help beyond myself plus it’s the spark that starts the change.

Hope is the firestarter, it’s the pilot light that just barely keeps burning when there’s no reason to keep on going or keep on believing. Hope is the spark that ignites the signal fire to grab God’s attention.

But that in itself is not enough – hope crashes in on my world and forces me to make a decision – do I give up and back down, or do I choose to keep believing and decide to move, to take action, to cry out to God to meet me – does hope put feet on my faith?

I’ve found myself many times with the odds stacked against me and sometimes even with friends or family telling me I should just give up, shut up shop, and let it all go ….

But the ember of hope, that ‘thing’ that I cannot see, the whispers of God in my spirit that just won’t go away – the hope that remains – is just enough for me to choose to stand on what I believe and take just one more step forward.

That’s the story behind my song “Hope On My Horizon”. When I penned the lines

With my heart racing and my confidence crumbling

I’ll take a chance instead of wondering

I see hope …

I wasn’t referring to four leaf clovers or a rabbit’s foot – I was talking about how hope is a “true north” and points me toward trusting in God and spurs me into taking steps that line up with that trust – even though I have no guarantee that anything will change. Those steps of hope are living evidence that I WILL trust that God can do something and so I put myself in a place where He can.

And that’s when I find myself singing ….

I see hope

I see hope

I see hope

I see hope on my horizon

Do you?