Though by appearance Seventh Day Slumber seems to be a typical hard rock band, they excel in two very distinct genres: Christian hard rock and praise and worship.
Joseph Rojas, lead singer of Seventh Day Slumber, started his musical journey as a teen who loved heavy metal groups like Metallica. After becoming saved and finding there were Christians playing hard rock, he changed his lyrics but kept his style. Also loving praise and worship, he later added it to his repertoire, though the music industry told him he had to choose.
“I didn’t ever want to be put in a box,” Rojas said. “God didn’t tell me I had to pick one. The industry told me I had to pick one. It’s not the industry that elevated me here; God did so. I’m going to go with what God says and not what an industry tells me what I had to do or be.
“Whether I’m in Nashville or not, God is the God of the universe, so He’s definitely the God of Nashville, so I’m going to do what God tells me I can do.”
Rojas was surprised when he approached his record label with the idea of a praise and worship album and they agreed. He got none of the backlash he expected. This led to one of their bestselling albums, “Take Everything.”
God has brought Rojas a lot to get to the point of standing up for what he believes. He was a drug addict and a criminal, in and out of jail. At its worst, his cocaine addiction cost him $400 a day.
He could no longer sell drugs to pay for his personal habit so he started stealing. He lost everything, ending up homeless.
A mother’s prayers
However, there was someone who still believed in him — his mother.
“My mother gave her life to Jesus when I was about 18 or so. She would tell me about God and that He could change my life. She would just go and pray for me. She found me on the streets and brought me back home,” Rojas said.
Rojas “never felt right” after being back home and decided he would plan to take his life. His mother saved him again — literally. She walked in during his self-induced overdose and then called the paramedics and prayed.
“God used those paramedics to save my life. While I was in the back of that ambulance, I had an encounter with Jesus. I gave my heart to Jesus. Even though I couldn’t really talk or speak, I surrendered my heart to Him,” Rojas remembered.
Afterward, he decided to go to Bible college. There he found Christian rock. It was the perfect mix of the high-energy, heavy guitar-oriented music he loved, but with Christian lyrics.
His songwriting changed from the depression-filled songs he had written before to songs that were God-filled, although his songs weren’t the “traditional type of every lyric is Jesus.”
Instead, he wrote about “real-life stuff,” emphasizing how God had changed him.
‘A place you can go for strength’
But even after finding Christ, Rojas still had struggles, including working through a time of depression that led him to alcohol.
“It got really bad there for a while. I had to be freed from that, even after becoming a Christian. I want to encourage people who are reading this that just because you become a Christian doesn’t mean that you’re immune to pain or that you don’t go through tough times, but it does mean that now you have a place that you can go for strength.
“That place is in Jesus. That’s the difference. There were times I felt like giving up. I had to remember who my God is and I had to remember where He’s brought me from. That’s what’s kept me going.
“People go through difficult times even as a Christian,” Rojas said. “It doesn’t matter. Pain is universal; we all go through stuff. Sometimes I feel like Christians try to mask it because they feel like they want to portray a holier-than-thou attitude like they don’t sin anymore.
“I never did that. I just was as real as I could be, and I wrote that in my music. People related to it. I didn’t try to fake a perfect life. Life still hurt, even after I became a Christian.”
Hard times
This very relatable theme led to growing a fan base of both Christians and non-Christians.
Once he had a few hard rock albums released, he added his other love — praise and worship — and now releases albums in both genres.
Though Rojas has accomplished a lot — winning a Dove Award, having multiple songs on the Billboard charts, doing big tours — Winter Jam 2024 is a new experience for Seventh Day Slumber.
“They only pick one rock band every year,” he said. “After 20 years, it’s surreal. We’re all so excited to be a part of Winter Jam. We look forward to it.
“I don’t get giddy about being asked to be on tours anymore. We’ve been on every major tour you can think of in the Christian music industry, huge, huge artists. But I’ve got to admit, I was a little giddy when we got the slot at Winter Jam.”
In 2024, Seventh Day Slumber will be releasing two full-length albums — one hard rock and one praise and worship. To find out more, visit the group’s website here. For more information about Winter Jam 2024, click here.
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