If we had to sum ourselves up in one verse of scripture, it would be Psalm 96 verse 1 …

“Sing Yahweh a brand new song! Earth and everyone in it, sing! Sing to Yahweh – worship Yahweh”

This verse (taken here from Eugene Peterson’s modern translation called “The Message”) neatly summarises theREIGN’s vision, which is simply to get out there and sing the songs that He has given us … for His glory. It guides everything that theREIGN does, and underpins our reason for making music together. It also provided the title for our debut album.

In seeking to carry out this vision, we feel called to take our music out in a number of ways, and He has provided us with the tools to do this.

Firstly, in leading worship. The band originally came together to assist lead singer David Cooper in putting together his second album of worship songs and, with David’s personal calling as a Worship Leader, it was not hard to see God calling us to this service as a group.

Secondly, in performance. Using a combination of David’s original Praise & Worship songs, his more performance related material and a smattering of popular secular songs, theREIGN can put themselves in front of any type of audience with the knowledge that God is able to use our music to reach out and touch people’s lives.

A Potted History

Following the relative success of his debut solo CD, I Will Follow in 2001, David Cooper decided that he needed a proper band, containing real, live musicians in order to make the follow-up even better and, with that in mind, he spent the early part of 2002 gathering together musicians wherever he went. By August of that year, the original lineup was complete: David himself (Lead vocals & Acoustic Guitar), Ivan Carruthers (Drums), John Osbourne (Bass Guitar), Dave Keegan (Electric Guitar), Kathryn Cooper (Piano), Phil Gray (Acoustic Guitar), Helen Webber (Violin), Jo Fussey and Debbie Simpson (Vocals).

At the start, the idea was that this group would do nothing but assist David in recording his new CD, but as soon as we all stood in the same room at the same time with our instruments, the ease with which we played with each other and the shared vision we all had for our music made it quite obvious that God had other plans.

So, on 1 November 2002, the band made its live debut (named only The Dave Cooper Band at that point) supporting Geoff Howlett and Wild Honey in the Upper Room at The Haworth Arms pub in Hull. This was followed on 1 February 2003 with theREIGN’s full, official debut at Kingston Wesley Methodist Church in East Hull. Further concerts followed at Sutton Methodist Church and St Barnabas Church, Swanland in early Summer, followed by the release of Sing in September, after almost 10 months in the making.

During 2003, we lost both Helen and Jo to pastures new, but in early 2004 Simon Reeves took over on piano, freeing Kathryn to concentrate on vocals. 2004 was a weird year for the band overall, with David suffering a serious eye injury in October, at the same time as an unofficial hiatus was forced on them by the involvement of several members in another project. Serious prayer ensued over the future of the band, and at the windup of the other project in early 2005, Dave Keegan and Debbie Simpson both left the band, to be replaced by Paul Ganney on Electric Guitar and Barbara Osbourne and Jemma Phillipson on Vocals.

2005 featured some true highlights of the band’s journey to date, with the disappointment of missing out on our planned festival debut in July (due to the cancellation of the whole event) more than tempered by invitations to play at youth events in Witham, Essex and Torquay, Devon. These trips helped to bind us together as a group of musicians and Christians, and enabled the band to truly spread its wings.

As 2006 opened, we had made the decision to finally record a follow-up to Sing and God’s timing came to the fore once again. Long-serving (or should that be suffering?) sound engineer, Dave Cartwright needed a project for his final year at the University of Lincoln, and our new album was thought to be a perfect choice. Kingston Wesley was also in the process of building a recording studio which could be used for this purpose. And so, between early February and mid-April, Dave and the band worked very, VERY hard recording and putting together Where Jesus Touches The Earth, released in June.

At the end of recording, Simon stepped down from his position behind the piano, as he was finding it increasingly difficult to balance his University course in Durham with being available to play with theREIGN. He left with our best wishes, thanks and prayers and remains a good friend of the band.

August 2006 saw theREIGN make their (delayed) festival debut at the Daddy of them all (Greenbelt), with a successful Monday morning slot in front of over 200 people. That performance led to an invitation to return as part of the formal worship programme in 2007.

Following a series of smaller scale concerts and worship meetings throughout 2007, the band joined forces with local Minister Revd Rachel Ganney and went to Greenbelt_07 armed with their brand new Rock Eucharist (called Communion on the Rocks) and led a crowd/congregation of around 140 people in worship at half past midnight using a combination of their own material, some popular worship songs and a little Nirvana, Queen and Fleetwood Mac. The success of this event at Greenbelt has encouraged the band to promote this to local churches, with Victoria Dock, St Barnabas and St Aidan’s Church (East Hull) having hosted RE events (in some cases more than one) through late 2007 and into 2008.

The success of the the event at Greenbelt 2007 led to an invitation to return with another event in 2008 and version 2 was another roaring success late on opening night with an estimated 250 in attendance.

Following further successful events in the Hull area, the band began to offer two seasons of RE events in the Autumn and Spring of each year, taking them as far away as Warrington and London as well as serving a number of churches in Hull and East Yorkshire.

The end of the Autumn 2009 season saw original drummer Ivan Carruthers step down from the skins to concentrate on his training as a reader in the Church of England, and at the beginning of 2010 he was replaced by Kev Sargeson, like Paul Ganney a long-standing member of Hull’s Christian music.

Through 2010 a series of lineup changes became inevitable as first Paul and Rachel’s and then Kev’s careers took them to London. Rachel was the first to be replaced, with Revd Andy Simpson taking over the reins for the Rock Eucharist events during Autumn 2010 and there followed a lengthy transition during which Paul and Kev agreed to stick around and play for a while.

Paul was eventually replaced by Rob Peirson, a young guitarist involved with the local SPARK youth event, and Kev by Simon Redfern, a not-quite-so-young stalwart of the local Christian music scene.

In addition, Bethany Cooper joined the lineup as vocalist in September 2010 and Richard Fuller took over piano and keyboard duties in time for the Spring 2011 season of Rock Eucharists, once again freeing Kathryn to concentrate on her preferred vocals.

These latest changes have subtly changed the way the band sounds and feels, and with some brand new songs, and some new recordings, in the pipeline these are exciting times for theREIGN. We hope that you will support and pray for us on our ongoing journey.