Before All Falls highlights free music festival

Despite their different missions, several bands will gather to play at an upcoming festival and advocate for a similar purpose: to entertain and promote the best in everyone.

Cory Bacon, director of Driven to the Cross Ministries, organized the two-day music festival at the new municipal stage in Magnolia Park in Marble Hill, Mo. on Oct. 15 and 16 to raise money for a community center in the town. The event is free, but donations will be accepted, and several businesses have donated items for raffles.

The first day features a rocking lineup of five bands from around the area, including With Salvation, One Way Out, Consumed, Before All Falls and ArtiFakt. The second day welcomes several small church groups, Jess McDowell and the Abundant Grace Band.

While some bands in the lineup are secular, others -- like Before All Falls -- slant decidedly toward the religion genre.

Kaleb Webb, lead singer of Before All Falls, said he didn't know much about the event but that it fits the band's mantra perfectly.

"We can make something of ourselves, and be something more than just a band," Webb said. "That's the biggest thing for me; the fact that I can run to this band to express myself and help other people, and right there, man, is the greatest satisfaction."

Before All Falls got its start in the fall of 2006. Webb said all the members' experiences have led their lives to intertwine into a brotherhood of musicians.

"We're all brothers, and we come from rough, rough backgrounds, but we don't sing about that," Webb said. "What we do is turn that into something positive."

Before All Falls has Webb on vocals, Zebulon Chapman on bass, Evan Chapman on drums and vocals, Andrew Winey on guitar and Ben Jones on guitar and vocals. Webb said the band has stayed strong and continues to grow both spiritually and musically.

"We've always kicked it into high gear, especially at the shows, and just now, we're recently starting to open up more and play in this region more than anywhere else, because we want a local reaction."

The band likes to take "mini tours," according to Webb. "We will go up to Chicago or somewhere upstate."

With a strong, modern sound -- the band describes its sound as hardcore or punk -- Before All Falls attracts a young and more easily influenced crowd. With that in mind, they focus on bringing kids into the house of God, and doing it without putting people off.

"Our main thing is that we're really making an impact on the kids," Webb said. "We want to show them that hey, there is life, there is something better out there, but at the same time, we don't throw Jesus down their throats, because we know how people respond to that. They'll say, ‘I don't want anything to do with that.'"

Webb said that Before All Falls does most of its work off stage, listening to and talking with people.

"A lot of people say that our ‘show time' is when we're off stage," Webb said. "We're very interactive with a ton of people. It doesn't matter who they are or what they did, we still love them and we try to love them into the Kingdom.

"We all are on fire for God; that's what we're there for," he said.

As much as the band members like to serve their audience, they see the band as a venue for personal improvement.

"We're just like every other band; we want to make something better of ourselves, especially in the environment that we all came from," Webb said. "We want to better ourselves and better our lives, and Before All Falls is what helps us express ourselves and gives us peace of mind."