August 10, 2012

Seth Wharton, drummer for CCM band Skyhook, and other members of the group grew up playing in church together. The roots of the music grew from there. "Dane and I grew up together almost since birth.

Our dads were on staff at a church together," Wharton says. "About eight or nine years ago our youth pastor had a thing called ‘School of Rock' and started teaching kids how to play. He had a band, and his band mates started teaching the kids how to play music with their instruments."

Wharton started participating in Fine Arts in 2005. "I did human videos and every year started doing more categories. I started doing percussion solo and really taking off in the drum world knowing that's what I really wanted to do. I really enjoy this."

He also participated in Christian Band, dramas and other categories; the more he participated in the festival, the more he loved it.

"Getting to participate and see other people is something I think is healthy. An individual can be secure and say ‘this is something I want to do.' It's a ministry development [tool] ... I don't think I would be [where I am today] without Fine Arts."

In 2009, Wharton and the rest of the group entered Fine Arts Festival as Skyhook. While they had played together in their youth group, this was the first time they played together as a band. "That was our first kind of event and we've been going ever since," Wharton says.

As a senior in high school in 2009, Wharton received an assignment to research and present on what he wanted his career to be. Already knowing he wanted to be a drummer and recently learning about custom made drums, he decided to focus his project around the drum industry. That's when he built his first drum.

Today, the Skyhook drummer builds custom drums and currently has six artists who play on the drums. "We have probably built about 10 snare drums and have four full kits, one built specifically for Fine Arts," he says.

Recently, Skyhook, along with the non-profit organization A Work of Life (AWOL), partnered with a church in Cuba called Path of Life.

The founder of AWOL approached Wharton and asked him to build a drum kit. They took the kit down to Cuba in July. "It was a pretty cool experience to see something we built with six months of hard work and emails payoff and see those people worship freely and experience [a kit] that we built," Wharton says.

Wharton also built a custom set that is being used in the songwriting category during the National Fine Arts Festival.

Finished just last week, he says it's built with the drummer's comfort in mind, while also following NFAF Rulebook guidelines.

Students attending National Youth Convention enjoyed the sounds of Skyhook and Wharton's drumming skills as the band played in pre-service last night. Log onto http://louisville12.ag.org to experience the concluding Celebration Service live tonight at 6:25 EDT.

For more information about Skyhook and AWOL, visit http://www.facebook.com/skyhooktheband.

AG News
Jennifer Taylor