Seven appears to be the band members’ (Chuck Bosworth, Mark Grizzard, Jarrett Johnson, Luke Menard, John Musick, Nathan Pufall and A.D. Stonecipher) lucky number as they’ve been making a living playing the music they love for the past seven years, winning a number of national awards on the way. It's a long way from their beginnings on the campus of Millikin College in Decatur, Ill.
“We were all friends in the choir program at the college and we started out as one of those college a cappella bands, playing the sorority houses and things and we got class credit for it,” said the band’s “Seventh Wheel” and arranger Mark Grizzard. “The university decided to end the program and we just sort of thought why not keep it going ourselves?
“We got apartments in Chicago and convinced some of the younger guys to take a little hiatus from college and here we are seven years later.”
The group brought their own style to classic Christmas favorites like the “Carol of the Bells” and the groups haunting arrangement of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” They showed their skill on their arrangement of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and their ability to please the crowd with their own telling of the story of the “Wizard of Oz” in six minutes or less.
Band member Luke Menard also took some time off this past year to make his run at becoming the next “American Idol.” While he didn’t win the last competition he did gain an invaluable experience.
“You learn very quickly that singing is just a small part of the show,” said Menard. “I was in Hollywood for about two months and it was incredibly intense. You get up at 7 a.m. and they have you working until midnight most nights. I was sort of living on Starbucks. But if you can handle Simon making fun of you in front of 40 million people you can probably handle most anything else.”
After his run on “Idol” Menard was forced to take more time off from the band. He was diagnosed with cancer and underwent radiation treatment. Last night was his first back with the group, and later this week he will begin chemotherapy. While he is cancer free, he still doesn’t know what the future holds.
While he says he will “…always be a member of Chapter Six. We’re family. We’re brothers. I could never be an ex-member…” he does want to pursue other projects as well.
“I’d like to do some solo work,” he said. “I’d like to get into the Christian music field, maybe get a song or two on Christian radio.”