After overcoming a horrific motorcycle accident, singer/songwriter/instrumentalist BARRY BLAZE is back with a powerful worship album. Tony Cummings reports.

Barry Blaze

Barry Blaze was a popular figure in American CCM, his band Code Of Ethics having number one Christian radio hits with "Something Real" in 1993 and "Sticks And Stones" in 1995. But things went very badly wrong for Barry on 1st May 2004 when the singer, composer, keyboard player, guitarist and record producer was out on his beloved motor bike, driving between Jacksonville and Amelia Island. He recalls, "There were some clouds building in the sky and just as I was about to drive out onto a bridge that stretches over the ocean, I heard the Holy Spirit screaming in my head saying 'pull off the road', but I didn't do it. It's funny how we have God's voice placed inside us for a reason and yet we don't always listen. It's there to keep us from harm, deliver us from evil, to know our Creator better and yet we have the free will to listen and obey or to do what we want. I chose not to listen and as I ran out on the bridge that Saturday afternoon I knew in my soul it would turn out very bad.

"A storm blew across the bridge with heavy lightning and rain, and then it all went black. I remember hearing my wife's voice as I became semi-conscious around midnight, eight hours after my accident. My head hit the bridge so hard it split my helmet, broke all the bones in my ears and ruptured my eardrums. Both eyes had holes in the macula and a detached retina on the left side. I had vertigo for over a year and had to learn to walk and balance myself. Eight surgeries on my ears and eyes have me as well repaired as modern science will allow for now. I've lost a lot of permanent eyesight and hearing. I can remember holding my guitar and praying 'God just let me stand up and worship you with the gift you gave me.' And I remember how emotional it was for me and my wife, as well as my church, when I began to get back up and lead worship every week. It was like God was handing me my life back one small piece at a time and I found all my joy in him. I'm half the man I was physically but I find that in my weakness Christ became so strong!" Between surgeries and with limited senses Barry began working on his solo album 'Patiently Waiting'.

The album is very much a personal milestone for Barry. "I didn't think I would ever play, write or record music after my accident and there were so many 'God' moments in my life that I think it had to be expressed through music. I wrote the songs over a three year period while undergoing surgeries and healing from them. I penned the title track while on a heavy steroid treatment. Doctors use it to try and speed up the body's healing process but all it did for me was keep me awake all night. 'Patiently Waiting' popped into my head at around midnight one sleepless night. . .that's how he works, on his time. . .so I jumped out of bed, wrote down the lyrics and recorded the song into a boom box quietly. . .then went back to bed. The song expresses my feelings about being confused with my situation, feeling helpless and longing to hear God's voice and then discovering that we need to be patient and wait on the Lord. Psalm 40 takes on a whole new meaning for me now!

"I actually started to lay the tracks to this album just before my accident and I didn't really mean to play most of the instruments on it; it just worked out that way. The engineer that mixed the CD could hear all kinds of things that weren't suppose to be there like my cell phone ringing during vocal tracks, etc! That's the fun part of being a half deaf musician! Gotta have a good sense of humour and learn to let perfection go. I say it over and over but our life really is in God's hands."

The son of a Baptist minister, Blaze (who spelled his name Blazs on the first album) was attracted to the club scene and became involved with drugs and other aspects of the subculture surrounding house music. He turned his life around with the help of a Christian counsellor during his first year at Liberty University in Detroit, Michigan, where Ian Eskelin was also a student. He formed Code Of Ethics in Florida in 1988. With twin drummers and Eskelin as the original keyboardist, the group set out to be a British-influenced pop dance band. After some success in that arena, Blaze recorded a cassette album 'Visual Paradox' with his friend Eric Switzer. Admits Blaze that there was a more than a little Depeche Mode in the group's early sound. He says ruefully, "If I could have taken the place of Alan Wilder (one time Depeche Mode member) as the fourth member I would have! I can't deny what a huge influence Depeche Mode had on my style/sound, etc. I've always been heavily influenced by music from Europe starting with the Beatles when I was a little boy. From this side of the pond there seems to be a lot of freedom in the UK that we don't have here. What I mean is, our music system is driven by the 'Last Big Thing'. Record companies want bands to imitate the last big seller for them. It all boils down to a money driven system and you would hope it wouldn't effect the Christian music industry but it does. The end result can drive ministry out of music if we let it."

In 1991 Code Of Ethics re-recorded 'Visual Paradox' for REX Records. Two years later the 'Code Of Ethics' album for Forefront produced the band's first Christian radio hit "Something Real". More COE albums followed, 'Arms Around The World' in 1995 and 'Soulbait' in 1997. Confusingly for fans, although there were Code Of Ethics touring bands, nearly all the music on the albums was played solely by Barry. He explains, "I started writing and recording with a very simple mission and God blessed it from there. I had no intention of record deals and touring, just a way to reach my friends with the message of Christ's love. I ended up touring with a lot of different musicians and I think the constant change over of band members was confusing to the fans. They would get to know some of the guys in the band real well but wouldn't see them on the next tour, etc. 'Soulbait' was the only CD that my record company at the time made me hire a band to play on the tracks as well as live. They wanted more of a rock band sound.

"I was on a small label with great bands and friends during the early '90s, dc Talk, Audio Adrenaline, etc. Several bands put out their CDs before I made 'Soulbait' and they had moved into a more heavy guitar style. . .so the label came to me and said this is the sound we want and this is the style or direction we would like you to go (cut the keyboards way back please). Hindsight is 20/20. I'm at the age now where I would just say, this is who God created me to be, this is my sound, if that doesn't work for your company let's shake hands and part ways. With the internet as strong as it is there's a new found freedom for artists that want to experiment with their music and I think this is a beautiful and creative time in our history. It takes the pressure off of having to sell X amount of CDs or you're dropped. In fact, I'm doing a version of Depeche Mode's 'People Are People' on the next COE CD and it dawned on me that I don't have to ask anyone's permission at the label. . .I am the label!"

Code Of Ethics' 2000 album 'Blaze' was a favourite of Cross Rhythms radio with an approach which could almost be described as dance-orientated worship. It rather bemused the American audience though. Barry comments, "I would say it was about 10 years ahead for the Church! I was almost finished with that album when I signed with Word so it was coming out ready or not. Honestly, I just enjoyed making an all programmed electronic album again. It was the start of my walk with God down the path of understanding worship. I had no idea I would wind up on staff at a church as worship leader after that tour. God's timing is truly amazing!"

Code Of Ethics stopped touring in 2001 "after 11 years of living out of a suitcase." Continues Barry, "I just stopped one day to breathe and ask God what was wrong with me. I was uninspired, unfulfilled and also uninvolved in a local church. My wife and I attended church but weren't involved deeper or really growing spiritually. The lifestyle of a touring musician is very difficult. When you get home, usually on a Sunday afternoon you want to sleep for about two days because you're so drained and then get ready to go out and do it again. I wish there was a better spiritual support system in place while we were living in Nashville. You give a lot of yourself away week after week and after years of doing this I found myself completely empty. I cried out to God and asked what was going on within me and why would I be abandoned after all the years of touring and ministry I'd given. I had to completely stop, become quiet and still for nearly a year as God prepared me for my next journey. One day I received a call from a pastor in Jacksonville Florida (my home town) who had started a church plant and was already running about two hundred people. They needed to take the next step in hiring a full time worship leader, somebody who could put together a band and music program. Within a month we we're selling our house in Nashville and moving to Florida. I had the best on the job training as I served under Spike Hogan the lead pastor of Chets Creek Church. In May of 2004 I had a motorcycle accident that almost took my life. Again, I found myself on a new journey with God!"

Barry and his wife Cynthia still live in Jackson, Florida and lead worship every week at Edgewater Church in St. Augustine. He says, "My pastor and friend Bill Sloan will probably go out on tour with me as guest speaker in the summer/fall of 2008. I'm returning to the Christian music scene but with a new vision and message, a God story! And I am looking to partner with a label that is ministry focused and will allow me to be. . .well. . .me, whatever that is at the time. My accident wasn't the first time God has broken me down and rebuilt me. Even though I grew up a preacher's kid, I didn't want anything to do with what I thought was 'the church' or 'religion' as I knew it. God brought me to the bottom so I could find him there and have what I didn't know I needed. . .a real relationship with my Creator. I think this is just another wonderful and sometimes painful part of knowing the REAL God and the privilege of telling his story. A story of love and grace and 'patiently waiting."