November 8, 2019
By Michael Foust
Correspondent, The Alabama Baptist
Seventh Day Slumber’s music isn’t for everyone but as lead singer Joseph Rojas acknowledges, it’s not supposed to be.
The band’s music is for Christians who enjoy rock music but are craving a faith-centric element.
It’s also for nonbelievers — like Rojas was long ago — who are in a dark place and need hope.
Rojas grew up listening to mainstream rock bands like Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden. They sang about the despair he was experiencing — yet they “had no answers” for the problems he faced, Rojas said.
“I feel like Seventh Day Slumber offers something unique and something special,” said Rojas, whose band released its latest album, “Closer To Chaos,” in May.
Rojas grew up in a broken home. His father beat his mother and then abandoned him before Rojas was in kindergarten. Rojas hung out with the wrong crowd as a child and through his teenage years. By age 12 he was contemplating suicide. At 14 he tried cocaine. By 18 he was a full-blown drug addict.
“I was hurting so much inside. I felt like I was worthless,” he said.
He attempted suicide at the age of 22 but God had other plans. He was living at the time with his mother, who came home early from work to see him overdosing and dying. His mom, a Christian, cried out to God for help.
‘Hand of God’
“Paramedics got there quick,” he said. “And in the back of an ambulance I felt the hand of Jesus — the hand of God. I gave my life to Him in the back of an ambulance. That began the journey. I’m alive today because of a praying mom.”
Rojas is the founder of Seventh Day Slumber, which won a Dove Award in 2009. The band is comprised of Rojas, Jeremy Holderfield (guitar), Rojas’ son Blaise Rojas (drums) and Ken Reed (bass).
“Closer to Chaos” debuted this year in the Top 20 on Nielsen SoundScan’s Current Hard Music Albums chart. The 10 tracks on the album tackle such subjects as emotional trauma, self-worth and sobriety.
“We feel like there is a higher calling than just to rock out and to make our fans feel good,” Rojas said. “We want [listeners] to know that there is hope for you. We want to point them to Christ. … The same God that delivered me is the same God that wants to deliver them.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Michael Foust covers the intersection of faith and entertainment as a media reviewer for The Alabama Baptist. He also is the husband of an amazing wife and the father of four young children.