Press Play (band)

Press Play is a Christian pop/rock band formed by worship leader Dave Hanley in 2008. They are known internationally and have worked with some of the biggest names in the Christian industry including Darlene Zschech, Group 1 Crew, Rachael Lampa, Israel Houghton, Britt Nicole, Mary Mary, and have also performed with the likes of JoJo and Katy Perry. The lead singers of the band include Dave Hanley, Nicole Croteau and Jonathan Thulin. They are the former worship team for the Los Angeles Dream Center, the church where the band also was formed. Press Play is now traveling full time around the world. They are currently signed to Dream Records with distribution through EMI Christian Music Group. They have released four albums to date: Life Is Beautiful (2009), NY2LA (2010), World Anthem (2011), and #LITO (2013).

Band history

Dave Hanley, while leading worship at the Dream Center's Angelus Temple, had a vision to create relevant worship that would reach not only within Christian walls but outside into the community. In the earlier years before the name "Press Play" was born the team went under the name Dream House. There they began to create a new sound that peaked loads of interest in the L.A area. After a few Dream House albums had been released the band began to go by the name "Press Play" and in 2008 they caught the eye of Universal Record's A&R Executive Rhoda Lawrence, she signed them immediately after hearing them. Dave then started a new record label called Dream Records which became an imprint of Universal.

Press Play's first major release was Life is Beautiful which featured the then lead female vocalist Paige Adkins, who is the daughter of famous comedian Sinbad. The album also featured guest vocals from renowned worship leader Darlene Zschech of Hillsong. Upon the band's debut release through its new partnership with Universal Records, Press Play enjoyed a ride to the top when its record, Life Is Beautiful shot to No. 2 on Billboard's Christian chart and went to No. 45 on the Billboard Top 200 mainstream chart. Press Play was suddenly in the national spotlight performing on NBC's TODAY Show, meeting with ABC, appearing on FOX News and with features in national newspapers, magazines and on numerous national TV outlets. Press Play also worked with known producer Rodney Jerkins aka Darkchild at the time.

With all the phenomenal success and recognition coming Press Play's way, they quickly began work on a new album that would release only a year after their first release. For the new album, Paige Adkins was replaced by a new female lead Sada K. Jackson. They dubbed the new album NY2LA which stood for "New York to L.A." The album reached No. 3 on the Billboard Christian Albums chart, moving slightly down from its predecessor. The first single released from the album was the same title as the album, "NY2LA". which featured guest rapper Tyler James Williams from Everybody Hates Chris. The single had tremendous success on Christian CHR peaking at No. 20, specifically gaining loads of recognition on Christian CHR station Air1. Air1 released the music video for "NY2LA" and it quickly went viral now having close to 400,000 views. - Plymth

In Late 2010, Press Play decided to part ways with the Dream Center and head out on the road full time. Majority of the band stayed behind to continue leading worship which led to almost an entirely new band, though Dave and Sada stayed intact. Drummer Mike Adams and singer/keyboard player Jonathan Thulin joined right away. Jonathan was travelling as a solo artist at the time and became signed to Dream as one shortly after joining the group. His album The Anatomy of a Heartflow was released on September 13, 2011. After a bit of a hiatus, Press Play went out on a 6 week spring tour with openers Rachael Lampa, Charmaine and Ryan Stevenson (singer). Singing in churches around the US, Press Play once again became inspired to start writing a new album. In the end of May the team began to work on a new album called World Anthem. The whole album was written and recorded in 11 days with the whole team contributing, including David Thulin, who created majority of the beats and sequencing on the album. He is also the brother of Jonathan Thulin. On the new album, Press Play went for a bit of a new sound by adding Jonathan as another one of the lead vocalists. Now there were three very different voices coming together to create one defined dance sound.

Press Play is currently serving at New Hope West Coast in Simi Valley, California. Where three new band members, bass player Sean Cook, vocalist Nicole Croteau, and lead guitar Michael Baja were added. Their new album World Anthem releases on September 27, 2011 on Dream/Universal Records. The album also features vocals from Manwell Reyes of Group 1 Crew and Mark Marques of Shake the Nation.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

• Wiegman, Ken (May, 2009) AlphaOmegaNews. Retrieved 2009-05-09
• Fryberger, Scott (Aug, 2010) JesusFreakHideout. Retrieved 2010-08-10
• Hansen, Brant (June, 2009) Air1. Retrieved 2009-06-08
• Wright, Jay (Aug, 2011) ChristianMusicReview. Retrieved 2011-08-29

External links

• Official website
• Billboard artist profile