The Archers
Signs of Spring This Summer
August 1979
CCM Magazine
By Steve J. Thomas
 

The Archers have been waiting for winter to pass for a long time.  While any trace of the season has long fled L.A., winter for America’s top-selling white gospel group lingers.  A slick new album entitled Stand Up! And an invitation to play for the President may be signs of spring.

      Steve and Tim Archer now 26 and 30, started harmonizing in 1965 in the Northern California church that their father pastored.  While Steve was still in high school, The Archer Brothers turned down a Capitol Records deal to remain faithful to their gospel music direction.  With singer Nancy Short, The Archers signed to The Benson Co.’s Impact label in 1972 and released The Archers, formerly Any Day Now on Charisma Records.

      The second album, Keep Singing That Love Song, not only raised ears at Billboard magazine, but also at Light Records.  Billboard did the story, and Light signed the group, releasing Things We Deeply Feel in 1975.

      Two years ago Janice Archer graduated from high school and replaced Nancy, who was leaving for wedlock.  The new Archers recorded Fresh Surrender for Light, which brought a Dove nomination and the beginning of a long winter.

      “There are incredible pressures of trying to survive as a Christian ministry group in the world today,” Steve said.  “A lot of people aren’t aware of them because all they see are the great album covers.”  A great part of the storm is spiritual.  The Archers, like anyone working with high visibility, have pressure to live flawless Christian lives.  Believing they have to be examples to their audiences, their ideals, morals and goals are constantly challenged.

      Learning about business also has been chilling for The Archers.  By the time winter began, Fresh Surrender was 10 months old.  The excitement slacked off, and so did the bookings.  Communication with management cooled.

      “There are hardly any groups that I can think of who aren’t having it tough financially if they’re trying to sing on a full-time basis,” Steve remarked.  “And I should say that we started out as a bunch of young punk kids – raring to go – and a lot of time we got the cart before the horse.  We added people to the band.  We wanted to do big things fast, and some of that caught up with us.” 

      Three years ago The Archers figured that is cost $400 to $500 daily to maintain the group with all its backup musicians, agents and travel expenses.  (Thirty per cent of their income went to agents and managers.)  They began leaving their band behind on many dates to cut costs and learned to avoid business with family and friends who were too close to be objective.

      The third problem has involved undeveloped musical direction.  The Archers have wrangled with record companies for attention and guidance.  As contemporary Christian music goes, so does the tendency towards “product” orientation.  The Archers believe the necessity of making money often clouds the vision of Christian record companies.

        “We’ve had artists who have crossed over from the secular market, and everybody rallies around because there’s money to be made.  There’s a track record,” said Tim.  “Other than Andrea Crouch, I’ve never seen a company take someone from nowhere and really guide that group to the plateau of ministry they want to be at.”

     Despite the pressures, The Archers are glad to have the opportunity to grow and work together as family.  Nancy Short blended well in the past, but couldn’t compete with the vocal sound Janice offers with a genetically akin voice.  Although Janice is barely 20 years old, new to the work and sometimes prone to feeling inadequate, the decisions are mutual and teamwork close.

      “I know families that have worked together and ended up hating each other – they just couldn’t handle it,” Tim shared.  “At home we had Bible studies together, and we did things as a family as much as we could.”

      “Sometimes we find ourselves in differences of opinion,” Steve contributed, “but it’s much easier for us to listen to each other.  “We do hassle out situations,” he added.  “But it’s much easier for us to hassle and love each other and forget about it than it is for two people, who are not blood relations that might hold a grudge or hold something inside and not be able to just come out and say how they feel about having and ego problem or things like that.”

      "I’m kind of an act-before-you-think-type guy, impetuous, impulsive,” Tim explained, “and Steve is like ‘think it out for a week and then we’ll do it.’  That makes a nice balance, and the Lord has used that.  It took us a long time to see that – we kind of wanted to make each other like each other.”

      Tim credits their parents for setting an example for the Archer siblings to follow.  “Mom and dad never told us that they were perfect, but they always showed us that Jesus was . . . that’s the big thing to keep and eye on.”

      With their eyes focused in the right direction, Tim, Steve and Janice can be honest with each other in a way that only growing up together can produce.  They also can share a freedom to create and enjoy music in their own unique situation.  The Archers experienced that freedom when, in the midst of this many sided winter, Light took them into the studio to record Stand Up!  With the album released last month, The Archers now see the spring is on its way.

      The blue cover features Tim, blond with mustache, standing by sister Janice, clearly cut out for a modeling career she once considered, and Steve dark hair with suit matching Tim’s.  It’s bright and stylish, and inside the music is trendy and smooth.  Only two songs are Archer-penned.  The lyrics are generally devoid of specific references to God and Jesus, making them what Steve called “pre-pared” for non-Christian listeners.

     “We wanted to produce the album commercially without losing sensitivity,” explained Tim, estimating the LP cost in excess of $40,000 and three months.  “Stand Up! Is a stepping stone to something better and clearer that we can do in the future.  We don’t want to be a ‘gospel’ group that has a crowed.  We’re going through a process of changes.”

      Steve said the songs, though subtle, are bolder in their outreach to unbelievers.  “In the song Stand Up we talk about worry, pollution, everybody trying to make a buck and walking over everybody else to do it, people searching in religions – and we can stand fast.  Pickin’ Up the Pieces isn’t the least bit nebulous.  It says Christ was there when my life was in pieces.  Fool’s Paradise is the first statement we’ve ever made even to a Christian audience that, ‘hey guit living with your head in the cloulds, saying you’re going to do this and that and flaking out.’”

      The songs they’ve covered were picked to reflect their thoughts, and they fancy themselves as unique interpreters of that material, The Stand Up! Recording of Kelly Willard’s Blame In on the One I Love is their first cover of an already well-known song.  “We can take it places maybe Kelly can’t,” Janice remarked.

      Going places?  The White House.  A new album they say will outsell Fresh Surrender’s 80,000.  Even to an amateur weatherperson, that all seems like a far cry from winter.  For now, it’s spring.  See you next year.