By Doug Carroll
Communications Staff
You know what a typical school fight song sounds like. And that’s a problem, isn’t it?
Because truthfully, they all sound the same: overly brassy marching music with lyrics as outdated as Grandpa’s moth-eaten letter sweater. Yawn.
Get ready for something completely different.
Get ready for Trevor McNevan, who has written the yet-untitled GCU fight song that will make its raucous debut over the Arena sound system at Monday’s Chapel.
Here’s a guarantee: You’ll never listen to “Maroon and Gold” (ASU), “Bear Down, Arizona” (U of A) or any other traditional fight song the same way again. In fact, other schools will want one like ours.
“Pro sports teams have the pyrotechnics and colleges usually don’t,” says McNevan, the lead singer and principal songwriter for the Christian hard-rock band Thousand Foot Krutch.
“When the (GCU) team comes out on the floor, this song will be that fire.”
McNevan, 33, a native Canadian, has experience at this. Several of his band’s songs have become favorites at arena-size sports events, and he has written goal-scoring riffs for Mike Fisher, a friend who plays for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League. The Thousand Foot Krutch song “Fire It Up” blew up at the Super Bowl in 2010, drawing the attention of ESPN.
GCU’s director of Christian marketing, Scott Fehrenbacher, got to know McNevan on the Rock & Worship Roadshow sponsored by GCU and approached him about writing an original piece for the Antelopes.
“It was one of those divine appointments,” McNevan recalls. “It sounded like a blast and a fun challenge.”
Initially, McNevan wasn’t sure he needed to visit campus in order to write the song. But he came anyway in the summer, and now he says it made all the difference.
On his visit, he met with students and student-athletes to hear their ideas and also toured the Arena, which was nearly completed.
The song “is for the team and the students, so it’s important to tap into what moves them,” says McNevan, who grew up north of Toronto and cites classic rock and hip-hop among his influences.
“The majority of my inspiration came from the trip. I felt like I connected with the heart of the school. The students at GCU really own their own faith. Just walking through the Arena, I was hearing (the song) in my head.”
With veteran producer Aaron Sprinkle collaborating, the song was recorded at McNevan’s home studio in Nashville and in Sprinkle’s hometown of Seattle. There will be at least four versions for use at games: a 30-second edit (with only the chorus), a 45-second edit, the full song (about three minutes and 20 seconds) and an instrumental version.
“Ultimately you try to focus on the introduction of the team and on the breaks throughout the game,” McNevan says.
You’ll have to wait until Monday to hear it, but here’s what to expect: The phrase “feel the place go BOOM” will rattle around in your head for four solid months of basketball season.
And you’re not going to mind at all.
Reach Doug Carroll at 639.8011 or [email protected].
