Website: http://www.69sins.com

 

Since arriving in Phoenix, 69 Sins began building themselves up from ground zero without an automatic hometown fan base. They are in a foreign land with only each other, their family and the music.

69 Sins was originally a project created by founder, writer, and drummer David Wahlstrom (a.k.a. The Angry Kracker). In early 2005, David moved his family to Phoenix and joined a prominent local band. He eventually left the band to pursue writing his own material and took with him bassist and 69 Sins co-founder Steve Santana. The name 69 Sins came from a list David wrote after his journey through sobriety. The list was comprised of things David wanted to accomplish before he died. 67 was the total number of things on the list, and since most things on the list were considered sins, he called the project 67 Sins. Later bassist Steve Santana added two more to the list and made it 69 Sins. With limited resources between the two, David and Steve recorded the bands first demo.

After a string of upsets during guitarist auditions, a light came along. That light was Alan Rogers. Alan was frustrated playing in cover bands and wanted to create rather than emulate. He heard something in the rough demos David and Steve recorded that ignited his passion for music once again. Out of twenty-six guitarists that came through, Alan fit right off the bat, taking the position of lead guitar. When David asked him if he had a nickname, Alan hesitated, then replied, "Synn".

They went through 3 singers in a year and played several gigs. They were told constantly that they needed a vocalist who could be equally powerful on the mic as the rest of the band was playing the music. Thirty seven vocalists came through Purgatory Studios for 6 months before they found the missing piece of the puzzle, Mike Groves.

Mike was already in another band that restricted his vocals to hardcore screaming. He heard a couple songs online and replied to an ad the band had been running on Craigslist. He went down to audition and blew away the competition. Mike left his band just to keep auditioning for 69 Sins. After being scarred from previous wrong decisions and avoiding another at all cost, the band strung Mike along for two months to ensure his head and heart were in the right place before they let him in. He quickly fell into the groove and found his calling in 69