He was replaced by Josh Engler, a former member of the band Abandon until February 2015 when Adam Agee of Stellar Kart was offered and accepted the role.
The first single of the new Audio Adrenaline, "Love Was Stronger", was released in 2015 and was included on Sound of the Saints, their tenth and final studio album.
They became a popular local band, booked by the school nearly every weekend and traveling as far west as Texas, north to Chicago, and south to Florida.
Following this, the song caught the attention of Toby McKeehan (from dc Talk), who brought it to the executives at ForeFront Records.
The label decided to offer a record deal to A-180 but had them change their name to Audio Adrenaline[4] a name that Herdman had come up with previously.
[5] After signing their deal with Forefront, the band started writing and recording demo songs similar to "My God" for the first album.
There is nothing personal about that record.The follow-up album, Don't Censor Me, came the next year and featured what is considered the biggest hit of the band, "Big House".
On the other hand, most of the band members disliked "Jesus and the California Kid" which Stuart referred to as "pure agony".
We would like to be recognized as Audio Adrenaline instead of 'the band that opens for DC Talk.’In 1996, their third studio album, Bloom, was released.
The album featured the band returning to their original rock roots, as opposed to their experiments with rap music.
In a 2015 interview with Breathecast, Blair talked about his reasons to leave citing his love of "the creative part of writing, recording, being in the studio, putting songs together" as the main factor.
In the interview, he refers to the Bloom album as something he was "exceptionally proud of", and how he knew he was creating something that had "meaning and will touch people".
Blair also added how his interest started to move away from the touring aspect until he "decided to make the jump to see if I can sink or swim as a producer".
They found a temporary fill-in with Brian McSweeney (from Seven Day Jesus),[8] but he decided to stay with his full-time act.
Songwriter Bob Herdman called the album "more fun" than the previous one, while bassist Will McGinniss said how they wanted to "explore more artistically", while merging "ideas from the last three records".
[13] On July 27, 2006, the band played at the popular Christian music Creation Festival, where they had performed every year since the group formed, for the last time with their original lineup.
Mark Stuart and Will McGinniss started a project called Know Hope Collective, which features a changing group of musicians singing worship songs and presenting testimonies.
Ben Cissell ran a skate club/youth ministry venue called Rocketttown, and then started pursuing film work.
'"In addition to Max as the new lead vocalist, the band also added Dave Ghazarian of Superchick on the guitar, Jared Byers of Bleach on the drums, Jason Walker on the keyboard, and McGinniss on bass.
[21] Aside of its chart performance, Kings & Queens received praise from critics who referred to it as "possibly the greatest comeback project in Christian music today" and a "fresh album that will keep both old and new fans alike".
In an interview with Jesus Freak Hideout, Max said the decision was "amicable" and cited a difference of opinion in terms of the band's musical future as the reason for his departure.
I had to be honest and realize that I probably didn't fit what they wanted to do.Max was temporarily replaced by Josh Engler from Abandon who transitioned in taking on vocal duties.
[2] In February 2015, drummer Jared Byers left the band to pursue other interests, but was followed by Dwayne Larring, Engler and founder Will McGinniss.
[23] McGinniss wrote a statement in which he called the last years "an incredible blast and honor", but cited his desire to work more fully with the Hands & Feet Project as his reason to leave the band.
Co-written with Mark Matlock, the book discusses reaching out to the needy and features an organization called Mission Year.
Also involved in this production were Michael Tait as HERO, CCM pop vocalist Rebecca St. James as Maggie, Skillet's John Cooper as Kai, the chief Rabbi, and rapper T-Bone as Jairus.
On September 5, 2006, the band released Hands & Feet: Inspiring Stories and Firsthand Accounts of God Changing Lives, with Regal Books.
It also tells of the band's building of The Hands and Feet Project (an orphanage for poor, hungry children).