My name is Chris Peiser I got my first guitar when I was in the 5th grade but I wanted one since I knew what a guitar was.  When I was about four years old I had the realization that music was extremely important in my life. When visiting my grandmother’s house I used to go in my Unlcle’s bedroom and play his 8 track tapes.  I was small but always very good with electronics.  I knew how to put the tapes in and how to make them play.  I would listen to them and fall asleep on his bed.  I don’t know really know exactly what I listened to but years later while in a record store I heard a remastered version of Abby Road and somehow every song on it sounded hauntingly familiar like something from a dream so I have a feeling that was one of them.  That same uncle had an electric guitar that he had left in my grandmother’s attic.  The second I opened that guitar case I fell in love. 

Even though I asked my parents for a couple years to buy me a guitar they weren’t convinced that it was something more than a impulse that would fade over time.  My cousin had a guitar that she had been given by an ex-boyfriend and she gave it to me.   It wasn’t a great guitar but it had 6 strings and 6 months of lessons on it was enough to convince my parents that I was serious about playing.  They bought my a guitar for Christmas that year.  It was a step up from the one my cousin had given.  I honestly don’t even know if it had a name brand, it wasn’t brand new but it was still a step in the right direction.   After I knew how to play bar chords I knew the next logical step was to form a band.   I didn’t know any songs but I did know part of the riff from Eye of the Tiger and of course the opening riff to Smoke on the Water the rest could be compensated for by awesome stage presence and awesome guitar faces.   One of my other cousins had a boyfriend who just happened to have a set of drums that they needed to get rid of.  I of course took them off of his hands and made my sister Kim learn to play.

I convinced my best friend at the time to buy a bass guitar and we learned “What you Need” by INXS.

That plan failed due to the fact that my sister just wasn’t interested in being a drummer.   My friend stuck with bass for a little while and by the time I hit high school I was able to come up with a full band.

We played our first gig and did one song at a talent show.  Although we weren’t really good at all  I will never forget how I felt on stage performing.   Although my goal to be in a band was my main focus for years to come life has a funny way of throwing you for a loop.  God decided to intervein.  Tragedy strikes.

Just when I thought my dreams of being a rock star were finally on their way my younger sister was in a near fatal car accident.  The night it happened was the longest night of my life.  I felt out of control and didn't know what to do, but for whatever reason, I PRAYED.  My parents arrived at the hospital and they were notified that she was being taken by Life-Flight Helicopter to another hospital, and she probably wouldn't live.  I didn't believe it. For some reason, I just felt that God would take care of it. Keep in mind this was BEFORE I was saved.  I don't remember sleeping much that night I just remember the phone ringing repeatedly and feeling anxiety every time it did, wondering if it was someone calling to tell us that my sister had died. I just kept on PRAYING, my parents arrived at the hospital and phoned to tell us that the doctors stabilized her, but It didn't look good.  The following day my oldest sister joined my parents to make a trip to the hospital. When my oldest sister came home she updated us on the status, she told me that my youngest sister "Danielle" suffered severe brain damage and was in a comma, she informed me that Danielle would probably would not survive.  I refused to believe her I still just felt like she would be OK not because of denial but because I felt like God would answer my prayers.

My older sister and I got into a HUGE argument over this, at the time I was probably the only one in the family that felt totally positive about the situation. My sister’s status changed at some point from "not going to make it" to "being a vegetable" to "would probably be severely mentally and physically handicapped” We drove up to the hospital in Danville, PA almost every night and on every hour long car ride I PRAYED.  Then almost a month from the day of the accident we received a phone call on Thanksgiving Day.  My parents called to tell us that Danielle had come out of the comma.  I was thrilled.  My sister had no vision, couldn't walk or talk and had other signs of severe brain damage.  She was going to be moved to a rehabilitation hospital in Elizabethtown PA.  Doctors didn't know how much of a comeback she would make, she might not ever walk, talk, or be the same, her memory loss  could be permanent, she might be mentally handicapped, we just didn't know.  I continued to PRAY and remain faithful to the fact that she would recover.   My sister had to learn EVERYTHING  over again, walking, talking etc.  She had lost some childhood memories, she had forgotten our names, everything.  It all came back, today she is happily married, has a son and another child on the way.

Aside from a small short term memory problem, she did recover and GOD did  answer my prayers.

 

As amazing as that event was this was not the point where I turned my life over to Christ but I guess the seed was planted.  I was young and my dreams of being in a band occupied most of my thoughts .

That band went through lots of personnel changes but we finally got another chance to play at a talent show again 2 years later.  This time we played 3 songs.  We weren’t amazing but it was a real show with a big sound system, lights and an auditorium packed with people.  The way I felt when the curtain opened and then the audience cheering in unison when were done is one of the most amazing moments of my life.  That band continued to morph and eventually led me to meet my soul mate Linda.   She auditioned for the band and I thought she was awesome.  Thanks to our extremely forward thinking keyboard player we go our first gig 2 days later all we had to do was actually learn some songs, get a PA system and play our first 2 hour gig 2 weeks later, no big deal.   We scraped together maybe 14 songs rented a small PA system from a guy who owned a music store for $50 and somehow managed to pull it off.   I am sure we were horrible but it was awesome anyway.  We soon added another guitar player and once again booked another show before being ready.  This was full 3 hour gig and I am not even sure we had one set worth of material.  The songs we did know we didn’t know well.  We rented a PA and lights this time and I am pretty sure we lost money on the deal.   I didn’t care I was living the dream.  This show was the last show that we played with Linda and the front person but it was at this show that I met Dave “Dazz” Danishefsky , another key player in my life.  He would later join this band and leave and join again, and quit again.  That band stayed with me the rest of my high school life but would end shortly after.  I never did play with any of those musicians again other than Dave.  Dave and I would go on to play in several bands 2 of which sustained for a few years.  We would also start a business together which I still operate to this day.  Our friendship has shaped much of the things in my life.   In addition to my wife Linda he is probably one of the most influential and important people in my life.

I was playing in a band and living a little bit of the Rock Star type life.  I knew God was there but probably thought that if I hung out with him I would have to give up a lot of things that I didn't want to give up.  I guess he tried to get my attention again because he decided another Car Accident was in order, only this time it was ME.  I was on my way to a gig in Stroudsburg, PA.  It was pouring down rain.  My car hydroplaned and spun around on interstate 80 and I ended up facing oncoming traffic.

I was then literally hit by a Mac truck.  I remember spinning, seeing the Truck headlights coming at me and then suddenly I was on the Road rolling around.  I was probably about 100 feet from my car.

I remember rolling, then just standing up and walking toward my car.  Here I was on a major highway but there were no cars between me and the wreck.  It was still raining but only a drizzle.  I walked toward traffic and even talked to the driver of the truck.  Ambulances arrived but I didn't go with them.

I felt fine.  In fact to this day I don't know how I was not in the car.  The door was crushed in on the drivers side and due to my sisters accident, I had on my seatbelt.  I should have been trapped and killed in that car.  I have a memory loss from the impact to me rolling on the road.  Some say that I went into shock and my mind "blocked out" everything else.  I always felt like I was picked up out of  that car and gently placed down on the road, but I just don't know.  So then I vowed my life to Christ rigth?  NOPE.  I didn't even go to the hospital with the ambulance.  I went and played the gig just couldn't resist being in that environment, being on stage you know, the Rock Star life.  After the gig I had to go to the hospital because my knee was the size of a soccer ball and I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest and I had the added bonus that my voice sounded like I got lost in a helium factory.

Apparently my lung was punctured in the wreck and all the air was in my chest cavity which was affecting my larynx and could have caused a heart attack.  I recovered and just continued my life as usual, still not surrendering to God.

    Years went by and although I knew God was always there for me, I still wasn't there for him.  My life got very mundane, I felt lost.  I was in a bad relationship, living in sin and just out for the world.  I played in different bands and knew I wanted to do something important and knew I wanted to do something with music.  I had always felt like I was meant to do something important.  I ended up in a band with my now wife Linda and she was in a relationship with the lead singer, and I was still in a relationship .  I stayed in my relationship for a bunch of worldly and fleshly reasons.  Linda was someone I knew from the time I was 17 and had always admired and even looked up to.  She had a goodness about her that I never really saw in anyone else in this whole world.  A few years later we ended up  in a duo together.

We spent a lot of time together and my feelings for her grew deeper than anything you could imagine.  My infatuation with her grew to a feeling of pure awe of how amazing a person she was.  How could anyone be this good of a person.  She was truly blessed with talent and just the most amazing caring heart I have ever seen.  I became a better person just by being around her.  She made me want to be better.  She truly cares about every single person in this world and wants to help every single one of them.  I guess I always loved her from the day that I met her, but I knew that if I got together with her it would change my world and for the longest time I didn't want that.  I guess I just wanted to embrace the world and the flesh.  Finally, when I realized that I wanted something more out of life, I knew that I would have to profess my LOVE for her and didn't even know how she would react.  Plus, we were both still in relationships.  What should I do, I knew we were supposed to be together but according to my life, her life and the world we couldn't be.  Guess who I decided to ask for help?  You guessed it, the big guy, GOD.  I PRAYED!  I finally got up enough nerve and I had to have a few drinks.  I told her how I felt and honestly the way things were I didn't expect that we could ever be together, but God worked it out and turns out she Loved me too.  We didn't date, we didn't get engaged we GOT MARRIED, and we sought out GOD and found him together.  It was only a matter of time that we ended up at Faith Assembly of God Church.  We soon joined the worship team due to Don Galade, who amazingly enough was part of both Linda and my pasts.  It’s really amazing the way all of us or should I say "Less of Us" ended up together even as far as the fact that my first guitar which was given to me by my cousin, was given to her by Keyboardist Don Galade and this is before I even knew who he was. GOD IS AMAZING!

Less of Us would end up recording an album and it came out fantastic but we didn’t know what we were supposed to do.  We let religion get in the way not God, religion.  I think we thought that success was the wrong path or something.  Some people thought that being successful was not humble.  What a crazy thing my whole life dreaming of something.  We finally get there and we let fear stop us.  Fear of everything.  This project spring boarded into me making a film the film went the same way.  God literally provided everything for me to make the film.  Everything just fell into place, the financing the people everything.  We finished another amazing project and the result was amazing but again I let fear and doubt stop my from claiming my prize.     It was right in front of me and I just stopped pursuing.   It was like having a goal to climb a mountain and being 3 feet from the top and turning around and going home.  I just all but walked away from everything and just did very little musically and creatively for a while.   I was ready to just settle and give up the same way everyone does but then I had a clear vision of everything.  The mainstream music industry is not really something I want to be a part of.  Honestly I don’t know if I like any mainstream music today.  The world has gotten really dark in the last decade or so and I am not sure if mainstream media is the chicken or the egg but it is bad either way.  What happed to hope what happened to being a positive influence.  What happened to one great Rock Show changing the world for the better?  There is still some amazing music out there but the industry would rather pump out sampled, autotuned, loop driven profanity because it’s more profitable.  Well it has always been my way to take the path less traveled.  We are not looking to “get a record deal”.  We aren’t interested in making it in today’s music industry.   We are interested in making amazing music with a positive message of hope.  We do want to change the world.  We also know that out of the 7 billion people in the world there are at least a few hundred that feel the way we do if not more.  If you are one of those people, please come on the journey with us.