(This ran in the Friday, Oct. 17 Lancaster New Era … all kinds of good rock, and God rock, to be heard …I wish there was more room to mention Article One. Several people said they hadn’t heard much about them, but were impressed. Maybe CrossRock can spotlight them sometime …

Not sure why the concert wasn’t sold out. Economy? School night? Still, a lot of us in church worship teams have only rarely played to 500 people, so that’s still not all that bad …)

As youth pastor at a Mount Joy church, Erik Ewing thought about bringing a pack of his young people to the concert he went to Thursday night.
Instead, he was sitting in one of the back rows of another church’s auditorium with his soccer-jersey-wearing, 8-year-old daughter Addison.
Ewing said that for he and his wife Christy, it’s important their daughter “can listen to music that’s actually uplifting for girls … has a positive message, and is as good, if not better, than half the stuff that’s out there,” he said.
Which was why he and Addison, who was seeing her first concert, were there for the Christian-rock band Superchick.
Superchick, with help from opening bands Stellar Kart and Article One, rocked the farmland of Manor Township in a show at Manor Church Thursday night.
The band, led by sisters Tricia and Melissa Brock and featuring hits like “Stand in the Rain” and “We Live,” gave a rousing show for 500 or so people.
Ewing, director of student ministries at Mount Joy’s Chiques United Methodist Church, likes how “Superchick has a very specific message for girls … and it’s powerful.”
Superchick, now on the road with its “Rock What You Got” tour, offers a message and a sound “that really connects with a lot of people … I know it connects with me,” noted 16-year-old fan David Maughan, of Washington Boro.
Heather Haverstick, 20, who grew up here but is home on fall break from New York State’s Houghton College, was there because she “used to be a big fan” of Superchick and didn’t want to miss a chance to see them.
Led by the blond-haired Tricia and her jet-black-haired Brock sister, Melissa, Superchick offered a sound that’s an array of hard-edged rock, techno and other sounds.
The intense Tricia Brock, her head titled to one side, spoke softly when she introduced songs like “Anthem” or “Hold,” but then, singing, offered a good rock scream or two.
“Anthem” comes across as just that, an anthem, with these lyrics:
“Here’s to the girls on their boards with bruises and scars,
Here’s to the girls whose fingers bleed from playing guitar,
Here’s to anyone who never quit when things got hard …”
Even though Thursday’s audience was barely half-capacity, it was clear that none of the bands, which also included opening act Starlit Platoon doing a quick set, left their game at home.
Stellar Kart also showed why it’s one of the emerging bands in Christian rock, making the most of its half-hour-plus time allotment, which was about twice as much as Article One, but only half of headlining Superchick’s.
“Rock What You Got,” released in June, is Superchick’s fifth release, and the band has sold close to a million albums.