White Lake-Area Band Shares Love for Music and Faith

After years of music experience with their own separate ventures, a group of five local men have come together and formed a Christian rock group known as Pellett’s Rock.

Pellett’s Rock blossomed from the Commerce United Methodist Church band, which Randy Pellett, a White Lake resident, formed more than a dozen years ago. Through that, he met many of the band members, and through a series of conversations, they realized they wanted to start another musical group and take it as far as they could. In October, Pellett’s Rock formed and started working toward a CD, which was released in May.

“Music is definitely a chemistry,” said Ken Richey, bass player and West Bloomfield resident. “In this group, everybody is phenomenal and a pleasure to work with.”

Pellett said finding so many talented musicians is usually a challenge. Typically, there are one or two members who aren’t as experienced as the rest, but that isn’t the case with this group, he said. The majority of the men, including Pellett, have been playing since their youth. 

“There is nothing like the feeling of being on stage in front of an audience,” Richey said. “It’s the ultimate rush. Everyone’s just playing in the groove, and that transitions into the crowd, and then it’s like you’re on a special cloud.”

A song isn’t just a song

Pellett has taken songs he has written during the past 25 years and tried them on for size with the group. The band's CD, It Is Done, features a compilation of songs he wrote, and that the band now plays as their own songs. One of the things Pellett said makes the band so unique is the texture it uses in the music and the fact that the CD incorporates a variety of genres.

“There really is a broad range of music that everyone can enjoy,” Pellett said. “You are going to hear something new with us. We play uplifting music and some thought-provoking.”

Band member and South Lyon resident Chris Nooe, who plays percussion and sings, expressed the same opinion.

“The songs are very different,” Nooe said. “It’s hard to believe they are coming out of the same group, let along the same man.”

After years of playing cover tunes, Pellett decided 25 years ago that he needed something more from his music and started writing songs that were soaked in Christianity. Inspiration for his songs has come from all directions, he said — some from experiences, some from hearing other people’s stories and some from sermons from his church.

For instance, the title song, “It is Done,” is about a prophecy in the Old Testament coming true in the New Testament. The song “Passing through” is a fun rock song that explores the realization that life is just a step that people are passing through.

“Most of the time, I start with a melody or a single line or chorus with the core meaning of the message that I want to make with the song,” Pellett said. “Then the pieces start to come together.”

One of the best songs, in Pellett's opinion — aside from “It Is Done” — is “Rescue Me.” The lyrics for that song were written specifically for band member Nick King, who said he experienced a low, selfish point in his life prior to converting over to Christianity.

“It’s really a story about Nick, and he sings that story about how he needed to be rescued,” Pellett said.

What the future has in store

The group has high hopes of making a living at the craft and traveling to different ministries across the United States and performing its music. Additionally, the band members would like to get involved with mission projects to make a difference.

“We’d like to get involved with ministries and start some of our own mission projects where we can raise money and start to support missions — maybe even go on some,” Pellett said. “We would like to become active and take our blessings and find another way to spread it to maybe some other people who aren’t as lucky as we are.”

CDs may be downloaded on the band’s website for $11.99, or a hard copy of the CD is available on the website for $13.99 plus shipping and handling. Some singles are available for download for $1.29 each. For more information on Pellett’s Rock, visit pellettsrock.com.