Popular music today seemingly aims only to entertain the listener with easily digestible and and accessible sounds, but The Rising Son, a band fronted by Biola senior Tobi Peters, abandons this notion. They describe their sound as “an ambient rock/acoustic music experience” on their Facebook page. The band showcased their new single titled “True Hospitality” at a concert at Mariners Church in Irvine on May 2.

“I look at our music as an experience,” Peters said, “and I view us as missionaries to one of the most unreached groups in the world: the music industry.”

This is the mission of The Rising Son.

Peters’ passion for music starts early

Peters began playing music at a very young age, taking piano lessons alongside his siblings at the age of 5. However, a true love for music did not fully develop until years later.

“In elementary school I wanted to play an instrument that would make girls like me,” Peters said, holding back a laugh. “So I decided to take up the saxophone. It didn’t work out.”

When Peters discovered that his school offered guitar lessons, he immediately signed up and procured a guitar. This love for the guitar followed him throughout high school, as he played in his church high school group and started a metal band called Oh Vanquished Foe.

“Oh Vanquished Foe became pretty popular around Escondidos and the rest of the San Diego area,” Peters said. “We were actually label shopping, but looking back on it, I can see it was all about us, which is why the band fell apart.”

Peters’ next project followed suit. He started an acoustic singer/songwriter project called We Carry The Paralytic with a friend, which garnered more local notoriety.

“We Carry The Paralytic is another project of mine that gained a lot of local popularity, but once again it was all about me, and it failed just like the last band,” Peters said.

Peters’ current project is focused not on himself, but on God and his mission for the band. The Rising Son began as a solo project. Recently, additional band members joined, whom Peters connected with through his church in San Diego. Brad Williams plays bass, Kirk Harwood is on guitar, Robert Carter is on keyboard and Sean Murphy plays the drums.

Faith is evident in band’s early efforts

The band has a deep desire to spread hope and love through their music. While they would not classify themselves as a Christian band, they are very open about their faith and its role in their music.

“The music industry is a really dark place, there’s so much drug use and sexual stuff going on there, we just want to shine a light there,” Peters said.

The Rising Son, still in their early stages, are looking forward to a great future as a band. As of now the band is a part-time commitment and Peters is currently studying journalism with a concentration in public relations at Biola.

“If it’s God’s will, this could become a very full-time thing,” Peters said.

The band has many future plans, including releasing a single later this month and an EP in the summer. Though they have nothing booked yet, they hope to begin touring next year and want to hit the festival circuit.