In advance of the October 14th release of their new CD Technicolor, Integrity Music’s Parachute Band just might be the “people’s choice” in their home country of New Zealand.

On Wednesday night in New Zealand, Parachute Band could become the choice of the people at the 43rd Annual Vodaphone New Zealand Music Awards (a.k.a. Tuis), the Kiwi version of the GRAMMYs®. Parachute Band has been nominated alongside Antiform, Horsemen Family, Nesian Mystik and The DFenders for “The People’s Choice”, one of the award show’s biggest honours and the only category voted on by the public. The Parachute Band is also a finalist in the Best Christian/Gospel album category for Roadmaps And Revelations. Other artists nominated in this category include All Left Out and The Ember Days.

Technicolor is the follow-up to the 2007 critically-acclaimed Roadmaps And Revelations, which had marked the debut of the re-fashioned Parachute Band, made up of Omega Levine (vocals), Sam de Jong (drums), Rhys Machell (bass), Alister Wood (keyboards) and Simon Moore (guitars). Parachute Band, which has existed for more than a decade, was first created to host New Zealand’s annual Parachute Festival.

Technicolor includes songs written by acclaimed New Zealand songwriters, including several tracks written by members of the band. Integrity will service at least two songs from the new Technicolor CD to radio. “Living Rain”, the record’s first single, is at ”#30 with a bullet on CRW’s Inspirational Chart and “Your Word” is being serviced to the Adult Contemporary format. Another notable song on Technicolor is “Everlasting”, a song which includes the Tanzanian choir The Sowers Group.

“Technicolor represents a concept we developed for this album which is ‘water equals life, equals colour’ – full blazing colour, when we live with God at our side,” says band member Sam de Jong. “As we were preparing for this album, we noticed that quite a few of the songs had an underlying theme of water or, God’s living water. For us this living water is God’s love, grace and mercy flooding and cleansing our lives as we worship Him.”

The project will be released with a bonus DVD that contains live concert footage from last year’s Parachute Festival and a powerful segment featuring behind-the-scenes footage and Omega Levine’s testimony of overcoming depression, low self esteem and thoughts of suicide as a teen. A YouTube video of Levine’s moving testimony is also available here.

The Parachute Band was originally formed in 1996 as the worship band for New Zealand’s Parachute Music Festival. As the band’s popularity grew in its home country, so did the band’s mission: to lead people of all races and ages in worship, using songs as a tool to see lives changed and hearts connected with God.

Preview Technicolor on Parachute Band’s YMZ artist page.