TJ Harris

Timothy James Harris (born October 30, 1982),^[1] better known by his stage name T.J. Harris, was born in Winston-Salem, NC. He is a credited musician, singer and songwriter in the genre of Christian Rock. He is currently the Lead Vocalist of Decyfer Down.

Early life

Not much is known about Harris' early years. He was born and raised in Winston-Salem, NC. At some point of time, before or when Harris was 18 years old, he was dealing with hernia. During one of the 9/11 attacks, Harris was recovering from that hernia operation.^[2]

Bands

Fighting Instinct (2004 - 2008)

TJ Harris formed the band Fighting Instinct, along with Dallas Farmer. The band started out in Greensboro, North Carolina. The band had a small fanbase and didn't receive much attention, initially. After they got signed by Gotee Records, they released their first album on July 27, 2006, which was self-titled. TJ Harris did the Lead Vocals and Rhythm Guitar on this album. A few singles of the album, including "I Found Forever", "Back to You" and "Just to Please You" charted in the top 10 of active Christian Rock charts, with virtually no touring. "Back to You" was also featured on "Gotee Hits", a Gotee Records compilation. Harris also recorded his vocals on an acoustic version of "Back to You", which was featured on one of Gotee's compilations, "Gotee Acoustic".

In October 2008, the band announced an upcoming 5-song EP on their MySpace page, along with an announcement, saying that they were going to disband by the end of the year. Although this wasn't ever stated in the announcement, Harris had been filling in for Decyfer Down's shows all along, and had been asked to join the band as their Lead Vocalist, Caleb Oliver, had to leave due to personal issues. Harris claimed in an interview that it was a tough decision to leave Fighting Instinct for Decyfer Down.^[3]

On October 28, 2008, Fighting Instinct released its 2nd and final work, the Under The Gun - EP. Although it wasn't announced, they added four bonus tracks and created a special edition 9-track album named Under The Gun.

Apart from the albums and the EP, Harris, along with Fighting Instinct, recorded a cover of "Like It, Love It, Need It" by DC Talk.

Decyfer Down (2008 - Present)

After being asked to join the band in late 2008, Harris agreed to it and moved on from Fighting Instinct to Decyfer Down. Their former Lead Vocalist, Caleb Oliver, had left the band after recording the Crash album, and only a while before its release. The record label let Decyfer Down release a 3-track EP, called Crash - Digital EP, consisting of Oliver's Vocals. However, the remaining songs were never released on the internet, and Harris had to record his Vocals on every track. He brought two tracks to the album, named "Desperate" and "Moving On", which were both written by him. The song "Desperate" was the first song on Under The Gun - EP and Under The Gun special edition album released by Fighting Instinct. Although "Moving On" was not released before this, Harris claimed in an interview that he had recorded a demo of it with Fighting Instinct and they were intending to release it, which they never actually did.^[3]

Apart from bringing two songs with him, he brought along his own, unique and distinct voice that was very different from Oliver's. He did not get much time to do it. He claimed in an interview that he recorded all 11 tracks in 11 days, along with doing photo shoots.^[3]

After the release of Crash on May 5, 2009, the ratings and popularity of Decyfer Down increased rapidly. From that point, Harris started touring with the band heavily, as the Lead Vocalist and Bassist. After a few shows, he stopped playing the Bass. Most of the shows after that involved pre-recorded Bass tracks as playback, and touring members playing the Bass with the band. Not only did Harris tour with the band, but he also did solo, acoustic shows, covering various songs of his band, as well as some very well-known singles like "Livin' On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi.^[4]

On October 27, 2009, Harris, along with Decyfer Down, appeared on Air 1 radio station. He, along with Christopher Clonts, performed an acoustic version of "Best I Can", live.^[5]

In 2013, Harris, along with Decyfer Down, released the band's third album called "Scarecrow". He wrote 10 songs for this album, and sang all of them. Although it received good ratings, the fanbase, in general, felt disappointed, and that Decyfer Down did not follow the type of sound it was known for. It was 3 years later that Harris reacted to this on his Facebook page, claiming that the album was a tribute to the people who inspired him to play the Guitar for the first time.^[6]

Harris finished recording his vocals on Decyfer Down's 4th album, "The Other Side of Darkness", which was released on April 1, 2016. In a promo video, Harris announced that "The Other Side of Darkness 2016" tour will commence on October 20, 2016. The tour will kick off at Jamestown, NC.^[7]

Other notable works

In June 2009, Harris talked about his vocal problems and delivery in technical terms in a Singing Success testimony.^[8] He claimed to feel pain in his vocal cords and felt that his career might be at stake, which was solved with the help of Brett Manning's training.^[9] To this day, Harris endorses Singing Success products.^[10] He was also given training and guidance by Brett Manning personally.^[11]

In 2012, Harris appeared at the Liberty University Convocation as a guest singer. He sang "Walk Love", a single written by him. It is not recorded or published officially.^[12]

Harris was the subject of a Kingdom Builder interview at Christian Music Review during August 2013.^[13]

In 2014, Harris recorded his vocals, as the featured artist, on "Still I Know", a song by a Christian band called Relentless Flood.^[14] They were friends with Harris, and the song was recorded at Winston-Salem, with the help of a local producer. This song was on their second album, "The Time is Now".

Discography

Albums

EPs (Extended Plays)

Compilations

Singles

References

External links

• Facebook Page