Crowds flooded the University Christian Fellowship House on Highway 280 to see local band Cardinal premiere their EP.
Cardinal is a young band with three eager artists: Ethan Asters, Contemporary Worship Leader at Brookwood Baptist Church, Samford University student Brent Beachtel and University of Alabama at Birmingham student Kyle Carpenter. Cardinal produced their first EP through a Kickstarter campaign.
“Kickstarter is a way for people to fund their idea for a product by getting people to pay for the product in advance. We are so fortunate to have friends and family who helped us.” Brent Beachtel said.
In an intimate concert setting, Cardinal’s music brought together many supporters and established a strong connection with its audience. “We don’t want to just communicate to our audience, but we want them to feel emotion with us,” Beachtel said.
The group formed a little over two years ago when Asters called Beachtel with the idea to start a band. Beachtel was excited from the beginning and later recruited Carpenter as their drummer. Beachtel couldn’t pinpoint why the name Cardinal stuck but said Ethan had always been a big Cardinals baseball fan.
Juggling college, work, church life and music is not an easy feat, yet the members of Cardinal expressed their desire to prioritize rehearsal time and the call to pursue music.
Beachtel believes that they are unlike any other band in Birmingham. They want to add something unique to the Birmingham music scene. Their desire is to “stand out” and hopefully produce a full-length album sometime soon.
“We are in it for the long haul,” Beachtel said.
Cardinal’s music is available on iTunes, Spotify and CDBaby. To keep up with the band, visit the Cardinal Facebook page.
By Eleanor Stenner
Photography by Eleanor Stenner