Chad Gardner used to think he’d outgrown hymns. When Kings Kaleidoscope first started making noise in Seattle over a decade ago, the band was determined to reinvent Christian music. Gardner was the church kid turned sound architect with too many pedals and too many ideas, ready to prove worship could be cinematic and unpredictable.
But for all their boundary-pushing, one song never went away: their 2012 arrangement of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” No matter what new sounds they chased, that track kept resurfacing on playlists and algorithms, still introducing people to the band years later.
“I don’t know if it’s Spotify or what,” Gardner says with a laugh. “But people still love that song.”
For a long time, he tried to run from it. Kings Kaleidoscope was moving forward, evolving past the church-service energy of their early years. But the further they went, the more that old music followed. Eventually, Gardner realized maybe it wasn’t something to escape — it was something to embrace.
This fall, the band is doing exactly that. Their new project, ASAPH’S Arrows II, returns to the songs that started it all. It’s a collection of fresh hymn arrangements that sound both classic and alive, full of brass and strings but stripped of the ego that once came with proving they were different.
“It’s kind of a challenge to my artistic integrity,” he says. “But maybe that’s a good thing.”
He’s quick to acknowledge how much his perspective has changed. In his 20s, Gardner approached church music with a chip on his shoulder, determined to make something no worship band could replicate.
“We used to say no sheet music on stage,” he recalls. “You had to memorize everything, play like a real band.”
What began as rebellion eventually became pride. Now, he’s intentionally simplifying. Kings Kaleidoscope is releasing chord charts with every new song — an act that, in its own way, feels more radical than reinventing the wheel.
That humility threads through the new album. The band’s signature energy remains — dense harmonies, unexpected turns — but the tone is different: less defiant, more reverent. For Gardner, it’s not about reinventing the faith soundtrack anymore. It’s about reconnecting to it.
“When you’re young, you think complexity equals depth,” he says. “Now I think humility might be deeper.”
It’s a surprising shift for a group born out of the Mars Hill Church era, where Gardner first led worship in his early 20s. At the time, Mars Hill was known for its swagger — an influential, abrasive megachurch that produced both controversy and an unlikely wave of talented musicians.
“We were all part of that scene,” Gardner says. “Citizens, Ghost Ship, The Sing Team — we just kept going after the collapse.”
He laughs, calling Kings Kaleidoscope “the rose that grew out of the concrete.”
That history gives their return to hymns a new kind of weight. They’re not coming back to reclaim the past; they’re revisiting it with clear eyes.
“Those songs have lasted for centuries,” Gardner says. “Maybe there’s something holy about that simplicity.”
On ASAPH’S Arrows II, Kings Kaleidoscope reimagines “It Is Well” and “Amazing Grace” with the lush, unpredictable textures that made them beloved in the first place. They also dip into 80s Christian nostalgia, covering Twila Paris’ “Lamb of God.” Gardner laughs about how the band spent two days trying — and failing — to pull off her “God Is in Control.”
“She curb-stomped us,” he says. “We couldn’t make it our own.”
The band’s influences stretch from gospel to vintage Christian pop, but Gardner says the unifying thread is curiosity.
“Everyone in the band comes from a different background — New York, Texas, Seattle, Philly — so we each bring our own version of church history,” he says. “That’s what keeps it interesting.”
To make it easier for fans to find their sacred material, Kings Kaleidoscope launched a separate streaming profile called Kings Kaleidoscope Hymns, dedicated solely to worship-focused projects.
“It helps us see if that audience is different from the people who come to our shows,” Gardner explains.
It’s also a way to test what this new phase might become. There’s talk of two tours, or even a church residency where the band would spend a month leading worship multiple times a week.
“We’ve all been craving that kind of connection,” he says.
For Gardner, the rediscovery of hymns isn’t about nostalgia — it’s about honesty. The early Kings years were full of technical ambition and restless creativity, but also a deep frustration with the Christian music machine.
“I used to think we were better than all that,” he says. “Now I see the beauty in what we were running from.”
He’s also aware of how much the world — and the church — has changed since those early Mars Hill days. Many of his peers have deconstructed their faith or left ministry entirely. Gardner still writes from the same questions, but with less angst and more peace.
“I just try to stay curious,” he says. “God’s always doing something new, but He’s also in the old things. Maybe revisiting hymns is my way of remembering that.”
The result is a record that feels both modern and ancient, like a loop closing in real time. The same kid who once refused to play Hillsong songs is now arranging 200-year-old hymns for a new generation — and finding freedom in it.
“It’s weird,” Gardner says. “I spent my 20s trying to get away from church music, and now I’m making the most ‘church’ record of my life. But maybe that’s the point. You go out, you learn, you crash, you grow up — and you realize the Gospel was never the problem. Sometimes you just needed a new way to hear it.”
For Kings Kaleidoscope, that new way sounds a lot like where they started.
Checkout episode 1275 of The RELEVANT Podcast for more of our conversation:
