Andrew Schwab spent four years writing a novel about a tech company that offers to upload your soul and let you live forever. He thinks most people would take the deal.

The question in the book started during COVID, watching the world his kids were going to grow up in. Take digital salvation with a guarantee, or trust a God you can't taste, see or touch. "I think most people would sign up for the first thing because it's guaranteed. And what if that is the great delusion?" He also told us something that didn't show up anywhere in our research. He isn't part of a local congregation. He leads a church on Discord every Sunday, and it doesn't even have a name. Why he built it that way is the rest of that conversation.

Andrew started Project 86 in Orange County in 1996, signed with Tooth and Nail, and put out the first record in 1998. Ten albums later he announced a final chapter and wrote I Need Truth, a memoir about the whole run. Then came P86:OMNI, a darker, heavier double album with electronic elements, seven music videos and a companion novel. He's also 426 episodes into the band's podcast.

ABOUT THE FORGIVEN

The Forgiven is a community and ministry for artists making heavy music for Jesus. We share their music, tell their stories, pray with them and support the work God has placed in their hands.

The show is hosted by Bill Branstetter, creator of Out of the Depths (a project setting every Psalm to metal, word for word), and Kate Nardone, host of Rock of Ages on AscendFM.

Explore every episode, meet the artists and shop The Forgiven:

https://theforgiven.co

Hear more emerging Christian rock and metal:

https://theforgiven.co/playlist

CHAPTERS

0:00 Show Opener

0:43 Thirty years of Project 86

1:48 Two truths and a lie

4:57 How he met Jesus

9:51 The Crucified and the Christian bookstore

14:33 What Me Against Me meant to Kate

18:25 Can a touring musician have a local church?

20:04 Why his church meets on Discord

26:27 Where his high school friends are now

27:41 The state of the music industry

34:28 "If I know it's AI, I don't consume it"

37:04 What COVID started

38:47 Chasing the Drawing Black Lines dragon

41:27 Building P86:OMNI

45:46 Why keep the 86

47:57 Would you upload your soul?

49:59 Every song is a chapter of the novel

55:52 Lightning Round

60:08 Jesus' favorite Project 86 song

62:29 What's next for P86:OMNI

64:50 How to pray for Andrew

FOLLOW

Project 86: https://project86.com

Bill Branstetter: https://www.instagram.com/outofthedepthsmusic/

Kate Nardone: https://www.instagram.com/radiohostkatehartnardone/

#Project86 #P86OMNI #ChristianMetal #TheForgiven