SELS event

Laughter and students’ applause filled the auditorium during Johnny Franck’s performance in Towns-Alumni Lecture Hall Sept. 13. Hosted by the School of Law’s Sports and Entertainment Law Society (SELS) the event featured Franck, a former member of Attack Attack!, an electronica band from Ohio.

Franck visited Liberty University to share songs, his testimony and legal advice to more than 60 students in attendance according to Josh Dawson, an SELS vice president. Drew Williams and Luke Freeman from a Columbus, Ohio, band Deadwood Floats joined Franck on stage.

Franck sang a few original songs, along with several covers and songs from Deadwood Floats before sharing his testimony.

According to Franck, his career in music began when he received a guitar in sixth grade. He accepted Christ in seventh grade, but after joining Attack Attack! his sophomore year of high school, his career began to take priority over Christ in his life.

“I was actively choosing (music),” Franck said. “Like, ‘Hey this thing is a little bit more shiny.’”

Several recording labels offered Attack Attack! opportunities to sign with them during Franck’s junior year of high school and then began touring. According to Franck, he was living his dream.

“(As) our band continued to grow more, my relationship with God continued to decline,” Franck said. “And during our second year of touring it was nonexistent. I was kind of angry at God and said, ‘I don’t want to talk to you, I don’t want to hear what you have to say.’”

During the peak of Attack Attack!’s success, Franck said he was miserable, and he often turned to the world for temporary satisfaction.

During the band’s second year of fame, Franck realized something had to change.

“I remember being in a bus full of my best friends and feeling all alone,” Franck said.

Franck left the band to pursue God, and according to Franck, God ran to him when he made Christ his new priority.

“When I gave my life to God … began a life of deep satisfaction, and I gained that fulfillment that I was trying to find in music,” Franck said.

Currently, Franck owns a recording studio, Johnny Franck Studios, where he has worked with more than 70 bands. Franck also runs two Bible studies, one from his home and another high school group. Franck is also involved with his two-member band, The March Ahead, as a side project.

“It’s hard, and it’s tiring, but man I am really glad that I am tired doing a lot of things that I want to do,” Franck said.

Franck also touched on some of the legal issues that were involved with leaving Attack Attack! before allowing students to ask him questions.

Franck talked to students at the end of the night and gave them the chance to ask questions. An hour after his performance ended, students continued to talk with Franck, who opened his heart to the students.

“I think it went pretty well, and there was a pretty good turnout,” Dawson said.

One student in attendance, sophomore Brooke Mangee, has been a fan of Franck for more than five years.

“Even if you think you’re having fun and doing what you want, if you’re not one with God, it’s not really amounting to much,” Mangee said.