Rend Collective 
A Co. Down folk group has topped the USA Christian album charts with the equivalent of 9,000 album sales.
Rend Collective, a Bangor-based Christian band who met through a Bible group formed by the band’s drummer, are planning a US tour after topping Billboard’s Christian album charts for their third time with Good News. Seven of their singles have also been successful in the Billboard ratings, placing them on the Hot Christian Songs chart.
Americans tend to see the band as “happy-go-lucky Irish people talking about Jesus”, lead vocalist Chris Llewellyn told The Sunday Times, explaining that while the band were excited at their chart success, that wasn’t what motivated them.
“This album’s called Good News for a reason,” he said. “We see our purpose as to announce good news. There’s so much bad news and negativity out there. We just want to be a message of positivity, hope and light that we think we find in Jesus.”
