Living Again's music makes room for the struggles young Christians do not always hear reflected in worship songs. Born during lockdown and shaped by parking-lot worship events, the band brings anxiety, broken relationships and spiritual exhaustion into songs that keep reaching toward God. In this interview, Levi Sierra discusses the people behind Living Again, the experiences that shaped Living Again II, their forthcoming single "Get This Far," and what leading worship through heartbreak taught him about faith beyond emotion.
Q: For readers discovering Living Again for the first time, who are the people behind the band, and how did leading worship in parking lots during lockdown shape your identity?
Living Again started during Covid. We were just bored kids with nothing to do. No school, no work. Mr. Steve is Joseph's dad. Joseph is our keyboard player. Mr. Steve said we should start a band. Before then he had started buying equipment so he could host worship events anywhere. The core of the band back then was Joseph Sivulka and me, Levi Sierra. We had met in school in Oceanside, CA. Soon after the band got started we connected with our "bass girl" Savannah Hogan through a contact at a local church. Fortunately for us we discovered that Savannah could also sing. After just doing well known worship for a while at the parking lot of the outlet mall in San Clemente, CA, I found that I had a talent for writing original songs.
Several years and drummers later we crossed paths with Gabe Hernandez. We instantly knew that we wanted to add Gabe to the band. He's always upbeat and excited for what's next.
Max Kakoschke is a recent addition for guitar. We meet him while he was a stand-in player for a local band that we were familiar with. Max loves guitar as well as flying planes.
Q: When did playing music together begin to feel like a calling, and how have you discerned where God is leading the band through seasons of change and uncertainty?
I think we're still in that season of change and uncertainty. For better or worse being in a band is choosing to be a family. As with any family, there are family issues as well as ups and downs. The one constant thing though is that we commit what we do to the Lord and ask Him to use what we offer up however He sees fit. We all enjoy music, recording and live events. There are times though when it's just work that we've committed to do. God is working on each of us and our prayer is that He will give us a harvest of the younger generation. We want to use music as the virus that we chose to inject the Gospel of Christ into.
Q: Your music combines alternative rock, energetic live arrangements, and honest expressions of faith. What do you hope Living Again contributes to Christian music, especially for listeners who struggle to find their experiences reflected in worship songs?
We choose to be authentic and honest through our music. If that's not coming through in our music then we might as well put a bullet in it. We hope our listeners find music that they can identify with and relate to. We're not out to polish turds or be fake. There's plenty of that type of music out there. Sorry, but CCM and artificially happy songs aren't going to connect with our generation.
Q: Your latest album, Living Again II, explores doubt, spiritual exhaustion, surrender, and grace. What experiences shaped the record, and how does its focus track, "Complacent," capture the journey you wanted listeners to take?
It might be easier to talk about what didn't shape the songs on our new record. Really everything impacts and comes out in our music. We're regular young adults that struggle with all the usual suspects: break-ups, anxiety, pride, sucky friendships, doom scrolling, sin, etc.
"Complacent" talks about falling in and out of the emotion and excitement of running after the Lord. Of course He always loves but there's a sense of frustration and almost shame when we do the hard work of putting our minds back on track even, and especially when the emotion is within the vicinity.
Q: With "Get This Far" coming next, how does that song build on Living Again II, and what musical or lyrical territory are you eager to explore in future releases?
"Get This Far" is our first single that we did with our new producer, Brendan St. Gelais. Brendan is an amazing producer from Nashville that flew out to record a batch of three songs back in August of 2026. He pushes all of us to bring our best to every song. With "Get This Far" and really all our new stuff, the music just keeps getting better and better. What are we doing? We're making the type of music that the teen versions of us would have liked to listen to. Leading by example, we'd like to encourage other Indie Christian bands to dig deeper and go for it.
Q: Your songs make room for spiritual struggle while continuing to reach toward God. What have those experiences taught you about worship when faith feels difficult, and what would you say to someone who wants to reconnect with God but feels too exhausted to begin?
The summer of 2025 we were leading worship up at Hume Lake Christian camp. Within the first week of being up there my girlfriend dumped me (me...being Levi.) So I'm living away from home, my girlfriend just stomped on my heart and I'm responsible to get up every morning and evening to lead 500 Jr. High kids in worship. Needless to say, that was a low point for me. It took a lot to just get up and worship when I really didn't want to. I learned from that experience that leading worship doesn't start with emotion. Rather, the worship might lead into emotion, but regardless He's worthy of our worship whether or not we get warm fuzzies during it.
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