The Altar Boys and Clash of Symbols are two bands created by the musically driven Mike Stand. Mike's journey began in 1980 when he made a personal commitment to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1982 he and his cousin Jeff Crandall formed the Altar Boys. The band was rounded out by guitarist Steve Pannier and bassist and songwriter Ric Alba (later Bob Wholer and soon after Mark Robertson replaced Ric on bass). As Altar Boys' chief songwriter, vocalist and guitarist, Mike led the band on to produce six hit records, Altar Boys, When You're A Rebel, Gut Level Music (GLM), Against The Grain, Forever Mercy, and in2018 they have released (in addition to three compilation albums and the recent, The Collection), film countless videos, including the package, Mercy Is What We Cry For and tour the globe. Although Mike was very much the driving force of the group, it is important to note that The Altar Boys were very much a "band of brothers," where the whole was greater than the sum of the parts.