HM Magazine, Issue #116 (Nov/Dec 2005)

Demon Hunter Spoken Nodes Of Ranvier My Chemical Romance Staple Bradley Hathaway Reggae Primer Readers’ Poll Ballot

THE HARD MUSIC MAGAZINE

NO INNOCENT VICTIM

November, December 2005 • Issue #116

$3.50 USA / 4.95 CDN

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–Mike Herrera MxPx “HM Magazine is the only Christian magazine worth reading if you’re into hardcore ... don’t ever try anything else!”

–Tim McTague Underoath “HM has always given attention to the generally unknown bands – which is what a lot of publications lack.

This makes them both important and relevant to the growth and prosperity of modern music.”

–Ryan Clark Demon Hunter “HM covers the hard music scene with integrity and passion. I look forward to each issue.”

–Allen Rigg Senior Pastor, Calvary Chapel Austin

LIVE 17

14 HARD NEWS

LIVE REPORT

HARDNEWS Page fourteen

60 FEATURE 58 FEATURE

48 FEATURE

South By Southwest Film Interactive Music & Media Conference 2005 News bullets

BY DOUG VAN PELT Über-upstarts Mat Kearney and Mute Math have teamed up for one heckuva billing for a 50-city tour this Spring.

Aware/Columbia have picked Mat Kearney up for mainstream distro.

A new band called DeSole (pronounced Day-So-lay) have just signed to Abacus Recordings. They are booked to play this year’s Cstone Fest.

Inked In Blood have signed to Facedown, with a new full-length due out this Fall.

Seventh Star How has your sound developed over the past couple of years (and your first full-length album, Dead End, and this one)?

Drew: Well, of course we’ve progressed as musicians in the two year span after Dead End. I guess you could say we’ve progressed into a more metal sound. While we’ll always have a traditional hardcore base, we’ve introduced more dynamics and drawn influences from a lot of different bands we’ve been listening to, like: Crowbar, Life of Agony, Superjoint Ritual, Slayer, Entombed, Sepultura, and others. Dead End was written to be a straight-up hardcore record, and it was what it was; but I’m really happy with the stuff we’ve written on Brood of Vipers. We’ve pushed ourselves as songwriters. I think all our current fans will dig the new stuff and new kids will be into it as well.

What does it mean to be a Christian to you guys? How does your music interact with your faith? What are your goals with Seventh Star?

Drew: To be a Christian, is to follow the Lord in everything. Our faith drives our band; it drives our lives. In the last year, we as a band and as individuals have been through a lot; and I know we wouldn’t be doing what we are doing if it wasn’t for God. Our goals with Seventh Star are to break stereotypes and barriers within the scene. We never want to be a preachy, holier-than-thou-get-onyour-knees-and-cry band. We’d be going to the same shows whether we were Christians or not.

This is our scene, and this is where we are called to be. Like, there is nothing wrong with playing a church, but I’d much rather play a dirty bar with hardcore bands. I think too many Christians want their safe little Christian bubble where there are no atheists, drunks, people with “bad mouths,” whatever. We need to be in the real world and applying our faith. It’s the sick that need a doctor.

How was it working with Kurt Ballou on your new album? What songs are your favorites?

Drew: It was awesome working with Kurt. He’s made a lot of awesome records with Converge and tons more. We are more than happy with the way the record came out. He was super cool and knew what he was doing with our sound. We can honestly say we like every song. Some of my favorites are “Be Wary,” “First Rains”, “Brood of Vipers”, and “Your Pleasure, My Pain” because we do some different types of things in those songs, and I’m way into them.

Johnny: I like “Feverish” a lot. It kicks off the record with a ton of energy and it’s heavy.

Skillet and Audio Adrenaline were recently featured in a half-hour documentary on VH-1, Religion: A Pop Culture History. Live footage was shown of the bands at Creation ‘04.

(Does anyone else wish they’d’ve interviewed Symphony In Peril or Underoath, too?)

“South by Southwest is like Summer Camp for me – I get to hang out with my friends for a week, and have fun.” This quote from a well-known independent f ilm producer overheard in the press room about sums up the 10-day conference / festival that is SXSW. With over 1,000 bands and close to 200 f ilms amidst all the meetings, panels, and parties, it’s impossible to drink it all in; but just showing up and taking in what you can is sure to satisfy. Following are a few snapshots of this year’s happenings.

PRESS ON The rising career of Robert Randolph is brilliantly documented here, providing a rare glimpse into the House of God Church that spawned the “Sacred Steel” movement.

It introduces the four founding fathers of the movement, who all mentored Randolph.

Could this man’s music be a “new song” that the world has been waiting for? You bet.

Symphony in Peril’s The Whore’s Trophy album hit #142 on the Billboard New Artist chart.

PALINDROMES A surprising story that looks at abortion, where all sides get skewered. Original, creative, and funny.

Relient K received a Gold Record award for their Two Lefts Don’t Make A Right But Three Do. Mmhmm sold a crazy 51,473 albums the first week out!

THE EDUCATION OF SHELBY KNOX A young Christian girl pledges to remain abstinent at a “True Love Waits” rally, but goes on to press for changes in the Lubbock schools’ sex education (and its abstinence-only policy).

Mae is out promoting The Everglow for all of April with The Starting Line.

THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON Fans of Bro Danielson should know about this enigmatic artist named Daniel Johnston.

He was the focus of a bidding war between Elektra and Atlantic Records, which he sabotaged for fear of the members of Metallica beating him up in the name of Satan. While the genius of his art is covered, so is the pain experienced by those around him in an unflinching manner.

Disciple has been sitting on their hottest record to date, waiting for the right deal to sign, and their first single with new label S/R/E Recordings is appropriately titled, “The Wait Is Over.” S/R/E is a rock imprint of INO Records. Epic will distribute Rise Up in the mainstream market.

WordRecords.com have 80+ ringtones available, including Stellar Kart, Sixpence, and Mute Math.

Stellar Kart are out on tour with Kutless and Barlow Girl. Kutless is promoting its new worship album, Strong Tower.

As Cities Burn has officially joined the Solid State roster.

ALL WE ARE SAYING This engaging documentary just as well could’ve been called Rock Stars on Life, the Creative Process, and the Music Business.

University kicked the music festival off for this roving reporter with an impressive tight set of incredibly catchy songs.

Mute Math’s wonderful set was the real deal – a packed showcase with people cramming themselves onto the floor in front and

hanging over the railings upstairs. Drummer Darren King was simply a monster. The guys just killed and everyone seemed to “get it.”

Zao proved that shearing Dan Weyandt’s long locks didn’t diminish their power, and new bassist Marty Lunn is holding his own quite well. The thin crowd gave the weakest response to “5 Year Winter” I’ve ever heard, but it was still a good shot of adrenaline. mewithoutYou took a stage under the “shade” of prop trees (instead of rose pedals) and proceeded to tear the place apart. It was cool to hear so many singing along to the band’s mouthful of lyrics.

Underoath threw down with a great show, capped off with the humble declaration, “that Jesus loves everyone in this room. If you don’t believe that, it’s okay. We’d still like to hang out with you.” Unpretentious (And awesome).

Comeback Kid almost got destroyed several times by the fun dog-piling the audience did atop frontman Scott Wade.

Still Remains quickly endeared themselves as one of my favorite new bands. Beautiful swirling and doomy keyboard sounds mesh powerfully with speed and thrash metal.

MXPX SURVIVAL SCHOOL

BY DAVID HUFF

SURVIVING TREMORS, REAL AND IMAGINED, HAS BEEN A WAY OF LIFE FOR MXPX FRONT MAN, MIKE HERRERA,THE PAST FEWYEARS. PERHAPS

This could have been the best year yet, with only a few negative things, like the inevitable over-crowding when a good thing gets noticed by more people. Nevertheless, consider throwing caution to the wind and coming out next year! [See a more in-depth review of SXSW 2005 at hmmag.com]

THE BIGGEST JOLT THE SONGWRITING BASSIST EVER FELT OCCURRED ON FEB. 28, 2001. ON THAT BRIGHT THURSDAY MORNING, THE MOST POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE TO STRIKE THE PUGET SOUND AREA IN 52 YEARS, ROCKED THE JOVIAL MUSICIAN WITH SUCH SUDDENNESS, HE ACTUALLY THOUGHT HIS BANDMATES WERE PLAYING A BIZARRE PRACTICAL JOKE ON HIM. HE FOUND OUT QUICKLY THE JOKER WAS NONE OTHER THAN MOTHER NATURE.

Photos from top: Zao’s Russ Cogdell; mewithoutYou’s Aaron Weiss

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“I was actually in the shower when the earthquake hit,” laughed Herrera, recalling the moment his world started shaking without an instrument in his hand. “The whole house was moving around, and I figured I better run outside quick. Fortunately, nothing was falling from the walls and breaking on the ground. Then it occurred to me, ‘Well, maybe I need a towel before I go outside.’

“I grabbed a towel, wrapped it around me, and stood outside on the front lawn talking to the neighbors. Luckily, I didn’t have any guitars in the house to worry about, so the overall earthquake wasn’t that traumatic. However, I did move to another city after that.”

Looking back, Herrera says the vibrations he felt under his feet, that cold February morning, was indicative of the band’s career up to that point. In fact, during MxPx’s entire six-year run with A&M Records, every album the group released saw major shake-ups within the A&M organization.

“I don’t even know how to explain it,” recalled the 28year old musician. “Whenever we released an album with A&M, something definitely strange would happen at the label. Our last record for A&M, Before Everything And After, was the closest we ever came to having an album shelved, without it actually being shelved.”

Herrera says there were some legitimate reasons for the breakdown in communication between the band and the label. However, when A&M showed no interest in promoting their 2003 release, the group as a whole knew it was time to move on.

“You know the old saying,” continued Herrera,” if you didn’t have bad luck, you wouldn’t have any luck at all.

That pretty much summed up our experience with A&M Records. When our first record with them came out in 1998, the label was sold to Interscope shortly afterwards.

Half the employees at A&M knew they were going to get fired, so what are they going to do? Are they going to work as hard as they can for us, or spend their time looking for a new job?

“In hindsight, our timing was completely off when we signed with that label. Had MxPx been a member of the A&M family a couple of years earlier, they would have been behind us 110 percent. As it was, the label found itself involved in a major transition once we came on the president presidentofoflabel labelleft leftfor forWarner WarnerBros Bros board. When the

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BRING YOUR BAGGAGETOTHE BURNING "Jesus replied, ‘And you experts of the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.’"

Disciple 62 FEATURE

By James Wetz

KEEPING IT REAL

BY BRIAN QUINCY NEWCOMB

“What is Mae?” The tagline was around before Tooth and Nail released their debut album, and this question was used as their web-address long after. If you want a

detailed description of their sound, where they’re from, or any other sort of purely factual data, I’m sure there is a press bio floating around that can help you. This, however, is not one of those stories.

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STARFLYER 59

Everyone has baggage. We all got it from somewhere, someone, or somehow. However, there is a place we can leave it all – no matter how we acquired it.

ROBERT RANDOLPH

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F E AT U R E T T E

40 A N N UA L

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33

What Fall Out Boy Says

ALOVE FOR ENEMIES

Also featuring Extol Starflyer 59 Winter Solstice Eisley Readers’ Poll Results

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FEATURE 55

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COPELAND

WHEN YOU’RE HOT, YOU’RE HOT. ISLAND RECORDING ARTISTS FALL OUT BOY HAD A GREAT YEAR IN 2004. A PACKED-OUT TOUR WITH TAKING BACK SUNDAY AND MATCHBOOK ROMANCE PUT THE BAND RIGHT IN THE BACK POCKET OF THOUSANDS OF THEIR ARDENT FANS. AT THE DETROIT STOP OF THE VANS WARPED TOUR, THE BARRICADES GAVE WAY. THE SHOW WAS STOPPED, BUT THE FANS BEGAN CHANTING THE BAND’S HIT, “GRAND THEFT AUTUMN” ACAPELLA. THIS IS THE STUFF JOY IS MADE OF.

THE HARD MUSIC MAGAZINE

THETHEORY OF EVOLUTION

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26 F E AT U R E T T E

THE HARD MUSIC MAGAZINE JOY ELECTRIC PILLAR PEDRO THE LION CANNIBAL CORPSE EISLEY SQUAD FIVE-O XXX CHURCH

UNDEROATH The first time I saw Starflyer 59 was on a hot summer day underneath a large striped tent. I have vague recollections of the concert; I mostly remember their drummer saying things in French between each song. But my memory is lacking and therefore proves to be a bad reference to give you a history on how I first heard Starflyer. I must admit, I wasn’t into their music all that much and I didn’t bother to listen to them for real until The Fashion Focus showed up in my mailbox as I began my illustrious career as a “rock-writer.” This record had piqued my interest with its decidedly poppy feel and, at least in my opinion, the strains of 80’s New Wave heard in the melodies and synth lines.

Favorite Band Demon Hunter

Favorite Bassist Traa Daniels

2004 Readers’ Poll Demon Hunter

When Martin and Cloud enlisted Frank Lenz and Richard Swift to work with them in studio as well as on stage, the uniting of these great musical minds resulted in the aforementioned record. Old is an unabashed foray into loud guitars and loud drums while retaining the mannerisms one can expect from a Starflyer record. Both extremely talented individuals themselves, Lenz is one of the most under-appreciated and unnoticed drummers in music today, and Swift’s additions of various synths and other keyboards to Old are fantastic.

Project 86 mewithoutYou Blindside

Favorite Album

Their latest release, I Am The Portuguese Blues is actually almost entirely made up of songs that Martin had written and shelved after releasing Americana in favor of making a pop record, which resulted in The Fashion Focus. Interestingly, I Am The Portuguese Blues stays in the vein of Old minus

If Jesus went looking for a finger pointin’ NY hardcore band to create a soundtrack to the inspired words of the Bible, I guarantee that Alove For Enemies would be on top of the Savior’s wish list, weaving spiritual truths and encouragement alongside the hardest mix of melodic hardcore heard today.

NORMA JEAN

This rough-n-tough band of 5 spiritual brothers released their debut EP, Broken Pledge, on Strike First Records late in ‘03 and has since made the transition to its parent label Facedown Records for their brand new fulllength album, The Harvest. “The EP was a great opportunity for us to really get out. The transition from [the] label side was smooth and encouraging. The Facedown staff has done nothing but help us, and I mean beyond music stuff – they are always there to talk to, to pray with, etc. From a musical point of view it was a little tough; we’ve never done a full-length, so it was sobering to get in the studio and have to bang out 10 songs instead of 5.”

Their fans have nothing to worry about though – the new music is as uncompromising as ever and they waste no time pummeling the

Favorite Drummer Jordan Mancino (As I Lay Dying) Jesse Sprinkle (Demon Hunter) Aaron Gillespie (Underoath) Ted Kirkpatrick (Tourniquet)

Favorite Live Show

Summer of Darkness – Demon Hunter

Blindside

Catch For Us The Foxes – mewithoutYou About A Burning Fire – Blindside They’re Only Chasing Safety – Underoath

Norma Jean Project 86 Pillar

March, April 2005 • Issue #112

snot out of their victims. On the opening track, “Angels Don’t Burn,” they lay down ferocious vocals, a thick low-end and a hint of melodic guitar work; all characteristics that ALFE have built their reputation on. And inspired by some of the forerunners of Christian hardcore, namely No Innocent Victim, Strongarm, and Few Left Standing, they are solely focused on sharing the love of Christ to anyone who will listen.

Since forming in ‘01 they’ve seen their share of hardships, including the loss of many close friends to suicide, but this has only encouraged the band to address the sensitive subject even more on The Harvest. “Suicide is such a tragic thing, especially with young people. We felt the need to address it, because a lot of people have the misconception that you can’t do anything to prevent it. You can. Listen to your friends and loved ones; never trivialize what they are saying, even if it sounds so small. If it is upsetting that person, then do all you can to be there for them. The other important factor is prayer. A lot of us say, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ but we need to follow up and really do it.”

“A lot of importance [in our society] is placed on such unimportant things. The hardcore

Editor, Doug Van Pelt: Tell me about the Chicago hardcore scene.

Bassist, Pete Wentz: It’s a pretty awesome place. It’s got a very family-like atmosphere, I’d say. I remember going to shows starting when I was, like, 13 or 14. It was pretty amazing. I guess, kinda towards the end of it… Kind of towards the end of when I was like… I’m out of town a lot. I’m never there. It got kind of really funny towards the end, which was kind of distasteful for me. But, when I go back to shows now it’s pretty cool.

BY BRADLEY SPITZER scene has become much less accepting, and much more violent. Modern day Christianity is suffering because the state of our culture breeds so many misconceptions; misconceptions that villainize anyone with faith. The only way both will get better is if we stand up again; use our voices and our faith to take back the integrity of the hardcore scene. And we as Christians need to stop fighting amongst ourselves, stop bickering, stop worrying about worldly things, and unite and really, really start to love one another, and strive to be the most “Christ-Like” person we can be.”

Their passion to bring the good news back to the hardcore scene is undeniable. And just like any dedicated band, their relationships together are integral to their work. “We truly are like brothers, we play like brothers, we work like brothers, we even fight like brothers, but this last year we’ve been focusing on getting on the same spiritual page as each other; and I think we’re getting to that point, I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of guys to be in a band with.”

Right on. How was the Warped Tour this year?

It was cool. It was strenuous. It was very high pressure. We never slept. We did it in a van. We only did, like, 12 days on it, but we did it all in a van. So it’s like, you drive in, sleep in the parking lot until 7 or 8 am, and go load into the show, load out of the show at, like, 10, drive and sleep in the parking lot again.

Wow. Yeah, it was brutal in a van. It’s definitely like a test, you know?

I guess so. It’s hard to sleep when the sunshine’s burning…

Oh yeah, it’s blazing. It’s like a million degrees.

What are some highlights? And tell me about that Detroit show.

Haaaa. I guess a highlight would be seeing all the bands on there, like times when we’d sit down to eat and dudes from Good Charlotte and, you know, Tim Armstrong, and, you know, it was just a strange thing with people all sitting at the same table. It’s like, when would you ever see that? And I’m like, the Detroit

show was part of the Warped Tour. It was kind of like, no matter how big of a band you are, everybody’s on the same plane as you. If you are the biggest band there and you play at 12 pm or you’re the smallest band there and you play at 12 pm. It doesn’t really matter. You pretty much you just take it and you do it. It’s one of the coolest things about the Warped Tour. We were playing in Detroit and they put us on the Volcom Stage, which doesn’t hold a lot – about 250 or 300 kids or so. And, like, three or four thousand or five thousand kids showed and the barricade collapsed and the stage collapsed and Warped Tour shut it off for the day. We pretty much broke the stage for the day. That’s about how we broke Warped Tour for the day, but we didn’t play that stage again for the rest of the tour, and that was pretty cool.

That’s awesome. I haven’t seen two breaking bands tour together like this since last year’s Th rice and Thursday tour. How has it been touring with Taking Back Sunday so far?

It’s been absolutely insane, because they’re, like… It’s been a strange tour, because it’s like they’re one of the biggest bands in punk rock, yet still they have… one of the bands with the most cred in punk rock. To be able to do that is really cool.

And it’s like a completely natural thing as well. You know, it’s not like a contrived thing, where they’re like, “Yeah, we wanna be this sort of cred band and at the same time, like, have a million kids at every show.” So, it’s amazing to have such a natural thing. At the same time, like, it’s really cool. They’ll come out and sing with us when we play. We get treated and taken care of so well. It’s like, it’s been an awesome tour. There’s been lots of bands that we’ve gone out with that have been smaller than them that haven’t treated us as well.

BY ERIC W. ALEXY For most, Ken Andrews is remembered for being the mastermind behind the late-90s indie/guitar rock opus Fantastic Planet, released by his thengroup Failure. And while Copeland guitarist Bryan Laurenson says he somehow missed the boat on Andrews’ expansive catalog of work until recently (Andrews most recently produced Mae’s latest outting, among his other rotating musical projects) – fittingly when Andrews was hired to mix the Atlanta rockers’ sophomore full length, In Motion – he’s now come around in full effect.

“I missed out on the whole Failure era,” comments Laurenson, “but have gone back and gotten into Andrews’ work since. Ken seems to have such a unique approach to guitar tones. I don’t think his tones sound like anyone else. As for our record, I think he brought

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Fans of the band’s previous outting, 2003’s Militia Group debut Beneath Medicine Tree, will still find the same warm Toad The Wet Sprocket meets Jimmy Eat World melodies on In Motion, though, according to Laurenson, this is definitely an evolution for the group, which is rounded out by drummer Jon Bucklew, bassist James Likeness, and lead singer/guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Aaron Marsh.

“I think In Motion is a more mature record,” he explains, “both musically and lyrically.

While our first record had more of a theme and an underlying message, the new one is

a little less obvious. I think it is a little more intriguing and daring. People will have to dig a little deeper, and yet musically it is a lot more memorable.”

While the band says they draw equally from musical icons like Carly Simon, Beach Boys, James Taylor and U2 as well as more modern acts like Jimmy Eat World, for Laurenson there are far more important things in life: “Definitely our faith and our loved ones.

Nothing is more inspiring than love,” he says.

Further inspiring, Laurenson says, were the band’s recent jaunts with Further Seems Forever and Switchfoot, two faith-based acts getting their fair share of mainstream success as of late. “Getting to play with bands who I have been a fan of for years, has been really surreal. It has also been very encouraging. It was only 2 years ago that we were playing in little dives in front of literally two kids.”

$3.50 USA / 4.95 CDN aloveforenemies.com

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a really special touch to the vocals. There is a certain way they sit in some of the songs that really blows me away. We spent a lot of time tracking the record, and I think he was the icing on the cake.”

MAY / JUNE 2004 | ISSUE #107

Favorite Band

$3.50 USA / 4.95 CDN

Almost ten years and records later, they have made some of the best music of their career in recent years. Their most striking release in these recent years is 2003’s brilliant Old. Now, I use the term “band” loosely, as anyone who is familiar with Starflyer 59 knows that Jason Martin and, until recently, Jeff Cloud were the mainstays of a group that had a revolving door behind the drum kit.

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thecopelandsite.com

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Offer expires 12/15/5 (US residents/orders received by this date should receive their first copy before Christmas)

One year (6 issues) $15 USA ($20 Can/Mex, $25 Overseas) Subscribe by mailing name, address, a portion of this page, & payment to:

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9/24/2005 12:03:39 AM

TA B L E O F C O N T EN T S

10

From the editor REGULAR

Doug Van Pelt

Letters Hard news Live report Heaven’s metal

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LORD, PLEASE SAVE ME FROM THE STORM!

FEATURETTE Like life many times, we walk on in the darkness, not knowing the future or how it will turn out. Friends are staying at our office building here (which is really a 5-bedroom home...interested in buying it?), as they evacuate Houston and ride out Hurricane Rita. I’m not sure if it’s the End Times or not, but it sure seems like there’s been a rash of deadly storms lately – especially in the realm of hurricanes. Certain disasters and tragedies mark periods of time that people remember all their life, recalling “the flood of ‘52,” or other such events. I hope that I’m not going to look back at a period of history we called “the flood of disasters” or “the accumulation period of destruction,” but it just seems like we are getting these things in a bunch here. I just don’t know what the future holds. We have hope, however, because we serve a risen Savior that so emboldened 11 disciples that they turned the world upside-down, all but one of them dying martyr’s deaths and never swaying from the hope within of a resurrected Savior they saw with their own eyes. We are part of their legacy. And we press on through the uncertainty. This is likely the last issue that will be produced at this present office location, as a land owner has purchased the community space that our office/home is on, and we’ve been given 120 days to vacate. Who knows where we’ll end up.

I’ve had a blast interviewing bands lately. Besides the interviews this issue (like N.I.V., Cold, Fasedown, and My Chemical Romance, I recently talked with Sevendust and prog-geniuses, Porcupine Tree. We’ve got a couple of other hot interviews I won’t announce yet, but hopefully, you’ll be stoked to see them in our January/February issue.

It’s almost Christmas time, so consider blessing HM and your friends with a gift subscription. If you didn’t get a copy of our 20th Anniversary (Jul/Aug) issue, order it as a back issue as well. It was cool. Take care.

Cold Bradley hathaway Man alive Paramore Staple

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FEATURE Nodes of ranvier Demon hunter Spoken L.A. symphony No innocent victim Reggae My chemical romance says

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INTERMISSION Lary dean Columns

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REVIEW SPINNING AT HM NOW MAYLENE &...

ASHTON NYTE V/A SWITCHFOOT THE WHITE STRIPES JOHNNY CASH KING’S X

S/T Headspace Taste of Chaos (DVD) Nothing Is Sound Get Behind Me Satan The Legend Ogre Tones

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Black Label Society on God (+ steroids).

I’m a sucker for doomy, heavy goth stuff.

Seeing & hearing Underoath live. Nice.

A good “sequel” to TBL. I think Jack White is a believer...really.

This catalog of tunes is really rich.

I admit it, I’m still a fan.

Music DVD, book, & gear Indie pick

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11 L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

EDITOR/PUBLISHER OFFICE MANAGER MKTG & ADS

NEWCOMB’S THEOREM

BLESSED BY #115 I just wanted to tell you guys that this is the best HM Magazine that I have read. I only have about 6 or 7 issues; but, out of them all, this is the best. The others were either good or ok, but they all left me wanting more because I wasn’t fully satisfied with it all. But this one is a really good one. It was filling and I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the interview with The Locust. That is the best interview that I have read about any band, ever. It wasn’t just a little short interview. It was the right size and interesting. When I finished it, I was actually wishing there was more to read. Keep up the great work.

–Josh Newton [via internet] I’m generally not enamored of change nor the cultural linking of “new” with “improved” (when something is rarely either), but I can say that I like every change you’ve made to the mag. This month’s issue was stirring, refreshing and fascinating by turns. I didn’t have any problem with your magazine before, mind you, but I really wanted you to know how positively effective your current issue is – I loved every page. Blessings to you and your ministry.

–Syndi Riley [via internet] Ed – Thanks for the mega-encouragement.

Words like this make all the long nights, etc way worth it! Thanks for being a blessing.

LOCUST SAID Dude, “What The Locust Says” may be the best “So & So Says” in history. I wish it was longer. It’s nice to have a candid discussion with people of different views without anyone getting angry. Was it uncomfortable?

–Tim Hudson [Bartlesville, OK] Ed – Thanks. It’s always a challenge to interview two people face-to-face, but twas fun.

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After reading Brian Quincy Newcomb’s article on the “History of Christian Rock,” I feel so much better. I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that some of the Christian music I’ve been listening to for the past 20 years is nothing but a bunch of garbage that sucks. Thanks Brian, for your superior insight and wisdom. It’s great to know there are superior musical Snobs like Newcomb out there to point the way for the rest of us clueless souls. I really appreciate it! Actually, no I don’t. What gives Newcomb the right to take away someone else’s joy from hearing something they like? I’m not much of a Petra fan myself, but who cares if they have imitated Kiss or Journey or whoever?

Back then the concept of Christian rockers was so new and such a novelty in the church, they had to sound like somebody.

Who did Newcomb expect them to sound like? Prince? Nirvana? Newcomb can have his theories, but when he starts attacking other artists’ motives as suspect, he’s way out of line. His attacks on Stryper are personal and inflammatory. Stryper has brought more kids to Christ than all of his favorite bands put together. Granted, their new album sucks, but that’s beside the point.

The point is Stryper was there on the front lines, shining a light during a very dark time.

For Newcomb to trivialize that is beyond the pale. But what is most offensive about Newcomb’s arrogance is his claim of making “a cynical little gift to the body of Christ.”

Newcomb actually thinks he’s edifying and uplifting the Body of Christ. Now that’s a crock of BS. –Jonathan Voigt [Milwaukee, WI] Ed – You can blame me in part for that. I wanted BQN’s perspective on Christian rock over the years, which I knew wasn’t always rosy, but it’s just his honest opinion.

INTERNS

Sam Farries, Brandon Ryan

CONTR EDITORS

Kemper Crabb, Greg Tucker, Chris Wighaman

CONTRIBUTORS

Eric W. Alexy, David Allen, Chris Callaway, Chris Francz, Dan Frazier, Brenten Gilbert, Amy E. Hall, Tim Hallila, Tim Hudson, Jeremy Hunt, Kern County Kid, Dan MacIntosh, Josh Niemyjski, Austin Powell, Jamie L. Rake, Andre Salles, Frances Schoonveld, Tony Shore, Bradley Spitzer, David Stagg, Jonathan Swank, Darren Tindell Jr.

COVER PHOTO BACK PAGE PROOFREADERS

SCRIPTURE

ishotphotography.com David L. Moore Eric W. Alexy, Vicki Bobick, Bethany Johnson, Valerie Maier, Heather Reynolds, Carolyn Van Pelt “...He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:12) “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God in Whom I trust.’” (Psalm 91:1-2)

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READS LIKE BLACK METAL I received the latest HM in the mail today and tore through it like a kid at Christmas.

I was surprised and pleased to see a black metal part in the magazine. I began reading the spread and found myself realizing that it was written like black metal is sung.

Paragraph after paragraph, I came across words that I was like, “Wha? Triumvirate?

What the heck is that?” I walked across my room and grabbed my Webster’s dictionary to figure out what Ed Hellig was talking about. I enjoyed the issue an indubitable exuberance and surmise to see more black metal bands in the magazine. Keep the faith and keep it metal!

–Shawn Zeilenga [via internet]

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9/23/2005 4:47:41 PM

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9/24/2005 12:04:42 AM

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9/24/2005 12:05:45 AM

HARDNEWS Quick & concise TELECAST

THE UNDERWATER

SEEING THINGS FOR WHAT THEY ARE

FLOATING IN A SINK OR SWIM INDUSTRY

Maturity isn’t always a natural progression in a band’s evolution. Usually there is a price to be paid on the road to sincere and sober growth.

For the members of Telecast, that price came in the form of playing 200 shows in the last year. “I would say the band’s been through major growth, especially since we’ve been on the road straight for the last year,” comments frontman Josh White. “We’ve interacted with all sorts of people, which has opened our eyes to see the health of the church as a whole, especially coming from the secular scene into Christian scene.” Eternity is Now, the band’s sophomore release, “is based on the fact that our faith is a moment by moment reality of living in His presence. The concept is pretty heavy, but practical.”

After a busy summer that included touring with Quietdrive and City Sleeps, playing the coveted Warped Tour, and rocking the Amsterjam (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snoop, 311) aftershow in NYC, The Underwater will hit the studio to record their first full-length since releasing the Lungs EP back in June. They will lay tracks with producer David Bendeth (Hawthorne Heights, Killswitch Engage, Ima Robot). While currently without a label, the band will be flying out to L.A. within the next couple of weeks to hopefully secure a label home. [theunderwater.net]

News bullets Project 86 is releasing a DVD to accompany their new album. It’s called The Making of ...And the Rest Will Follow, and promises (according to the label) to “take you deeper into their world than ever before, showing you the process of how the record came to be.” The band will hit the road as this issue goes to press as part of a 32-date national tour with Spoken and Number One Gun supporting.

Stretch Arm Strong will be out on the road all through October with A Wilhelm Scream and Section 8.

As Cities Burn will be hitting the road this fall on the Grab Your Guns Tour with Emery, Gym Class Heroes, and Gatsby’s American Dream.

Blindside’s The Great Depression was its 3rd record to debut inside Billboard’s Top 100 Chart, selling over 12,000 units in its first week of release. This Fall finds the band busy touring all over the USA with Trapt. Blindside’s new video, directed by Shane Drake (Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights), is getting airplay on MTVU. Mae is headlining over 30 dates from October through mid-November.

The Billions have a brand new album out on Northern Records – Trash and Treasure.

Bloodlined Calligraphy and Winter Solstice are hitting the road together in October and November for what promises to be a killer tour.

Dallas Taylor unveils new band

Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster join the ever-growing roster of bands at Mono vs.

Stereo. Hailing from the dirty south of Birmingham, AL and featuring former Underoath vocalist Dallas Taylor, this 5 piece outfit with the unusual name will release their selftitled debut album on October 25. Produced by Jason Elgin (Creed, Collective Soul), and recorded in Birmingham, the band has taken their love for sweet tea, Johnny Cash, BBQ, Killswitch Engage, and all things trashy and fused them into heavy southern rifts with breakdowns “to create an album worthy of listening to in your truck,” chuckles labelhead Brad Moist. You can catch the band on tour this Fall throughout the South and lower Midwest with The Showdown and Chasing Victory on The Southern Thunder Tour.

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Building 429’s “Glory Defined” is the song of choice for Florida Marlins pitcher, Todd Jones, as he marches out to the mound in each game.

Stellar Kart filmed a video for their song, “Life Is Good” (from All Gas. No Brake.). They will be part of this Fall’s See Spot Rock tour, along with Pillar, Falling Up and Day Of Fire.

P.O.D.’s new album, Testify, hits on December 6. Lance Armstrong listened to P.O.D. prior to his races.

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HARD NEWS 15

Robert Randolph & The Family Band are out touring with Santana this Fall.

They have been writing for their new studio album, which launches in 2006.

No news yet on when the brilliant documentary, Press On, will release to theaters. Meanwhile, Robert Randolph has been playing on other projects. He is featured on Eric Clapton’s new album and also contributed to Bart Millard’s (MercyMe) solo project, Hymned.

BELOVED: The Aftermath

BY ERIC W. ALEXY Dusty Redmon and Joshua Moore are pretty darn accustomed to taking the stage together. After all, from 1999 through 2004, the two shared guitar duties in North Carolinian hardcore outfit Beloved.

But, after the band disbanded last December, with Moore quickly joining upstart rockers Classic Case and Redmon becoming the new guitarist for Dead Poetic, it seemed unlikely that the duo would ever share the stage together again. And, at least literally, they haven’t done that just yet, but, with Classic Case handling the opening slot of Dead Poetic’s recently completed headlining tour, they both did stand on the same stage on the same night, for whatever that’s worth.

Those still coping with the shock of losing one of hardcore scene’s most beloved up-and-coming acts should mourn no longer. In addition to Moore joining Classic Case (who recently signed to Fiddler Records, and have already toured with the likes of Orgy and Puddle of Mudd), and Redmon becoming the guitarist for a recently revamped Dead Poetic (which now also includes bassist John Brehm, Beloved’s first bassist), the three remaining members of Beloved have formed

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a new group as well. Although Beloved’s breakup was by and large due to drummer/co-vocalist Joe Musten getting married and not wanting to tour extensively anymore, he, along with former Beloved bassist Johnny Smrdel and guitarist Matt Harrison have formed Advent, a group already likened to the likes of the almighty Turmoil. To date, as they solidify their lineup, Advent has played only a handful of shows.

The band debuted their first three recordings on misone.com in April, and are slated to record additional material before the year ends, with none other than Mitchell Marlow, Classic Case’s other guitarist, behind the boards.

To boot, Beloved will be releasing a DVD, Kiss It Goodbye, which includes their Jan. 14, 2005 farewell show in full, as well as two music videos and a behindthe-scenes look at the recording of their lone Solid State release, 2003’s Failure On, in the months to come. According to Moore, the DVD may also include a photo gallery and a making the video feature for their “Death to Traitors” video, which was lensed by Thursday guitarist Steve Pedulla.

Zao is releasing a DVD in October, called The Lesser Lights Of Heaven.

This 2-DVD set spans the band’s career.

Directed by longtime friend and manager Ryan Downey, an accomplished music journalist and former writer/producer for MTV and reporter for MSNBC, the double disc set will include a two hour-plus documentary with all new interviews detailing the band’s humble beginnings through all of their changes to the band they are today. Shot in Greensburg, PA, California and elsewhere, the interviews include the present lineup, ex-members, friends, label staff and peers in other bands talking about the history and influence of the incredibly important band. The band states that “the documentary will be littered with live and behind-the-scenes footage shot by professionals, friends and fans, as well as several pictures and a lot of entertaining hidden extras.”

The second disc will contain two full live sets – one captured on the recent Strhess Tour with Bleeding Through and the other on the band’s own Praise The War Machine tour – as well as a dozen songs shot over the years at various points in the band’s history. It is true that nothing of this scope has been attempted in this scene thus far. And who better to accomplish it than a band whose influence cannot be overstated?

It’s great to see and hear the recognition this innovative and creative band has earned through excellence. Zao will finish its Fall tour with Unearth and then return to Greensburg to prepare for a new album for Ferret, due out next year.

The Imperial have a new lineup, some new songs, and are looking for a new release in the Spring on Pluto Records.

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16 HARD NEWS

HARDNEWS Page sixteen News bullets

Pit Moves: #121,“The Two-Step” YOUR GUIDE TO THE SWEETEST PIT MOVES Description: Arms swing alternately across chest while hop-skipping on one toe, as the alternate leg swings back; and then one more hop-skip as the alternate leg swings forward with knees kicking high.

Alternate legs and repeat many times as band plays through up and down beats..

(on a scale of 1-10)

Degree of difficulty: 1 Likelihood of injury: 1 Cardiovascular intensity: 5 [Expert illustration by Ivan Minsloff]

Same Question Different Artists DIFFERENCES IN AUDIENCE? “The audience tends to be more uninhibited.

At clubs, kids come to see a show and put all they have into it. At churches or ‘youth group’ shows, the kids sometimes aren’t sure how to respond; because either they’ve been told not to act or do certain things, or they came simply because their youth pastor asked them to. Also, ironically, I think club audiences can end up taking away more from the show simply because they aren’t concerned with any protocol. They’re just there to take in the show.”

–David Paul Pelsue (Kids In The Way) “Most people in clubs have never heard of us, so it is just like playing in front of people for the first time all over again. At Christian shows people know our songs and are singing along and really getting into it. In clubs, people are deciding whether they like us or not. With that said, we have always had a good response from the clubs that we have played, it’s just different.”

–Kevin Young (Disciple)

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“A majority of our shows aren’t youth group shows, so the crowd response is usually a little more aggressive.”

–Steve Robinson (Mortal Treason) “The audiences are completely different!

Of course, everyone likes to rock. At most all of the mainstream shows we have done, a large percentage of the crowd is drunk. In general, you are not dealing with as many innocent and naive people. At the ‘Christian’ shows that we do, most of the audience knows what is appropriate to wear, or say.

Also, fans are not going to hit on a married band member! Well, that is not the case for mainstream shows. Not only does it happen, it always happens! Also, at mainstream shows if the crowd does not like you they don’t mind letting you know.”

–John Cooper (Skillet) “Clubs can definitely be a more harsh and less accepting environment, but if you walk into it with an attitude of respect there are

Speakers For The Dead, which features former Gryp members Curtis Shamlin (vocals) and Jason Garcia (guitars), have just inked a deal with Magna Carta Records. After Gryp’s deal folded with the sinking W Records label, each member of the band began work on separate projects. Shamlin and Garcia then hooked up with fellow Fresno musicians Gary Shipman (drums) and Rob Slocum (bass). They’re recording their new album in Fresno with Peter Wolf, which should release in March.

As I Lay Dying are joining Unearth as support for a Midwest and East Coast tour with Slipknot. As I Lay Dying lead vocalist Tim Lambesis states, “We couldn’t be more excited to be a part of this tour. Slipknot is a band that we have wanted to tour with for a long time now. Their impact on metal music in the past decade is unmatched. We had a great time playing with them briefly in Europe, and their live show was awesome. Having us and Unearth on the tour promises to make for an all around great show. Did I mention that I was excited?”

Pillar wrapped up a shoot for their video, “Frontline.” Bassist Kalel reminisces about the event: “One of the funniest moments was playing with the liquid nitrogen. After filming we dipped racket balls, apples, bananas, and a Mr. Potato Head® in the liquid nitrogen and threw them on the floor and watched them shatter like glass. You’ll see that someday in the ‘Making of the Video.’

The final sequence included a massive bonfire, lots of fans pretending to be dead, pyrotechnics, and us rocking out on a cliff.” The band then holed up in Knoxville, TN to begin work on their next album. They’re hoping to finish it by year’s end for a Spring release.

Seventh Star filmed a video for their song, “Resistance, Resistance,” in Brooklyn recently with director Andy Reale. Guitarist Drew Russ described it, saying: “We are having tons of fun shooting the video – we were on rooftops, in the streets and Andy had some great ideas that we just went for on the fly. Our friends from Until The End

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HARD NEWS 17

were even able to be apart of it! The video will definitely be very true to the lyrics of the song, which is about people trying to hold you back and overcoming those obstacles.” Seventh Star is on the road this Fall with The Bold, The Warriors, Blacklisted, Embrace Today, Dead To Fall, xLooking Forwardx and Until The End.

Falling Up

BY TIM HUDSON “Uh, 6, BEC, good, Elvis Baskette, Incubus, Chevelle, and Stone Temple Pilots,” says Falling Up singer Jessy Ribordy as he lounges outside the Virginia Beach studio his band has been holed up in for the last several weeks.

“Oh, and as it turns out it was the title of a book but we didn’t know that at the time,” he adds. The answers are, of course to the requisite frequently asked questions concerning Falling Up, respectively, how many guys are in the band, what label are you on, how are they treating you, who’s producing your new record, who has said producer worked with in the past, and where did your name come from?

Speaking with Ribordy, behind Baskette’s home studio, which is just a stone’s throw from the Atlantic ocean, you would never know that a couple of short years ago the band was just another fledgling rock band comprised of high school friends. In a classic success story, the band came up from relative obscurity by way of labelmates Kutless, who personally delivered the Falling Up demo to their label, which eventually took a liking and offered them a contract. A move that would pay off in spades, as the Falling Up’s debut LP Crashings spawned several hit singles, including the number one Christian rock single of 2004, “Broken Heart.”

“The last couple of years of touring and the numberone single thing, it was all pretty sweet,” he says. “We were really surprised and humbled by it all.” While he is happy to talk of the band’s successes, eventually

Ribordy’s musing turns back to the music currently being created. “Elvis is really challenging us with a lot of new things, we always try to do really crazy riffs and stuff and he’s been really good at simplifying things…I think the sound of this record is going to end up a little closer to pop with a slightly darker feel.”

He says that a major difference this time around is that the album’s lyrics will follow a story line. “Where the first record was about hope and this one is about when that hope meets the real world.” While the idea of a concept album is almost as old as the genre of rock and roll itself in recent years, the undertaking has largely gone unchallenged, Coheed and Cambria records not withstanding.

“It’s going to be fictional story that has intense symbolism,” he says of the as yet unnamed project, “everything involved, the music, the artwork, our website, it’s all going to connect symbolically and literally as the hope in this world through Jesus Christ.”

“When I began writing the lyrics, I kind of promised myself that I wanted to achieve something really important to me… real things around us and the reality that we live through, because there are battles that we go through when ultimate truth meets the ultimate lie.”

When asked about the specifics of the album’s storyline, Ribordy remains cryptic. “We kind of want people to figure it out for themselves, suffice it to say that this time we wanted to make something more than a cd.”

7-10 Split has lived up to its name and disbanded. “It’s funny,” laments Jon Ladd, “cause it (splitting up) felt out of place and out of time, but the right thing to do. Aaron (Strickland) and I felt like it was time to quit. So we informed the other members at practice that day.

I’ve been pouring my life into this band ever since I got out of high school, and then I just randomly pulled the plug. I was feeling a tug at my heart telling me to stop the band. It was a very painful thing, but I know other doors will open.

Musically, I personally never want to be in a professional band again. I’m playing around in Marietta, GA with some friends, but nothing serious. I want to have fun with music again and not have to worry making the ‘right numbers’ or writing the ‘right songs.’ The rest of the guys are looking into other bands to join. New School Records is planning on putting out a 7-10 Split ‘best of’ album with some unreleased tracks and 3 tracks from each release (2 Screaming Giant releases, and 2 New School), plus possibly some demo stuff.”

A new Inked In Blood album, Lay Waste The Poets, hits on November 8. The folks at Facedown Records are stoked about this band. The band started its set at this Summer’s Facedown Fest with some “inspiring slam-poetry and ending with a sing-along that resulted in the biggest reaction of the entire weekend. Inked In Blood rise above the masses and deliver the passion and urgency we have all been waiting for.”

Indianola Records’ Across Five Aprils have replaced Glasseater on their tour with stints alongside Secret Lives of the Freemasons, Glory of This, and Scary Kids Scaring Kids.

PAX 217 played its last show on 10/1.

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9/23/2005 5:39:58 PM

18 HARD NEWS

HARDNEWS Page eighteen News bullets After going on what was thought to be a permanent hiatus in 2004, Oklahoma’s Enlow have reformed and begun work on a new album – their first since 2003’s The Desperate Letters.

The band will be entering the studio with producer and former Descendents member Stephen Egerton (MxPx, Good Riddance, Less Than Jake) at the helm in late September to begin recording for the album, entitled The Recovery, and likely due out later in the year on Blood & Ink Records.

Agents Of Future have been busy writing and performing new material.

Expect more “out of the box” alt-worship.

Fasedown What has Fasedown been up to in the last 5 or 6 years? Why the “layoff” of inactivity? Why the resurgence?

“Well,” answers drummer Jim Chaffin, “a lot has happened since our first release on Rescue Records. The album didn’t have the push we would have liked and even still we had a good run for a year or two doing some shows. Then our bass player (John Hansen) had to quit; it took awhile to adjust to our new bass player (Dana Veit). In the meantime, Rescue Records shut its doors. We started writing new material with our new bass player. But by the time we had the new material recorded, we lost our bass player again. We now have another new bass player (Matt HopsonWalker) and have added a second guitarist (Jesse Gibson). With the new members we’ve added we feel like we’ve got a new start and are anxious for people to hear our second CD and get working on the third.”

What is the new/current sound of Fasedown on this new album?

“It’s hard to say,” confesses Jim. “Our first record had a pretty good mix of heavy and slow, and technical and fast. Our second CD is along the same line, but more extreme – the slow got slower and the fast got faster. Devin’s vocal style, in my opinion, is a little angrier sounding; I like that.”

“From my perspective,” chimes in Mike Phillips, “as a guitar player, I always try to play the most complex, but tasty riffs I can come up with. The sound hasn’t changed much. Musically it is a bit more complicated. I’ve played lead guitar all my life and have never stopped, even when some people thought it wasn’t cool. Hence, you’re gonna hear a lot of leads!”

What songs stand out to you and why?

“As the drummer, I think ‘Equal the Task’ and ‘Chaos’ stick out to me the most, because they’re so fun to play; very aggressive.”

Phillips: “’False Array,’ for its heavy tastiness, plus I feel really good about the solo. It’s mainly in D minor with some obscure notes, like harmonic minor and whole tone. My personal favorite is ‘The Lie.’ Again, with this song, it has some fast syncopated harmonized scales within the rhythm. And now with two guitarists, we can play it live! The middle section has a really neat mellow part and a double lead in harmonic minor. Towards the end of the solo, I used some whole tone runs, kind of Michael Romeo sounding… The last scale is a really cool Jazz minor scale I learned in theory class.

Mixing some of these scales with metal is a really cool sound.”

Transition has just signed to Floodgate Records. This band formed in Pittsburgh, PA two years ago, while most of the band was still in high school. In 2004 they released a self-made CD Sunset Wakeup, and sold over 4,000 copies on their own. One year later, Transition independently recorded a brand new selftitled EP which has already moved over 3,000 copies in only 2 months. “We had been fans of Mourning September for quite a while, so we were aware of Floodgate,” explains guitarist Steve Biringer. “But once we got to meet Tim and Josh, and really got to see just how much of a family Floodgate Records is, and what the label is all about, we knew that we could call Floodgate home.”

Transition will enter the studio early in 2006, with a release date set for later in the Spring.

Drummer Marc Fogelsong and guitarist AJ Negron have left The Kirby. “There are no hard feelings between any of the members.” The Kirby has already found replacements (Scott Dunbar, from The Haunt, and drummer Eric Flores, from Matchlit Memory) and will be continuing to write new material and get the new guys trained on some of the old material. Marc and AJ went on to join another Austin, TX band, Everything You Hold Dear. Guitarist Adam Elias was also a founding member of The Kirby. Sean Gonzalez plays bass and sings.

[See more of this exclusive interview at HMmag.com]

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Phil Keaggy’s original group, Glass Harp, will be the recipients of three fulllength re-issues of their much soughtafter albums, Glass Harp (’70), Synergy (’71), and It Makes Me Glad (’72).

Recorded at Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland Studios, the newly re-mastered volumes (produced by Lewis Merenstein) contain bonus material of previously unreleased songs. [musicmill.com] November Twelve recording artist Pivitplex will be giving away a PSP to the fan that creates the best fan website. Fans must register at pivitplex.com. The band will make their decision on October 31st when they announce their new single from their sophomore project, to be released in February 2006.

Monday Morning

BY DAN MACINTOSH Monday Morning’s national debut CD, Fool’s Paradise, has been a long time coming. The band is now signed to the brand new Selectric Records, but this wasn’t its first label choice.

“We actually signed with Reunion Records back in 2003,” explains vocalist and primary lyricist Derek Stipe. “And the guy that signed us, named David Bach, was A&R for Reunion at the time. He wanted to get a rock band on Reunion, and they were going to try to take Reunion into the Christian rock market, which they hadn’t really done before.”

Everything was looking up for Monday Morning until the volatility of the music business got in its way.

“Right after he (Bach) signed us, we finished a record in L.A., and everything was set to go,” Stipe continues. “Then Reunion and Essential merged.

And in that merger, David Bach lost his job, and we just got kind of swept under the rug and caught up in some legal stuff trying to get our music back.

David (Bach) went to work for Selectric, and fought to get us free, because he still believed in the band and ended up signing us to Selectric.”

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Monday Morning is sometimes compared to Velvet Revolver, and though Stipe doesn’t mind this comparison, he doesn’t always hear too much VR influence in his own band’s sound.

“There are a couple of songs that have a little similar kind of groove, but that’s more our newer stuff,” Stipe responds. “If I was going to say a comparison, I would say we’re more along the lines of U2-meets-Our Lady Peace. They (Velvet Revolver) are probably a little bit harder band than we are.”

Monday Morning hopes to use its faith to sow spiritual seeds among its listeners.

“We just try to write real songs about what we deal with, and about our problems,” Stipe explains.

“And since we all have faith in Christ, it happens to be Christian rock. Ideally, I’d like to have more of an impact outside of the boundaries of the Christian rock industry. I’d love to play clubs for the mainstream crowd to buy our CDs, because I want people to be inspired. Not necessarily to come out with a straightforward, ‘This is what you need,’ kind of message. But if the music makes people think, and it makes them search, I think it could lead them to Christ. We should give God credit for what He can do if we’re just out there and doing our part.”

Escape From Earth was named the winner of the MTV/Coke “Make It Real” Contest. “MTV is flying us to NYC in 2 weeks to shoot a feature on the band that will air on MTV on October 6,” reports Chris Sernel.

This year’s Christmas Rock Night (in Ennepetal, Germany on Dec 2 and 3) promises to be another quality festival. Headliners include: Petra; Disciple; Kutless; Blindside; Paul Colman; Spoken; Roper; Krystal Meyers; Kids in the Way; House of Heroes; Life in Your Way; Seekers Planet; Titus; Wonderwall; AdrianThompson; Make up your mind; Crushead; Claas P Jambor; D-Projekt; Capewalk; Arson; Waiting for Steve; Ambergrain; and Today Forever. [christmasrocknight.de] Demon Hunter’s Ryan Clark informs us that they’re covering Prong’s “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck.” He describes, “It will certainly be our most technical and diverse album yet.”

In 2005’s first half, 180 million songs were legally downloaded; nearly tripling the 57 million downloads in 2004’s first half, according to the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI). IFPI credited the increase to a rise in broadband lines.

9/23/2005 5:41:09 PM

20 HARD NEWS

HARDNEWS Page twenty Causes Some causes are a fad. Some are a phase.

Some are life-long. Some are planned out.

Some are immediate – thrust on us by an event. One such event was Hurricane Katrina. Just like that, thousands upon thousands of people (right in our own “backyard”) were displaced, injured, and for some separation from family by death.

There is a great need to help. It could be long-term, it could be short.

While the “return” on giving and helping is usually the last thing you’ll think about, helping out with this disaster (especially if you physically go to the Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana area) will be something you’ll likely never forget.

Choosing this “cause” was a no-brainer for this issue.

Worship

BY HEATHER REYNOLDS At a music conference around 9 years ago I recall hearing a prominent Nashville producer say that Praise and Worship music would be the next “big” thing. I thought he was crazy, considering the cheesy songs that were out at the time. Even today I would sooner take a bullet to the head then hear some of those old “choruses” that seemed so archaic in musical style.

Fortunately for the church at large, the “prophet” was right. In the last decade a crop of “Contemporary Praise and Worship” leaders have pioneered some awesome new territory. Names like Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Matt Redman, Delirious, Hillsongs and a long list of others are now well known. It’s been an ever-evolving music genre that has, in my opinion, broken down the walls of musical mediocrity that had plagued the church for some time.

Where finally in one service you can find the old standard hymns intermingled with upbeat and rocking worship songs. It’s amazing how much this musical leap to contemporary music has bridged the gap between many generations and even races. Besides providing good music to sing along to, it has brought a whole new level of unity in the body.

I think David Crowder sums it up best: “It’s kind of funny, when God is the center of attention, a lot of things that typically seem important suddenly pale in comparison. Seems like that happens a lot in the middle of corporate worship. Musical style matters less if the heart’s affections are focused in response to the Creator. That’s why you walk into churches and find a kid with ink and piercings next to an 85 year old fragile elderly woman, both with their eyes closed, both giving themselves to their Maker, and I think that visual tells more about the unifying power of worship than words could ever argue. There is commonality in our Savior and there is commonality in our affections for Him.”

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AMERICAN RED CROSS redcross.org The American Red Cross was founded in 1881 by Clara Barton. Now it’s a worldwide movement that offers neutral humanitarian care to the victims of war and natural disasters.

MISSION STATEMENT:

In addition to domestic disaster relief, the American Red Cross offers compassionate services in five other areas: community services that help the needy; support and comfort for military members and their families; the collection, processing and distribution of lifesaving blood and blood products; educational programs that promote health and safety; and international relief and development programs.

ACTION POINTS:

You can make an online donation. You can donate goods that will be transported to the disaster relief area. You can volunteer at a local chapter. You can (always) donate blood. If you wish to volunteer in the area, check with the Red Cross or other relief organizations (like The Salvation Army) first, to find out where you can best be used.

CONFLICTS:

1 Corinthians 13:3 Matthew 22:37-39 Luke 10:30-37.

9/23/2005 5:41:50 PM

LIVE 21

LIVE REPORT Broken Records Reunion Concert Mariners Church, August 19

BY DAN MACINTOSH IRVINE, CA – It was impossible to ignore the underlying nostalgic element surrounding this Broken Records reunion concert. From the very get-go, a mixture of ‘80s Christian and secular songs played over the PA system before the live music even kicked in, and a few enthusiastic audience members actually dressed the part. But it would be criminal to call this show nostalgia merely for nostalgia’s sake, however, because too much of the music performed is still relevant today.

Everybody appeared to have a great time reliving a lot of old musical milestones, but nobody had more fun than the Altar Boys. Recreating youthful punk rock should have presented a difficult agenda for these aging musicians, but vocalist/guitarist Mike Stand has clearly not lost a single ounce of enthusiasm. Stand spent all of his energy – of which there was plenty -- on charging around the stage and contorting his face in time with each and every song lyric syllable. The band blasted off with “Unconditional Love,” and encored with a video-enhanced version of “Forever Mercy,” which included a little live vocal help from a few Crumbacher folks. In between, the group blew through favorites like “You Found Me,” “G.L.M. (Gut Level Music),” and “Life Begins At The Cross.” Ultimately, it is Stand’s undying passion, rather than his chosen musical style, which makes Altar Boys songs so timeless.

When he sang, “you are loved” tonight, he meant it as much this time as he did back in 1984.

The Choir had the unenviable task of following The Altar Boys with its much more cerebral sonic vibe. But the band, which had not played in these parts for over a decade, nevertheless still thrilled in its own quiet sort of way. This Nashville-based outfit was one of the few acts on the bill with a relatively new CD to promote (“O How The Mighty Have Fallen”), so it also performed two songs from that fresh release. The first new inclusion came early with “Mercy Will Prevail.” Later, vocalist Derri Daugherty pre-announced, “Rescue Me” by stating that the group wanted to close its set with a prayer. The track is one of the most beautiful songs The Choir has ever recorded, and thus a fitting conclusion to its performance.

Crumbacher was probably more popular than critically acclaimed back in the day, yet it did nothing to embarrass itself during this show.

Its set included early synth-pop creations, as well as latter pop hits, such as “Here Am I.” The band even threw in a techno-d up version of Leslie (now Sam) Phillips’ “The Turning.”

Undercover closed out the evening with a rousing set of old favorites, which included “God Rules” and “Is Anyone Thirsty?” This essential group took the stage after a heartwarming introduction from longtime SoCal rock radio voice, Kevin Allison. Hours earlier, 441 opened the night by getting this crowd on its feet with dance numbers like “Mourning Into Dancing.”

They say you don’t really appreciate something until it’s gone, and such is certainly the case with the Southern California’s declining alternative Christian music scene. But tonight’s event was a special chance to revisit this region’s glory days.

Photos from top: Undercover’s Sim Wilson, Mike Stand, and “the gang” (by Janae Johnson)

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9/24/2005 12:07:02 AM

H E AV EN ’ S M E TA L 23

Concert review

UP FROM THE ASHES – Anaheim, CA 08/27/05 In the wake of the previously-cancelled “Beyond The Mountain” super festival, SoCal organizers scheduled a “makeup” show that went off great. Even without the sheer numbers of reunited bands, it still felt like a high school reunion. Jim Chaffin (Crucified) handled drums for Once Dead, who also welcomed Glenn Rogers (original Deliverance guitarist and songwriter who wrote some of the Vengeance classics on Human Sacrifice) on guitar for most of their lively set. I hadn’t seen ‘em all, but I venture to guess that it was the best Once Dead show yet. The highlights were too numerous to mention

here (yet can be found in the Oct/Nov issue of Heaven’s Metal Fanzine), but the headliners Holy Soldier certainly lived up to their billing. After plowing through massive sound system problems, they started rocking like their careers depended on it. Their cover of “Gimme Shelter” was chilling, and members of Neon Cross and original guitarist Larry Farkas joined them for a second encore of “Rock and Roll.” Prior to their set was the filming of a brilliant new Steven Patrick video, “La Dreama Cantina,” sporting classic Alice Cooper sounds, lyrics, and visual wit. If only Squad’s Jeff Fortson could’ve been there! Roxx Productions plan a DVD of many of the night’s performances.

Metal tracks • The debut solo album from former Creed vocalist Scott Stapp, The Great Divide, releases November 22.

• Jeff Scheetz has spent a year working with Truefire on a 4 CD-ROM instructional course. The course features over 80 video segments with interactive software that allows you to play, pause, fast forward, rewind, and even zoom in on either the right or left hand.

• A new Bride DVD will be offered soon highlighting the 2005 Brazilian tour. In the meanwhile Troy and Dale Thompson have begun writing for their next project.

• Narnia played the mainstage at the recent (and infamous) Flevo Festival in Holland, where the band played a couple new songs from their forthcoming album, Enter The Gate, which is due out in February. At press time Narnia was about to play the Metalfest in Germany with Rob Rock. Christian Rivel’s other band, Divinefire, is now releasing its second studio album in Japan. The band will tour there in October. November 22nd should be the release date in the USA, which includes a cover

of the Queen classic, “The Show Must Go On.” Flagship is another recording band that Rivel is involved in, featuring a symphonic and progressive rock sound in the vein of Kansas, Styx. The band’s debut album, Maiden Voyage, is now being released. Kerry Livgren plays guitar on the band’s cover of his solo song, “Ground Zero.” Narnia’s guitarist, Carljohan Grimmark, will be recording a solo album (due out next summer) under the name Grimmark. Rob Rock and others will guest appear on it. Jani Stefanovic, drummer & guitarist of Divinefire, will also release an album (next spring) with his band, Essence Of Sorrow. Majestic Vanguard is now releasing its debut album, Beyond The Moon.

• From JoeyDaub.com: “Kurt and I got together recently and finished up our first new Believer tune! And there are two other tunes in process. We are both enjoying writing and we like the direction the material is going. It is difficult to get together a lot. However, we will continue to put time aside for this project.”

Photos, L-R: Neon Cross, Once Dead, Tykkus, Holy Soldier, video shoot

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9/23/2005 8:16:17 PM

WIN FREE STUFF

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12 winners will receive a barbell cross necklace

1 grand prize winner will receive this signed guitar, a t-shirt and an autographed copy of The Incurable Romantic.

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courtesy Bob Siemon Designs

Enter by sending an email or postcard (BEFORE 11/30/5): e: contest@hmmag.com p: hm cross contest, pob 141007, austin tx 78714

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9/27/2005 4:16:38 PM

Win an Ipod nano

HM Reader’s survey All you have to do is fill out the poll and mail it to us. We’ve teamed up with Flicker Records so your entry will be entered into the new iPod nano drawing.

Shopping information We use the collected information to better focus magazine content and advertising. It helps us give you, the reader, more of what you want in HM. None of your personal information will be given or sold to outside interests. Your privacy is protected, because we hate spam, too.

17. Other than HM, where do you find out about new music? (circle all that apply)

Spin AP CCM Magnet internet Revolver Relevant Other:__________

18. Which of the following do you read? (circle all that apply)

Bible study Biographies Christian living Devotions Fiction Sci-fi Sports Other

19. Where do you buy your CD’s?

Indie store Chain store Internet Christian store Other

20. How many songs did you download from the internet in the last month?

0 1-15 16-30 31-45 46+

HM Related 1. How much of HM do you read?

it’s black it’s beautiful

it’s very thin and small

and it could be yours for free!

2. How long have you been reading HM? (based on years)

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Daily Every other day Every week Rarely When I hear of a story

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For the majority of those songs, you...

Paid a fee Paid nothing

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10. Are you in a band?

T-shirts bought Guitar Drums Keyboards Bass Horns Other YES

Pants/jeans bought Items of body jewelry bought Skateboard/BMX accessories NO

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Indie Worship / Church Signed

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1 2-5 5-15 15+

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Hard news

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20 40 50 60 80 100%

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YES

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YES

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11. Are you in college?

If no, do you plan to attend?

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ALL 2/3 1/2 SOME

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4

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ALT-PROG Coheed & Cambria, Mars Volta AMBIENT ROCK Coldplay, Muse, Eisley, Viva Voce BLACK METAL Immortal Souls, Extol DEATH METAL Cannibal Corpse, Mortification EMO Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional Be sure to check out the new Kids In The Way album, Apparitions of Melody.

GARAGE ROCK White Stripes, The Hives GRASSROOTS Dave Matthews Band, Caedmon’s Call HAIR METAL Winger, Poison, Stryper, Nineteen88 HARDCORE Hatebreed, Figure Four, Comeback Kid HARD ROCK Guns’n’Roses, Led Zeppelin, Bride INDIE-ROCK Weezer, Denison Marrs INDUSTRIAL Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Skillet METALCORE Norma Jean, The Bled NU-METAL East West, Godsmack, Disturbed POP-PUNK MxPx, Green Day, Good Charlotte PROG-ROCK Neal Morse, Rush, Glass Hammer PUNK The Deal, Rancid RADIO MODERN ROCK Staind, Kutlass, Nickelback RAP-ROCK Limp Bizkit RETRO-ROCK Squad 5-0, the Huntingtons SCREAMO Thursday, AFI, Dead Poetic SHOE-GAZER Starflyer 59, My Bloody Valentine

The iPod nano courtesy Flicker Records

WORSHIP ROCK Delirious?, Rock & Roll Worship Circus

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9/23/2005 6:11:13 PM

F E AT U R E T T E

27

COLD

Florida-based hard rockers Cold returned with their fourth studio record, A Different Kind of Pain, on August 30 (Lava Records). After a two year hiatus since their Gold-selling previous album, Year of the Spider, this album demonstrates the band’s tremendous growth as songwriters. “Making this record wasn’t just about dealing with the darkness, it was a healing process,” remarked singer Scooter Ward. “Everyone who was involved and everybody who was around us at the time was changed by this album.”

DV: Let’s talk about God. Specifically, what do you think about Jesus Christ?

SW: Well, I really don’t know what to think.

What happened to me on this record is something that never happened to me before. A lot of the surroundings were really dark and there was a lot of things happening in our band. We always had faith in God, but we would always question things before. I was a bad alcoholic and drug addict. A few years ago, my sister had been diagnosed with cancer, and was terminally ill to where they were giving her two months to live and all kinds of stuff was going on with that. I went to rehab and changed my life and in

that moment I think I started finding more faith in God and I just needed something to grab on to, because I had nothing in my life at that point.

And the thing that really turned it around was one day my mom was in a grocery, and me and my sister were sitting back at the house, waiting for her to come home and she walks home and she said that this little old man kept following her around through each aisle and he put his hand on her shoulder and he said, ‘Soon everyone in your family will be okay,’ and he said, ‘Everything is going to be better.’

Wow. And this was a week after the doctors told us that my sister was going to die in two months and, for some reason, when she walked in she was pale, and when she told me and Jennifer that story, it just, like, gave us hope; and we just go, ‘That was an angel,’ you know? I didn’t know how to react to that and I just go, ‘Oh my god,’ and so, from that moment on, and it’s two weeks later the new pills that Jenn was taking had counteracted the cancer and now

she is in remission and she is better. Along with that, my life had turned around throughout the process of making the record and I sat down at the piano and every song I wrote, I said, ‘All right. I’m going to write it with hope in it and faith in it… No matter how dark my life is right now, when I am done with this song, I am going to feel better about myself and make myself a better person,’ and I said, ‘When I am done with this record my faith is going to be stronger than it ever has been before and, you know, I am going to be better than I ever have been before.’ We bought my parent’s old house and we recorded the record in her room just for poetic reasons, but at the same time when we got in the room we started writing the music, we thought there were angels or ghosts with us the whole time. We felt the vibe when we walked in the room. We felt like wherever we went, I would have little things happen to (me), where I was, ‘Oh, and there is the angel again.’ I thought I was just surrounded by them the whole time during the record, and it felt so good and so great. You know, I woke up and I was happy. I thought I was, you know, guarded by everything – that nothing could happen as long as my faith was strong. It just really changed my life; and when I looked at everything like that, I don’t know… I think it helped my music. It helped my life. It helped everyone get better. It was a miracle to me to wake up one morning and have nothing… and everything taken away. What do you do? You just sit there and wallow in it, or do you want to find faith in something and help it pull you through? And I chose to find faith in God and I think He pulled me through. I know He pulled me through.

That’s awesome.

When you talk about Jesus, I’ve never really been religious. It’s like my parents. We grew up Southern Baptist and we went to church every now and then. We didn’t really go. We really didn’t follow anything, but I think the tides that came in and changed our life recently gave us faith and now we go all the time and try to serve the Lord, so I don’t know. This is new to me, but still it feels good and I love it.

[See the entirety of this interview at HMmag.com]

coldonline.com

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28 F E AT U R E T T E

BRADLEY HATHAWAY Why do you think your everyday/realness attitude or whatever, stories, resonate with people? Why? Why? Why? I’m not really sure. I tend to speak about universal things such as joy and pain and manhood and simple things. Much poetry is crazy hard to understand and I get lost in all the metaphors and fancy language and just put it down because it’s so boring. I use simple language and talk about simple things and people of all ethnic and age groups and religious backgrounds dig it. It’s not just for this subculture as some think, but it’s been successful everywhere. I honestly don’t know why it’s resonating so well, though.

Give us a little background on yourself. How did you get involved in Christian hard music, The Record Collection, etc.?

Right after graduating high school I became the merch guy for Living Sacrifice. It was during that year that I made lots of friends and contacts and toured with other bands, like Luti-Kriss, Spoken, and others. I decided to start a label that had a strong fancy toward vinyl, so I called it The Record Collection and put out the vinyl versions of Living Sacrifice The Hammering Process and that red Figure Four record with helicopters. Lots of other goodies were planned, but I got in a car wreck, so all of my money went into that and I never picked it up again. Plus, another label started up with the same name and I’d sue them, but I don’t think that to be very Christian.

How did you get started doing “slam poetry?”

I saw a poet named Clayton Scott perform and thought it owned; but I wasn’t a writer, so thought nothing else of it. One day, though, I had a poem in my head so I wrote it down.

The rest is history, yo. I performed two weeks later and would do it here and there around town. One of my first few out-of-town shows was at Cornerstone North Carolina on The Chariot summer 2004 tour.

How has the last two years of your poetry thing “taking off” felt to you?

Dude, it’s not even been a year and a half yet!

It’s felt pretty rad, but I’m not putting too much stock into it. Like, right now everyone is hip to me and knows my name and all that jazz, but it’s fleeting unless the Lord is going to make it more lasting. It’s interesting how quickly something becomes your life. Like a year and a half ago I was going to school and running a venue and that’s that. Now I’m a quasi famous poet making a living and traveling out and about. It can quickly become my identity, but I try to keep it real by taking time off and coming home to be around familiar people that have known me for years. But I feel super blessed and stoked and would have no other life for myself right now.

Why didn’t the relevant book include “the boobie poem?”What gave you the courage or inspiration to tackle sexuality and purity for the mic?

We didn’t include “The Boobie Poem,” because Christian bookstores wouldn’t carry it. I really didn’t care if Christian bookstores would carry it or not; but, of course, Relevant did. I didn’t feel like I was making a big artistic or moral compromise or anything by taking it off for this release, because sometimes you just do what you gotta do to get your foot in the door.

However, that was the only thing about the record I was willing to change. Other poems would have made sense to take off to cater (to) the dinosaur Christian market, but I would have none of that. “The Boobie Poem” will be available on the vinyl version of the CD and online as well, so no worries. As for courage to tackle sexuality and purity, it wasn’t so much a matter of courage as it was common sense. Why not talk about it, ya know? I didn’t realize the impact it would have here in America until after people started hearing it.

Before that I didn’t think it all that special of a poem, to be honest. I think it’s sad that it is so special for a dude to get up and talk about sex in a Christian context. Sex is everywhere, man, and Christians need to let it be known – for themselves first – that sex is a very good thing, but only under the commitment of marriage. And it’s for marriage and not just “in love” for a reason, and I encourage everyone to find out why this is true.

There’s going to be a vinyl version of the CD? Dude, that’s how I roll.

[Photo: David Hostetter. See more of this exclusive interview at HMmag.com]

thebradley.net

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9/24/2005 12:07:51 AM

30 F E AT U R E T T E

MAN ALIVE Brawn officially joined the band late summer of this year.

Punk is big in Israel, according to Jon. “The metal and punk scenes blend really well here.” But, how did the men of Man Alive get started in punk? “Back in ‘96, I went to visit my grandmother in the States and I went to Lollapalooza,” Jon remembers. Upon his return home, he told his brother and buddies all about artists like The Ramones.

“We all kind of listened to different things growing up,” explains Jon. While he listened to Smashing Pumpkins, David listened to Megadeth and Jamie to Pearl Jam. As a band, perhaps its biggest influence is veteran punk band Face to Face.

Today, Man Alive’s music is infused with enough pop to make it catchy and enough punk to make it rock. Jon agrees, as he describes the band as “a rock band very influenced by punk and pop.” He continues, “We’re a rock band on record and a punk band live. We want to create sing-along songs that you can pump your fist to.” On Open Surgery, producer Ed Rose (The Get Up Kids, The Casket Lottery, Brandtson, Motion City Soundtrack, etc.) helped them do just that.

BY AMY E. HALL The interview began at 2 a.m. But it was no postshow afterglow rap session. Jon Shkedi stayed up late to talk with me about his band’s new album. While it was 2 a.m. his time, it was 6 p.m. in Nashville, Tenn. That’s because Jon lives in Jerusalem, Israel.

Jon plays bass for Man Alive, a punk-driven rock band that was recently signed by The Militia Group. The band’s first release in North America, Open Surgery, was released on Sept. 20.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from a punk band in Israel. In all honesty, it seemed like a strange combination to me. Prior to our phone interview, I had modest concerns like: ‘Will I be able to understand Jon? Will he have an accent? How good is his English? Will my meager cell phone have a good enough signal to connect with Jon in Jerusalem?’

My naivete continued with: ‘Will the music

be any good? Will it sound ‘foreign?’ What does punk sound like in Israel?’ My questions were answered the moment Jon began speaking, and the moment I pushed “play” on my stereo. In short, Jon sounds like the (American) guy next door and the disc makes me wonder: “Where have these guys been?”

The answer, of course, is Israel. Thankfully, a North American label caught wind of the rock quartet and feels the same way.

The Militia Group joined record labels in Japan, Europe and Israel as they introduce Man Alive to the world. Bullion carries the band’s music in Japan. Man Alive is on the roster at Europe’s Turned Out Records and Israel’s biggest indie label, Earsay, touts the record, as well.

Man Alive was founded in 1999 by vocalist/guitarist Jamie Hilsden. Hilsden’s longtime friends Jon and brother David Shkedi (guitar) teamed up together after a few lineup changes over the years. New drummer Yair

Jamie, Jon and David are part of a very small community of Messianic Jews – Jews who believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. “Our faith is a huge part of our music because it’s a huge part of our lives,” Jon notes. However: “The band is not by any stretch of the imagination a ministry band.”

Man Alive members meld the high-energy fun of punk rock anthems and melodic sensibilities with semi-political lyrics. The title track, for example, is a metaphorical commentary on the land of Israel. Jon deems the lyrical content as “a call to dialog.”

In a time when Israel seems to be of more international interest than ever, the members of Man Alive have much to say. Acknowledging that he could talk for days on end about the topic, he simply notes, “(There’s) political reality, economic realities and a spiritual factor...(We want) to make people (in the international community) more aware of (our point of view).” man-alive.com

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32 F E AT U R E T T E

PARAMORE and ultimately lay the foundation for what has made Paramore so accessible and original.

In “Pressure” Williams sings, “Tonight I’ll lay awake feeling empty.” According to Williams the song “was about dreading tomorrow; having to get up and do the same thing over again…feeling empty and gone, because I was pushing out everything I could muster up.”

With its harmonious staccato guitar riffs and pulsating drum rhythms alongside William’s confident vocal range, “Pressure” best personifies all there is to enjoy in Paramore’s music, but more importantly, it embodies their message regarding honesty and truth.

In William’s words, “Art is about being vulnerable, and just letting that emotion pour out of you.” It is this outpour that brought out the vigorous and climatic conclusion to the album during “My Heart.”

“We were in practice at our rehearsal space with the lights off, setting this whole intimate mood and Josh (guitar) started screaming at the end and everyone loved it. It felt very real to us, because the song just had a lot of emotion and he felt that,” Williams recalled.

BY AUSTIN POWELL Most people at one time or another aspire to become a rock ‘n’ roll superstar, to be the voice of their generation, to write the words and the music that is celebrated throughout the world.

During the time period when these dreams usually occur – that is to say while most people are scribbling their favorite band names into their school spirals and covering their bedroom walls with signs of their youthful rebellion – the under-aged members of Paramore were signing a contract with a major label, recording a debut album, and becoming veterans of the Vans Warped Tour.

Led by an impressive 16-year old vocalist named Hayley Williams, Paramore is a five-piece power rock group that hails from Franklin, Tennessee. As expected with such a young band, their bio is short and sweet.

Williams was befriended by two brothers, Josh and Zac Farro (lead guitar and drums

respectively) upon moving to their hometown at the age of 13. Her next-door neighbor, Jason Bynum, turned out to be a solid rhythm guitar player and it wasn’t long before they were all playing local gigs together and rocking their school talent show.

John Janick, the founder of Fueled By Ramen, an independent record label that currently holds artists as Fall Out Boy and The Academy Is…, signed the band after only seeing them perform live once.

The band was shipped to Florida in March of this year where they honed their debut album, All We Know is Falling, under the direction of veteran producers James Wisner (Dashboard Confessional) and Mike Green (Yellowcard).

These sentiments are what make All We Know Is Falling genuinely appealing, universal and sincere. Likewise, on the phone, Ms. Williams spoke with a sweet southern accent.

She took pride in mentioning their hometown and spoke admirably about her own bandmates and the rest of the Fueled By Ramen family. She sounded remarkably like an ordinary teenager whose favorite bands were Underoath and Acceptance, whose influences didn’t reach much further back than Jimmy Eat World, and who was still indecisive about her own future and schooling.

While Paramore may be living the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle their peers presumably still dream of, they haven’t let it change who they are.

Their music remains an inspiring, and uplifting reminder of the splendor of youth.

The album was written in a span of only three weeks and recorded in a mere two and a half.

Yet, according to Williams, it was their strenuous schedule during this time that helped create the emotionally charged track “Pressure,” paramore.net

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9/24/2005 12:08:27 AM

34 F E AT U R E T T E

STAPLE said. “We’re all about being real and genuine.

It’s been received with respect. Overall, other bands and fans have been cool with it.”

Keim was raised Mennonite, and he says his upbringing still influences his lyrics. He met Miller and Beachy while attending Rosedale Bible College in Ohio, a school that he credits for reaffirming his faith. “You didn’t hear the same cliché arguments,” he said. “We listened to debates, and got to hear both sides of an argument and judge for ourselves.”

Of Truth and Reconciliation is chock full of indictments, aimed at those who preach without following through (“Forging Generals”) and those who believe the media without questioning (“The Day the Blind Revolted”).

But like any good truth-seeker, Keim saves the most pointed critique for himself.

The centerpiece of the album is a song called “Honor and Integrity,” which Keim wrote while at a spiritual low point. Its lyrics detail personal shame and hypocrisy: “I’ve tried to show the world how great a man can be, but this great man I’ve charaded is the farthest thing from me…”

BY ANDRE SALLES Darin Keim is all about the truth.

He demands it of himself, and he searches for it wherever he goes. In conversation, Keim is pleasant and laid-back, but beneath the surface, he’s a man with a passion for spiritual exploration and honesty. As the frontman and lyricist for Ohio foursome Staple, Keim sings about integrity and trust, and he knows those words wouldn’t mean anything if he didn’t live them.

The title of Staple’s second album for Flicker Records is like a gauntlet: Of Truth and Reconciliation. The band (Keim, guitarist Brian Miller, drummer Grant Beachy and bassist Israel) chose the title first, and used it as a benchmark for the themes. They worked with producer Sylvia Massey Shivy (who did Tool’s Opiate EP), and in a scant two weeks cranked out a heavy yet diverse collection that hits as hard sonically as it does lyrically.

“The album raises a lot of issues,” says Keim, “and it’s about confronting those issues and seeking the truth.” Throughout Truth and Reconciliation, Keim intertwines the personal, spiritual and political. He filters it all through his deep Christian faith, which he says has provided him the most answers in his lifelong quest. “I try to be as honest as possible,” he said. “Everything comes from my perspective of being a Christian. I’m just a genuine seeker of truth, and Christianity has matched that more than anything else.”

Though Staple’s explosive riffing gives Keim plenty of opportunity to hide his beliefs in vague language or unintelligible screams, he never does. His lyrics are direct, forthright and boldly Christian, and some of the most faith-filled passages on the album are spoken, so they can’t be missed. The band’s upfront attitude has garnered them some respect, says Keim, even when they play bar shows.

“We’ve always said we’re going to be the same band, no matter where we play,” he

“As a musician, I am striving to do this for God,” he said. “And it felt terrible to say stuff and know I’m not living it. I want to be a person of integrity all the time. I know that a lot of people have seen hypocrisy in Christian musicians, when they talk one way and do something else. I wanted to be up front about the fact that I screw up all the time.”

Staple’s music is just as inquisitive as Keim’s lyrics, pulling from many influences and darting from one style to the next while not losing their heavy hardcore edge. “We have a broad variety of influences, from Coldplay to Living Sacrifice to Radiohead – it’s all on there,” Keim said. “We want to take all of that and do something that represents all of it.”

Staple is a hard-working road band – they played 170 shows in 2004 alone – and Keim hopes that people who come to a show take more than just a musical good time home with them. “I hope people see that there’s passion, that we play for a purpose,” he said. “There’s a reason and a truth that we have found.”

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9/27/2005 11:06:28 AM

NODES OF RANVIER TOUR DIARY

36 F E AT U R E

8/15/05 – St. Albans, WV – The Brickhouse Lack of sleep consumed my whole day. I had to make sure to let Ryan and Chris know that I didn’t get any sleep. Since they were up all night rigging up an idea to make it seem like 50 Cent would be with us at Hellfest. hee hee.

out. I smell many lawsuits in the future. I was bummed that I don’t get to see The Misfits or hang with my Coalesce boys. I have no idea what is going to happen with this tour now and what will happen the next few days, since this whole tour was booked around the fest. But I suppose we will find out.

The downtown was pretty intense. Only about 4 blocks long. One whole block is completely closed at 1pm in the afternoon. Really strange. There are 3 costume shops, a year-round haunted museum, a skate shop, a comic book store (with an amazing DVD collection, I wish I would have had money), and various odd shops. It was a great downtown.

2am: Luckily, the show was running late and we still made it there in time to catch a couple of the locals... Trying to keep a posi attitude – when you just find out that the main reason you are out is gone – is tough. Being on the road is hard as it is, so the Hellfest cancellation makes it that much more difficult. But the kids were so awesome when we played! Definitely the best crowd so far. They jammed to the new material and didn’t care that they didn’t know the words. After we were done playing, all the kids came and hung out and were just all around cool. We might be playing this place again on Sunday with Dead To Fall and some other bands that were supposed to play Hellfest as a last minute show called “What The Hellfest.” The singer for Dead To Fall is a stud. I hope we get to hang with him a bit. After getting back to Bill’s to sleep, we found out Symphony In Peril is just gonna drive home and return their van. They have to pay by the day and they wanted to cut their losses. I don’t blame them. We are still not sure what we will be doing. Facedown is setting up a lot for us to do, though, and there are lots of last minute shows being put together.

Tomorrow we are going to be doing a radio interview at WSOU. That should be fun. I played live on the air there with my old band Caligari and had a great time, so hopefully it will be a good day.

Chris has an advance copy of the new Opeth. I am not much of an Opeth fan, but I really dig this disc. I will def pick it up when it comes out.

The other half of the venue was closed off. There was a complete other side that looked more like a storefront, but we couldn’t access it. Nick noticed this fluttering image in the window. Then we got up close and realized it was a bat. This bat flew for hours in this window. Back and forth, back and forth. It was still caught in there when we left and it was still going nuts. I tried to take a ton of photos of it, but out of 30 photos, only one turned out. The bat was just too fast.

I sweated out half my body fluids at the show tonight. It felt good, though.

There were some awesome things for me to jump off while we are playing. The more things I have to jump off, the better.

Symphony In Peril played tonight. First time I saw them with the new singer. The venue sound is poor, so it was hard for me to make a judgment. Andy from Symphony seemed really bummed out tonight.

The kids from the opening band are letting us crash in their house. We all went to Shoney’s and ate buffet after the show. I stuffed myself, because how many times do I get to eat buffet on tour??? The kids we stayed with are super nice and filled with lots of energy.

Chris and I tried to sleep on the hide-a-bed, but it was waaaayyyy too uncomfortable. So, we folded it back up and each took a couch.

8/17/05 – Hackettstown, NJ – Hackettstown Skatepark – by Terry 11am: We are on tour right now with our friends from Symphony In Peril on our way out to Hellfest! We have been friends with these guys for years, so it has been great to be on the road with them again. It has been fun so far, but I think we are all getting antsy to get over to the fest and see all the rest of the Facedown Family and all of our other friends we have made touring through the years. We have a great time slot on the fest, so hopefully we have a great show!! We stayed at Bill from Alove For Enemies’ house last night and were up pretty late watching FUSE, making fun of people and cracking up at Ryan’s impersonations.

7pm: We were told that Bill’s house was 45 minutes from the venue tonight in New Jersey, so we left about an hour before load in. It was actually a 3½ hour drive and it lasted an eternity. We got the wonderful news on the drive – that Hellfest was cancelled. Great!!! Morale went down a few notches after that bomb was dropped. I knew in the back of my mind that (it) would happen. After all the crap that went down last year, I figured someone would pull out. Sure enough, the venue backed

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6/18/05 - WSOU - New Jersey We got to go to the WSOU College radio station today. That place was exactly how I remembered it from back in the day when I played on the air with Caligari (only with a little more hardcore mixed in). They accidentally double booked us and Bedlights For Blue Eyes to be on the air on the same time. So we chose to just pre-record ours to save WSOU some grief. It was fun! Renegade Chris was our “host” and he was super cool.

He put up with us being super nerdy like we always are. Chris did a short interview with us and played 3 new tracks from The Years To Come. We also got to record a bunch of station ID’s. Ryan took care of that. He tried to do some James Hetfield (from Metallica) impersonations, but it just sounded plain stupid, so we axed the “yeah yeaahhhsss,” and just went with straight-forward ID’s. Everyone at the station was super cool and they even bought us pizza. WSOU is one of the top College stations in the US. They are the only hard rock station in the New York area. I had a tough time comprehending that. New York City, home to millions, does not have a commercial hard rock station. I was floored when Chris told me that.

After the radio station adventure we went to Times Square. We walked around aimlessly for a few hours. Ryan, Nick, and I waited at Coldstone for 45 minutes to get some ice cream. It was worth it, though. Some hardcore looking kids came up and talked to us. They had flown from California to New York for Hellfest. Everyone has it tough with Hellfest getting cancelled. It is easy for all the bands to whine (Nodes included) about lost shows, merch sales, driving time, etc, but the fans lost out, also. I keep hearing about kids from Europe and Australia who flew all the way here for it. The kids at Coldstone were super cool and they seemed very excited that they were talking to us. We even got a very sweet email from them a couple days later. That is one thing I love about being in a band.

The kids you meet along the way are so amazing. I can’t even describe it.

We then drove back to Bill’s and went to bed..

9/23/2005 6:38:46 PM

NODES OF R ANVIER

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37

9/23/2005 6:39:11 PM

38 FEATURE

Demon Hunter THE MYSTERY OF TRIPTYCH

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DEMON HUNTER 39 IT’S HARD TO PIN DOWN RYAN CLARK. Not just in a physical sense; he’s kind of a big guy. I pretty much know for a fact I couldn’t take him even if I wanted to – which I don’t. He’s a wonderful guy.

And not just in a communicatory sense, either.

You try calling him. Good luck. He’s a busy guy with a band, a new album, an upcoming tour, a company, a wife, a kid… It’s almost like he exists on a separate plane, where time only kind of exists. Like it doesn’t move forward in a horizontal, timeline-type way, but like it has scientifically attached itself to how much fun he’s having, so the good times last forever.

And not just in a professional sense, either. You try telling him he’s in Demon Hunter. He won’t have it. It’s not his full-time job, he says. It’s his other job – as designer and founder of graphic design company Asterik Studio he started with his brother in 2000 – that’s his full-time job. He says almost scientifically: “For my brother and me, Asterik is certainly a full-time deal. And because of that, we are only able to commit a portion of our time to the band.” Even so, everyone else seems to realize he’s in Demon Hunter.

They’ve got crazy fans. Fans that decorate their cars into Demon Hunter-mobiles. Fans that carve pumpkins into Demon Hunter logo-laced jack-olanterns. Fans that don’t just make jack-o-lanterns with DH logos, but that also tattoo them on their body.

And a note about Clark’s other venture, Asterik Studio: They do almost as well in the art world – if not better than – Demon Hunter does in the music world. And Clark – the genius behind the jet-setting design studio and the Jekyll and Hyde scream and melody of Demon Hunter – won’t tell you which of the two he prefers. It’s like asking him if he had to lose an ear, which he would choose. His right or his left? You don’t make that decision until it’s forced upon you. “Sometimes it’s hard to think about what we would do if we had to choose one or the other,” Clark says. And he’s not about to make that call on music or design at this moment.

So for now, he’s happy picking up his Starbucks coffee every morning before work, plopping himself in that chair, and hearing the whirr of his computer kick into gear. He’s happy to return to his Seattle home to a wife, where he also lives five minutes away from his older brother and sister-in-law. And pretty soon, he’ll be happy touring the Unites States in support of a new record.

So don’t ask him to choose just yet. He’s enjoying it all.

Demon Hunter’s third album, The Triptych, was released in October and, if it were to be described by him, is faster. “(It’s) more traditionally metal sounding,” he says. “I think it has more ‘bite’ to it. We focused a little less on the overall

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beefiness and more on the attack of it all.” The interesting title brings to mind zombies and Tales from the Crypt, but Demon Hunter uses the title to not only delineate the next chapter in the DH saga, but also in admiration of the bands that came before them. “We knew we wanted to do something that was based on the idea of three,” Clark says, “because we loved the classic idea of just calling a record ‘three,’ like Led Zeppelin or Danzig. We came up with The Triptych because it essentially means a series of three and in particular, three pieces of art. Not that this is necessarily a three-part album, but it’s kind of the third chapter in the Demon Hunter saga.”

Oh wait, hold on. If your mom has picked up this issue and happens to see the words “DEMON HUNTER” emblazoned on the page and has handed it over to you with that look mothers always give, wondering what on earth you’ve been reading – you’re not alone.

But Demon Hunter didn’t accomplish their reputation in the metal world overnight. Clark recalls the days of Demon Hunter’s first release, their self-titled record put out in late 2002, when the band was still figuring out what to do with itself.

Heck, the band only exists because the name sounded so cool. “At first we were just throwing around name ideas for fun,” he says. “When we came up with Demon Hunter, we were like, ‘Wow, that’s kind of awesome.’ So we decided to actually bring a band into manifestation because we liked that name.”

The first time I saw the logo, I missed the bullet hole. It’s right there in the middle of the head; but in context of the menacing skull, you might get kind of thrown off and miss the third eye glaring at you.

But they were long-term thinkers, considering things like how they wanted to be remembered as a band and were concerned with setting a precedent for the future. Around the time of their second release, Summer of Darkness, something they did in those precedent-setting sessions was working. To Clark, the time brings back memories of the tour; the press was receiving them well, fans were showing up to gigs, they had a video on Headbanger’s Ball on MTV2. And now that it’s the third time around, Clark is even happier with where the band’s at. He enjoyed making albums, and there are plans for a tour to support it. “It was a little more relaxing this time, less stressful,” he says. “We tried not to get too worn out or spend too many long hours in the studio. Instead we kind of paced ourselves and made sure we didn’t get behind, but worked as hard as we could without stretching ourselves thin.”

And Clark knows a thing or two about working hard.

If you see the guy, you immediately think he’s not the type of person you want to meet in a dark alley. He’s the one you want on your team. He’s bald – not because he swam in an unlucky gene pool, but because he shaves it. Razor-to-the-skull shave. He’s got a beard that has been known to extend down at least a few inches below his chin.

Pair this with their album art and photos of themselves digging around in graves with wifebeaters and suspenders and dark suit jackets and hanging out in hearses and pulling bandanas over their mouths like gangsters – you’ve got yourselves a full-fledged satanic band. It doesn’t help they play Slipknot-style metal: thick, deep, fast, memorable.

“Most of the time when people write us about the name, they focus on the word ‘Demon’ and not ‘Hunter,’” Clark explains to me. “They see the logo as a demon head and not a demon head with a bullet hole in it. Most of the time you have to remind them to look a little bit deeper than the first thing that crosses their mind.”

But when you see it, you have that “Ah Ha” moment. It’s times like this when you feel like the band’s image is portrayed exactly how they want you to see them. They named their band with the word ‘hunt’ on purpose. They’re out to get something, not content to just sit back and relax and watch life happen.

You’d think it’s this vigilance that forms Clark’s life. I almost hate putting in here that Clark didn’t go to college because he’s wildly successful and no one wants to discourage kids from going to school. So I guess that’s why the moral here is following your dreams, because that’s exactly what Clark did, heaping himself into what he truly loves – music and art – full-force that it now seems to be paying off day after day.

“When I graduated from high school I had zero interest in going to college,” he says. Instead, he played in a number of bands he describes as “heavier type bands, some straight forward hardcore, some metalcore and some noisier, style bands.” And when Demon Hunter hit, they were still kicking it full-time other places; this was two years into the Asterik era. And this doesn’t even count the time he has to find for his wife, Autumn, whom he married in 2002 just before the band’s second CD dropped. She’s a gorgeous woman and Clark has even woven her into his work; she’s the one with the halo on her head on Haste the Day’s Burning Bridges CD cover.

“You just have to do your best to prioritize,” Clark says, “and not get your head sunk so far into something that, when it’s all said and done, isn’t what you should be putting all of your effort into. It’s all about balancing all three. I’m still not completely capable of (it), but I’m learning how to – slowly.”

9/23/2005 6:43:45 PM

40 FEATURE

Spoken NOTTALKINGTO JEF...

OR THE MEMOIRS OF TIM HUDSON, JOURNALIST

Tuesday, 4:56 p.m.

“If you’re not a Christian band and don’t want to be labeled with Christian music, don’t play churches, don’t play Christian venues, don’t play Christian festivals, and don’t be on a predominantly Christian label” Spoken lead singer Matt Baird tells me over the phone.

“If you want to be a general market band, just play in bars” he says.

“Um. I won’t use that for the story” I say, not wanting to zero in on the controversial quotes.

“No man, put it in ten times, all through the story, that’s just how I feel” he says “we play bars and at the same time, we play churches and either way we don’t compromise that we are a Christian band...I honestly just don’t understand that mindset.”

Not that Baird’s candor is that much of a surprise; in their nine and a half years of existence Spoken have established themselves time and again as a band chasing after God and His will.

At the time of our initial contact for this article, Baird and the rest of the band, guitarists Jef Cunningham and Aaron Wiese, drummer Ryan Jordan, and bassist Brandon Thigpen, have just completed filming the performance of three songs for Steelroots TV, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based channel focusing on, in their words “music, God and sports.”

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“Steelroots flew us in to play a couple of songs,” he says, “They have skateboarders, you know, several pros and they asked us to play 3 songs.”

Baird, who as we speak is still little awed and star struck after meeting one of his childhood heroes, pro skater Ray Barbee. “He is just incredibly nice, every time you heard him talk it was about God. He came walking in while I was being interviewed and I just stopped in my tracks, I didn’t know he was going to be there,” he says slipping momentarily into fan-boy mode. “He’s just completely a nice guy and an incredible guitar player.”

I mention a recent magazine article about Barbee where he in depth talks about his faith, skating and music. “I didn’t see it,” he says, “but he’s totally open about his faith, meeting him was awesome.”

“How was Steelroots?” I inquire. “They totally have a great setup, I think the spot is going to be really cool.”

“OK, so I need to talk to someone else in the band for this thing,” I say, “can you give me Jef’s number?” Baird complies, but adds that Jef doesn’t do interviews.

“Well, that’s not completely true, we just don’t like Jef to do interviews,” he laughs.

I’m not completely sure that he’s kidding. Jef’s number remains on my desk, with a big red question mark at the end of it.

Wednesday, 11:22 a.m Matt Baird is one of the few guys in music that can actually rock a pair of glasses and make them work. Not in the Rivers Cuomo geekier than thou manner, but in a cool way.

In our first conversation I had told him that this story was going to deviate from the typical, ‘who produced your next record, what was it like working with so and so, what tour plans do you have.

Blah, blah, blah.’

Sadly, however, the call of the new material beckons. For some reason my complimentary copy of Spoken’s new LP, Last Chance to Breath never made it to my mailbox, no doubt a casualty of Tooth and Nail’s booming PR campaign. Luckily the band’s Pure Volume site is chock full of songs from the forthcoming album, and I’m able to get a nice grasp on the direction the band is taking this time out. The lead single, “September,” seems pretty good. Swirling guitars and almost urgent singing – a far cry from the rap-rock of Spoken’s Metro One 1997 debut, On Your Feet. In those days the band established themselves as a fixture on the touring circuit putting in near legendary performances at the yearly Cornerstone festival, with fans shouting choruses and worshipping right along with the band.

“I think we have evolved over time,” he says, noting that he and mystery man Jef are the lone original members. “Nothing against anyone that has ever been in the band, but I feel like the players that are in the band right now are the best players

9/23/2005 6:50:01 PM

SPOKEN 41

that we have had. The stuff that we are doing is just clicking, everyone has been great.”

The band had released three albums and a greatest hits compilation on Metro One before deciding to move on. “They actually released us a record early,” he says “they were totally cool about the whole thing. They were like, ‘You’re right, it is time.’”

Spoken’s free agency did not last long, however, as they were snapped up by Seattle-Based Tooth and Nail records for their fourth effort, A Moment of Imperfect Clarity, which saw the band moving in a decidedly more pop direction.

“In a lot of ways, I feel like this is our second record,” says Wiese. He and Baird are now heading to Iowa City for an acoustic performance, although Spoken songs will be performed, the date is definitely not a Spoken show.

“I think the new record shows a more solidified band,” he continues, “it came out a little bit more emotional in parts with a little more intensity. It’s heavier with a couple of mellow parts, it’s diversi-

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fied in a few different directions.” He adds that he didn’t think that A Moment Of Imperfect Clarity came out exactly as the band wanted it to.

“I think there was a lot of stuff that was just kind of left as-is. Not this time around though.”

Jef’s number is still sitting on my desk. I’m afraid to touch it.

Sunday 3:32 p.m.

“People in Iowa know Keith Urban,” says a truly impressed Baird, “I busted out a Keith Urban song and the crowd just started singing along.” The rest of the show, including a Bon Jovi cover, apparently went over very well.

“It’s always cool just meeting and hanging out with people,” he says. “We will do this again sometime.” Having said that, the band is now settling down into a week’s break – an eternity for the notoriously hard working Spoken.

“We love to play live, you know, we love to try to gain new fans and there’s certainly a ministry aspect that is very important. It’s in our blood, it’s

what we love to do... Plus, when we were first starting out, we were told to tour and that’s how you gain fans, so that’s what we have done nonstop ever since.”

“The title of the record is pretty much a reminder that none of us are promised tomorrow,” says Baird. “Who knows? Tomorrow we might just decide that we’re done or that we could be dropped from our deal. You never know what is going to happen. We just know our focus and that is to play music for as long as we can. We just want to do what God wants us to do – plus I definitely think there are some amazing times during shows where God reveals Himself through our music.”

“Cool. There’s just one more thing...” I ask.

“What’s the deal with Jef?” Baird pauses for a moment and then comes forward with, “Jef is the funniest man alive, but I’m the only one who gets it.”

9/23/2005 6:50:16 PM

42 H I P - H O P F E AT U R E

L.A. SYMPHONY

BY BRENTEN GILBERT

Though marked by an attitude that is “positive and happy-go-lucky,” the five members of this group are no strangers to struggles and pain.

Even as they set out to record their latest project, they were forced to overcome several obstacles and deal with many issues. “We had Cookbook’s father pass away and at the same time Uno Mas, another member of the group, was in the hospital,” says Flynn of the recording sessions. “Then Joey the Jerk’s grandfather passed away,” he continues, “it just seemed like so much was going on.”

Reflecting on the past year, Cookbook notes, “[it] was the hardest year of my entire life, no doubt about it.” Rather than covering up these conflicts, LA Symphony incorporates them into their music, along with the lessons they’ve learned as a result. Says Flynn, “Obviously everything that we go through affects the music that we make.” Cookbook adds, “We’ve never wanted to candy coat it or give the cliché answers,

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because what we should be saying is the truth.”

This openness and honesty has always been a constant in the music of LA Symphony. For instance, their previous Gotee Records release, The End Is Now, was marked by darker themes and a tone that was just short of hopeless. “It was just a darker period of our lives,” says Flynn.

“There’s nothing wrong with getting some things off of your chest,” explains Cookbook, “You gotta express what’s on your heart, but you can’t stay there.” Noting the expressiveness in the book of Psalms, Cookbook continues, “definitely The End Is Now was our time of just unloading all of the things that we had been through and now it’s done.” Flynn remarks, “I think that album is a great testimony of our faith,” citing the perseverance shown by the group during that difficult time.

Though rarely spelled out in a three-point sermon, the group’s faith is quite evident through their music and more so in the lives and actions

of each member. “We’ve really walked out our calling,” says Cookbook. “We’ve really lived what we set out to live.” When asked to describe his personal faith, Flynn replies, “[faith is] when you’ve exhausted your reasoning power and continue to go in that direction because you feel like God says to.” As a result of this faith, LA Symphony has carved out a career in music and made a name for themselves within the hip-hop community.

And even though it’s been eight years since their journey together began, LA Symphony realizes that they still have a long way to go before they accomplish their goals. “We haven’t arrived at the place where we set our goals to arrive at. We’re not there yet. We’re persevering and we know that there’s purpose in this and we’re going for it,” says Cookbook. “We know that there’s something good to what we do,” echoes Flynn. “Otherwise, I just don’t think we would’ve continually conquered despite such resistance.”

9/23/2005 6:53:04 PM

BEATS

[hip-hop news ‘n reviews by SphereofHipHop. com]

News shorts…

Illect Recordings recently signed two new artists including: JustMe and Cookbook & Uno Mas (of LA Symphony). Look for some hot raps from both soon. Also in the works from Illect is some fine instrumental hip-hop and electronic tunes including drops from DJ Allstar and Dert. [illect.com / illectdirect.com] Are you fiending for some nice urban flavored threads? 3Sixteen has got the skills to pay the bills. “We’re determined to use our God-given talents to create a product that has a positive influence – and in so doing, our hope is that you’ll free your mind and your creative abilities too.” [3sixteen.com] Cross Movement Records is sure hammering out some good hip-hop releases in 2005. Da Truth recently released the followup, The Faith, to his acclaimed debut. Definitely check out this emcee! [crossmovement.com] Several artists are in the studio working on new material. Among them are: Lojique, Scribbling Idiots, Future Shock, Pigeon John, The Procussions, Dert (of Tunnel Rats) and Malachi Perez.

Reviews…

Listener and EQ: Ozark Empire “Listener follows up his tremendous debut as a solo artist with this epic release filled with honesty, cynicism and solid beats from EQ.” Lightheaded: Wrong Way “The powerhouse trio from the Northwest return with fresh sounds and straightforward lyricism that encourages us all to push on in the right direction.”

Having purpose is a theme that resonates with the group as much as perseverance, as individuals and as a group. “I personally love to perform,” says Cookbook, “[but] the purpose of my entertainment is important to me as well.” Explaining further, he continues, “I definitely want to be doing things that contribute and that are helping to grow the Kingdom and helping people.” This purpose that unites the group is something that they believe everyone has within them. “[LA Symphony’s] mission is to make music and connect with people on all levels,” explains Flynn, “to give them hope that you don’t have to own a Hummer to feel important or useful or to have a purpose.”

Cookbook encourages listeners to find this purpose and act on it. “Obviously, you need to find God and figure out your relationship with Him,” he shares. “Beyond that, whatever you feel that He’s put in your heart to do, do it.” Flynn agrees, adding “If you have gut feelings about things you’d like to

do, there might be a reason.” It’s important that we follow these callings because our lives affect the lives of others around us. “It’s not only your life [that’s affected],” expresses Cookbook, “but other people need what you have on the inside of you.”

With all this in mind, LA Symphony presents their latest release, Disappear Here, an album filled with hope and encouragement. The album also marks a new beginning for the group. “We look at this album really as our first national release for the general market and the Christian market, by giving it a real push,” explains Flynn.

It’s an album that embodies the core elements of the group as a whole and provides inspiration for those who may find themselves going through a difficult time. Proof that with faith, determination and perseverance, God will faithfully complete the work He’s started in you.

Vocab Malone: Happy Hardcore “Strong production and a pretty unique delivery creates an endearing, quirky style that’s all to itself.”

LA Symphony: Disappear Here “Brilliant album from the group that presents a positive message of hope over beats that will appeal to a wide range of listeners.”

Sivion: Mood Enhancement “Nice debut with a laid-back feel, textured soundtrack and a direct message.”

Manafest: Epiphany “Debut project from Canadian emcee who can also rock. A rarity in that he combines mainstream appeal and still holds true to tru hip-hop.”

Gotta check these releases out… Scribbling Idiots Mixtape, Ohmega Watts The Find, Cas Metah Dimension Tide, Beatmart Mixtape Vol. 2, Flame Rewind and Hip Hope 2006 CD/DVD. Get more hip-hop news and MP3 downloads at sphereofhiphop.com

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9/23/2005 6:53:18 PM

44 FEATURE

No Innoce HARDCORE REVIVAL REVUE

By Doug Van Pelt

IN UNFORGIVEN, THERE’S A SMALL TOWN OUT WEST THAT IS TRYING ITS BEST TO BLEND INTO “NORMALCY.” THE LOCAL LAWKEEPER SEEMINGLY TURNS A BLIND EYE (OR IS IT JUST PLAIN LAZINESS?) TO A MURDERED WOMAN, SO HER FRIENDS POST A BOUNTY ON THE CULPRITS’ HEADS. THIS ATTRACTS A YOUNG GUN NAMED “THE SCHOFIELD KID,” WHO RECRUITS THE VETERAN KILLER, WILLIAM MUNNY (PLAYED BRILLIANTLY BY CLINT EASTWOOD), WHO HAS “RETIRED” TO A QUIETER LIFE WITH FARM AND FAMILY. WHEN HE MOUNTS HIS LOYAL HORSE WITH GUN IN TOW, HE PROVES HIS WORTH AS AN ALTERNATE WAY TO DISPENSE JUSTICE. WHILE NOT STEEPED IN BLOODY VIOLENCE, THE GUYS IN NO INNOCENT VICTIM ARE NEVERTHELESS TOUGH-AS-NAILS VETERANS WHO ARE COMING BACK TO STIR THINGS UP.

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9/23/2005 7:02:58 PM

NO INNOCENT VICTIM 45

ent Victim

BUT FIRST WE MUST GO BACK – WAY BACK. CUE THE CHRISTIAN HARD MUSIC HISTORY MACHINE BACK TO 1993. ALL THE WAY TO A 5-SONG DEMO ON CASSETTE THAT MARKED THE FIRST RECORDED OUTPUT OF NO INNOCENT VICTIM. “IT STARTED OFF MORE ALONG THE LINES OF JUST A PUNK BAND,” VOCALIST JASON MOODY EXPLAINS, DIGGING INTO HISTORY THAT PREDATES EVEN HIS OWN INVOLVEMENT IN N.I.V. “THEY WERE KIND OF DOING RAMONES KIND OF STUFF. THEY WANTED ME TO SING AND I CAME ALONG AND THINGS WERE HAPPENING AS FAR AS WANTING TO KIND OF GO AFTER A DIFFERENT STYLE. A COUPLE MUTUAL FRIENDS OF OURS WERE INTO HARDCORE AND THEY STARTED SHOWING US STUFF, LIKE AGNOSTIC FRONT AND SICK OF IT ALL, JUDGED – SOME OF THE OLD BANDS. WE JUST REALLY LIKED THE WAY IT SOUNDED. I GREW UP LISTENING TO METAL. THE HARDCORE THING JUST SOUNDED SO MUCH MORE

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9/23/2005 7:03:17 PM

46 FEATURE

“There was real fruit coming out of the hardcore scene.

It was amazing... (Then) seeing these kids and knowing that that was gone... It really bummed me out.” aggressive and just more energy. We just started pursuing that style – not even knowing about the whole hardcore scene or anything.

We just started playing that kind of music. And played anywhere we could for the time. Later on Corey (Edelmen, on guitar) came along and things continued to progress. That’s when, you know, we did Strength. It was a short time after that where we made it to our first Cornerstone. We kinda did our first little tour. It was actually with Crux. We got home and me and Corey were both like, ‘This is what we felt we were supposed to do. This is what we need to do – to get out there,’ you know? So, we had meetings and talked to people.

Eventually Kurt and John, the original drummer and bass player, just kind of stepped down so that we could get someone else to fill our shoes and actually hit it – you know, head out on the road. That was when we got Jason Dunn.”

“I was, like, 14 when that came (demo) out.” explains Dunn, who describes himself as “just the young kid that got to play drums.”

Six songs into their set at Tomfest ‘96, the band stopped, where oldtimers Kurt Love and John Harbert handed over their instruments to the newcomers. This magazine reported that: “While trying to start the song about ‘You’re going to die someday’ (“Demise”), drummer Jason Dunn showed his inexperience playing live, not being able to remember how the song started. It was a tense moment that the band handled perfectly, with guitarist Corey Edelman showing him the pattern, and the band moving on after a couple mis-starts, only to come back to the song and nail it at the end.”

“Yeah, the switch-over,” Moody remembers the band’s first show together with that lineup. “That was a weird time. Once we got Jason Dunn, things really started to take off. The kid just knows how to … to work, ya know? We decided to do what we could, as far as touring, hooking up with different people, different bands. I think we did a little short thing with Zao – the old, old Zao, when Shawn (Jonas) was still singing. And did a little tour with them. We kept going for it and ended up touring with secular bands as well. We ended up playing with a lot of the bands we looked up to when we were starting out. That was kind of exciting. Our focus was always to get out into the secular crowd and, you know, show ‘em that not all Christians are suit and tie or what have you. Just go out and share our faith. I think hardcore was just like the perfect stage for it, just because that’s what hardcore was – at least it was then: was just getting up and speaking your mind and speaking your convictions without second-guessing anything. It was just, ‘Get up there,’ you know? People respected you if you stood firm on what you believed. Through the grace of God we were able to live out what we preached. And eventually gained the respect of a lot of the top-named bands of the time.”

Dunn shares some of the same memories: “I graduated high school and left two days later and we toured that Summer – in ’97. We were touring on No Compromise. I was fresh out of high school and I got to tour with P.O.D. and Living Sacrifice. I remember getting a Living Sacrifice self-titled cassette in my stocking at Christmas when I was 12, so that was pretty awesome. That was just crazy. All those early tours were just really awesome, cuz we were in full control and we’d

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tour with who we wanted to, so we got to tour with xDisciplex AD and then later with the Hatebreed and Agnostic Front tours.”

“We got signed to Victory Records and put out Flesh and Blood,” continues Moody. “That was an exciting time. We were touring quite a bit. We did tours with Hatebreed and Agnostic Front and went to Europe with Agnostic Front. It was kind of like we’d be home for a month and then go out for a month kind of thing. That was going on for a few years. We did the tour with Agnostic Front in Europe (33 shows in 35 days in 14 different countries), and then a couple weeks after we got home, that’s when my son passed away. So, a lot of things, you know, changed for me, of course. Just the way I saw a lot of things. We were kind of in limbo. I didn’t know if I wanted to do it anymore. I was pretty devastated. I wasn’t sure I wanted to do anything, you know? So, we just sat back for awhile and laid low.

“There was all these plans that, you know, just got cancelled. The guys just kind of laid low with me. Corey ended up leaving at that point to go to Project (86). I kind of came to the conclusion that I didn’t want the kids out there to think that I just gave up. That I believe my son is in heaven, so we do have a hope. We don’t mourn like those who have no hope. I didn’t want them to think I just quit and gave up on life or whatever, so we just went ahead and kept going.

That’s when we got Tim Mason. We just kept going for it for another couple of years.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END, PART ONE “We put out Tipping The Scales, again on Victory. We toured that for a couple years. The scene was changing. A lot of new faces. We had been doing it for about ten years by that point. And just kind of felt like, ‘Well, we put in a good ten years. We played. We toured with integrity. We didn’t start giving in to things or pressures.’ I don’t know.

It just felt like it was time to just hang it up. It really wasn’t… I don’t know if there just wasn’t nothing new happening at the time, or we just decided, ‘Ahh.’ That was when we broke up.” He sighs. “Let’s call it the Cliff Notes of NIV there,” he laughs.

BEGINNING AGAIN So, what made you guys get back together?

“Well, you know,” Moody explains, “I had been out of the loop for awhile – not going to shows or anything. I ended up going to a couple Christian shows. I actually got pretty bummed out. I just saw these kids. I couldn’t personally tell which ones were Christian kids and which ones weren’t – not by the way they were dressed or anything, but just by their demeanor, what was coming out of their mouths. I just couldn’t tell a difference. And that bummed me out. ‘Ah, these kids! What are they doing?’ Then the Lord started eventually speaking to my heart to where I wanted to do something. I didn’t know what. But it just really bummed me out to see it like that.

“You know, it was right in the middle of NIV’s run there, there was a lot of awesome things happening. We’d get letters from guys who had started up (ministries)… They’d write us: ‘Thank you so much for

9/23/2005 7:03:39 PM

NO INNOCENT VICTIM 47 the inspiration. You’ve had a big impact on my life. The Lord has led me to start up a prison ministry. I’ve been doing the prison ministry now for three months.’ And stuff like that. There was real fruit coming out of the hardcore scene. It was amazing. Just these young guys with no... It wasn’t like they were being necessarily directed by churches. It was out of their own heart that this fruit was just pouring out. It was so awesome.

(Then) “To go to this show and seeing these kids and knowing that that was gone, you know? It really bummed me out. Actually, me and Corey were hanging out one night. He was over at my house and we were just talking about different things we’ve seen on tour or whatever. Not just the kids, but a lot of other bands – Christian bands – things that we’ve seen them do and say and the way they acted.

It’s frustrating. It just bummed us out. We were just talking about the different stories and Corey said, ‘You know what? I got to thinking about getting up there once or twice, you know? People listened when we played. They would listen.’

“I said, ‘Let’s just get up there once or twice and just knock ‘em.

Knock ‘em upside the head – ‘What are you doing?’ kind of thing.’

And Corey was like, ‘Let’s do it! Let’s do it.’

“I was like, ‘Well, let’s pray about it. Don’t tell nobody. Don’t say nothing. We’ll just pray about it and see what the Lord has.’

“And we were praying for about two weeks and one day I ended up talking to Jason Dunn, because we still call each other every now

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and then, and we were just talking and I felt it laid on my heart to kind of tell him what I wanted to do and why, and the whole reasoning behind it. So, I explained to him that, ‘I want to do another show or two, and this time…’ You know, we were always going after the secular crowd. I said, ‘This time I want to go after those Christian kids. The Christian kids that are not productive, that are just getting totally blended in with the rest of the world, you know?’ And Jason Dunn started laughing.

“I’m like, ‘What? What’s so funny?’ And he goes, ‘Me and Tim have been praying about this for two weeks, but we didn’t think you’d ever do it again.’ So, that was kind of like confirmation number one. That’s why we’re doing it again. That’s the whole reason behind it. It’s just hopefully some of the Christian kids will listen. They’ll come to reason. That they’ll… The Bible says that… ‘Search out your heart and your salvation with fear and trembling...’ To really get serious about what we’re doing here.

“It just seemed like, at a point, you know, you had the Christian hardcore scene and when the Christian kids would come, even if it was a secular show, they were just distinguished. There was something different. They were different. And now you go to a show and everybody’s just blended together and it doesn’t matter. That’s our purpose.”

So, now No Innocent Victim is back with a new album, To Burn Again. While the logistics are being worked out, this veteran band on the drummer’s own label (Facedown Records is owned by Jason

9/23/2005 7:03:55 PM

48 FEATURE

“ I hope to just stir them up to get the kids or whoever to be accountable to one another, so the world doesn’t look at us and think we’re a bunch of fakes..” cont’d on page 58

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9/23/2005 7:04:14 PM

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9/24/2005 12:09:10 AM

50 FEATURE

Dreadlocks 101 AN HM MAGAZINE REGGAE PRIMER

By Jamie Lee Rake Illustration by Brad Spitzer

P.O.D. DRUMMER WUV OR SKINDRED VOCALIST BENJI WEBBE COULD HIP YOU. OVER 40 YEARS OF PRIOR HISTORY TELLS THE STORY WITH COPIOUS CORROBORATING EVIDENCE. REGGAE AND ITS NIGH HYPNOTIZING RIDDIMS HAVE MINGLED WITH CHRISTIANITY YEARS BEFORE CHRISTAFARI BECAME EARLY ‘90s PIONEERS IN USING THE SKANKABLE STYLE FOR EVANGELISTIC ENDS. EVEN BEFORE SUPERSTAR BOB MARLEY CONVERTED TO THE ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOXY IN TEAR FUL REPENTANCE FROM RASTAFARIANISM MORE ABOUT WHICH LATER  SEVEN MONTHS BEFORE HIS 1981 DEATH FROM CANCER  BIBLICAL THEMES HAVE INFORMED JAMAICA’S MOST INTOXICATING EXPORT AFTER RED STRIPE BEER.

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9/23/2005 7:15:55 PM

REGGAE 51

IT WAS COPTIC BELIEVER TOOTS HIBBERT, OF THE MAYTALS, WHO COINED THE MUSIC’S NAME IN A LATE ‘60s SINGLE. WHEN THE GROUP COULDN’T GET INTO THE SLOWERPACED ROCKSTEADY STYLE THAT FOL LOWED THE ISLAND’S LATE ‘50s SKA EXPLOSION, THEY  AND OTHERS AROUND THE SAME TIME  ARRIVED AT THE MIDDLE POINT OF NASCENT REGGAE. EXPLICITLY OLD TESTAMENT SONGS WEREN’T UNCOMMON IN REGGAE’S YOUNGER DAYS, AMONG THEM THE DOMINOES’ “SHADRACH, MESHACH & ABEDNEGO” AND THE MELODIANS’ RECASTING OF PSALMS 137, “THE RIVERS OF BABYLON.” THESE AND OTHERS CAN BE FOUND BY SCANNING THROUGH COMPILATIONS AND SINGLEARTIST DISCS ON SPECIALITY LABELS SUCH AS TROJAN, BLOOD & FIRE AND HEARTBEAT.

(Rocksteady’s only real U.S. hit came via Desmond Dekker’s scripturally-derived “Israelites.” That gospel witness went into the crapper when Dekker’s follow-up was the sexually-charged “It Mek.” Parallelling that, so many major Jamaican reggae singers have come to Christ in recent years that other acts find it a marketable form of “bandwagonism” to switch up between sacred songs, gangster lyrics and slackness, i.e. the dirty stuff.)

England’s concentration of West Indian immigrants and first-generation citizens led the music to make an impression on the country’s rock community.

That wind would hit the U.S. strongest when Eric Clapton would forsake the blues in ‘74 to have a smash covering Marley’s “I Shot The Sheriff.”

Between then and The Rolling Stones signing one-time Marley collaborator Peter Tosh to their label in ‘79, punk exploded in Old Blimey. The Clash referenced reggae sonically and lyrically on their debut album; early Britpunk singles by such acts as The Sex Pistols became the first records by non-reggae artists to be sold in U.K. reggae record shops for the safety pin-and-ransom note font set’s affinity for rebellion. Marley would recognize reggae/punk solidarity by recording “Punky Reggae Party.”

Quick cut to the dawn of the ‘80s. Wuv’s blessed enough to have an uncle who’s a reggae DJ in San Deigo. A grateful, impressed and impressionable nephew follows unk’ to concerts, too. “Going to see all those legendary people play helped,” says the P.O.D. drummer of being exposed to the music that would assist in his band’s rising among the nu-metal and metal-rap fusionists of the previous decade.

SKINDRED

As for the music’s appeal, Wuv’s reductionist in his explanation. “It’s simple, but the reason it makes you feel so good is because it’s so simple. It’s hard to listen to reggae and be in a bad mood.”

Also formative for Wuv were anomalous African-American hardcore/reggae fusionists Bad Brains. Listeners to P.O.D.’s Satellite should recall the presence of the seminal Washington, D.C. Rasta punks’ lead singer HR. “HR just killed it!,” enthuses Wuv of the singer’s tenure with the ‘Brains and his P.O.D. collaboration.

Want to follow Wuv’s path to reggae enlightenment? Be led, then, to the breezy harmonies of The Twinkle Brothers, the more ruggedly soulful Mighty Diamonds, the politicized rootsiness of Black Uhuru and England’s Steel Pulse, soloists Frankie Paul and Don Carlos and P.O.D.’s antecedents in reggae rocking, The Police and 24/7 Spies. Some of that assortment might find its way into influencing the reggae side project Wuv and bandmate Sonny Sandoval will issue next year. Apart from their own material, the island impulse is represented on the band’s current tour by their opening act, renowned Hassidic Jewish reggae singer Matisyahu. Going into that relationship would call for a major sidebar to this piece.

cont’d on page 57

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CHRISTAFARI 9/23/2005 7:16:40 PM

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9/23/2005 10:23:37 PM

FEATURE 53

What My Chemical Romance Says YOU’VE HEARD OF THIS BAND. THEY HAVE BEEN EVERYWHERE AND ON THE COVER OF PRACTICALLY EVERY ROCK MAGAZINE THE PAST TWO YEARS. DURING A DAY OF WARPED TOUR ACTION, EDITOR DOUG VAN PELT GOT AHOLD OF GUITARIST FRANK IERO ON THE PHONE FOR THE FOLLOWING INTERVIEW. KNOWING THAT IERO PROBABLY HATES QUESTIONS ABOUT HAIRCUTS AND FASHION, HE WAS ASKED ABOUT FRONTMAN GERARD WAY’S CURRENT LOOK ANYWAY...BUT EVEN AS THAT PET PEEVE WAS CONFIRMED, THERE WERE ENOUGH OTHER QUESTIONS THAT MADE THE CONVERSATION LIVELY AND INTERESTING.

Well, how does it feel to be legitimate fan favorites and media darlings at the same time? How has the growing buzz around the band felt to you during the past year?

Um…well I’m really psyched on the fan favorites. I mean, without that, there is no media. Cause nobody really gives a (bleep) if nobody likes you. You know, it’s been amazing. The kids’ reactions to the shows and just the support we’ve gotten over the years. I mean, like, the same kids coming back again and again. And just really the attention’s been ridiculous. I mean, it’s one of those things where um, you don’t expect it, I guess. And when the record comes out you’re like, ‘Oh, the record came out. I’m feeling pretty good,’ you know. Kids like it and that’s cool and then all of a sudden you get asked to do a TV thing or you get something like that, it’s pretty cool. You get asked to do a TV thing or an interview and you’re like, ‘Alright.’ And then one more and then all of a sudden it starts to get overwhelming and then all of a sudden everybody tells you that you’re everywhere, you know? But nothing really changes in the band and the shows have gotten bigger, more kids come out and sing along so it’s been kind of overwhelming but at the same time really fun and I’m just glad the kids enjoy it. People enjoy our music and you have to have a dream.

Cool. What changes between I Brought You My Bullets and Th ree Cheers are the most pronounced for you guys?

Well, the fact that we actually got to be a band. When we recorded I Brought You My Bullets we were a band for maybe two weeks, you know? The band had formed and then I joined, and two weeks later we were in the studio. We recorded in nine days and then we toured for about two and a half years and really got to know each other as people and musicians. We really started to look out for each other and then we recorded Revenge and that took about two months, and it was just crazy to see how far we had come as a band and that’s the biggest change.

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Cool. What are some of the changes from being on Eyeball to being on Reprise?

Well, it’s actually, your records everywhere, you know? It’s funny enough, more of a family than Eyeball ever was. There’s less drama, no teenage high school politics.

And it’s really cool, you know, like, a lot of people that really get the band and understand who we are and who we wanna be and the band that we can become and they really just want us to be My Chemical Romance, they don’t want us to be the next this or the next that or anything like that.

Right, right. What did you notice the most and how did you guys adapt to having a couple months to record and write songs, as opposed to a couple weeks?

Well, you definitely got to fine-tune a song more. We learned a lot about song structure, the way choruses affect people, the way it makes you feel. We got to really dive into the songs and add a lot and we had a lot more tools and fun things that are just helpful, like different amps that we could try and just effects. Just have a lot of time to go back and look at what we had done and really just perfect what we were going for. I think it definitely gave us time to make the record that we wanted to make.

Cool. Can you describe a little bit on how much Howard Benson deconstructed your songs or how much he worked with your songs?

Yeah, well Howard was very hands-on in pre-production. We would go over the songs and the structure of the songs and he taught us a lot about simplicity, how sometimes you don’t need to throw in the kitchen sink to everything. And some songs he was just like, ‘Hey, this is you guys. This is what you’ve created and this is the best that song can be and there’s nothing to do to it, or nothing really to sug-

9/23/2005 7:24:35 PM

54 FEATURE gest,’ I should say. And it was a lot of give and take, a lot of compromising on both parts and then when we got to the studio he was very hands-on with vocals and very hands-off with everything else, maybe hands-on with drums as well.

And he would come in and make sure nothing was really interfering with vocal melodies and really making sure that they were complementing and he would check in and tell us we were doing a great job and then go off and finish up with Gerard and it was great. It really felt like you got to make your record. No one was breathing down your neck and telling you that, ‘No. Do this. Do this. Do this. Do that.’ And that was kinda like ‘Alright, let’s (bleep) try this, let’s try that.’ And then we had great engineers that really pushed us to give performances and it was fun, it was a fun experience, it really was. It was definitely an experience, something that you have to do to understand.

Yeah. That’s good to hear. If you had to choose between the two, the chorus versus the riff, which is more important and why?

Wow, Well, I think I would pick the chorus just because I think the chorus is more of a band part rather than the riff is just someone noodling around. I was never much for cock-rock riffs or soloing or anything like that. I think riffs are great and when they complement a song they’re great to have, but if all you have is a riff, then you don’t have anything. But if you have a chorus you can write a song.

Cool, good answer. I heard that Gerard cut his hair and stopped wearing make-up because it was getting trendy. If that’s true, please expound on the thought behind that. If it’s not, please explain your thoughts on fashion and culture trends and how they relate to rock and roll and how healthy or unhealthy you think it is for music. (laughing) OK. Well, first off, I’ll answer that question with a question: How did you hear that? Where did you hear that from?

Somebody traveling with the Warped Tour told me.

I guess there’s a girl that cuts all the hair, and you know, you never know how accurate stuff is, but…

Well, Gerard cut his hair because we did a video for the song “Ghost of You” and the video placed us in World War II and in order to make it a little bit more realistic we kinda had to do some make-overs and he cuts our hair, stuff like that. The make-up thing, it’s one of those things where when we do our make-up it’s more of like a war-paint for us and it’s one of those things that gets you prepared for the show and for the battle at hand. We have had discussions where sometimes things become a parody of themselves and sometimes people pick up different things and they’re overused and sometimes lose the meaning that they had in the first place. It’s definitely a shocking thing when people that beat you up in high school come to your shows wearing the make-up that you have on. It’s definitely a weird thing to deal with. Is it trendy? I don’t know, man. Is black trendy? Everybody wears black now but I don’t think black will ever be trendy because it’s not really even a color. I think it’s a gross reflection of the painting of times. It’s really weird; I don’t really know how to comment on that. [In the rock and roll world] we have trends and fashions and really just (bleep). It has nothing to do with the meaning behind the art, at least it shouldn’t. And if it does, if that’s all you are is a fashion trend, then you’ll be gone in a couple of years, hopefully less, but it’s really weird. People see our band, we’re a very visual band, but I think it’s more because

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we love the theatrics of it. We’re huge fans of Bowie, and Bowie changed it up and I think that’s why the theatrics of him lived on for as long as it did and he could go back to just plain clothes and do anything because the music spoke to people, it wasn’t about the Ziggy Stardust costume, it was about the music and hopefully, if everyone in the world were blind, they’d still get where we were coming from with everything. So, I don’t know, did Gerard stop wearing make-up and cut his hair because he thought it was getting

passes or wanna get backstage or talk to your mom like they were your best friends. And definitely after the show you’re like, ‘What the (bleep) are you doing here’ and you don’t want to be a dick because you’re better than that, but at the same time, it’s like, ‘You know what, man? (bleep) you. For everything you did to me then and for everything that you want to do now, for wanting to be close to me because of what I’ve accomplished. It’s a shame though, it’s really a shame.

“Believing in the teachings of Christianity is good for the world, because I think it keeps people scared of doing the wrong thing.” trendy? I don’t think so. I think he cut his hair for the art form that we were doing which is the video, the cinema of it; and you know how hot it is on Warped Tour to be putting (bleep) make-up on? So I guess that’s my answer.

I used to be in a stupid punk band that wore ski masks, so I know about heat. (laughing) Were you in the Dwarfs?

Naw, it was a band called Lust Control from Texas.

We didn’t play much up in New Jersey.

My friend got me a ski mask the other day so I could kinda walk through Warped Tour and just watch bands, you know? And it’s been really hot and it sucks but it’s kinda rad because I hate watching bands from the side of the stage.

You know what I mean?

Uh huh.

So it rules, but I know, it’s really hot. I don’t know how I would play shows in that.

Yeah, after a while we just started taking them off after the second song. (laughing) Nice.

I remember talking to Jonathon Davis of Korn a long time ago about the song “Faggot” and how it was funny that the people that beat him up in high school were coming to his shows and singing, “I’m a faggot” and how do you feel about self-esteem? How important do you feel that is?

You know, I think it’s very important. I think everyone in their life has gone through that I’m-not-good-enough phase or at least a feeling of that. I think it’s important to go through that, not because people should be depressed but because…nobody should be happy all the time because the sweet ain’t as sweet without the sour, you know? I think mental health and depression are very huge problems that we have to deal with these days. Everyone isn’t alright and I think there needs to be more people out there that you can talk to. Not all of us were cool in high school. I don’t think any of us were cool in high school, maybe Bob because Bob’s just cool but you know, it’s definitely a mind (bleep) when you play Jersey and kids from high school that definitely weren’t nice to you come to your shows or want

Yeah. What do you think of Jesus Christ?

What do I…I don’t know, I never met him. Uh, must be kinda cool. I mean, uh, you know, creating fish and bread out of nothing, and walking on water. Uh, I don’t know, wha…wha…uhh…what do I think of Jesus Christ? Uh, I think he was an okay dude, I guess. I think it’s…I think that religion in general and believing in the teachings of Christianity is good for the world because I think it keeps people scared of doing the wrong thing. Just like kids don’t be bratty around Christmastime because they’re scared that they’re going to get coal.

Haha.

Uh…I don’t know. I went to a Catholic school all my life and uh…you know, you definitely get a definite sense of guilt growing up, doing that, learning the teachings of the Catholic Church. I think I have more of a…if you had asked me what I think of the organized religion in general uh…I’d have more hateful things to say.

Haha. What do you think about His claims to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me? Umm….I think that’s…that’s kinda pompous. Uh…I think…I don’t know, I mean, oh man, you’re going to get me in a lot of trouble with people, man. Jesus. You know, um…uh…I think that…here’s the thing…uh…personally, uh…I’d like to believe that there’s a higher power out there.

Uh…I’d like to think that the meaning of life is to be a good person and…and to be happy and to do whatever it takes to be happy as long as it doesn’t mean hurting anyone else. And I think that really being happy is helping your fellow man, and being, again, a good person and…and trying to help and change the world for the better. Um…as far as having to believe in a person or an entity or a division of god to uh…sorry, to go to heaven or…or to meet god…uh…you know what, you say tomato, I say tomato, I don’t think so, I think, you know, you live your life the right [way] and you know, you’ll be fine and you’ll get your just deserve.

In the last year, quite a few musicians tried to use their infl uence to maybe infl uence the election and get involved in politics. How much do you think is too much, how much is too much of a good thing or why?

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WHAT MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE SAYS 55 You know, I voted. Growing up I was one of those people that would always say, if voting changed anything they’d make it illegal and I don’t know how much, if I don’t believe that these days, or if I do believe that, I think that your view should always be heard, if you’re a political fan that’s fine, but to force your politics down someone else’s throat is wrong. I think people should just be informed rather than slammed with propaganda. Some people think that they’re doing a good thing by screaming about politics and voting to young kids, young impressionable kids, but really, how is it different from these Bush commercials and (bleep) like that. I mean, kids don’t really understand what’s going on and what you should do is tell them to try to get informed and give them the places to read facts rather than spewing hatred and saying ‘This guy’s an (bleep).’ ‘Well, oh alright. This dude from this stance says this guy’s an (bleep) so he’s an (bleep) and I’m gonna vote for the other dude.’ I think as many more kids voted this year, I think it was great that they had a lot of kids vote but, none of them are really informed. I shouldn’t say that, I’m sorry. A lot of them weren’t informed and that kinda sucks too, you know?

Mmm hmm. Artwork and packaging. How important do you think that is for music and why?

Well, I think that, especially with, I mean I can only speak for our band but with us, it’s a whole package really. Everything has everything to do with everything else. The artwork has so much to do with the music and it’s all an artform. It’s the way we express ourselves. I think the most important thing about the packaging is the lyrics. To know what the band is about and what it stands for and what the songs are about but the words that you are fingerpointing to and singing along, ‘What do these words mean? What is he actually saying?’ And if you don’t know that, then what are you doing? What are you doing at the show? It’s funny to go out there and play sometimes and you have these new-found fans that come and sing along to the choruses of the songs that they hear on the radio and it’s great and hopefully they’ll get the record and understand what they’re singing about, but then it comes to the verses and the meat of the song and they’re just mouthing, looking around trying to figure out what you’re saying, but they don’t really know. A lot of people get into bands because ‘Ah, this song caught my attention. It stuck in my head. I like this band.’

But I think you should really know what the band is about and enjoy all the artwork behind it because, especially with ours, its artwork created by the band members. We have a heavy hand in everything that we put out. To us, My Chemical Romance is the entire package.

That’s really cool. Well, you mentioned war paint earlier, I’m curious as to what kind of experience with sports or maybe some sports analogies or maybe what some of your favorite teams are.

I’m only a Knicks fan. I played sports when I was younger, I really just always played basketball. Cause all you really needed was a ball, and you could find a net somewhere. So you didn’t need much and it was just fast paced and I enjoyed it. The Knicks never really won but I enjoyed rooting for the underdogs, I still do. Yeah, I was just a basketball fan. I played baseball when I was younger, my dad took me to hockey games and football games and it was one of those things that just wasn’t my cup of tea. I’d rather go with him to see him play, because he was a drummer, and I would enjoy that more. But I wasn’t a huge sports fan. I’m a Knicks fan and I’m constantly bummed because of it.

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What’s your favorite David Bowie era and why?

Man, Ziggy. That record, I can listen to that record and every time I listen to it, you find something new. It was just, I think, an amazing time for music, at that point where there was no boundaries. He just did whatever the (bleep) he wanted. And some amazing songs came out of that. God, you know, geez…let me think about this. The rise and fall is, by far, I think that record to me, hands-down, I can listen to it five years over and over and over again and never get sick of it.

He’s a great artist.

What’s your favorite?

I kinda like Scary Munsters, believe it or not.

Really?

Yeah, I just got into it at the right time in high school and just some of the songs…but yeah, David Bowie Greatest Hits is the easy option. But he’s got a lot of good ones. He’s been fun to watch as an artist. Like you said, he does what he wants to.

I want to see him like so bad, but have never gotten the chance or the money together.

Yeah, nowadays it’s real expensive or at least the last couple times he’s gone out.

Kinda crazy.

There’s been some bands lately, there almost, I don’t know if it’s a trend or not, but some bands that are kinda fusing faith and art, some that are kind of upfront about it like maybe Underoath and maybe some less upfront like MxPx or Emery. What are your thoughts on that fusion of faith and art?

I think that that’s great. I mean, bands with a purpose, bands with substance behind what they do. I’d much rather see that than, I’m not going to call anybody out by name, but a band that just does it to make money or a band that just tries to look sweet up on stage and pick up girls, there’s nothing to that. It’s just all (bleep). It’s smoke and mirrors.

At least with bands like Underoath, and I say Underoath because of the bands that you mentioned, they’re the band that we’ve toured with before, they’re the best, those kids are true to what they say and what they believe. I envy, I can envy people like that that can have this blind faith, believe in something so wholeheartedly that you’ve never seen or something like that. Good for them. It’s not what drives us, I think what drives us is a more earthly purpose but I think in the end we’re really all striving for the same thing, is for people to look out for people, and to take care of each other and to make the world a better place.

That’s cool. Well from the same source that I talked to at the Warped Tour, he said that some of the bands that are looked up to from the other bands have actually made a point to say, ‘Hey look, the groupie thing.

Cut it out. These girls could actually really be your sister and most of them actually are only 14. If that attitude has been conveyed, what are you impressions of it, as far as bands being more responsible say than Led Zeppelin or Van Halen were back in their days?

I think it’s a different day in age. I think that bands have

to get out of the whole rockstar life and really just concentrate on what they doing. You have a huge soapbox, a huge platform to express your views and if you want to get up there and spew hate or spew sexism and be like ‘Oh, show your (bleep)’ and all that stuff, you know what, that (bleep) sucks because you’re just wasting everyone’s time.

You could get up there and really have a message and really do something and affect the world in more ways that just patronizing (bleep)…ugh, it really annoys me to see that, it makes me sick to my stomach. Half these kids are young and impressionable and when they see these people up there doing that, it makes them think that that’s either okay or you shouldn’t respect yourself, do whatever the stupid rockstar says or whatever you want to call them. For us, we’ve never been a groupie band, I think, all of members have actually always been in relationships so we’ve never even thought about that kind of stuff and what we say everyday is that if someone in a rock band or working for a rock band tells you to disrespect yourself in any way for a backstage pass or a free t-shirt or something, then spit in their face, tell them to go (bleep) themselves, stand up for yourself. I’ve gotten into fights with people about this.

We played a show in Washington, D.C. and there was a, I guess brand new MTV veejay, that was introducing bands that day. And he was asking fifteen-year-old girls to flash for a free t-shirt and stuff and I went to the promoter and told him that I didn’t want him introducing our band and I couldn’t speak for any other bands but you might want to ask them and tell them what’s going on before they introduce them as a band. He goes ‘alright’, and I guess the other bands agreed and he was asked to leave. We got in a bit of a shuffle backstage. But it shouldn’t even come to stuff like that, people should have more common decency to your common man, or woman. Who the (bleep) are you, you know? To subject people to this, really, I wish these little girls’ parents could have been there to see what this guy was doing. He wouldn’t have been able to leave there without his (bleep) head ripped off. And I don’t know, it just really angers me.

Well, good for you, man. I’m glad to see that. That’s a good attitude.

I guess I can thank my mom, that’s how she brought me up.

Well, I’ve got one more question. Is there a question you’ve always wanted a journalist to ask you?

Oh, man. Naw, but you know what? I’ve always wanted, you’ve asked a lot of great questions and a lot of questions that have to do with music and I’ve always wanted that. I’ve always wanted to do an interview based on the message behind the art and the art at hand, the music, rather than the (bleep) haircuts or ‘Oh, so talk (bleep) on this band’ and I hate when press turns into this soap opera drama thing and really exploits bands for different things than what they should be doing. So thank you for asking a lot of questions about the actual art form rather than the fleeting fashions and animosities between bands. I appreciate that.

Cool. Well, thank you.

Thank you.

9/23/2005 7:25:00 PM

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9/23/2005 10:32:31 PM

Reggae | cont’d

Skindred’s nattily dreaded Welshman Webbe (formerly of Dubwar) comes from a place closer to the original home of reggae rocking, geographically and musically. His notions of musical cross-breeding aren’t all that calculated. “I don’t think, ‘I’d like to put the singer from Sum 41 with Sean Paul.’ I’m not like that.”

Like his San Diegan brethren, Webbe’s approach to the faith element in Skindred’s songcraft emphasizes a welcoming Divine love. “We come to uplift the people, to set the captive free. We want to uplift those people who have been physically or mentally bound up for years,” Webbe proclaims. The rousingly punky amalgam can be heard on their Babylon album (Lava Records).

By the name alone, there’s no doubt that Christafari have a more direct approach to godly spirituality informing their music. Leader Mark Mohr knew some scripture from his teenage dabbling in Rastafarianism. The sect now so synonymous with reggae culture uses the Bible, too, but exegetes its text to permit sacramental marijuana use. That was probably a bigger draw to a rebellious youth than its repositioning of an

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REGGAE 57 Ethiopian king as the reincarnate Christ.

A catholic taste for international music makes Christafari’s sound authentic and diverse.

Rootsy reggae remains at Christafari’s core, but that doesn’t mean Mohr’s afraid to mix it up. Dancehall, the reggae precedent to U.S. hip-hop in its use of instrumental tracks and sung-spoken vocals figures prominently in the C-fari’s mosaic. East Indian, Latin American and West African influences work their way into the band’s discography as well. With the understandable exception of their current children’s album, Reggae Sunday School, Mohr stands by the maxim, “Music is the only item in the world that doesn’t taste good with cheese on it.”

As mentioned earlier, a revival of sorts has been going on among prominent reggae personalities. One-time Marley background singer and acclaimed solo artist Judy Mowatt heads that list for her place in the music’s history. For her Something Old, Something New, Mowatt discovered something that rockers and others from secular backgrounds hit upon after their conversion. Their old art fits the new wineskin.

BOB MARLEY Of her prior career, she says, “When I look back on the songs I used to do, it was always gospel.” It’s as if she brings reggae all the way back to its earthly and heavenly, ah, roots.

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No Innocent Victim | cont’d

Dunn) can afford the privilege of calling their own shots. “I can do whatever I want,” Dunn laughs.

Moody and Dunn both tell the same story as to why they didn’t reunite under the legendary secular label, Victory Records. “They were good to us, but they have such large bands now, you know? We just figured we’d be little fish and be put on the shelf for whatever. Being on JD’s label, it’s all up to him how much he can push us. He can put us out as one of the forefront bands and push it as hard as he wants.”

“Victory has grown so much since we were on the label,” reveals Dunn, “just like a label like Facedown has grown so much from the day that Figure Four was our biggest band.

With Victory we knew that the record really wouldn’t get pushed if we couldn’t tour; and we knew we couldn’t really tour much and quit our jobs and lives and go out on the road.

Whereas, for me, it’s a big record. I don’t really care if I make money on it. My goal is to break even on the record and get the music and the message out there and not lose money, of course. There’d be no other label that would be willing to do that for us – ever.

We can’t tour, but the record’s going to get pushed and have ads in lots of magazines and good distribution and a lot of marketing and knowledge behind it and stuff.”

Not touring doesn’t mean that we’ll never see this killing hardcore machine live in action, though. They’re looking at continuing what they’ve been doing since their 3-song teaser set at Cornerstone 2004; and that’s playing “fly-out” and “one-off” dates all over the country. “We’re planning on hitting the hotspots,” Moody describes. “Places that we used to go through, where the response and the number of kids coming out was good. We all just sat down and kind of figured out how much each of us can do, because, you know, I’ve got four kids now and most of us are married and things are just a little different, so we won’t be in a hot, sweaty van anymore.”

It’ll be interesting to see what happens with this. Like an unshaven gunslinger with a faraway stare, audiences are likely to pay attention to what this menacing frontman has to say.

While the music this band creates is always powerful and intense, both Jasons point to the lyrics on the new album as their highlight. “I want people to read (the lyrics) and be convicted,” hopes Moody. “That’s what I was praying for as I was writing ‘em. I mean, they convicted me myself in some areas. But that’s what we’re praying for.”

“Jason did a really good job of really getting his message across and why we came back

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to do this record in the first place,” details Dunn.

“It’s very thick on the entire record, and that’s why, you know, we’re kind of not dancing around it at all. Every song kind of comes straight out and says why we’re doing (this) and our motivation.”

Before the words poured out, though, Moody admits he had writer’s block. “This album was really hard for me to write. I don’t know if it was because I was out of practice (laughs). But, man, I had writer’s block, but it all came through in the end. ‘To Burn Again’ is like what it sounds like – just to get that back for the Lord. I tried to hit on areas just to make the kids think, ‘What are you doing?’ (For example) Trying to be liked by the world – what’s the motive there?’ I hope to just stir them up to get the kids or whoever to be accountable to one another, so the world doesn’t look at us and think we’re a bunch of fakes. That’s it.”

Musically, Moody says the material on To Burn Again will fit right in with the N.I.V. catalog. “I don’t know if there’s anybody playing what we’re doing now. It’s fresh sounding, but it’s N.I.V. at the same time. We’ve got Dave Quiggle in the band now. We’ve got Neil Hartman. Both of them from xDisciplex A.D. It’s effected a little bit of the writing, which is good. I’ve always loved those guys.

Musically, I think it’s just like the other N.I.V. albums.”

“The recording process was just the best I’ve ever experienced,” admits Dunn. “Being able to record at Trax East was just really good. We rerecorded 3 of the songs from No Compromise on the new record. We paid for the recording of No Compromise, because Rescue didn’t have a budget for it, and we only had a little bit of money, so it was all recorded in our bass player (at the time, Jud)’s living room – with a guy that really didn’t know what he was doing. So, we always wanted to give some of our favorite songs on that record the recording that they deserved. We still play a lot of old stuff. We don’t really play any of the Strength record live, but the No Compromise stuff. That’s the first record I was on, and I still love most all of that album. Flesh and Blood was probably my favorite, and Tipping The Scales I like a lot, too. The main thing was never getting the recordings we wanted. I mean, Flesh and Blood was our favorite, because we had the best budget with Victory, but this new one we actually really got to do what we really wanted at Trax East and had the time and the money to work with to do everything as we like.”

And so, like the calm and steely eyes of a trained killer with nothing to lose in Clint Eastwood’s last great Western, No Innocent Victim is that reluctant hero, swaggering back to its familiar stomping grounds, but with years of experience and wisdom allowing its focused message to be that much clearer.

9/23/2005 7:04:33 PM

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9/24/2005 12:11:10 AM

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9/24/2005 12:11:44 AM

I N T E R M I S S I O N 61

Pastor Lary Dean is in love with all things extreme. His affinity for motocross and ministry have led to opportunities in the literary world and one world that is more familiar to him, the 2005 X games, and he’s still not done.

How did you get involved in extreme sports yourself? What led you to seek to let God use you in this area to reach out and minister in?

When I was a teenager, one of the things that I was really involved with besides music was motocross racing. I raced until I was about 18 and was doing pretty well semi-professionally, then got side-barred by a girl, a Martial Arts cult, and then ultimately Jesus. Touring with Trytan kept me pretty busy and active, but when I turned in the stage for the pulpit and began pastoring full-time, I got out of shape real quick. So after 17 years of not riding, we bought a bike again. We eventually got bikes for both my sons, and started competing. Through witnessing and sharing the Lord at the track, we developed a Christ-centered race team called “Only One Hero Racing.” For about 8 years now, we’ve been doing on-sight ministry at local races and series all around the Midwest including national and regional arena-cross events.

What is your connection with Greg Albertyn and what can you tell me about this new book coming out? How did that relationship form?

What are the details on this book, DVD, etc?

The year we got back into racing, all we heard about was this dominant racer named Jeremy McGrath. So when the first race was to air on ESPN, we had it turned on and we were looking to see this motocross phenom begin to dominate another year of supercross. While Jeremy didn’t have a very good race, a young rider from South Africa did go on and win the first round of the Pro AMA Supercross Series. We never heard of this racer before, but all of our eyes were tuned into his comments on the podium. We were blown away when the first thing Greg Albertyn did was give Jesus Christ all the glory for his victory that day. And for me personally, as a father of four, his genuine and impassioned acknowledgement of Christ blessed me to no end. Little did I know what the Lord had in store.

Later that year, I took the boys to Indy to see the round hosted there in person. My ultimate objective was to meet and thank Greg Albertyn for blessing us with his bold stand for Christ. We met at an autograph signing session and the Lord caused a real connection that day. We exchanged phone numbers, and I quickly found myself one of this young champion’s pastoral prayer partners. Over the past 8 years, we’ve built a strong, meaningful, Christ-centered friendship.

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When Greg retired in 2000, He had mentioned that he wanted to start to write a story about his life. Through our friendship and the interviews that I did with Greg for ministry, I realized that his story is one of the most awesome stories I’ve ever heard. One day as I was thinking and praying for him, the Lord prompted me, “Tell Greg to write his book.

His story will change people’s lives. I will use it.” So I called Greg and shared what the Lord had prompted me to tell him and he said, “That’s wild, because my thoughts have been preoccupied with writing the book for the past day and a half.” So after about 2 years of prodding and entreating, Greg finally finished the rough manuscript that’s called, The Rise of a Warrior. Through this process, I’ve developed a ministry/business that has helped manage the progress of the project.

And for a guy who could barely read when he graduated high school, I’m excited to be involved with producing cutting edge, life changing literary works.

Tell me about the ministry at the X Games recently.

I developed a strong desire to plant other churches and pioneer ministry that would help the church to realize ministry beyond the walls. The field pastor to the professional race community, Steve Hudson, called me in to do some special-care ministry for some of the pro racers and their families. Through one of those relationships, the idea of establishing on-site ministry at the X Games came up and was born and realized this year at the 2005 X Games in L.A. It was an incredible week of ministry, ranging from one-on-one and small group witnessing to doing a chapel service in the pits with some of the biggest names in extreme sports in attendance. I realized something earlier this year as I did on-site ministry in central Texas at some of the race series in amateur motocross: That in five races I shared the Gospel with more people more effectively and clearly than in my tenplus years as the senior pastor of a local church. I was like, “Wow, Lord, that’s so cool. This is the type of ministry every pastor and every Christian should realize. What’s the deal?” The Lord said, “It’s simple Lar, you got to where they were, just like my Son did.” Jesus came to us, to our existence. He got to where people are, and we should do the same. How will we change someone’s life if we don’t connect with them? So, the vision of Extreme Life Ministries is to teach the body of Christ to realize ministries behind the walls and ultimately see every Christian declare the Gospel in a powerful and effective way.

9/23/2005 7:28:50 PM

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10/3/2005 10:57:28 AM

ALBUM REVIEWS

63

Album reviews

63 ALBUMS 70 ENTERTAINMENT 71 BOOKS & GEAR

NODES OF RANVIER THE YEARS TO COME There’s an element of “Yeah… and?” to Nodes of Ranvier’s third full-length release The Years to Come. The five-piece metal outfit has put together a twelve-song outburst, shining in some moments, but lacking the punch needed to lift it up to be a record you put on repeat.

Nodes of Ranvier kicked off their career with a split-release, and throughout a number of member changes, released two-full length albums, Lost Senses, More Innocence and Nodes of Ranvier. Lost Senses… proved to be a perfect debut album; nearly every fan has something positive to say about it. It’s got the perfect mix of music, metal and memorability that when their second release hit stores, people seemed to be a tad disappointed. To that end, it seems like The Years to Come falls to the same fate.

Unfortunately, the album kicks off with an instrumental built around one riff that feels like it’s missing something. It lasts for over two and a half minutes and you’d hope the next song— more or less intended to be the kick-off track— would make up for the intro, but becomes a disappointment. The best breakdown doesn’t hit until the middle of the third track, and come few from that point on.

Rating system 05 04 03 02 01

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CLASSIC FABULOUS SOLID SUSPECT AMISS

The problem here isn’t that the band is untalented. The album, like any solid metal record, is fast. And when it hits, it hits. “The Dawning Age” builds to an intense climax and is the first song to truly showcase some of what the band has to offer. The riff behind “Second Hand Syndrome’s” chorus takes the song to a new level, and later in the track, the breakdown brings the type of feel that only polka-dots the record. Their talent is in there (some points of the record are exactly as fast as you’d like them to be), but it only peeks its head around the corner randomly. Instead, they pattern the record with typical metal riffs, a couple of singing breakdowns and two instrumental songs ¨

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64 A L B U M R E V I E W S

that more or less kick-off the album or just serve to latch two songs together. Listen to the album a few times through and you’ll think you’ve heard the same song a couple times; but in the same rotation, you’ll hear parts you’ll want to listen to time and time again—and you’ll wonder why the whole album isn’t like that.

[FACEDOWN RECORDS] DAVID STAGG

HEADNOISE

FOR NOW WE KNOW: IN PART 1 The day Hunter (S. Thompson) died, some of us celebrated the way he’d like – with a long, tortured visit to a dark, black, punk rock dive with profanity as thick as the smoke, stepping over passed-out drunks on the way to the germ-infested rest room with its trough urinal and sticky floors. You dare not wash your hands in this God-forsaken room, for touching either the porcelain or faucet fittings would be welcoming most certain e-coli or hepatitis B. Crunching needles on the floor from addicts traveling to a number state and ignoring the blaring punk vocals atop a galloping and raw bassline, only to assume the position at the bar counter, feebly asking for “anetha dwink.” Others of us spent the day another way, fighting for justice in the beat up city, attempting to breathe the zoe life inside of us into those willing to listen or even issuing permission to hunch over our shoulders and carry to the soup kitchen. The city’s not pretty, and some people willingly place themselves in the gutter’s way to clean the cup from the inside. From this perspective, let me present 2005’s most beautiful people: Robert Goodwin (bass), Edie Goodwin (vocals), Sid Duffour (guitar), Casey Logan (drums), and Andy Bender (guitar). For Now We Know: In Part 1 offers us “Defiled,” shouting truth with the shrill pain of a pinched nerve, and it couldn’t be more wonderful. When Mrs. Goodwin asks the rhetorical question, “What about life?” and answers it with the unwavering proclamation, “It’s not time to die!” You simply believe her. This is punk rock at its redeeming finest…or at least as close to it as I’ve felt in years. [GRRR] KERN COUNTY KID, THE

THE STORY CHANGES

LAST NIGHT A ROCK BAND SAVED MY LIFE The Story Changes makes its debut on Future Destination Records. Produced by Jamie Woolford (The Stereo, Let Go), these 11 tracks make for an overwhelmingly pop-punk album. Both the sound and the lyrics remind me of my high school days of listening to the Ataris and All-American Rejects. As quoted on the band’s website, some of the songs on the album “deal with getting your heart broken, some with being the heart breaker. All are about hope. The reoccurring theme throughout the album is one of coming into your own and finding yourself buried deep within.”

I’d agree with that. While most of the songs are enjoyable to listen to, the creativity and originality is lacking. With lyrics like “Look into your heart again/Tell me where the tunnel ends” from the

116 album reviews.indd 2

ninth track, The Story Changes deliver a mediocre montage of power chords and sprightly lyrics. The album is a feel-good one, but nothing spectacular.

[FUTURE DESTINATION] FRANCES SCHOONVELD

Norman’s apocalyptic vividness. Whether he’s interested in doing so is debatable, but Max may have it in him to cross over every which way on his own now, too. [NORTHERN] JAMIE LEE RAKE

TEN 33

THE WEDNESDAYS INVISIBLE YOUTH

NIGHTMARE ON GRACE STREET Ten 33’s Nightmare On Grace Street is the most enjoyable and energetic album to hit the streets in a long, long time.

Chock-full of up-beat melodies and lively vocals, Nightmare has created an album that I can finally have fun to! TEN 33 isn’t out to break any molds or redefine any genres, they’re just having a good time writing great music that is sure to grab the attention of anyone longing for some good ol’ hardcore. [BLOOD AND INK] DARREN TINDELL .

[SOLID STATE] BRADLEY SPITZER

MAN ALIVE OPEN SURGERY

Man Alive is a three-piece from Jerusalem, but you’d never know it. They sound like they sprouted from the same Southern California punk scene that brought forth the likes of Bad Religion. But don’t write them off just yet – Open Surgery, their stateside label debut, is more varied than you might expect, mixing 40-second hyperspeed rants like “Against the Wall” with more melodic numbers like “Rewind.” The band also comes up with an intelligent anti-anthem in “Catch Phrases, Slogans and Chants,” the urgency of the lyrics complemented by the surging guitars. There’s nothing innovative about this, but it launches like a rocket, stating its piece and getting out in 35 minutes. It’s a surprisingly spunky release from the Militia Group, who have made a name recently with textured, emotional bands like Copeland. Bottom line: if punchy, singable, straight-ahead punk does it for you, then Man Alive delivers. (THE MILITIA GROUP) ANDRE SALLES

KEVIN MAX THE IMPOSTER

Of the former (and future?) dc Talk’ers, Kevin Max has charted the most mystifying career arc. After releasing the most “huh?”inducing of their initial solo albums, he hasn’t let his photographic and poetic pursuits get in the way of the occasional, barely distributed sequels to Stereotype Be. The Imposter bodes to fare better.

Max here sounds to be channelling much of the British influences that he loaned dc Talk for its rock edge. If the Gallagher brothers in Oasis were converted and drew from neo-New Wave dance rock vibes, the results wouldn’t be dissimilar from “Confessional Booth” or “Jump Start Your Electric Heart!” Those Britpop yobs may or may not be as verbally fanciful as Max. At least we now have confirmation of the origin of some of dcT’s stranger lyrical conceits.

Just when you think you have him figured out, however, he conjures “When He Returns,” the eschatological sobriety of which ranks with Larry

On their first studio album in a long time, The Wednesdays typify the most and least inspired attributes of their rustic aesthetic.

Invisible Youth’s 11 songs blast through in a half-hour or so. Like rockers allergic to anything even vaguely progressive, that leaves little time for embellishment; for their ‘60s-’80s punk/alt country/Southern soul & rock amalgam, the lack of ornamentation serves their melodies well.

Would only the brotherly trio’s lyrics come intuitively as their sonic assault. Somewhere between half-baked eschatology (“Sweetr Beaulah”), softheaded politics (“You’re A Fascist”) and more trad rock tropes, The Wednesdays presumably hope to say something. Whatever they might hope that to be gets lost in middling songcraft. Even a nearly cinematically atmospheric fright such as “It’s Just

Ratings DV

Writer

Nodes Of Ranvier The Years To Come

03

03

Headnoise

For Now We Know: In Part 1

03*

04*

The Story Changes

Last Night A Rock Band Saved My Life

02*

03

Ten 33

Nightmare On Grace Street

03

04

Man Alive Open Surgery

03

03

Kevin Max The Imposter

03

04

The Wednesdays Invisible Youth

03

02*

Spoken

Last Chance To Breathe

03*

03*

Johnny Cash The Legend

04*

05

Staple

Of Truth And Reconciliation

03

03

Braille

Thin Cities

02*

02

Daphne Loves Derby On The Strength Of All Convinced

02*

03*

Nural

The Weight Of The World

03

03

Paramore

All We Know Is Falling

04

04

Barlow Girl

Another Journal Entry

02

03

Switchfoot

03*

04

Nothing Is Sound

9/23/2005 7:46:03 PM

ALBUM REVIEWS

Unusual” gets sabotaged by a crummy title. On the bright side, The Wednesdays could be one of the few Christian acts Little Steven may spin on his Underground Garage. If only he had something more substantive to work with. [THORPE] JAMIE LEE RAKE

SPOKEN

LAST CHANCE TO BREATHE Arkansas natives Spoken return with their sixth release, Last Chance To Breathe. The new album’s title can be construed as a hint it may be their last. Let’s hope this is not the case. Spoken’s dynamic rock style is difficult to label – which may or may not be intentional. They could be making a deliberate effort to be creative, or they lack a focused sound. The verdict could favor either way, but nevertheless it is irrelevant. Spoken just rocks. Their dominating guitar overtones deliver sudden surges of assailment, which are quickly contradicted with short benign choruses. The band even questions their own roots by covering Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” (yes, as in the ‘80s pop diva), which proves as a divertive and noncontributing attribute (don’t worry, Norma Jean’s vocalist Cory Brandan guests on “Bitter Taste” to help reinstate Spoken’s heavy credibility). But it is vocalist Matt Baird that steals and drives the band’s addictive and diversified appeal. Baird soars as high as Saosin’s Cove Reber on the album’s titled track, then switches to screamo fervor for the song’s final words: “This could be your…last time to breathe.”

Indeed it could be. We must now follow Spoken’s implied lead and live everyday as if it might be the last. They provide the soundtrack, now you establish the plot. Carpe diem. [TOOTH & NAIL] DAN FRAZIER

JOHNNY CASH THE LEGEND

Whyever would a Christocentric hard’n’heavy music mag dedicate review space to a Johnny Cash boxset, especially one bereft of any of his late career alt rock reinterpretations? Wasn’t Cash a country singer?

Yes, but one who rocked authoritatively, his singular bassy baritone and beyond. Inspiration for young bucks blurring lines between church and general markets couldn’t come much bolder than Cash.

That said, a significant smattering of The Legend’s 100-plus selections consists of outright gospel and “positive” hits and faves.

But, like the Book he treasured most, Cash wasn’t one to recount life’s seamier side. Criminal odes such as “Folsom Prison Blues” and “A Boy Named Sue” have been deemed precursors to gangsta rap by some. The morality separating Cash from 50 Cent, however, is the consequence of suffering and comeuppance for the Man In Black’s protagonists.

On a 1960’s Music Row so hidebound to tradition, Cash didn’t fear hippies and their rock. Hence his willingness to embrace Bob Dylan.

Shame that the version with the big honkin’ book and DVD will set a body back two or three

116 album reviews.indd 3

Benjamins; even in its humbler edition, The Legend respectably anthologizes an essential godly rocker.

[COLUMBIA/LEGACY] JAMIE LEE RAKE

STAPLE

OF TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION Before Staple even began to write the lyrics for their sophomore release, they first chose its title – Of Truth And Reconciliation – and focused on creating a concept album. The songs cover martyrdom, virtue, hypocrisy, and repentance, but it’s the line “open eyes reveal the thing that’s been missing” on “The Day The Blind Revolted” that captures the overall intended message. Adding to the ardor, are devout melodic choruses which alternate into intense screams. And appropriately simultaneous to these bi-polar vocals is congruous metallic rock. [FLICKER] DAN FRAZIER

BRAILLE

THIN CITIES It took northern Illinois’ Braille two years to finally record their debut album, Thin Cities. So perhaps this is why the album reflects the impulsion of a procrastinating nap. To give the songs a more elaborate texture, the cushy rock trio added instruments such as piano, cello, and violin.

And it is only when these extra ingredients become overwhelming that the songs gleam to essence; but by then it is far too late, for the narcolepsy has already set in. [COMMON CLOUD] DAN FRAZIER

65

PARAMORE

ALL WE KNOW IS FALLING The title of Paramore’s debut implies a pessimistic demeanor, while to the contrary, their music sparks optimistic hope.

Fronted by a passionate teenage girl (Hayley Williams), these adolescent Tennessee natives erupt epical melodic rock with emotional severity.

Their lyrics, “I’ve seen you cry way too many times, when you deserve to be alive” on the captivating “Emergency,” empathize with anyone who has ever attempted to ease somebody else’s pain. Just because they’re young doesn’t mean they can’t feel. [FUELED BY RAMEN] DAN FRAZIER

BARLOW GIRL

ANOTHER JOURNAL ENTRY Editor Doug Van Pelt called their selftitled 2004 album “music for 9 year old girls,” and rightly so. With Another Journal Entry, however, it seems that these teens have been munching on a steady diet of Evanescence – or at least enough to beef up their TIger Beat pop rock with some edge. While Evanescence doesn’t get much love in the 20-and-older crowd, songs like this still pass an “attitude test” that’s credible. I’ll give these kids a thumbs up on this release. I’m impressed. And that doesn’t happen too often out here in the Mojave Desert.

[FERVENT] KERN COUNTY KID, THE

SWITCHFOOT DAPHNE LOVES DERBY

ON THE STRENGTH OF ALL CONVINCED Daphne Loves Derby creates addictive pop rock.

The young trio occasionally recruits strings, piano, and acoustic guitar to help console the harmonies of guitarist Kenny Choi and bassist Jason Call.

The result is pure endorphins. Yet just like the weather of their native Northwest, their music can suddenly turn gray…only to shine again later.

[OUTLOOK] DAN FRAZIER

NURAL

THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD Listening to Nural’s debut album, The Weight Of The World, somehow conjures an uncanny nostalgia for the mid ’90s. Their use of acoustic introductions, crooned vocals, and quasi-chug riffs hint that the band must not pay attention to current music trends (perhaps due to the remote location of their California hometown in the San Gabriel Mountains). However, their familiar and intensified rock proves to be occasionally affable. I just hope they don’t move their heads back and forth while performing…let’s not bring that back. [HOPELESS] DAN FRAZIER

NOTHING IS SOUND Never been a fan of Switchfoot’s music.

Nor have I been slightly excited at the news of a release. Alright. As catchy as pop can be, this harder version of Switchfoot rock seems to be even more addicting. Now, this “hard” won’t hold anything to what we at HM consider the same, but really... it doesn’t matter. Figure out a way to release that cocky genre elitism, and Nothing is Sound will stand closely behind Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone.” Now, the lyrics are solid. (There is a slight overtone of dismay and unease towards the state of many things, but it works to pull us in.)

And the production is incredible. There are some wonderful level decisions made: vocals, guitar, and even kick drum. Okay, so, the quick summary: First, this album is sticky, you’ll be singing it (especially track four, “The Shadow Proves The Sunshine”) for weeks. Second, the majority of this release is good. Both of which make this worth the money.

[COLUMBIA] DAVID ALLEN

9/23/2005 8:05:40 PM

66 A L B U M R E V I E W S

MARTY STUART & HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES SOULS’ CHAPEL

Country neo-traditionalist Marty Stuart’s Americana trilogy begins with sacred songs suffused with retro elements. Southern and soul gospel bump up against rockabilly and (rhythm &) blues like a semi-imagined memory of Tennessee radio somewhere between 1954 and 1965. Clincher for guitar freaks is Stuart’s possession of Roebuck “Pop” Staples’ treasured axe, out of which he effects tremelo uncannily similar to that of Mavis’s late dad. Stuart, et al sound to be having as much fun as they’re having in-studio church.

[SUPERLATONE/UNIVERSAL SOUTH]JAMIE LEE RAKE

FALLING UP DAWN ESCAPES

Falling Up sounds a little bit like Kutless – albeit with a Coldplay obsession – on Dawn Escapes. In addition to its crunchy guitar parts throughout, there are trickling acoustic piano moments in just as abundant supply. And instead of alternating between screaming and whispering, lead vocalist Jessy Ribordy actually sings all the way through this release. Is it a lighter Kutless or a harder Coldplay? Well, that’s for you to decide.

Lyrically, the band is spiritually centered, without coming off tremendously obvious. For instance, “Flights” appears to speak of God’s omnipresence – but that’s just a best guess. Thematically, the topic of light is clearly on this band’s mind, what with song titles like “Searchlights,” “Moonlight,” and “Lights of Reedport.” Falling Up straddles a couple of relatively exclusive musical genres into a winning combination, which is why Dawn Escapes might just indescribably wow you. [BEC] DAN MACINTOSH

STRETCH ARM STRONG FREE AT LAST

There are two types of Musical Maturity: The first being that which comes to the young through sheer brilliance; the second stemming from a sweat-filled experience and busting your hump for years and years. It is the latter type of Musical Maturity that Stretch Arm Strong exudes on this recording. The successful one-trick pony that has been prancing through the harsh and unforgiving punk and hardcore scene for years has finally come of age and is now a formidable muscular stallion whose veins pulsate with rich, full-throttle hardcore sandwiched by soaring melodicism. Free at Last pushes the limits of aggression without anger, creativity without cliché, melody without meandering and harmony without all the tedious hassle. Stretch Arm Strong knows how to handle a hammer and hits the head of the nail with an accuracy that is frightening while laughing at all of the bands with smashed fingers. The only disappointment that I have with this record comes from knowing it can’t help but spawn countless numbers of sickly, gangly-limbed and anemic copycat bands.

[WPO] CHRIS FRANCZ

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MAKESHIFT3

FLOURESCENT BLACK Makeshift3, a trio from the San Diego area, brags of influences that range from Pantera to Blink 182. And after listening to the new Fluorescent Black CD, one finds this personal assessment to be extremely accurate. In fact, the group often sounds a little schizophrenic at times from track to track. Although its sound is an ever-changing mishmash of styles, Makeshift3’s lyrical focus is nevertheless staunchly spiritual. For instance, during the track “The Darkest Night Of The Soul” it sings, “The nails in your hands and the hammer in mine.” Many of the lyrics on this CD are also equally straightforward, even though titles like “Hiyayda Martian 3.0 Gold” and “Et Tu Agnaetus Copinious” are more than just a little odd. Lead vocals range from metallic screaming to punkishly snotty singing. Nevertheless, the three nice looking gentlemen pictured on the disc’s artwork look more like IT geeks at the office, rather than Warped Tour warriors. In today’s ever-hyphenating music scene, it’s not uncommon to see bands (such as this one) that draw from relatively diverse musical inspirations. But Makeshift3 never fails to make all of its various influences play together well here.

[NEW SCHOOL] DAN MACINTOSH

this band stand out in a saturated genre. More raw and melancholy than the upbeat and quirky “Gravity Gets Things Done,” the band’s basic recipe for hyperglycemic nirvana remains the same. The lack of a good hook or memorable chorus keeps this squarely in the “coffee house” / background listening category, but fun nevertheless. Urgently heed the artist’s words, “Run, run swiftly my dear son,” or you might just wake up in the next world begging forgiveness from the Father for deviating from your usual low carb diet of “demon hunting” metal. [SIDECHO] JONATHAN SWANK

THE KIRBY

SPLIT EP (WITH BLUEPRINT CAR CRASH) Austin’s The Kirby has distilled its sound into something unique and uber-musical. These 3 songs tempt the taste buds for a new full-length. Gone are the easy comparisons to every other screamo band and present are the pulsating start/stop musical showing off a la Mars Volta. “This Operation Will Remove Your Liar’s Lungs” sounds enough like Underoath to swipe a few fans, but distinct enough not to anger them. [DOLL HOUSE] DOUG VAN PELT

Ratings

WAR OF AGES

DV

Writer

Marty Stuart &...

Souls’ Chapel

04

04

Falling Up Dawn Escapes

02*

03

Stretch Arm Strong Free At Last

03*

04

Makeshift3 Flourescent Black

03

02

War Of Ages S/T

04

04

The Pale Pacific Urgency

03*

03

The Kirby Split EP

03*

Project 86

...And The Rest Will Follow

04

Dug Pinnick Emotional Animal

02*

Becoming The Archetype Terminate Damnation

04

04*

The Mighty Jeremiahs

03*

04

S/T

“With every breath and all that I am, I will make a stand.” War of Ages’ selftitled album is overflowing with passion. They’ve hit the mark with their style of metallic hardcore, molding songs together with powerful breakdowns and jaw dropping guitar solos. Songs like “Stand Your Ground” and “One Day” really stand out, captivating you with their humbling lyrics. Few bands speak as much truth as War of Ages, who continuously move the hearts of their listeners. Of all the albums to come out this year, War of Ages is easily my favorite. Do not miss out on this album, it is amazing. [STRIKE FIRST RECORDS] DARREN TINDELL JR.

THE PALE PACIFIC URGENCY

Former HM “pick of the litter” The Pale Pacific (formerly The Pale) is back with more foot-tappin’, groovy modern/indie rock.

Warning! This is the kind of stuff hard music fans are supposed to hate; for this ear candy is so sweet it will instantly send you into a diabetic coma.

Unfortunately, your girlfriend or wife will be so mesmerized by Gabe Archer’s soft vocal melodies that they will likely forget to resuscitate you with heavy metal insulin. Despite the carb rich diet, and the usual guy/girl topics, these guys tackle some difficult relational/familial issues. They also have a penchant for clever songwriting, which is nicely exhibited by the punky “Identity Theft” replete with “borrowed” riff and sarcastic lyric. While the hypnotic vocals take captive your ear, it’s the “dreamy” retro 70’s keyboards (with tons of reverb) that help

S/T

03

9/23/2005 7:46:30 PM

ALBUM REVIEWS

16 HORSEPOWER

THE CHARIOT

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN (DVD) Hilarity and random stream of consciousness in the editing keep your attention (even with multiple views) way more than sticking this close with a young, sweaty band should be. It succeeds in endearing the viewer permanently to this band, and Bradley Hathaway even steps in case you get distracted by all the handheld footage and live snippets. Josh Scogin even adds a nice and dry, matter-of-fact audio commentary that explains some of the crazed action.

[SOLID STATE] DOUG VAN PELT

DEREK WEBB

HOW TO KILL AND BE KILLED (DVD) This brilliant singer/songwriter/artist oozes with talent, confidence, and memorable songs. This simple concert DVD captures him well with great lighting and solid (but only) stereo sound. The answers he gives in an unassuming (and long) interview is wonderful. He challenges us to live like Jesus in honest and simple language. This guy is cool.... [INO] DOUG VAN PELT

V/A

THE NAIL DVD This is a gift to the music scene and should be a standard that all record labels follow (if they have enough videos to go around). From the art class creativity of Joy Electric and mewithoutYou to the wry plotlines in Project’s “The Spy Hunter,” it’s grade-A quality. The artists offering audio commentary for other band’s vids is fantastic.

[TOOTH & NAIL] DOUG VAN PELT

V/A

THIS IS SOLID STATE: THE DVD Catching these on Headbanger’s Ball is cool and all, but being able to press “play” anytime rules.

The navigation could be better, but the audio commentaries are priceless. One gem is the setting of Haste The Day’s “Closest Thing To Closure.”

Outstanding. [SOLID STATE] DOUG VAN PELT

DANIEL AMOS

THE MAKING OF... (DVD) Creating and recording an album is a tedious process, but Mr. Buechner’s Dream is a remarkable album. Maybe it’s just that we see too many of the parts here to make this any more significant than an accessory. Within that light, however, it’s valuable, as we do learn interesting facts about the band and even their mentor, Mr. Buechner.

[STUNT] DOUG VAN PELT

116 album reviews.indd 5

16 HP (DVD) Though David Eugene Edwards still helms Woven Hand, it’s an incalculable shame that the band that introduced his musical vision to the world is no longer. Fans of 16 Horsepower have reason for one last, long huzzah, however, with this double DVD collection. It encompasses everything anyone may want from the gothically dark alt country/post-punk trio apart from a complete concert performance or three. In interview and documentary footage Edwards is as forthcoming about his Christianity (and the childhood circumstances that immersed him in church life) as he is about his love for vintage American music. The group’s few music videos went further than do many bands’ in matching visual aesthetic to the sonic, especially the earlier black & white clips. Concert footage showcases the protean approach 16 Hp gave its own work, as well as a stirring cover of Joy Division’s “Heart and Soul.”

As a remembrance of an underappreciated band, 16 HP will resonate with their faithful and give the curious reason to care. [SMOOCH] JAMIE LEE RAKE

PROJECT 86

...AND THE REST WILL FOLLOW In September’s issue of HM Magazine, Project 86 frontman Andrew Schwab claimed that while “15 to 18 skeleton-structured songs” had been written, he had yet to write any vocal ideas. The irony of this statement is that after their last record, 2004’s Songs to Burn Your Bridges By, was widely criticized for its lack of melody, it is now the vocal versatility on …And The Rest Will Follow that makes it the group’s strongest effort to date. The hardcore group chanting found within the choruses of “Sincerely, Ichabad,” is juxtaposed with Danko Jones-esque deep whispered verses that together create a ‘got you in a chokehold’ intensity that’s hard to deny. Likewise, the elongated screaming in “Necktie Remedy” gathers its momentum from the echoed verses, harmonized choruses, and conversational breakdown that come before it, while the somber delivery in the title track beautifully enhances the lost and lingering emotion found within the song. Musically, Project 86’s familiarity with Tooth & Nail and producer GGGarth (who helmed Drawing Black Lines) allows the group to incorporate various sounds, including tribal at times drums, frenzied guitar work, and worthwhile piano interludes, all of which play a key role in breaking the California four-piece away from standard conventions and distinguishing their sound from the rest that will inevitably follow [T&N] AUSTIN POWELL

DUG PINNICK

EMOTIONAL ANIMAL It must be nice to have a solo album deal when you’re in a band. All those songs that the danged democracy or unspoken group standard won’t allow suddenly have an outlet. Musically, this one sounds more cohesive than Pineappleskunk or Massive Grooves... and

67

allows for this brilliant voice and musician to show more of his influences (like some sweet slide guitar playing), but it’s still much more raw than his material in King’s X. Lyrically, Pinnick has found a niche in tackling self esteem, and he won’t let go of it.

The logic leap of equating civil rights with marijuana laws is a bit much, though (in “Equal Rights”).

[MAGNA CARTA] DOUG VAN PELT

BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE TERMINATE DAMNATION

At least the band gives you a quiet intro track before they come out with guns blazing. I don’t think any would be prepared for “Into A Oblivion” as a first song. It pummels you from all sides. And that’s a good thing. In fact, it’s one of the best things all year. Waving Atlanta, GA’s flag, this five-piece metal outfit makes sure you feel every second of their six-minute post-intro song. Every song follows suit.

Every one. Terminate Damnation’s only downfall is that they’re going to have to write another record.

There’s next to no better way to announce your way into the world; how do you follow it up? The guitar work on “One Man Parade” is to die for. “Elegy” is epic. And how do you follow up those songs? You write some of the most beautiful classical acoustic guitar you’ll ever hear; the next track, “Night’s Sorrows,” brings back the glory days of metal when acoustics weren’t considered selling-out. It’s pushing the envelope and bringing back progressive metal. You can’t really find a CD like this on the market right now. At the risk of starting a riot, Terminate Damnation has the ability to be one of the best metal albums of 2005 (if The Showdown and Demon Hunter hadn’t released records). You know what? Take whatever your favorite metal record is this year and put it up against this one.

I bet you’ll be surprised. The only thing that could make this band more metal would be an illegible logo. That’s what I want. Another band whose name I can’t recognize when I pick up the CD, a blend of metal and whatever –core suffix you want to throw on it, crazy break downs, some wicked guitar solos, and progressive metal, classical acoustic jams in between. Now if they could only make their logo a little harder to read. [SOLID STATE] DAVID STAGG

THE MIGHTY JEREMIAHS S/T

The sum of Jimmy Hall’s (Wet Willie) and Kentucky Headhunter Greg Martin’s strengths merge as they lead The Mighty Jeremiahs. Hall’s Southern boogie rock and Martin’s rocky country frame standards and originals loudly proclaiming Christ. Guest spots by Bonnie Bramlett, Darrell Mansfield and Phil Keagy add cCm appeal, but these 15 songs are as authentically bluesy and swaggering as the Allman Brothers, Bad Company and Little Feet vinyl with which The Mighty Jeremiahs can deservedly share shelf space.

[EAR X-TACY/PARADIGM SHIFT] JAMIE LEE RAKE

9/23/2005 7:46:43 PM

68 A L B U M R E V I E W S

MAYLENE AND ASHTON NYTE AND THE ACCUSED THE SONS OF DISASTER HEADSPACE S/T

I’m not a scenester. Nor am I a fan of professional football...anymore. Covering a Super Bowl with the press corps will spoil that appetite.

Hordes of corporate swine wade through the din of reporters, following the power monger of the moment like rats behind the Pied Piper. Besides the distaste of being a blue collar reporter in the adult OC party of the year, I’ve somehow grown to dislike excellence and domination. After 3 Super Bowls in four years, I’m finding myself rooting for whoever is lining up against the New England Patriots.

The music scene in America is slightly similar.

Of all the labels peddling hard-edged music with a faith perspective, Tooth & Nail towers above them all – repeat champions in evaluating and signing the right talent and attitude, keeping the music and vibe authentic in a way that pleases true music lovers.

Ain’t much to complain about there. T&N is a great label, run with a Belichick-like precision and ability to adapt to game-time changes, yet I find myself rooting for the underdog label when they do it right.

That label of the moment is one Mono Vs. Stereo, who score their latest big find with Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster.

This band gets it. From Ma Barker’s “they can have my gun when they pry it out of my cold, dead fingers” attitude to the biting, string-bending penchant for attitude over precision performance.

The slugging-it-out mean riffage of Pantera in their heyday (Dime, R.I.P.) and the “take no prisoners” spittem attack of Glen Danzig at his nastiest... Who knew Dallas Taylor (ex-Underoath) had it in him?

Remember your history, kids: the Whitecross debut album, the first time you saw the Crucified, the Re-birth of Living Sacrifice, Scrolls, Human Sacrifice, The Blamed’s Give Us Barrabas.This is one such great moment. [ MONO VS. STEREO] KERN COUNTY KID, THE

KING’S X OGRE TONES

Those disappointed in the last ten years of the King’s X musical output should be pleased with this one. It fits nicely between Dogman and Ear Candy. Those fans who rejoiced at the “new wine” feeling faith-affirming lyrics of their past are bound to be disappointed by the “glass half-empty” outlook on God’s people, found in the profanity-exclaimed “Get Away.” (“Hey God, I watched the news tonight. Why are Your people so (bleeping) mean?”) In spite of the accusation, the song poses a great question: “Where does God “get away” and “take a break” from the suffering He sees on earth? Or does He?” Once again, I’d have to agree with Bono: “The only music worth listening to is written by someone running to or away from God.” I’m looking forward to a reverse in direction here. [INSIDE OUT] DOUG VAN PELT

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If the “grey area” of listening to secular music is really black, then I’m in big trouble for listening to Type O Negative and H-I-M. But at least now I have a healthy “alternative.” Ashton Nyte is one of those gifted songwriters and vocalists who can practically do no musical wrong.

Every song that he or his major-project band, The Awakening, puts out, every deep and low vocal note is blissful joy to these ears. While this solo outing is slightly more raw and stripped down than that other band he’s in, I’m just thrilled to have it.

[INTERVENTION ARTS] DOUG VAN PELT

CHASING VICTORY

I CALL THIS ABANDONMENT Bands like this are a tough nut to crack. Do you congratulate them for a well-produced, crisp-sounding debut album? Or do you take them to task for putting out a record that sounds a little too much like a number of other bands? Chasing Victory has succeeded in releasing a solid addition to the current crop of melodic hardcore/screamo records. All the required prerequisites are there: The breakdowns, the screaming verses, the melodic choruses, the dual-vocal bridges, guitar riffing galore, double-kick drums, etc.

And it’s well-done to boot. Stick this into your car stereo and you’ll definitely be rocking out, blasting it out rolled-down windows. If you’re not, do us a favor and check your pulse. But there might also be a nagging sense that you’ve heard it before. Maybe in the latest Underoath album? Or perhaps Dead Poetic’s last record? There is a definite feeling of déjà vu (or would that be déjà entendu?) in listening to I Call This Abandonment. It’s probably not enough to keep you from checking it out, but it might be enough to prevent it from entering your heavy rotation. [MONO VS. STEREO] JEREMY HUNT

LEPER

BOB DYLAN

NO DIRECTION HOME This soundtrack to Scorsese’s wonderfully exhaustive film is also the latest Legacy Records set in the Bob Dylan Bootleg Series. But instead of being a bunch of previously unheard Dylan compositions, these are mostly alternate takes of familiar songs. This makes sense, because the film itself mainly focuses upon Dylan’s pivotal cultural contributions between ‘61-’66, and these songs in particular support the filmmaker’s case that the singer/songwriter was and is someone truly special. One hears the controversially electrified “Maggie’s Farm” from the Newport Folk Festival. On the obscurer side, there is also a home recording of “When I Got Troubles,” which even predates Dylan’s Columbia Records recording contract days. In the end, this two-disc set merely reinforces the contention that Bob Dylan is one beautiful mystery. [COLUMBIA/LEGACY] DAN MACINTOSH

Ratings DV

Writer

Maylene & The Sons...

S/T

04

04*

King’s X Ogre Tones

03

Ashton Nyte &...

Headspace

04

Chasing Victory I Call This Abandonment

03*

Leper

Kreischen

03

Bob Dylan

02*

No Direction Home

02*

03

KREISCHEN Just in time for Halloween, this gothic slab of doom is sonically solid, as heavy as metal, as epic as a movie soundtrack (check out the keyboard swells that introduce “Festering”), and as abrasive as good nails-across-the-chalkboard industrial should be. The samples are great. Topics such as obsessive love, our penchant for sin, and the classic fight between the world’s system and its Creator are covered in a confrontational way, but told in an almost story setting that makes the content compelling, which allows for “the medicine to go down” easily. Nice. [ GRRR] DOUG VAN PELT

9/23/2005 7:46:55 PM

USPS FORM # 3526, STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MGMT, & CIRCULATION

Publication Title: HM | Pub. # 1066-6923 | File Date: 9-15-5 Issue Freq: bi-monthly | # issues annually: 6 | Annual Subscription: $15 Complete Mailing Address: 6307 Cele Road #573, Pflugerville TX 78660 Complete Mailing Addr of Gen. Biz Office: 6307 Cele Road #573, Pflugerville TX 78660 Publisher Name & Address: Doug Van Pelt | 6307 Cele Road #573, Pflugerville TX 78660 Editor Name & Address: Doug Van Pelt | 6307 Cele Road #573, Pflugerville TX 78660 Full Name & Addr: HM Magazine, LLC | 6307 Cele Road #573, Pflugerville TX 78660

Owner Name & Addr: Doug Van Pelt | 205 Janis Mae Drive, Hutto TX 78634 Tax status has not changed during preceding 12 months.

Extent & Nature of Circulation: Total # of copies (net press run) Paid/Requested Outside-County Mail Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541 Paid/Requested In-County Mail Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541 Sales Through Dealers, etc and Other Non-USPS Paid Distribution Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation Free Distribution by Mail Outside-County as Stated on Form 3541 Free Distribution by Mail In-County as Stated on Form 3541 Free Distribution by Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS Free Distribution Outside the Mail Total Free Distribution Total Distribution Copies not Distributed Total Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation

Avg. # Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months

# Copies Single Issue (Sep/Oct ‘05) Published nearest to filing date

13,166 3,733 0 7,008 183 10,924 83

11,000 3,249 0 6,282 300 9,831 146

0 0 1,573 1,656 12,580 586 13,166

0 0 523 669 10,500 500 11,000

86%

93%

Publication of Statement of Ownership is Required. Printed in Nov/Dec ‘05 issue

Signature:

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Signature Date: 9-15-5

10/3/2005 11:14:15 AM

Entertainment reviews DVDS, BOOKS & GEAR

02 BECAUSE OF WINN DIXIE

FOX VIDEO

This lil’ ode to a dog named after a southern grocery store chain is like My Dog Skip, except with a single-parent girl (whose dad’s a pastor) who struggles with fitting in yet is able to unite a diverse family of friends in a short time just by being herself. Rent this one at Christmas for the family.

03 HOMELAND SECURITY 01 CONSTANTINE WARNER BROS. Adapted from the edgy modern day comic, Hellblazer, this John Constantine character is fascinating. While adept at casting out demons, he is more like an exorcist rock star with no apparent faith motive. He’s a radical, renegade character that cusses at and trash-talks demons, flips off Satan, and otherwise makes us chuckle at his irreverent attitude towards the powers of darkness, like the “James Dean” of the occult world.

That fantasy world in which he resides (at least in this movie) is Los Angeles, but the belief system is very much Christian, with the Name, power and blood of Jesus treated with all authority. The commentary tracks and scads of bonus features on the 2-disc special edition really go a long way in adding understanding to the story. Some of the spiritual discussions between director Francis Lawrence, producer Akiva Goldsman, and screenwriters Kevin Brodbin and Frank Cappello are fascinating to hear. Granted, some of the “theology” used, like the notion that the spear killed Christ, and not the cross, aren’t exactly accurate, but make for really interesting background, as does the reference to St. Benedict: “Patron Saint of Fighting Witchcraft.” The notion of change and heroism are explored cleverly, and the dialog about sacrifice being an action that “makes sacred” is compelling. DV

SPIRITUAL RELEVANCY % OBSCENITIES SCENES OF GORE NUDITY / SEXUALITY

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PARAMOUNT

A good made-for-tv movie showing what might’ve been going on behind the scenes of the various enforcement/intelligence agencies prior to, on, and just after 9/11. It was interesting to see the military action against the Taliban, as well as the moral dilemmas from the Homeland Security Act.

04 THE LONGEST YARD

PARAMOUNT

This remake is an Adam Sandler party and feels a lot cleaner than the Burt Reynolds classic, even though there were more cusswords this time around (let’s face it, the “f-word” is a lot “tamer” than others). It was interesting to see the parallels as well as the deviations from the original script.

05 TOMMY BOY

PARAMOUNT

This perennial loser (Chris Farley as Tommy Callahan) finds out that he’s a winner in the rough after all, thanks in part to the Type-A personality of friendin-the-making Richard Hayden (David Spade). This Holy Schnike Edition is loaded with an extra disc of bonus content, much of it celebrating Farley.

06 THE CROW: WICKED PRAYER

DIMENSION VIDEO

I will have to chime in with the critics here and echo the sentiment that the Crow sequels haven’t come close to matching the compelling storyline or cinematographic brilliance of the great original. The myth of the crow, which is almost an avenging angel haunting its killers, is compelling for a time...

07 BOB DYLAN

PARAMOUNT

This Martin Scorsese picture is a fascinating look at this oft-misunderstood and enigmatic artist, with praise and criticism side by side. “He’s got the Holy Spirit about him. You can look at him and tell that.” It’s a fairly fascinating “warts ‘n’ all” close-up of a musical superstar.

08 DEAD LIKE ME: SEASON TWO

MGM

The lovable (but, as with almost anything on cable, very profane) characters here are more entrenched in their personalities as well as group chemistry.

The topic of death is explored here, blanketed with humor and interesting takes on the duties of Grim Reapers on earth.

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

100 20 5 1

90

50 5 2

20 96

10 14

60 50 4

40 80 17 214 3

1

9/23/2005 7:54:15 PM

EN T E R TA I N M EN T

UFO – Shoot Out The Lights

SOULED AMERICAN

Martin Popoff – Metal Blade

Kevin Phinney – Billboard

Written in “rock write,” this tome covers the entirety of this legendary band’s career, with commentary from an audiofile and interview quotes from various band members about each album and its time. This makes it very informative, entertaining, and easy to flip through for the fan. This strength is also the book’s weakness, as the outsider won’t have much to pull them in. I was quite keen on reading about the “born again phase” that guitarist Michael Schenker went through in the mid-90s (Walk on Water era), but this information was limited to just a few paragraphs. Otherwise, it chronicles the typical (excessive) Behind The Music saga of way too many bands.

Doug Van Pelt

Extreme Sports DVDs Truth Uncensored, Fundamental Elements, Livin It, Skate & Surf Fest In the land of extreme sports dvds, much frustration can be had.

“What’s the Crusty Demons Of Dirt of the skate world? Or snow?”

And you don’t want to plunk good money down for some lousy footage, do ya? There’s a lot out right now, and more being released all the time. Truth Uncensored [truthuncensored.com] features some of the biggest names, including “Mr. Motocross Backflip,” Mike Metzger. Fundamental Elements [from nitrolifefilms.com] has some great water sports and snow action and gnarly wrecks, but not as good of music or audio. Livin It [livinit.org] features good editing, great skaters, and the humorous attitude found a lot in the genre, with more goofing around. All three of these have current Christian hard music tunes, and plenty of x-athlete testimonials. Don’t be fooled by the Skate & Surf Fest DVD, though, it’s nothing but music (but does include 2 live MxPx tunes). DV

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71

American popular music’s history has been viewed through numerous literary glasses.

In Souled American, Kevin Phinney sees it as a barometer of racial relations. His thesis mostly holds up. Considering the slavery under which African influences were introduced into the nation’s musical vocabulary, artists of European heritage receive more upbraiding throughout this 340-page, 400-year history.

But, where whites from the originators of the Jim Crow minstrel character to Vanilla Ice receive their due excoriation, so do blacks in more recent times. Wynton Marsalis becomes the grand fuddy duddy of jazz for not wanting to recognize innovations in his artform made after the advent of bop and by white talent. Lenny Kravitz comes under scrutiny for crying over critics’ racism when truth is the dreadlocked one hasn’t done much to reimagine the sounds he has borrowed. Throughout his text Phinney integrates the notion of music as a conduit of dialogue between groups who naturally, now more than ever, borrow from and are inspired by each other. The book about Christian (market) music’s own skewed pigmentational relations has yet to be written. Souled relates some of that history by parallel and inference. Any music maker and reader desirous of a native ethnomusicology that takes in both griots and gangstas will find inspiration in Phinney’s American analysis. Jamie Lee Rake

G-Tour Keyboard Series Gator If you’re going to jump on the bandwagon and rip off Underoath’s sound, you better protect your keyboards. Fortunately, Gator has released a new line of models that fit the 61, 76 and 88 note keyboards. Constructed from 5mm plywood with recessed chrome plated twist latches, recessed handles and heavy duty side mounted wheels, it offers ultimate protection in the hands of enthusiastic load-in volunteers. Ah-hem. The plush interior comes complete with padded straps and 4 black Polyethylene foam wedges to assist in a proper, snug fit. [gator.com]

9/23/2005 7:54:27 PM

72 I N D I E R E V I E W S Sponsored by Indie Edge

PICK OF THE LITTER The Tide Good vocals do the body good. Having a solid musical base underneath is essential. Creativity and originality are mere bonuses after that point. This band shows restraint and patience in slowly creating moods and floating aural environments, in addition to having all those previously mentioned attributes going for it. The creative artwork that tells a story makes the experience even better.

There’s a strapping young lad on the cover with his head in the clouds, with a giant fuel tank gauge on his chest, reading “Full.” As you open the booklet and see him brooding in a darker environment, walking and going about his day, we see his tank getting low.

It nears empty and then we see him sprawled out in an alley, with wisps of vapor leaving his body, along with the headline: “We are all in need of rest.” Great point. You’ve heard this before from bands like Mae and other “delicate” emo bands, but they’re at least doing it justice. (DV) thetideband.com

Oteil and the Peacemakers

The Hope Of Change

Great, extremely talented, “done right” funky Jazz and Blues. Very tasty and authentic. And there’s kind of a pure “I wanna share my faith” innocence and joy to it. (DV) oteilburbridge.com

Sometimes certain aspects of this job make me temporarily “hate” music. One of them is forcing myself to listen to all the indie CDs that come our way (on average, two a day). Some of it is so bad, that I go into “misery mode.” Fortunately, there’s that one band or artist that “comes to the rescue,” reminding me of why I love music. This is one such band. All out metal and hardcore pummel my skull with solid, well-produced body punches and melodic (as far as tough-guy hardcore goes) choruses, make this band a joy. (DV) thehopeofchangeinfo@hotmail.com

ZeroTo Sixty Never We Rock Together...We Die Together is an above average pop punk disc with (only) three songs that are well done. The first track is called “My Julia Roberts Cameo.” (DV) zerotosixtynever.com

Jeff Elbel + PING Mix the purposeful goofiness and fun of Taylors Terry and Steve with a lil’ tasteful musicianship and you’ve got a digital party. Style-wise, it’s all over the block, but a solid listen for the open-minded. (DV) marathonrecords.com

Abandon Really beautiful vocals. Lush, but not mushy sounds, good song structure. And, get this: Dug Pinnick was at the office, overheard it from another room, and wanted to know who it was. “I like it.” How many indie bands can say they impressed this guy? (DV) theabandon.us

Larry

Bayta Darell This Central Texas-based band lays down the atmosphere thick and heavy, like a cloud of shoe-gazing numbness, crafting in tasteful instrumental interludes amidst the whispery vocals. (DV) baytadarell.com

Hotel Underground Rejoice has harmonicas blaring and guitar strings vibrating along to the Bill Mallonee-like vocals of one Scott Cantino. There’s even some accordion on here, but this is legit rock in the way a fine worn leather saddle legitimizes (and makes comfortable) the cowboy. Brought to us by the same indie label that brought us Mustache Carl. (DV) citizenshiprecords.com

If they watch their diet and stay true to themselves, old guys can still hang in the music world. Lucy is a case in point. Bridging the span between, say, Weezer and Tom Petty and maybe even the Presidents... Fun and melodic, the songs are just put together in a solid way and performed well. (DV) musiclarry@hotmail.com

88 Miles Per Hour Performers at this last summer’s Cornerstone Festival New Band Showcase, they’ve got some muscle and melody going on together.

Raw, energetic, simple, and heavy. (DV) 88rock.com

The Tide will be featured on the Indie Edge Radio show during the November/December issue. theindieedgeshow.com

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10/3/2005 10:59:30 AM

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9/24/2005 12:13:12 AM

74 C O LU M N S

WITH KEMPER CRABB A few observations on worship and the arts Part 6

Worship Wars

We’ve looked, in the past couple of issues, at the history and ideas involved in the latest outbreak of the worship wars, being waged between traditionalists who insist on hymn-driven worship, and ‘70’s converts from the counter-culture (and their children and heirs) who reject hymns in favor of rock, folk, R&B, and pop-styled contemporary worship music. Though both sides in the debate have sound reasons for their preferences, they also lose some advantages to their musical opponents in the conflict possess.

The traditionalists understand that tradition (the ways in which Scriptural influence works itself out across time in the life of the Church) matters. The practices of our fathers and mothers in the Faith before our time reveal to us the ways in which our Christian forbears were led by the Holy Spirit (and the ways they were not so led) in their own historical situations.

Tradition can teach us, through their examples, much about how we should act in our own time and situations (and, in light of our spiritual ancestors’ failures, how we should not act).

This is true, as well, for doctrine and teaching, and especially true in the area of worship, as accumulated practices (both mistakes, and even more, effective and correct examples) accrue across the centuries to reveal to us the mind of the Church as it is formed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

In the arena of worship music, this is especially true, since the greatest songs of the Church continue to be carried forward and used in worship across the decades and centuries. These songs, like our doctrinal interpretations of the Word of God, help to form a bridge to our past, to the heritage of faith into which God called us in the present. Knowing from whence we have come helps us to know where God wants us to go.

In our time, it is the hymns of the last 4 centuries which form the bulk of the musical bridge to the past in American worship. These songs, aside from the memorable and stirring melodies, in addition to the exalted and transcendent poetry in which the lyrics are rendered, are filled with Biblically-suffused doctrinal truths in language of intense devotion. The hymns carry forward the faith and burning commitment to Christ which characterized our spiritual forbears, extending the foundation of expressed belief which proceeds from the earliest Church to beneath the feet of today’s believers, lighting our way forward.

To denigrate and reject the hymns of the Church’s past is to reject a valuable and edifying slice of the mind of the Body of Christ which can still speak powerfully to the Church today, giving us an articulate vehicle through which to express our worship before God’s Face.

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It’s also true, however, that tradition must grow and advance. Upon the bedrock of past musical glories which informs our worship, a structure must be built which embraces today and reaches into tomorrow. The Church must continue to express her worship in songs which are easily accessible and readily open to drawing contemporary Christians into full-hearted adoration of Jesus. The Triune Lord must be worshipped with the full range of artistic expression available to the Church today, and not just because, as the counter-culture’s converts in the ’70 rightly believed, contemporary forms are attractive to both Christians and non-believers in ways that the older music is not (though this is a correct and valid reason for contemporary worship music’s existence).

There is, though, another important reason for contemporary expressions of worship to exist and be used by the worshipping Church. Christ redeems individuals to allow them to take part in the process of bringing Creation to its fullest potential in its task of reflecting and revealing the Glory of God (Gen 1:28; Psalm 19; Rom 1:18ff.; Mat 28:18-20; 1 Cor 15:22-28).

This task includes drawing the cultural constructs and expressions of mankind into the worship of the Creator, thus using those artistic expressions in the explicit context for which they were made (that of praising God, cf. Ps. 150, etc), and filling them with the content of redemption through Christ Jesus. This extends the presence of the Kingdom into every area of cultural and artistic life. This practice should be a constant reminder to the worshipping Church that we are to be about the work of expanding Christ’s Kingdom, and of taking everything, even down to the last thought, captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor 10:4-5). Without this practice, it’s easy for the Church to become immured in the past and inwardly focused, forgetting that the Gospel is to be revealed as the relevant and life-and-culture-changing force which it is in Christ.

The traditional and the contemporary need the balancing influence each of the other in the Church’s worship. We must live informed and shaped by God’s Actions in past tradition, but we must also live to extend the living power of Christ into the present and the future, lest we be (without contemporary expressions of our faith) stultified and inward-looking, or (without the traditional expressions of our shared faith) rootless and rudderless. Neither one nor the other alone; rather, both in complementary usage, to make the Church strong and whole. This is not rocket science, so why hasn’t this happened in the worship wars of today? A good question, and one that we will, Lord willing, take up in the next issue.

9/23/2005 8:10:57 PM

C O LU M N S 75

The way I see it Chris Wighaman

Devotions with Greg Tucker

The rivalry between Harvard University and MIT has been going on for decades, so by now the pranks between the two are legendary. Blake Hooper tells about one man’s brilliant plan to even the score, an MIT student who practiced a daily ritual.

Did you ever play “Opposite Day?” You know the game: annoy anyone and everyone around you by doing the opposite of what they ask. Then take the annoyance to the next level when you answer every question with the opposite answer. You do this pretty much all day no matter how much people scream and yell at you while covering their ears and shrieking at the top of their lungs threatening you and demanded for you to go away … umm, was I the only one that took it this far?

Paul writes about this same phenomenon in Romans 7: What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope.

Can you relate with what he is writing? I can. I’ve struggled with who God wants me to be [which, coincidently, is who I want to be] and who I really am. I know what is good, and yet somehow I play the opposite game and end up doing what I don’t want to do. The reality of the situation is that you can struggle all your life never to beat it or you can take a look to Paul’s solution.

Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

In reaching the end of your rope, you face the cold reality that it is ONLY though Jesus that we can even begin to become the person we want to be in Him. Our lives as Followers of Christ are completely dependant upon allowing His power to work in us. Without that dependence we will lead lives of frustration and dissatisfaction – a constant game of opposite day, which grows old very quickly.

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All summer long, Myrle would spend his afternoons wearing a black and white striped shirt in Harvard’s home stadium. He would walk up and down the field for 10 or 15 minutes, generously throwing birdseed while blowing a whistle. When football season arrived, the day finally came for Harvard’s first game. They say after the referee stepped onto the field and blew his whistle it took an hour to clear all the birds off the field.

Most of us enjoy a good “getting even” story, but in real life we occasionally cross the line that separates lighthearted and meanspirited. A prank that’s given with a smile and can be received with a smile of appreciation, well, that’s good stuff. One that could hurt, offend, or embarrass the other person – even if they deserve it – is better left undone.

Even if we never act on our thoughts, our system is poisoned by wrong attitudes. In 1995, at a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Elie Wiesel gave the following prayer: “God of forgiveness, do not forgive those who created this place. God of mercy, have no mercy on those who killed here Jewish children.” (Ironically, Wiesel was a recipient the 1986 Nobel Prize for Peace.)

Fortunately, the Bible has a plan for real peace when someone hurts you: Let God take care them. Romans 12:19-21 instructs, “Do not take revenge but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

God’s wonderful promise is that Christians who act like winners will always win in the end. Always. Every time. Without exception.

9/23/2005 8:11:15 PM

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9/27/2005 10:50:51 AM

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9/24/2005 12:13:57 AM

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

VOX same as the amps that are selected. (class A, class AB, negative feedback circuit, etc.).

VALVETRONIX The AD100VT, AD50VT, AD30VT and AD15VT pack the amazingly versatile tube sound of Valvetronix into four new amps that introduce a new groundbreaking technology to legendary VOX amp design.

No other amp in its class can fire a blast of tone that can cut through those distracting vocals, drum and bass parts! Let's face it; people only want to hear the guitars anyway.

Now you can get all the power you need in a compact, light-weight package. It's so lightweight, you might even be able to get your singer to carry it for you.

No one likes to paint with only one color so why limit yourself to one tone? The VOX Valvetronix series of amps was designed with this in mind, and it offers all the great sounds and features you need to help you with the relentless pursuit of great tone.

Here's what makes the VOX Valvetronix amps stand out from the crowd. Let's start with the sounds: Hundreds of amps were auditioned but only 11 made it to the final cut. These remaining few were chosen for being the best

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in their class. From the hottest distortion and crushing low end to the lush, shimmering clean tones full of sustain.

Besides great amp sounds, you also get the best effects selection possible. We've included auto wah, compressor, phaser, chorus, flanger, tremolo, rotary, delay and reverb. Each effect lets you adjust several parameters.

There's also a Tap button that makes it easy to set the delay time or modulation speed.

There's no digging through multiple menus or scrolling around-all the controls are right on the faceplate where you need them. And, with the twist of the program selector or a stomp on the footswitch, you have the ability to totally tweak your sound to match the style of music you're playing.

Look, there are a lot of amps out there with similar features, but here's the big difference between us and them: All of the AD series amps feature the VOX Valve Reactor found on all Valvetronix products. The Valve Reactor circuit uses a 12AX7 triode vacuum tube together with an actual low-wattage tube power amp circuit, a virtual output transformer and speaker. This makes the amp react and feel like an all tube amp. It also reconfigures the circuit so that its characteristics are the

The VariAmp Power Circuit is completely transparent. It does not color or change the signal in any way and the resulting output tone is pure. It also ensures that the output signal maintains the high dynamic range associated with traditional tube amps- something most solid-state amplifiers simply cannot deliver, and one of the primary reasons why tube guitar amps normally sound and feel so much louder and more alive than solid-state amps boasting the same output power rating. The Reactive Feedback technology used in the VariAmp Circuit "reads" the impedance curve of the speaker and then reports this reactive information back to the secondary side of the output transformer. This information is fed back to the primary side of the output transformer and therefore changes the loading on the tubes, another important part of the vital role an all-tube power amp plays in the creation of traditional tube tone.

This means that all of the nuances of the original amp style including sound, feel, distortion and presence are reproduced accurately.

This circuit is the big difference between Valvetronix and other amps in its class. It successfully re-creates the preamp and amplifier sections to make your tone totally faithful to the original.

Check out more info on these amps at www. voxamps.co.uk. You can also locate your local VOX store on the site. You can also check out the cool selection of VOX wearables and accessories at www.voxampsusa.com.

9/27/2005 3:37:41 PM

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9/24/2005 12:14:59 AM

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

ROCKTRON

ROCKTRON’S SILVER DRAGON SLAYS

ROCKTRON BANSHEE TALK BOX

Rocktron’s Silver Dragon is a unique distortion unit that combines the best of both worlds – tube and analog solid state distortion. For that tube sound many guitar players love, the Silver Dragon rams a 12AX7 as the first mode, called AWAKEN, drives the tube sound. SHREIK controls the treble while ROAR provides low end control. FIRE handles the initial distortion drive level of the 12AX7. The second mode, called SLAYER, features a mixed-in combination of the 12AX7 distortion with the solid state distortion driving the second half of the tube plus driving it together. Slayer INTENSITY changes the character of the attack properties magnifying the string attack. BREATH control is for the asymmetry of the solid state distortion.

Output level control is also provided. Rocktron is a division of GHS Corporation, Battle Creek, Michigan.

In a jam? Talk your way out of it with Rocktron’s Banshee Amplified Talk Box. The Banshee provides an easy way to “talk” your guitar into any microphone while tapping into classic rock or creating wild new sounds in molten metal. Used by Disturbed, Zakk Wylde and many others, Rocktron’s Banshee allows creative juices to flow while bringing a unique effect to your music.

MSRP is $169.00 Now shipping.

The Banshee is as easy to use as a stomp box and contains its own internal preamp, amplifier, and horn driver. You simply plug into the Banshee like you would any common stomp box, and run the provided “tubing” up the mic stand and into your mouth. The rest is up to your own imagination as you get the most incredible sounds from your instrument. And no more risk of blowing up your favorite amp head, (always a possibility with talk boxes of old).

The Banshee’s preamp section features controls for gain, tone, and output level. A wide range of clean and dirty preamp tones may be dialed in with plenty of saturation for those who desire lots of gain.

MSRP is $199.00 Now shipping.

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9/27/2005 3:33:39 PM

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9/27/2005 11:03:12 AM

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

AUDIX

Mark Hall/Lead Singer for Casting Crowns

THE AUDIX RAD-360 WIRELESS MICROPHONE SYSTEM

and 4 systems to run off of one DC power supply.

If reliability and sound quality are what you are looking for in a wireless microphone system, then look no further than AUDIX. Audix has made a name for itself by its extensive user list that includes such bands as, Pearl Jam, Blink 182, Pillar, MXPX, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jimmy Eat World, Fall Out Boy, Tool, The Donnas, Spoken, Stellar Kart and New Found Glory to name a few. Now they have gone wireless! The long awaited Audix RAD360 wireless system is now available and it packs a one-two punch. First of all, it comes with the most powerful transmitters in its price range (50 mW). That is 67% more output power than the standard 30 mW transmitters that most manufacturers offer. Secondly, it has the longest battery life (up to 15 hours with two AA alkaline batteries) of any system on the market. It has already become the go to wireless system with such touring Christian Artists such as Casting Crowns, Kutless, Avalon, Little Feat and Denver and the Mile High Orchestra.

With 5 services held every weekend at Living Hope Church in Vancouver Washington reliability is definitely paramount for Kelsey Smith, Living Hope’s Technical Director. Here is what he has to say about the Audix RAD-360, “With installing 8 total systems: six being handheld and two being guitar systems, one would have thought that a few problems would arise, especially with a brand new product. This was not the case. I have never had a single drop out! The microphone’s actual sound and signal quality is so true to the wired mic versions that if I didn’t know better, I would think they were plugged in!”

The Audix RAD-360 is a frequency agile

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UHF Wireless microphone system with 193 selectable frequencies and a dual tuner, true diversity receiver. The RAD-360 is designed for a wide range of applications from handheld vocal mic transmitters to lavaliere mics, headset, horns and guitar systems.

Here is what Darrin Hughes the FOH engineer for Casting Crowns has to say, “The Audix RAD 360 system is a beautiful thing. From start to finish, it is exactly the quality that you expect from Audix. We use the OM7 capsule on Mark’s voice and it’s fantastic. You can’t find a better thought out wireless solution than this!”

The RAD-360 handheld transmitters have a modular design of the threaded capsule housing assembly that allow the user to easily change the transmitter mic capsule from one model to another (such as an OM3 to an OM5) in a matter of seconds. Audix also offers an optional amplified Antenna Distribution System (the ADS-4), that allows up to 4 systems to be run off a single pair of antennas

RAD-360 wireless systems are available in a wide variety of prepackaged configurations for the retail and contractor market. System retail prices vary from $799 and up. For more information, contact Audix at (800) 966-8261, or you can email their National Sales Manager Gene Houck: gene@audixusa.com. You may also visit the company on the Internet at www.audixusa.com.

9/26/2005 11:53:20 AM

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9/26/2005 11:48:35 AM

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

MIDI-SOFT

NEW WORSHIP STUDIO SOFTWARE Church music directors and artists now have another reason to rejoice. Midisoft Corp., MIDI pioneer and developers of awardwinning music software, has just released The Worship Studio & Composer, the only MIDI sequencer and recording software package available for the church music market. This powerful MIDI and recording software for Windows boasts a special edition CD enabling users to create 8-track recordings … a feature worship music leaders would expect to find in high-end music applications costing hundreds of dollars more.

The Worship Studio is packed with all the tools and extras, including 1,000 well-loved hymns sure to please even the most discerning music director. However, The Worship Studio is not just for professionals. It is user-friendly for the novice worship leader or recording enthusiast as well.

The Worship Studio is the ideal, essential companion for all church music directors, worship teams, and band and choir leaders. It enables you to print customized music scores for multiple instruments and voicings, compose your own songs, or edit any of the included hymns. Plus, with more than 128 different virtual instruments, not only can you create leadsheets, but you can also create full orchestrations. Save your creations as MP3, ASF, WMA or WAV files and use as accompaniments for your choir, or customized rehearsal tracks for your soloists and entire ensemble. You can even use your creations to professionally record your worship ensemble to CD, a great holiday or congregation fundraising project.

The Worship Studio & Composer includes two CDs with all of these features and more: Digital Recorder – Use this editing board to record and mix up to 8 tracks of music; Hymn Library – 1,000 timeless hymns (an additional $100 value) included in The Worship Studio saves you time and hassle ... no more searching for just the right song; Score View – Create leadsheets, parts, and scores quickly and accurately; Real time notation – Notes appear on the screen in real-time as you play, with a large display for easy editing; Printing – Customize your arrangements with your own graphics, logos, or color; Wave view – Add and position digital audio files directly into your music document; Staff inspector – Adjust your staves, name your tracks, and tune the pitch, velocity and duration; Music Mixer – Adjust the volume of any layer, or simply change the tempo on the fly; Plugins – Quantize, transpose, copy, merge, split, revoice, and more; and Toolbars – The easy-to-use interface and toolbars allow you to quickly record, playback, pause, stop, or fast-forward your music with a click.

The Worship Studio & Composer is available now, and has a suggested retail price of $149.00. Accomplish praise, worship, and gospel music on the fly....from Midisoft by using The Worship Studio & Composer – Special Editions Software.

Contact Midisoft at 1-866-MIDISOFT, or visit midisoft.com.

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9/28/2005 12:16:01 PM

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

CIDER MOUNTAIN is long, but Chris Phillips just added one more – Cider Mountain Recorders.

“Yeah, come to beautiful North Idaho and spend all your waking hours holed up in a studio, like I do,” laughs Chris.

Nate Shaw, guitarist for Die Hunns, doesn’t think you’ll mind. He’s been up from L.A. twice to track and mix Pharmacist’s Son, the Southern California band he’s been heading up. “Recording at Cider Mountain is an experience. Of course the equipment and facilities are state of the art, but CMR has created something that equipment can’t. A vision.

The place is an absolute dream. I challenge anyone to accomplish this in Los Angeles, or New York.”

A STUDIO EXPERIENCE Outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds are discovering North Idaho. The mountains and lakes surrounding Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene afford the visitor everything from snowboarding to fishing. The list of reasons to visit North Idaho

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Originally from Southern California, Chris began talking with studio designer Chris Pelonis about building a retreat studio on the 240 acres he now calls home. Producer Jason Carmer (Third Eye Blind, The Donnas), also a fan of Pelonis-designed rooms, produced The Explosion’s last album, Black Tape, at CMR. “The live room is insane,” says The Explosion’s guitarist Dave Walsh.

Drive through the gates and the outside world melts away. “No one just drops in on your session around here,” notes Chris. Included in your stay is everything you need to create the best possible recording. Studio A boasts a custom API Legacy Plus with Automix and a gearhead’s dream collection of mic pres and compressors. Studio B has a Trident TSM. There’s an incredible array of new and vintage amps, guitars, mics, drum kits and keyboards.

As for Cider Mountain’s 1899 9’Steinway, it’s “One of the best sounding pianos I’ve ever put mics on,” says engineer David Schober.

CMR staff includes a chef, so there’ll be a hot meal in the dining room when you’re hungry.

Rounding out the rockstar experience are a band house, 3 cabins and 3 suites.

Early this year CMR hosted more than a dozen people for the making of Promise Keepers The Awakening. Drummer Scott Williamson, wrote “It was stunning to me that we were not only recording in a state-of–the-art facility, but that we were also surrounded by wonderful people and amazing food in the middle of ‘God’s country.’” He adds, “I’m looking forward to the next time, and I hope it will be soon.”

10/3/2005 10:35:23 AM

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9/27/2005 10:56:03 AM

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9/24/2005 12:15:32 AM

symbol of peace at a time of great stress for his followers, Jesus said, “it’s better that i depart, for i will send the comforter to you.” “as the Father has sent me, i am sending you.” (we have been given the “ministry of reconciliation,” we are to be “peace makers,” like doves)

organofsight.com/ivan

“if you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven.”

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9/23/2005 4:08:16 PM