Back in August of 1994, I was going through some very trying times. During that time I was spending time with a man who made two of my guitars, Pat Serna. He was a borderline Christian Pastor (almost but not quite though he now is a pastor). He saw what I was going through and asked me one simple and life changing question, “Dave, you tell me you are a Christian, but where’s your peace?” I hate it when people ask you a question you can’t answer. I started attending his church which was totally different from my Lutheran background and started attending the church which was a Christian Missionary Alliance.
The pastor, Gary Jung, preached such powerful messages that I denounced the Buddhist Faith and came back to Christianity. Powerful stuff back then. The worship was totally different from the hymns with an organ player. This church had a band…wow! While the music I played was heavier rock, this still got into me. And the message of the alabaster jar and what did I have in mine to lay at the feet of Christ, brought everything into perspective for me.
So I went to the Christian book stores and was on a mission to replace my worldly/secular music with “good, wholesome” rock with a message. I met Shawn Doty from Veil of Ashes at one store in Hayward. Later I met Harold Rosas (who has since gone on to be with the Lord) in Newark. I was first introduced to a cassette (later found the CD) entitled Axemen. Some great bands. Whitecross’ guitarist Rex Carroll was called the Eddie Van Halen of Christian Music and a great player. Saint was a band with a great instrumental, outstanding players. Bride’s We Won’t Go, was great, as were all the others. The two Swedish Bands, Jerusalem and Bjorn Stigsson (from Leviticus) were great. Sonny Larsson from Bjorn’s song blew me away with his vocals. He reminds you of Claus Meine of the Scorpions with incredible range. I have a friend John Lipka, who sounds similar, but a little smoother.
This got me started, and I had never heard of these bands before, other than Stryper, because they toured with Y & T, who I grew up with. Other musicians that some people know who had crossed over from secular to Christian are, drummer Tommy Aldridge (I saw him with Black Oak Arkansas), guitarist Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad (saw him at the same gig…they headlined the show), singer Jeff Fenholt who sang with Black Sabbath and did the part of JESUS in JESUS Christ Superstar, singer John Schlitt who went from Head East to Petra, guitarist Kerry Livgren of Kansas (on his album Seeds of Change, Dio sings a killer song called Live For the King), and John Elefante who sang with Kansas (his Christian band was called Mastedon). Now we have the likes of people like Lou Gramm singing for JESUS and Brian “Head” Welch from Korn, who have joined the ranks. They understand there is more to this life than what we see…there is eternity.
Well I got turned on to all this great Christian music that was to me so powerful, but was dwindling because the church didn’t support it like they should have. I listen to bands like Angelica, Barren Cross, Impellitari, Guardian, Deliverance, Holy Soldier, Fighter, Fear Not, Petra, Joshua, Mastedon, REZ Band, Sign of the Times, Sin Dizzy, Michael Sweet, Bloodgood, Legend Seven, The Brave…well let’s just say we have a collection of about 1200 vinyl, tapes and CD’s.
Two that stand out for me that are not of the hard rock music are Phil Keaggy and Beverly Rivers. As a guitarist, Phil Keaggy is so far above the curve, it is unfair to compare him to anyone else. I once told him I changed the word phenomenal for him. I call him Philnomenal. My wife says it perfectly about Phil Keaggy; he is in a class by himself. Beverly Rivers is like Phil Keaggy in many ways. They are both natural talents that are well above the formal training that the schools provide. In a very short time, Bev taught herself how to play keyboards. She doesn’t know what she is doing and does a great job coming up with her own material. In the studio, I have watched Bev do everything in one take. She is the only singer I know who can switch from singing low to high without changing her volume or have to move the mike away when she goes from Gospel to an operatic high soprano. And yes I feel blessed to have met and know these two truly GOD gifted musicians. They make me want to throw all my schooling away so I can be like them.
If you want to get an idea of what some of these Christian bands sound like, click on some of the radio stations on this blog, or google search Christian bands and go to places like radrockers.com. If you are a rocker, you will be pleasantly surprised by what these Christian bands have to offer.
