CHRISTIAN ROCK: THE BEST KEPT SECRET IN THE WORLD

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.

The Past Touching the Present

Due to some new meetings that have happened, I need to retrace some tracks down memory lane. Here is an excerpt from my blog Euphoria - The First Band:


“Curtis Soward was our manager and like another brother to me. I spent a lot of time at his house as well. The way I met Curtis’ parents was they came home after being out of town and into the middle of a party Curtis had going at his/their house and yes we were still allowed to party, music and all (at 20 I had gone through GOD’s one step program and didn’t drink or do drugs). His parents were some really great people. Most of the gigs we played were for the Skyline High crowd. Curtis was Mr. Popularity and once the party was on, he would pull out his 3 phone books, call everybody and their brother. The houses were always so packed, we had to rope off an area for the band to move and put on a show. After the band broke up, Curtis put on some shows with local talent like the Tommy Dee Band and Rubicon. Because of his way with people he met many famous people and had books with pictures of these rock stars and all. I know, because when he died (which hit me like two tons of bricks), his parents gave me those books. It’s hard to lose a brother….”


It has been explained to me recently that Curtis’ parents were not out of town…they had gone to the movies and Curtis threw the party.


Recently, I had attended a meeting for my wife’s internet business in LA. They had an incredible speaker by the name of Stephen Pierce doing the meeting. We drove down Saturday morning, went to the meeting, and came straight home…what a day. When the meeting ended, we were outside talking with people and the town Oakland came up. A pretty young lady turned toward me and asked me about Oakland, saying I looked familiar and she was sure she knew me. I said that I used to play music in Oakland. She asked me if I knew her father? I asked her what was his name, to which she replied Curtis Soward. I grabbed her and we both started crying. She had prayed and written down a goal that she wanted to meet a friend of her father’s the week before. As a comment on the prayer, my wife put it properly, when you ask of GOD, you get the best, and we were best friends…or more like brothers. Her best friend and mom were part of Stephen Pierce’s entourage from St. Louis, MO (if you have ever been there in the summer, St. Louis is not in the state of Missouri, it is in the state of Misery). She had shared this goal with them so there were four of us crying.


This is the perfect example of a divine appointment. Brandee’s grandparents had this beautiful house in Oakland, CA, with a creek running through the front yard and lots of trees and vegetation. If you wandered a block or so from their house, you had left the oasis and entered back into the concrete jungle. I hadn’t been over for awhile and they moved from the house. I had lost track of them and had tried to find them without success.


A great deal of old memories have flooded in since our meeting. I have shared some things with both Brandee and Crystal about their father. Going places with Curtis was an adventure. You couldn’t afford to be shy. Curtis could walk into a room full of strangers and walk out with all of their numbers and a warm relationship with everyone of them. He never bragged on himself, but he was confident in what he knew he could do. He was a good listener, a compassionate and good friend. His people skills were so good and he was so natural at it, if he had gone into politics, he is the only person I know that had a chance at the Presidency. His widow, Lynn, told me two things, one which I kind of remember. He had figured out how to gain the services of Lear Jets without owning them and was putting together a service company, that rented out Lear Jets and Limos. He was talking about me being one of the limo drivers. The other that was far more important to me was that Curtis had dedicated his life to Christ. The wonderful thing about this is that I know that when it’s time for me to “go home”, my close friend and brother, Curtis will be there as well….


Brandee, who is Curtis’ oldest daughter, is the mother of Nikos, a 2 year old that is working on speaking 3 languages and loves drums and guitar. I get the feeling he will become a student of mine. Brandee is the successful business woman of an advertising agency. She is successful because Curtis passed on his giftings and some great traits. You can sense and see the powerful presence that I remember in her father. I have no doubt that Brandee will be a force in the advertising world, or anywhere she chooses to be.


Brandee was in LA to open up a new office and was supposed to be on a plane for home, not at the meeting I was at. She opted to stay and take a later flight home. My wife and I almost didn’t go due to a sick animal. It all happened because GOD wanted it to.


We got together with her grandparents, Curtis’ parents, eight days later on a Sunday for dinner and time together. It was so good to see Keith and Vi, who were like another set of parents to me. Keith was probably one of the most creative wild life painters I had ever seen. I remember watching him pull out feathers from birds he had hunted to make the colors. His mother, Vi, is a very smart woman and when we got together for that great meal, I remembered one of the staples around the Soward household, Italian Mayo. Things were added to the mayo to give it more twang. We had a great time together.


Crystal is Curtis’ younger daughter and like her father has a big heart. Like me, she and her husband, Eric are Christians, real Christians. Brandee told me that Crystal is a Christian singer and yes, as they would say, girl got voice. I am looking forward to working with her on that voice and recording her voice. I am already working on a song, she’d be perfect for. We met her husband, Eric, who unfortunately was unable to be at the grandparent’s house that Sunday. I liked Eric right away. You could feel the same spirit in him that is in Crystal. They are wonderful young people. The two best words I can find to describe Eric and Crystal are genuine and compassionate.


I feel that if Curtis could look down on his daughters and their families, he’d be proud of them. I know I am as well as being blessed by having them back in my life as well. And it was so good to reconnect with their step-mother, Lynn as well. She has two sons with Curtis that she has told me will need to have me share with them as to who their father was as well. All I can say is when GOD blesses, He blesses…and these are people I need back in my life as well.