Introduction of an Old Petra Fan / New Member Here
Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2014 2:54 am
Hello everyone,
My name's Ron and I've been a fan of Petra since about 1982. I can remember when I first heard the band. It was at a Christian summer camp for boys in Virginia during that year. I was only 11-years-old back then and the camp had a lip-synch contest for each cabin that housed about a dozen boys each. I remember one of the other youngsters doing a rendition of "Judas Kiss" and was immediately mesmerized by Hartmans' guitar rifts and Slick's keyboards, the steamy hooks and stadium-rock type melody was awesome for a kid that was back then listening to secular bands like KISS, Van Halen and Foreigner. I was like, "Woah, this is Christian music? I want this!"
Even though Judas Kiss was on the "More Power To Ya" album, my first purchased record was actually: "Not of this World" because that was the latest release at the time. It was the only cassette of Petra I could find at the record store! I immediately fell in love with the sound from this group and started buying every Petra record I could get my hands on. I started buying backwards from More Power To Ya all the way to the first album and then from that point just kept buying every release since. To this day, I own every Petra album ever produced. My first live concert was at the Warner Theater in Washington D.C. during the "Back to the Street" tour. I actually took my first date with a girl there.
On the two eras: I can remember when John Schlitt joined the band, and I have to admit it took me a while to adjust. The sound of the band to me changed a lot after Greg Volz left, but not necessarily in a bad way. For me personally there are two Petra bands and I love them both...just differently. I compare it mostly to the difference between your first love vs. the one you married. That's how I can best describe my feelings about Petra I & II. You love the new Petra with it's new sound and you are committed to it, but even so you never forget that first love and how amazing it really was. I still get emotional when I hear the "More Power To Ya" track to this day because it represents a transition time in my life when I made the commitment to following Christ.
Unlike many of the more recent fans who only know Petra after they were well-established, and while "Christian Rock" is a genre more or less accepted today, the kids of my era were ostracized for listening to "Jesus music" by our secular peers, and at the same time shunned as listening to the "Devils music" by our churches and family. Because of the hard time I had being part of the "in crowd" as a teenager, I held Petra as a security blanket during the very anxious and sometimes depressing high school years. I firmly believe that a combination of my faith, a close circle of friends, and the music I had in Petra kept me from turning to alcohol, drugs or worse.
I found this website as I was surfing the internet searching for information about the band. You see, I just recently bought a new vehicle and with it went my last cassette player. Many of my Petra collection were on cassette and I just now (through the help of ebay and Amazon) purchased CDs to replace them. So here I am reminiscing about my favorite Christian band with all of you. I know from the DVD interviews I've seen and stories I've read that my particular Petra story is not unique and is repeated over and over again by many fans, but I've always wanted to share it because it only really connects with PetHeads. Thanks for reading my diatribe...I just wish they were still together and more albums were coming. Oh well, every good thing has to end eventually and as the old saying goes: you never really appreciate what you got until it's gone.
My name's Ron and I've been a fan of Petra since about 1982. I can remember when I first heard the band. It was at a Christian summer camp for boys in Virginia during that year. I was only 11-years-old back then and the camp had a lip-synch contest for each cabin that housed about a dozen boys each. I remember one of the other youngsters doing a rendition of "Judas Kiss" and was immediately mesmerized by Hartmans' guitar rifts and Slick's keyboards, the steamy hooks and stadium-rock type melody was awesome for a kid that was back then listening to secular bands like KISS, Van Halen and Foreigner. I was like, "Woah, this is Christian music? I want this!"
Even though Judas Kiss was on the "More Power To Ya" album, my first purchased record was actually: "Not of this World" because that was the latest release at the time. It was the only cassette of Petra I could find at the record store! I immediately fell in love with the sound from this group and started buying every Petra record I could get my hands on. I started buying backwards from More Power To Ya all the way to the first album and then from that point just kept buying every release since. To this day, I own every Petra album ever produced. My first live concert was at the Warner Theater in Washington D.C. during the "Back to the Street" tour. I actually took my first date with a girl there.
On the two eras: I can remember when John Schlitt joined the band, and I have to admit it took me a while to adjust. The sound of the band to me changed a lot after Greg Volz left, but not necessarily in a bad way. For me personally there are two Petra bands and I love them both...just differently. I compare it mostly to the difference between your first love vs. the one you married. That's how I can best describe my feelings about Petra I & II. You love the new Petra with it's new sound and you are committed to it, but even so you never forget that first love and how amazing it really was. I still get emotional when I hear the "More Power To Ya" track to this day because it represents a transition time in my life when I made the commitment to following Christ.
Unlike many of the more recent fans who only know Petra after they were well-established, and while "Christian Rock" is a genre more or less accepted today, the kids of my era were ostracized for listening to "Jesus music" by our secular peers, and at the same time shunned as listening to the "Devils music" by our churches and family. Because of the hard time I had being part of the "in crowd" as a teenager, I held Petra as a security blanket during the very anxious and sometimes depressing high school years. I firmly believe that a combination of my faith, a close circle of friends, and the music I had in Petra kept me from turning to alcohol, drugs or worse.
I found this website as I was surfing the internet searching for information about the band. You see, I just recently bought a new vehicle and with it went my last cassette player. Many of my Petra collection were on cassette and I just now (through the help of ebay and Amazon) purchased CDs to replace them. So here I am reminiscing about my favorite Christian band with all of you. I know from the DVD interviews I've seen and stories I've read that my particular Petra story is not unique and is repeated over and over again by many fans, but I've always wanted to share it because it only really connects with PetHeads. Thanks for reading my diatribe...I just wish they were still together and more albums were coming. Oh well, every good thing has to end eventually and as the old saying goes: you never really appreciate what you got until it's gone.
