I really miss Petra

[brent]

1. Ska sucks
2. Christian Ska REALLY sucked
3. I am glad it's dead.
4. FIF is dead THANK GOD
5. If you look on that intelligence/music scale, people with little intel like Ska. Sorry. Just the way it is. It's right in there with punk and Nickelback.

Just remember guys. Most people listen passively to music now. You have to give them nuggets in each 3:30 song and not tell them your whole life's story in one tune. If you say to much it tires the listener. If you say to little they will turn you off. Songwriting is an art.

If Christians want to have their bands and not minister on stage, I am cool with that. There are many secular jobs that will not allow that to happen. Most secular jobs will not allow that to happen in the USSR of A. So they have to be more poetic, which I like actually. Anyone can creatively quote scripture. It takes someone special to word a song so that it keeps peoples's attention and hits them in the head with the Gospel when they don't even know it. Just as many missionaries go and tell people about God illegally, using non-USA church methods, so must the band in the secular market.

Take this unerstanding that I know God can do anything, use anything, etc. But I am talking from the history of things here. No band has started a God-centered spiritual revival or won the lost the way that the church universal has. Period. Petra can't compare to Billy Graham, get it?

It is next to impossible to get the world to go to a Christian concert or buy a Christian CD. Heck. It's hard enough to get Christians to go to Christian concerts and buy Christian CDs. So I think that Christian bands should be bands for Chrisdtians, singing what they have in common about a God they have in common, etc.



Mark Harris - One True God
From the album Windows And Walls

I don't have a God I can put on a stand
Or a God I hold in the palm of my hand
I have a God that's holding me
And I don't have a God that I can create
In the place I live with the money I make
I have a God, He made everything
So I don't need a temporary man made deity
When I got the real thing
I got the real thing

He's the Lord of all the earth
The maker of all things
He alone is the one true God
Kingdoms rise and fall
But even through it all
He remains
The one true God

I don't have a thing that I got on my own
I don't have a care that I carry alone
But I have a God who's carrying me
I don't have sin that He doesn't forgive
And I don't have a heart that is worthy of His
But I have a God who still loves me
So I don't need a temporary man made deity
When I got the real thing
I got the real thing

Who is this King of Glory
The Lord strong and mighty
Who is this King of Glory
The Lord strong and mighty
Who is this King of Glory
Who is this King of Glory



Mandisa - My Deliverer
From the album Freedom

I was so helpless
Where did the light go?
I had no hope left
deep down in my soul.
I was watching. I was waiting. I was praying.
I was staying down on my knees.
That's right where you found me.

Chorus:
My Deliverer!
You rescued me from all that held me captive.
My Deliverer!
You set me free.
Now I'm alive and I can live.
So every moment I can give you praise.
My Deliverer!

There's no pretending.
I can't do it myself.
I'm so dependent.
Lord, I need Your help.
I'll be watching. I'll be waiting. I'll be praying
I'll be staying down on my knees.
That's right where you find me.

La la la la la I need you.
You know whatever I'm going through
I'll be watching, I'll be waiting, I'll be praying
I'll be staying down on my knees.
That's right where you'll find me...

I'm no longer captive!
My Deliverer!
You gave your life that I might live.
So every moment I will give you praise.
My Deliverer!

[Jonathan]

Don't let daniel see the lyrics to "Pootermobile," which is obviously a fair representation of FIF's body of work.

I guess if one doesn't have much resembling a sense of humor you won't be able to appreciate ska, FIF more specifically.

And I always thought it was the bookwormy nerds who were into ska...

[brent]

Don't let daniel see the lyrics to "Pootermobile," which is obviously a fair representation of FIF's body of work.

I guess if one doesn't have much resembling a sense of humor you won't be able to appreciate ska, FIF more specifically.

And I always thought it was the bookwormy nerds who were into ska...

LOL.

One night I was out at a new BBQ joint in Tulsa. While waiting one hour for my 30 minute wait, I got bored. A young guy and his dad were talking about starting this Christian band to play this new Christian music. They had just heard it for the first time and were going to bring it to the world. They were so exited. Neither of them could speak the lingo about the instruments they were discussing so I knew that they had no musical training or depth. I leaned in and asked them to describe it. It was Ska. They had no idea that it even existed outside of the Christian market. They had just heard it for the first time somewhere and thought that it was going to change the world. They were so sincere that I just wished them well. Everyone can dream and dream big. But good night people. Everything has been done before. There is nothing new.

[separateunion]

Wow, let's completely misrepresent a band because they like to have fun and not be completely serious all the time. Try this song, which they ended EVERY show with, on for size:

Every New Day by Five Iron Frenzy

When I was young, the smallest trick of light,
Could catch my eye,
Then life was new and every new day,
I thought that I could fly.
I believed in what I hoped for,
And I hoped for things unseen,
I had wings and dreams could soar,
I just don't feel like flying anymore.
When the stars threw down their spears,
Watered Heaven with their tears,
Before words were spoken,
Before eternity.

Dear Father, I need you,
Your strength my heart to mend.
I want to fly higher,
Every new day again.

When I was small, the furthest I could reach,
Was not so high,
Then I thought the world was so much smaller,
Feeling that I could fly.
Through distant deeps and skies,
Behind infinity,
Below the face of Heaven,
He stoops to create me.

Dear Father, I need you,
Your strength my heart to mend.
I want to fly higher,
Every new day again.

Man versus himself.
Man versus machine.
Man versus the world.
Mankind versus me.
The struggles go on,
The wisdom I lack,
The burdens keep pilling
Up on my back.
So hard to breathe,
To take the next step.
The mountain is high,
I wait in the depths.
Yearning for grace,
And hoping for peace.
Dear God...
Increase.
Healing hands of God have mercy on our unclean souls once again.
Jesus Christ, light of the world burning bright within our hearts forever.
Freedom means love without condition,
without a beginning or an end.
Here's my heart, let it be forever Your's,
Only You can make every new day seem so new.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3ttcuMO3Wk

And then there's this one from lead singer Reese Roper's side project Brave Saint Saturn:

Daylight by Brave Saint Saturn

did you hear the news today
i'm not coming home,
no
and i wished it all away
i felt so alone
and the darkness crept it's way
like stars we know will die too soon
there is never any sunrise here in the shadows of eclipsing moons
crawling on a tightrope
the bravest thing i have is hope

daylight, save me
daylight, save me
tonight, tonight

halogen, the lights will flicker
incadescent burning lies
and the silence stands for nothing
desperate i search the skies aching for a spark
trembling in pitchest dark

Jesus Christ, Light of the World
You never did forget me
and when i bled in darkness, You held
me
still held me
when desparate nights i cursed You
You loved me, still loved me
Jesus Christ, You dry the tears
You break my heart of stone
Your words are life
cut marrow through
the darkness, to the bone
a heart of flesh You gave me
only You can save me

Savior
Daylight
I am coming home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_u7UqY8K88

[Dan]

Don't let daniel see the lyrics to "Pootermobile," which is obviously a fair representation of FIF's body of work.

Thats maybe their best work really lol, these guys are comics and sure are funny; but maybe not life changing lyrics, maybe this wasn't their goal?

I don't think this is misrepresenting them if it's what they sing along with their stuff that is sincere.


Pre-Ex-Girlfriend
by Five Iron Frenzy

She’s so cool it’s almost erie
she’s so fine I lost all hope
Genetical testing
something has gone wrong
she should get back in
her cage before they find she’s gone
She said she hated Kenny G
that girl is way too good for me
We’ll break up before it starts
She’ll only tear my world apart
da na na na na na na na

Chorus:
Pre-ex-girlfriend, that girl is just too fine
Pre-ex-girlfriend, leaving me behind

You might say she’s everything
just before everything goes wrong
She’s sunshine and lightning
she pulls at my heartstrings
she’s stunning and then she’s gone
The intellect that girl has
She’s saying “ death to false jazz
Like kryptonite to Superman
she’s here to break my heart again
da na na na na na na na

Watch her on the floor tonight
feel the crush she will incite
the spark of hope she will ignite
a beautiful sight
Softer than the lightest snows
watch her as the moment slows
in my face the door will close
and there she goes.




Anyway I do miss Petra, they were unique and it's unfair to compare really.

[gman]

In an interview with the BBC, Josh Farro [guitarist for Paramore] stated "Our faith is very important to us. It's obviously going to come out in our music because if someone believes something, then their worldview is going to come out in anything they do. But we're not out here to preach to kids, we're out here because we love music."

That's exactly my point. No one is obligated to express their faith in their music, but they will if they are really into it. The degree to which it is expressed through their lyrics correlates to their level of involvement in their faith, in my opinion. I maintain that anyone who started out with strong lyrics and later moved to lyrics where their faith wasn't as obvious, it was because they moved spiritually. They were not as dialed in. That my opinion.

[brent]

What about instrumentalists? How would you judge their commitment to Christ? How about an engineer who mixes Christian music? How would you judge theirs? What about the person at Mardel that puts price tags on the music?

[separateunion]

I maintain that anyone who started out with strong lyrics and later moved to lyrics where their faith wasn't as obvious, it was because they moved spiritually.

Who has done that? You keep making accusations but aren't naming names.

[Jonathan]

Rather subjective, I'd say. What's meat lyrically to me may be milk to someone else. What others consider strong, I might consider simplistic.

[Vic]

I never got to see Petra face to face, (coz am in another continent) but I relly miss them.

Whats worse is that I lost original God Fixation and Still Means War albums as well as December Radio's CD's in a car-jack attempt. Luckily I had backed the Petra albums in my computer.

Getting Petra albums over here is soooo hard that I still haven't obtained Jekyll and Hyde among the many other albums that I desire.

Petra holds a special place in my heart but I wouldn't be quick to judge bands that don't conform except for the music, of which Petra is of course eminent.

One thing i hate though is bands that profess to be Christian or at least did at some point in the past, then engaged in absolutely UnChristian behaviour regardless of what settings or market they have been performing.

We as Christian are first called to be Christians first, then anything else follows. And that can be musician, plumbers, preachers, engineers etc.

As for me, its ok for a Christian musician to sing songs (i.e. good songs that don't offend or are dirty) but more than that, uphold the integrity of their testimony. Whether they choose to preach with their songs, that's up to them.

[brent]

Vic. You could always order the CDs online, or have someone here send them to you.

[gman]

What about instrumentalists? How would you judge their commitment to Christ? How about an engineer who mixes Christian music? How would you judge theirs? What about the person at Mardel that puts price tags on the music?

I don't. I was only referring to bands and what's in their lyrics because someone else brought it up.
Obviously there are lots of ways ones faith can be evident. I contend that someone who writes lyrics and puts out albums, if their faith is strong, it will be evident in their lyrics. Maybe my focus is too narrow. There are people who write songs for a living for other people, movies, tv, or whatever. I'm referring specifically to an artist or band who puts out an album of their music, essentially saying this is who I am, this is who we are. If they say they are a Christian, shouldn't their music reflect that? I've read a lot of interviews where someone defended an album and said yeah we're Christians, someone will listen to this album and then go get an older album and get hit with the gospel. They are essentially claiming to still be just as committed in their faith. I call BS.
(see any band that doesn't go mainstream and change their lyrics because their faith remains strong)

GMan

[gman]

I maintain that anyone who started out with strong lyrics and later moved to lyrics where their faith wasn't as obvious, it was because they moved spiritually.

Who has done that? You keep making accusations but aren't naming names.

I mentioned Stryper previously. You can piece together enough interviews to see what was going on during their Against the Law period that allowed them to be okay with changing their lyrics.
Michael W. is a good example. He went through the pop superstar phase, which was followed by a period of admitting that he had drifted from God. His last album during that period didn't have anything bad lyrically, but there was a difference compared to earlier albums.
I'm not saying that one is obligated to preach in their lyrics. I'm just saying that it shoud be obvious that they are a Christian.
The question then is, obvious to whom? I would say it should be obvious to other Christians. Scripture says the world is blind.

GMan

[Dan]

I'm not saying that one is obligated to preach in their lyrics. I'm just saying that it shoud be obvious that they are a Christian.
The question then is, obvious to whom? I would say it should be obvious to other Christians. Scripture says the world is blind.

GMan

I think if the band is under a label that has a mission statement of spreading the gospel, like the one that Star Song used to have for example (I think it was written by Darrel Harris?) maybe they should just do scriptural lyrics.

Scriptural lyrics are a amazing source of strength for Christians, so if the lyrics stray from the scripture there isn't that source of strength; not that I am saying that all Christians should look to music to find strength... but music is a medium that can deliver a dose of the gospel when in the car, or going for a run... I guess the closest to that would be the bible on your mp3 player.

[petrabandca]

Well during Styper's Against the Law days they were partying, drinking and living the "Rock Star" lifestyle and that was admitted by Michael Sweet on his video for his self titled album after leaving Stryper.

That was one of the reasons why he left the band, he felt that Stryper had drifted away from God and what they claimed to be singing about.
I still think the band had a message on that album and one of my favorite.

Any opinions on bands and guys like P.O.D., Pillar and Brian Head Welch?
Brian Welch is still associated with Korn on their fan forums and through video on his website and others...Back to the Street I guess you could say.

We should remember that a band is a business and even Petra had to deal with business. Losing Ronny and even Louie...there are differences of opinion about that, but business is business.