Flyleaf and "Christian" Music

Part two of an unintentional series, I'd like to examine the effect the Christian music industry has on bands that would never have made it anywhere in the "real world" of music, but instead, in the warm, friendly incubator of "Christian" music, enjoy unwarranted success due to their participation in a niche market. Unless you completely ignored my title, you know that the band I intend to tear apart in this entry is Flyleaf.
It is my conviction that Flyleaf has only enjoyed the success that it has, because they have a unique niche in the "Christian" music industry. They are a moderate to heavy rock band with a female vocalist that, on rare occasion, screams her vocals. There is no other band, to my knowledge, that does this, if they have, they aren't doing very well in the music industry, Christian or not. The only other bands that come to mind in the secular industry are bands like Straight Line Stitch, Arch Enemy, and Lacuna Coil. These bands have female vocalists as well, but Arch Enemy is strictly screamed vocals, and Lacuna Coil is strictly sung vocals. Straight Line Stitch does mix screamed and sung vocals, but they aren't doing as well as the other two (although, if we were going by uniqueness, they should be at the very top. When was the last time you remember a heavy metal band being fronted by a black chick?)
That being said, uniqueness shouldn't be enough for the band to become famous. The musicians should be proficient at their instruments, have catchy enough riffs to remain in memory, and the singer's voice shouldn't make you want to surgically remove your inner ear with a rusty nail. Unfortunately, Flyleaf fails at all three of these checkpoints. The closest thing to proficiency that I have come across in listening to their music is the distorted bass riff at the beginning of "I'm So Sick", which is not only extremely difficult to pick out as a "tune", but is, at best, mirrored exactly by the electric guitars. This is music, at best, rudimentary. Usually, either the guitarist or the bassist will get tired of sounding like each other, and branch out into harmonic or intentionally discordant phrases so it doesn't sound like one person playing different instruments simultaneously.
Lyrics should be adequately written as well, which is probably Flyleaf's strongest points. What they lack in poetic phrasing, they nearly make up for with brutal honesty about the Columbine killings, etc.

Sigh... ok. I've been workin on this post for well over a month now, and i just can't get it to work without my sounding like a judgemental jerk/music snob. Maybe i should just drop it. But it's difficult to believe that Flyleaf's debut CD has gone platinum whereas great artists like Buckethead are by and large unheard of.

Poorly ended, but it needed to happen. I need something new to write about.

Thrice and "Christian" Music

So i've been thinking a lot about the idea of "christian"music and the christian music industry, and i havce to say that it's definitely time i wrote about it. It s a subject of controversy in a good deal of religious circles, that never seems to get resolved. Bands like Stryper, who have religious themes in their music, then go and let loose the f-bomb at concerts, often get blacklisted and shunned for the rest of their lives. Others, like Thrice, have cryptic messages that are imperceptible to many non-religious listeners, but more intuitive listeners can guess at their meanings. For instance, on "Vheissu", there are references to the Apostle Peter's denial of Christ ("Like Moths to Flame"), how humans are made in the likeness of God ("Image of the Invisible") and Peter's miraculous escape from jail ("The Earth Will Shake"). However, most people don't categorize Thrice as a "christian" band because their songs don't directly reference God, or they don't have typical "praise and worship" themes to their songs.

So what to do? Is Thrice "safe" for Christian radio? Granted, their post-hardcore stylings are hardly KTIS-friendly, but say softer songs like the ones on The Alchemy Index; Earth, Air, and Water. Surely thes are ok for Christian radio.

Frankly, I don't think it matters. I don't think we should have "Christian" radio or music or any of the above. Last I checked, it was humans that accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, not CDs, radio waves, or songs. There are musicians who happen to be Christians, and there are songs that are specifically written to praise and worship our Heavenly father, but there is no such thing as "Christian" music. To ask if a band is "Christian" is equally ridiculous as asking if a Ford Taurus is a "Christian" vehicle.

For far too long, the world has looked at Christianity as a "members-only" exclusive club, with it's own music, radio, MTV, gathering places, and so on. Outsiders are intimidated by this, it being entirely foreign to them, and it makes it that much more difficult for us to relate to non-Christians, and them to us. For me as a musician, i have found few better bridges than a common interest in music. My varied interests in multiple genres makes it easy to pick a subject of new music, and it's only a matter of time before either I or the other person begins to rave about the talents or skills of the musician we're talking about. This is an easy stepping stone for me to say something like "This is proof that there is a God, and he loves us and wants us to be happy, because he made _______ to make music for us." Granted, it comes off kinda stilted, but if you drive at that more often, that God is the ultimate author of all music, you can have a good discussion about eternity, God, and what Jesus did for us on the Cross.
I seem to have rambled from my original subject... hmm. Well, i suppose all i have to say in conclusion is, if you're a follower of Jesus' teachings, don't limit yourself to only-"christian" music. It narrows your horizon of understanding in the music world, removes a great way to relate to non-christians, and you miss out on a lot of good music. I remember a road trip i was on, and i thought i'd spice things up on the MP3 player and play some led zeppelin. Everything was going fine until the lyrics kicked in (the song was "Bring it on Home", for those of you who want to go search for lyrics) and they immediately asked me who the artist was, and whined, "can we listen to some christian music, please?" I not only felt like a heretic for being the only one in the car that wanted to listen to non-"christian" music, but it seemed like there was an air of "holier-than-thou" for the rest of the trip. I don't hold it against the guys, but the mood definitely hung around. Besides, Led Zeppelin has some really great tunes. Seriously. They don't know what they were missing out on.

\m/(^_^)\m/

Post-College "Depression"?

Well. It's been a year since I wrote last. So much has changed... and yet, many things remain the same. Where to begin? I suppose I could try to summarize my past year at Northwestern... Since The Manhattan Stories sync with my facebook notes, it seems like it might be redundant. That and not many people read The Manhattan Stories, if any at all. Oh well. Here goes.

Last year was a whirlwind of activity for me, what with it being my first year of college, first year being away from my family, and so on. I invested in many friendships, ones that I hope will endure in the year to come. I learned some lessons, was exposed to some, and, I hope, grew in God through it all. I wish I could say that I am eager to return next fall, but unfortunately this is impossible. Not having an adequate GPA for the fall semester, i have been placed on academic suspension until i can bring my grades up.

I would launch into a tirade in the vein of "why do i do this to myself?" or "I'm so stupid" or "if i really valued my time at northwestern, i would have..." but I would like to think that i'm more grown up than that. I'm 19 years old, turning twenty this year, and I'm too old to throw myself a pity party. I will certainly miss my friends, professors, and even the architecture at Northwestern, but pouting and wishing for what might have been will not bring them back to me. What WILL bring them back, is hard work and sacrifice on my part. I have the opportunity to take either distance education classes to bring up my GPA, or I can go to a community college (probably MSU) to get credit for some classes for cheap and show that I can study properly on my own, that I have what it takes to be a college student. I know I do. I just need to apply myself so that I can re-join my friends come fall 2010.

What with having all this "free" time, i've been keeping pretty busy. My dad is quite the disciplinarian (no, he didn't spank me), we've been working our tails off to get the basement all renovated in time for our former pastor, Steve Mathewson, and his family to come stay for his daughter's wedding here in MT. Hence, I get precious little time to spend on the computer or on my instruments of choice, which may be a problem when i join the bozeman city band for paying gigs. hopefully i can get my chops back in shape in time for my first rehearsal next week. i guess i'll find out. It's only a summer gig, playing concerts every week at Bogert park. Mostly marches and trash like that. Nothing against marches, really, but they aren't much fun on a trombone. Walking bass lines and playing on the "and" of the beat the entire time. Not my idea of fun. oh well.

I guess i've vented enough. Hopefully i will be a little more consistent about posts (i can't get much worse than I have been, a whole year between posts), and maybe i can look back on this as a learning experience, see how i've grown in the past year. If nothing else, it'll be fun to look back on this as a journal.

But it's time for bed. Getting up at 5:30 is no picknick, and that's exactly what i have to do tomorrow.

Until next time.

RLC

End Of Camp

So yesterday was the last day of camp as far as the summer is concerned... there'll be retreats and other events and such, but none that require the full staff that we had for the summer.
overall, i think my summer experience at CCR (Clydehurst Christian Ranch) was a good one; i didn't get fired, i gained a lot of new friends that i intend to keep for a long time via facebook and myspace, and i learned a lot about myself and God this summer.
Meanwhile, all this time i've been getting ready for leaving for college in Minnesota. I'm attending Northwestern College in St. Paul, and i just barely got in by the skin of my teeth. I'm really excited to go there too, but i had no idea what went into a college trip, i'm starting to understand the price tag on a college, a LOT goes into one.
anyways, i'm getting pretty psyched up for this trip, it'll be the first time i've been out of state for a long time at all, and i'm a little nervous, but mostly excited. i'll be leaving a fair amount of friends behind, but i'll be more than happy to have a complete fresh start on things. I'm pretty sure i will be the worst roomate ever, because i have horrible hygeine habits, i listen to really loud music all the time, and i love to stay up late doing retarded things, not to mention study habits that don't really exist.
but regardless, i'll be kinda sad to leave my family again, since i've only been home for 2 1/2 days and i'll be leaving in 2 or 3. not even a week home... this is gonna be intense.

The beginning

what's up peoples! this is the first blog i've done in a way long time, but the first using the title of the manhattan stories. the basic reason for the name "The Manhattan Stories" is that i was raised in Manhattan, Montana, but in about a month i'll be leaving that amazing little town to go live somewhere else for the first time. although i was born in bozeman, i have never lived out of state for longer than two or three weeks at a time, so you can consider this a chronology of changes, if you will. i'll start off with a bit of background about myself. like i said, i am a montana native, born, raised, and proud of it. i love everything about montana, the outdoors, the cities, the small towns, cattle ranches and potato farms, and the fact that we just got a starbucks 3 years ago. ;) One of my favorite things is to just take my guitar out into a nearby field and sit and play whatever comes to mind. music is the one true love of my life, whether listening, playing, creating, or perfecting. I play several instruments, as well as sing, but my main instrument now is acoustic and electric guitar. my influences range from jimi hendrix, the creator of rock as we know it, and the godfather of soul, to Dimebag Darrell, my ultimate hero. Unfortunately, he died on the same day as i was born, November 8th, 2004. i miss him dearly, as he wasn't even starting with his career. i love all kinds of music, although i am very particular about which bands from what genre. for example, in the area of heavy metal, i love PANTERA to death, but oftentimes i can't stand Metallica. very similar bands, but i'm picky about things like that. i love a good book ( i've gotten in trouble for reading novels in class, for crying out loud!) but i havent' read much recently cause i've been so busy at my summer job. I work at Clydehurst Christian Ranch, a truly amazing camp south of Big Timber, Montana. I've been attending the camp since i was a fetus (no joke), and i love the place to death, it's my second home. This is my second summer working here, although by rights it should be my fourth. i decided not to my freshman year, because i needed to make enough money for a bass guitar (something i'd wanted for a long time), and my junior year, i didn't work because i thought i needed more money than i could make working at Clydehurst, and it was a horrible mistake. I am so glad i worked this summer, i've been having a BLAST up here, and i'm sure i won't regret a moment of it.

That should give you all something to chew on, i'll be on next week!