Category Archives: christian band

Don’t Want to Have to Call You up From a Pay Phone

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This is supposed to be a post about Set Your Goals, the sixpiece “post-hardcore” or “hardcore infused with pop” band from San Francisco. The band formed in 2004 and was fortunate enough to go on tour with The Warriors based off an EP they had recorded. They ended up signing with The Warriors’ label, Eulogy, and followed up the re-release of their EP with their first studio album, Mutiny! in 2006.

I thought Mutiny! was a decent freshman effort. Someone else must have thought so, too, because they went on tour with Anti-Flag and Alexisonfire the following year. Then in 2008, Set Your Goals played the entire summer on Warped Tour and got a contract on Epitaph Records in early 2009.

Influences such as this should make a dent on a punk band.

But This Will Be The Death of Us, released in July of this year, seems to take a step backwards. There is so much life and energy in Mutiny! that you would think could have been harnessed into excellent, mind-melting guitar riffs and stronger-than-ever lyrics, but it didn’t. I don’t know what happened. Instead, this album is full of lay-it-on-too-thick double bass and lay-it-on-too-cheesy rebellious rants you might hear from a fledgling teenage punk band, but not a bunch of guys in their late 20’s who have been around absolute legends in the punk industry.

[Download Set Your Goals – Summer Jam]

These sugary, anthem-y chants in This Will Be The Death of Us reminded me of another band: Hawk Nelson. This is an energetic punk band from Canada which has been around since 2004. They also happen to be a Christian band, which obviously precludes them from ever being invited to tour along with Alexisonfire or most of the other punk godfathers.

Somehow, though, the boys in Hawk Nelson have managed to polish their craft with every album they put out. They don’t get played on mainstream radio, although they did appear on a major motion picture and did get nominated for a Grammy. They don’t get invited to go on tour with anyone but other Christian bands or Christian festivals.

[Download Hawk Nelson – Long and Lonely Road]

But put almost any of Hawk Nelson’s singles up against any track on This Will Be The Death of Us and the only difference you will hear is a better execution by the Canadian boys. I ask what is the point of putting Set Your Goals on Epitaph at all. Compare “Let’s Dance” from Hawk Nelson and “Look Closer” from Set Your Goals.

[Download Hawk Nelson – Let’s Dance]

[Download Set Your Goals – Look Closer]

That’s how this post which was supposed to be about Set Your Goals becomes a post about Hawk Nelson. Would you like to hear some music that actually makes you get up and jump? Are you really going to overlook a decent band because they are Christian?

Check out some Hawk Nelson. They have a fourth studio album on its way next month, but below you can get the mp3 off the new release.

The more I live I see this life’s not about me

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Imagine it’s sometime around 1989. You’ve just spiked your hair and combed your sweet mullet, or used a half-can of Aqua Net on your four-inch-high bangs.
It’s Friday night, and your jeans are tight.
It’s time to go see Great White.

You didn’t know how rock-n-roll looked
Until you caught your sister with the guys from the group
Halfway home in the parking lot
By the look in her eye she was giving what she got

Seems like their set is a bit short… Your voice isn’t even hoarse yet! What’s this… They aren’t even the headliner?! Some Christian band called Stryper is headlining this thing? Dude, time to go smoke a doob in the parking lot.

Fast forward to sometime around 2007, and I watched a hot dude – minus the mullet – experience a similar reaction when Bayside performed as one of the openers for Anberlin. I think someone made him stay and slow dance as Anberlin covered “Creep” as their closing song… He must have been in love. But to this day, he can’t stand Anberlin. All because they headlined a show instead of one of his favorites.

You didn’t know Anberlin was a Christian band? Well, most people don’t. For awhile they seemed not-entirely-sure how comfortable they were with that identity, to tell you the truth. Anberlin experienced their first major airplay on Christian radio, such as Air-1. In an early interview, they sidestepped the “are we a Christian band” question, despite having roots as a bona fide Christian punk band (the lead singer Stephen Christian and the bassist Deon Rexroat formed the punk band called SaGoh in high school, short for Servants after God’s own heart). Some of Anberlin’s early songs were re-worked SaGoh songs. An early blog post on the Air-1 website even once criticized them for such a sidestep. They’ve progressed to admit that they are able to share their faith with the other bands they’ve toured with and it’s a rewarding and enriching experience.

There is a strong sound to this band. The long and short of this album review post is going to be thus: “any distaste for them is undeserved.” That’s all I have for you today. I must be distracted by late 1980’s hairstyles.

Check out the video for “Godspeed” of their 2007 album Cities:

New Surrender, the band’s most recent release, is their first to be recorded on a major label. And they appear proud of what they’ve done, elevating themselves past writing about holding hands toward the issues and struggles they see in their lives and the lives around them. Case in point, lyrics from track 8 “Burn Out Brighter (Northern Lights)”.

[Anberlin – Burn Out Brighter]

And much to the dismay of loser radio jocks everywhere, I am pretty sure that the song “Feel Good Drag” currently in heavy rotation is not about drugs. It wasn’t even funny the first time, unless you’re thirteen. If I hear another dj suck in his breath dramatically while announcing this song, I just might show up and punch him in the neck. You’re on notice. You sound like an idiot.

You can support the indie label Tooth & Nail by checking out Anberlin’s earlier albums, or grab the new one out on Universal Republic. Just clickety-click below.