Joel, Patrick, and Mark. Maybe it doesn't roll off the tongue as easy as John, Paul, George and Ringo, but that's not to say that this trio isn't in the same rarefied air For those not up to date on things, that foursome is The Beatles, the true kings of Rock and Roll (Sorry Elvis). Joel, Patrick and Mark are Joel Hanson (Guitar), Patrick Andrew (Bass), and Mark Nash (Drums) - also known as PFR. (A little side note: The initials stand for Pray For Rain, which is the actual name of the band. However, before they even got started, they were sued and had to change the name to PFR. More on that later.
Having grown up on both The Beatles (as well as the 70's version, Paul McCartney and Wings), and then experiencing PFR, my mind immediately made a connection. Now the analogy isn't perfect, but there are enough stylistic similarities to brand PFR the "Christian Beatles". They are a whole lot more similar than Love Song, in my opinion. So if The Beatles started in the U.S. instead of the U.K., and they could only round up three members, they would probably sound like PFR.
Like I said, the band was originally called Pray For Rain. Did you know that there was already a band by that name? Yeah, I didn't either, and probably neither did this trio. The other Pray For Rain, the one with high priced lawyers, they do nothing but do movie soundtracks for movies like Sid and Nancy (1986). Alex Cox is usually the director of these films.
During their brief career they put out four albums:
- Pray For Rain (1992)
- Goldie's Last Day (1993)
- Great Lengths (1994)
- Them (1996)
Goldie's Last Day is actually about the death of Patrick Andrew's Golden Retriever, and it has some Beatles homages in it.Next up is Great Lengths and Anything
And finally we end with Wonder Why.
These videos are from their 12 in 2012 "Reunion" Tour. I think you'll agree that they still have got it, and I think a full reunion is in order.
Apart form this work with Deitiphobia and other bands, Nash is also married to Leigh Bingham Nash, (Leigh Nash) of Sixpence None The Richer, which will be covered in another post.
That concludes the first installment of The Real Alternative on Flashback Friday. Next Friday we return to the Commonwealth of CCM when our subject is Delirious? Until next we meet, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
The Industrial Revolution begins today. This is the second of three rotating subjects in my all redesigned Flashback Friday. Last week was The Commonwealth of CCM, where I am tackling bands that originate in the British Commonwealth of Nations. Next week is "A Real Alternative", which will tackle the rise to prominence of the Alternative Music Scene.
This weeks topic is "The Industrial Revolution", where I will tell you about the explosion in the nineties which brought Industrial Music, along with its siblings Techno, Synthpop, Trance, and Ambient, to the Christian Music World.
The 60's and 70's gave CCM the Jesus Music Era. The 80's brought Arena Rock and Heavy Metal as well as the birth of the Alternative Scene. As the 90's began everything old became new again. Suddenly Christian Musicians discovered an instrument long used in the Mainstream Scene. That instrument was Robert Moog's Modular Synthesizer of 1965. The Industrial Revolution began.
Robert Moog may be the Father of Techno, but the fathers of Christian Industrial would be Wally Shaw and Brent Stackhouse. Together they founded Donderfliegen, which supposedly means Darn That Fly. They released their debut demo Digital Priests in 1990. Deciding to bring their Christian Faith to the forefront, they changed their name soon afterward to Deitiphobia, which means Fear of God. They released their Self Titled album in 1991 and Stackhouse left soon afterward. He brought his wife Sheri into the band for Keyboards and Vocals and things really took off afterward. It was a move successfully made by Skillet founder John Cooper when he brought Korey on board (for Keyboards and Vocals as well). Clean (1994) was the first album with the new lineup, which included live set guitarist Kevin Gutierrez (aka Kevin 131 of the band Aleixa). By the time their last album would be put out Lo:Fi vs Sci:Fi (1999), the band consisted of the Shaws and Wil Foster. There aren't any videos, but I pulled up an audio of Clean from Youtube, and here it is.
Considering all you need is a synthesizer, Techno is the easiest genre to create side-projects to indulge your creative side. (Skillet was itself a side project). Deitiphobia created Massivivid, which was more of a traditional synth-rock band, consisting of six members. The Deitiphobia trio was assisted in this case by Bob Carlton on Bass, John Hogan on Drums, and Tom Wilson on Guitar. Another Youtube Audio, this time of Massivivid and Flesh Wound, which came from Brightblur. From time to time the Shaw's were assisted by Mark Nash, former drummer for PFR and husband to Leigh Nash of Sixpence None The Richer. They are also credited with "discovering" Joey Belleville of The Echoing Green. All these bands will be featured in a future Flashback Friday, and when they do, this post will be updated with links.
I gravitated very quickly to Industrial and its siblings, actually about as quick as I embraced Metal. It seems as I get older, I get Harder, at least musically speaking.
We wil slow things down a bit next week, as our subject will be alternative legend PFR. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.
