Saturday, April 4, 1998

Christian music scene tests Stavesacre's mettle

By Ben Wener / The Orange County Register

Christian pop? Sure.

Christian ska? Hey, why not?

Christian country? Comes with the territory.

But Christian metal? And we're talking hard-core metal here, people, all chunky and throbbing and brooding and brutal -- not some harebrained Stryper concoction.

Well, um, we'll get back to you on that one.

There are certain rules that, for better or worse -- most outsiders would say worse -- contemporary Christian music acts must follow. It's not enough, for instance, to simply proclaim your faith through the media. Introspective, spiritual lyrics don't really cut it, either. You'd better mention Jesus, and plenty -- or at least make references such as "he" and "him" so fans know what you're about.

Musically, go ahead and get randy, get excited -- just don't get gloomy. Don't sound morose, like there's a problem you're trying to overcome or that you're still coming to grips with your faith. Your work should inspire! Do your private thinking elsewhere.

Preferably in Nashville, the Christian music mecca. Folks there will set you straight.

So where does that leave Stavesacre, an intriguing Christian rock band from Southern California, whose melodo-metallic musings are more in line with Tool, Korn, the Deftones and Orange 9mm, not the more accessible arena-rock of Audio Adrenaline and Jars of Clay?

Pretty much nowhere.

"We don't fit in anymore," front man Mark Salomon agreed by phone after lunch at an Olive Garden in San Antonio as he recalled a telling incident that happened while the group was on tour with another rising act, Christian ska-sters the Supertones.

"We went on tour with those guys, and immediately people were telling us, 'You really need to make an effort to break down any fear factor with these kids (coming to the shows), because they're starting to wonder whether you're really Christians or not.' "

Salomon said the experience soon became dejecting.

"It became a question of 'Do you want to be professional and win out with crowds, or do you want to do your own thing?' See, the Supertones, they're great. They can stay in the CCM scene for the next five or six years, and that will be fine. There has never been a more perfect sound for Christian kids than ska. The songs are happy, the kids are happy, the parents go to the shows, and everyone's dressed nice.

"But for us, that's not OK at all. ... We've always seen ourselves more in the mainstream than in Christian-music circles."

Then why is the band -- which includes guitarist Jeff Bellew, bassist Dirk Lemmenes and drummer Sam West -- being labeled Christian?

Salomon, 28, admits that Stavesacre -- the name comes from a purple-flowered Eurasian delphinium that produces poisonous seeds -- took the easy way out by entering the CCM scene first.

"We could have played the club circuit instead, and things would be different. But it would have taken years to break through. As it is, we made a name for ourselves pretty quickly as a Christian band."

And, he reiterates, they are all Christians. Stavesacre's two albums -- 1996's "Friction," well-received in secular alternative-music magazines, and last year's "Absolutes" -- are ripe with religious imagery, notably in groove-churning songs such as "Acquiesce" and "The Two Heavens."

Though, again, listeners would be hard-pressed to find "Jesus" or "God" uttered anywhere. Not even in the thank-you section on the new record's sleeve. (It says, merely, "thanks.")

Salomon says the parameters of Christian music are simply stifling.

He likens the situation to the hypocrisy he experienced growing up. "My parents wouldn't let me hear the music I wanted to hear -- strong, straight-edged stuff like Minor Threat and Bad Brains, all the bands that had something positive to say. I wasn't allowed to listen to secular music until I was 18. I had to sneak all the records I loved from my friends.

"But I was allowed to listen to their music, rock 'n' roll oldies they grew up with. And that's all about sex. I never understood why that was OK because it was easier on the ears but my music wasn't."

Salomon politely rebelled, first forming the Crucified with Bellew, then moving on to Stavesacre. He realizes, however, that he's a rare breed, noting that "I think a lot of Christian bands have a guilty conscience about playing rock, and they put references in their music because they think that will absolve them or something.

"You get these people, you know, who are so worried, saying, 'Where's the JPM? Where's the JPM?' Well, what in the world is JPM? Jesus Per Minute.

"That's not art, when music is about the JPM. And if I have to go to the general market to get recognition for what we're doing, then that's where I'm going. ... I'm so jaded to the demands of people that our music has to be a certain way."

He adds that the true Stavesacre fans "get it." They sink into the sludgy beats, sure, but they hear the passionate redemption behind lyrics such as "If I die tonight/ then take this broken man/ and wrap me tight within this brand new skin."

"They aren't worried that we're selling out or that we're hiding our Christianity," Salomon said. "We're not. That will never happen. But we're about much more than we're being allowed to say. That has to change."

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NEWS AND NOTES

Two veteran performers -- one known for religious recordings, the other for "The Music of the Night" -- have new sacred-music discs in stores. CeCe Winans of the estimable Winans clan has issued the suitably soulful "Everlasting Love," featuring a new song from the Fugees' Lauryn Hill, while Michael Crawford (the first and still best "Phantom of the Opera") does his best with the standards -- "Ave Maria," "Amazing Grace" and such -- on "On Eagle's Wings." ... Domo Records has three new offerings: "Reflections," combining Spanish, Indian and classical influences; Celestial's "Spirit House," an Enigma-like Asian outfit that combines chanting with electronic beats; and Sur Sudha's "Images of Nepal," another collection of Himalayan hymns.

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(c) 1998, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.).

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