the devil in me
* pedro the lion: never leave a job half done (4.5 mb) | i am always the one who calls (4.5 mb) | priests and paramedics (7 mb)
from nov 19th, 2004 : calvin college : grand rapids, mi
i’m hopefully gonna go see this new documentary out called why should the devil have all the good music?. the documentary is about christian rock in general and the cornerstone festival in particular. this is actually a subject that i used to be familiar with having been a fairly hardcore christian in the past. i used to listen to quite a lot of different christian bands and probably would’ve been incredibly psyched to go to a festival like cornerstone. at any rate, it’s definitely an interesting genre in that there’s automatically a ready built audience for it. it doesn’t really matter if you’re good or not, but if you profess your love for the j.c., you’re gonna have an audience.
so, what about pedro the lion? well apparently they played the same cornertone festival when the documetary was being filmed. when i first heard about these fellows, it was due to the release of their excellent album, winners never quit on jade tree records. now, i had no idea that this band was considered “christian rock”, but bought the record on a recommendation from a friend. i was pretty blown away. the songwriting was pretty great and for some reason the words really resonated with me. i quickly bought a couple of their other releases and have fond memories of driving around the backwoods of maine with a friend of mine, smoking cigarettes, and listening to pedro the lion. so, it’s interesting to me that they should be aligned with the christian rock movement as they’re not explicitly so and the label they’re on is also not. at any rate. despite all the baggage associated with “christian rock”, i think this band is pretty great.
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just the other day i went to the most wonderful place on earth. otherwise known as the apple holler. it’s a wonderful apple orchard/restaurant/country store/musical theatre type of place. and it really must be experienced to understand just how great this place is. in addition to the wonderful food (i have four words for you: fried dill pickle chips) there’s a petting/feeding zoo in the yard. they have a bunch of goats and llamas to feed. there’s also a corn maize maze that you can run around and get lost in. this place is just like i imagine heaven to be. *sigh*
kristen said,
November 24, 2004 @ 4:00 pm
I absolutely adore pedro the lion. Dave Bazan is brilliant. Anyway, the interesting thing is that he gets a lot of criticism from the Christian and the non-Christian community for his music/lyrics. It isn’t Christian enough for the Christians and it’s too Christian for the non-Christians (at least from what I’ve read in a lot of reviews).
You should check out the little interview Magnet magazine had with him-
cb said,
November 24, 2004 @ 7:03 pm
yeah. i totally agree. it’s a weird position for dave bazan to be in because it seems like he honestly dislikes being labeled christian rock. but it’s something that he can’t seem to shake. most of the reviews i’ve read of his albums almost always mention his background.
if it gets played in your area, you should try and see that movie, why should the devil have all the good music? there are some priceless quotes from david bazan as he’s trying to articulate his struggles in accepting the way that the public has labeled him.
-cb