FYI
Awhile back, one of my friends over at Relevant Media sent me a bio on four guys who are up-and-comers on the music scene. She thought I might be interested in it because three of the boys (all brothers) had grown up sons of a Pentecostal evangelist. I did a little digging on the group and found out that their past had been rooted in religious scandal. And you know what happens to people who are the product of a scandalous Pentecostal childhood.
That’s right; they grow up to become wildly successful rock stars.
Why is that?
Anyway, the three brothers and a cousin have formed a band called Kings of Leon. I listened to some of their music via Rhapsody, and my mouth puckered with distaste. I doubt I’ll be adding their music to my iPod playlist anytime soon. At least I wouldn’t if I had an Ipod.
Following is the part of the bio where the guys talk about their Pentecostal past. Despite what must have been a rather disillusioning childhood, they didn’t have anything bad to say about it. Check it out:
Nathan: I first started playing music in church when I was seven; I played the drums. My mom would play the piano before my dad would preach. Caleb, over the years, I guess from just watching me play and being the drummer at the church, picked it up and started playing in church too.
Caleb: At Pentecostal churches, music's pretty lively. It's much the same as a black church down South. The same kind of spirit. You really show your emotions. Everyone worships.
Nathan: Lots of instruments: Organ, piano, bass, drums, couple of guitars, horns.
Caleb: It's good; it's actually pretty close to just blues music. People aren't always great on the instruments, but somehow when they all get together, it's really awesome.
Nathan: There are lots of elements of that in Kings of Leon. Because basically in church you're not up there for show; you're just up there to provide for the service. You become so close when you're playing; it's not like you're pressured that if you mess up you're going to be in big trouble. As a band now, I think it kind of makes it easier for us, because in our minds we're just like sittin' up there with a calm, I'd guess you'd say, about us, not worried about messing up. You're just up there feeling the music, as opposed to worrying the whole time. You'd be amazed at the way we played in church. I mean, it was rockin.' Fifteen-minute songs, people out there dancing. Getting with it.
Caleb: Our kind of gospel music, it sounds like the Rolling Stones with a different lead singer every time.
Nathan: We didn't give up that music up for rock and roll; we had the music in us all along. Understand, Aretha Franklin, she was a Pentecostal girl. Al Green. We don't want to come off as a church band, but we're not scared of the fact that a lot of our influences musically come for our past.
Caleb: I don't know, it's like when our father left the clothhood, we started looking at our lives. We started considering the opportunities we had outside the church, instead of being just what our father was.
Nathan: That was the first chance we had to think for ourselves. We discovered the freedom to look at religion in a light that we wanted to look at it in. That's when we really kind of cocooned, really started to experience so many aspects of life that, before, we'd never even known were out there. I mean, Zeppelin and the Stones and Tom Petty and all that, we got to listen to a little bit growing up, but we never really got to go buy a record and sit there and listen to the whole thing ten times in a row. Now we can write and play and record, giving people who hear us, we hope, a glimpse into the mind or imagination of real guys who have been through real stuff and are trying to put our experiences into words that go well with the kind of music that we like to play. Once we heard bands like White Stripes, it just gave me chill bumps, because we thought: Maybe we can do this, and maybe we can do it kind of cool.
These guys aren't religious rockers anymore, so if you give them a listen, keep that in mind.
Questions, comments, concerns? E-mail me! I reserve the right to quote you unless you ask otherwise.
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