Pastor Brad's 80s Christian Metal Guitar World! An interview with Pastor Brad from THE BURIED SCOLLS Ezine April, 2005 This is what this magazine is about, discovering those hidden gems in the Christian Metal scene and look what I found just this weekend (April 10th) a great act and artist, Pastor Brad. I had never heard of this guy nor seen any think located on the internet about his music. I think he needs to get this stuff on places like Soundclick and pure volume. He has some great music, with great gusts of solo guitaring which is sadly missing from many band acts today. Let me introduce you to PASTOR BRAD TREVOR:When people hear about your name as Pastor Brad, some may mistake this as just a nickname or is it true? PB: It's true. My name is "Brad" and I'm a "pastor." So, I go by "Pastor Brad" all the time… not just as an artist. TREVOR: What is the church like? Is the worship there very rocky? PB: Well, let me answer those two questions separately. The Church is great. My family and I moved to the South Bend, Indiana area back in August of 2000 to pastor the Michiana Community Church of God (www.michianaccog.com). We're not all that huge. Our average Sunday morning attendance is 100-120. The people are awesome! There is a tremendous spirit of love and acceptance among the people… I mean just think about it-how many churches would actually support their pastor as a "heavy metal artist"!? I feel very blessed to be serving this congregation! As for the worship style… It's not "rocky" at all-especially not by a "metal-head's" standards! I would describe it as very "up beat" and "encouraging". We worship God, from our hearts and with passion. A great sister named Loraine Alwine… who is an incredible keyboardist, and myself…on accoustic guitar… provide the bulk of the "rhythm section" in the Praise Band. Beyond that we have a flute, a sax, another guitarist, and 4 female vocalists. It makes for a very cool and unique sound. We sing a mix of choruses that I've written (maybe I'll record a worship cd some day?) contemporary praise choruses and traditional hymns. I really enjoy it. TREVOR: What do you think of the new style of ministries and worship that are coming out now? I am reading/hearing some people say that the new style of worship today seems very empty in its words and very self centered? What is your opinion? PB: Dude, there are a lot of questions there… Hmmm… As for the "new style of ministries" that are coming out--I say, "Praise the Lord!" God is always doing new things… pouring out "new wine," raising up new ministers and ministries to reach NEW PEOPLE with the message of His grace! My opinion on it is this-all of us should examine "who we are"… "who God created and gifted us to be" and prayerfully consider-"How does God desire to use me for His glory". God created EVERY ONE OF US with a unique bled of gifts, passions, abilities, personality and life experiences and he wants to use all of that… If you read my testimony at guitarjams.net you'll see that what I'm doing with my life is a natural out growth of how God created/gifted me! I say, find your niche for Jesus and work at it with all of your might for His glory! Who knows… maybe God will call you to be a Heavy Metal Pastor too! Regarding the new forms/styles of worship-I find the criticisms pretty silly. People get attached to things… including styles of music and worship… and whenever that changes some people freak out over it. I'm not 100% sure what all you have in mind when you say "new style of worship"… here's my thumbnail…. We'll only go back as far as the 16th century… Martin Luther hear a bar tune… change with words and created a "contemporary" church tune that we today call, "A Mighty Fortress is our God." I'm sure he caught some criticism for that one! Then the great hymn writers came along, Wesley guys like that and set the great "doctrines" of the church to music. If you study the Hymns-that's what they are about-DOCTRINE… truth about who God is. And that's awesome! Today-the "new songs" have sort of shifted away from DOCTRINE to EXPERIENCE. I.e. the majority of the Hymns are ABOUT GOD (His character, promises, etc) and the majority of the new praise music is sung TO GOD… it's more personal. A mega simple example would be-compare A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUT GOD, or AMAZING GRACE with I LOVE YOU LORD, or LORD, I LIFT YOUR NAME ON HIGH… and you'll see what I mean. Both styles are great and needed! We shouldn't get rid of either one! So there's my take on that… TREVOR: What happened to Holy Riot and is there any of that band's material still available to purchase? PB: I really don't know what's up with the Holy Riot thing. Ian and I are working on a parody project of KISS tunes, called "Knights In The Savior's Service"… and I'm pretty fired up about that, but Ian hasn't really said much about Holy Riot. I guess you'll have to ask him. TREVOR: You have released 4 solo albums such as-- Get Real, Rock You Up, Out of the Hellhole, TELECASTER and your new release that will be out this summer-- The King Has Come. What expectations do you have with this new release? What themes are covered in the songs? PB: You know, from the very beginning I've had three basic goals in mind with the Guitar Jams website and Pastor Brad CDs: 1) To write/record awesome, classic, 80s style, Christian metal songs, 2) To get that music into as many hands as possible, 3) To make as many friends along the way as possible-in order to encourage them in their walk with Jesus! As a full-time pastor-I just don't have the time to work with a band or tour. So my hopes are that I can connect with as many folks as possible via the internet… and fulfil those above three goals in that way. I'm very stoked about THE KING HAS COME! It's gonna have 10, brand new classic metal tunes on it. I've integrated the acoustic guitar a bit more on this one… and it's added a cool new feel to some of the tunes. The title says a lot about the theme of the songs on this disc. The basic premise is that JESUS IS THE KING OF KINGS! The title track, "The King Has Come" is all about the fact that Jesus-the Lord of lords and King of kings has come… he came in humility and as our Savior and laid his life down for us… it's pretty powerful tune. And then from there all of the songs just explore how our awesome Savior and King loves us and desires to walk with us through all of life-encouraging us and transforming us into his likeness. As a pastor-lyrics are a BIG deal to me. I make a HUGE effort to write lyrics that will touch and encourage hearts and communicate the message of God's awesome love for all of us. It's interesting that you asked about my "expectations" for the new project. One thing I've learned about the music business, since I started Guitar Jams back in 2003, is that it's a process. When I started with GET REAL, I put the website together, uploaded some sample songs and waited for the orders to come in (laughter)! With each release I've made new friends and contacts and discovered new places to "get the word out" about my music. For example… up until a week or so ago I didn't know you Trevor… and then you turned me on to Mark at Silent Planet Promotions.. and others have helped me along the path. One friend turned me on to CD Baby-and now they're going to help me with distribution. Right now TELECASTER is available there (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/pastorbrad) and soon Out of the Hellhole and THE KING HAS COME will be too! CD Baby is also going to help me with "digital distribution"… all of my songs will be available for individual download at the major sites like: Napster, iTunes, etc. So… it's just a process that continues to grow and expand as time goes on. TREVOR: You have gone through some very hard times in your life, such as the tumor, how have you overcome this and how do you cope through your daily life? PB: It may sound cliché-ish, but seriously… ALL of the glory goes straight to Jesus Christ! You can read my testimony at http://www.guitarjams.net/testimony.html. Although I was raised around church, I didn't surrender my life to Christ until I was 20.. and six months later I found out I had a BRAIN TUMOR! Two weeks later I underwent surgery to remove it. Praise the Lord it was benign. But as a result of the surgery, I lost 75% of my vision… it's kind of hard to explain… it's not that things are "blurry"… I just have these huge "blind spots" … so I don't see 75% of the picture. Needless to say, God and I had a few long talks! I thought, "Dude… God… what are doing here? I just gave you my life-how can you let this happen?" I cried and prayed for whole year. And God just sort of silently listened to all of my hurts and held me and loved me through it all. My BIG question was WHY? WHY did this happen to me? And you know… God NEVER answered that question. But after a year, He did make this one thing very clear. He communicated to my heart that He was GOOD… that he was in control… that His grace was sufficient for me and his power would be made perfect in my weakness. God communicated to me-that He had plans for my life… He knew all about my situation. You see, I was afraid. I was thinking, "What am I gonna do now? I can't drive a car… I can't do a lot of things." I was scared. And God said, "Brad, don't you think I know what you can and can't do? TRUST ME…. I have a plan." And He did! He called me to preach… led me to the right schools… and to an AWESOME lady named Kelly who became my wife and my very best friend… And He has continued to lead me and walk with me to this day! That's the short version… for the details check out that link! TREVOR: What do you see your views on the Christian music scene right now. Have you been following the music trends such as the unblack metal scene with bands like Antestor and how do you feel about this music personally? PB: That's a great question… I'm sort of embarrassed to say, "I have no clue about the trends in metal these days!" Seriously… back in the 80s I knew everything about everybody. But over the past couple of decades I've been so focused on ministry and family-I've lost touch. One thing that cracks me up about the new music is ALL OF THE SUB GENRES!!!! Dude, in the 80s there was Rock/Hard Rock, Heavy Metal and Thrash… Now there are like 50 different kinds of metal! I've given up on trying to keep up with all the genres. I know what I enjoy-if a song rocks, has a good beat, quality guitar work-WITH GOOD MELODIC LEADS, and melodic vocals… I'll most likely dig it. TREVOR: Now you are pretty good on the guitar, why is it I haven't heard your talent thru out the internet? Would you promote your music thru sites like Soundclick and Pure Volume? For me I think you should. What would you like to achieve thru your music? PB: First, thank you. I love to play the guitar and I work hard at it. For the second part of your question-I think it goes back to an earlier question you asked about my "expectations" for THE KING HAS COME. I've only been at this in a public way for 2 years… and as I mentioned above-I don't do the tour thing… so it's just taking some time for the word to get out there. My music is at Pure Volume… and indie 911, but I didn't know about Soundclick until just now… I'll go check that out! Every day God brings new people, promotion opportunities, radio stations, etc. to my attention. Things are moving in a good direction. It just takes times for the word to get out there. TREVOR: What do you think about bands taking their influences from mainstream bands? Do you think this influences their music in a negative way? PB: I don't know. I guess it depends on what mainstream bands you're talking about? There are some mainstream bands I would listen to and some that I just couldn't. Honestly, this a tough question for me---Mainstream Metal was my god as a teenager… and when I gave my life to Christ, I had to get completely away from all "secular" music. I've come to the place now where I can enjoy some mainstream bands-but I'm pretty picky about what I let enter my ears. TREVOR: Any prayer needs and parting comments? PB: Just a big THANK YOU for the interview… Keep your eyes on Jesus… and keep rockin for THE ROCK! |