A few days a ago I saw a flyer advertising a rock band playing at a local church in my area. I'm not into Christian music, it's just a genre that I never had much exposure to and having been raised on The Beatles and The Rolling Stones...yeah. So I was curious given the fact that the band was making the distinction of being a Catholic band and I thought it would be interesting to see if there would be a difference. I'm not much into blanket statements about anything, there are always exceptions to the rule so I was ready to keep an open mind. That said, when my friend and I arrived to see barely twenty people milling around the place, I had a bad feeling. We were greeted by an overly enthusiastic manager directing us toward seats, acting like it was great that the small crowd gave us our pick. She had a small table with a couple of shirts, cds, and stickers. We stood around and she kept trying to push the start time back incase more people showed up but by 7:15 it was pretty clear that was going to be it. The whole time the band was stuck over in a little nook with their guitars which was completely visible to the audience. Needless to say it was almost comical when the manager introduced them with such drama and they stepped out from the nook a few feet away. At that point I'd already made a deal with my friend that we'd give it three songs and head over to the ice cream parlor.
Three songs later when we were trying to make the most discreet exit possible, it felt really disappointing and all I could think was what they should have done differently. For instance, they should have picked a smaller room to perform in instead of the main sanctuary which can accommodate several hundred people for any given service. They couldn't have thought there was going to be a massive turnout. With a smaller room at least they could say it was fairly full. It's all about the spin.
Something else; cut the cheap theatrics. Pure skill needs no help in shining. It was the cheesy intro and the jumping all over the place and cliché interactions between the guitarists. I couldn't help but think that I've seen this stuff before. Add in the classic audience banter, "anybody like Reliant K?" and the countdown started. There was some irony in the lead singer referencing more of a commercial success like maybe Reliant K or Switchfoot because I believe that some of their popularity stems from lyrics that don't read like they were written a few centuries ago. Keep the audience in mind! 16 to maybe 26 years old-- that age group wants more relatable content, more subtle.
I'm no expert on the genre and I usually don't curb my opinions, but I've seen enough bands with the "I think I can" mentality go down in flames that I just don't feel like ripping them a new one by using their name in this entry. They were young guys, I would just hope that they would get their act together and who knows what can happen. In any case, it's always fun to check out a random band on a whim. Give it a try, to quote Matchbox Twenty, "bad trips make great stories."
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