Steve Taylor, HM Magazine & Maylene & the Sons of Disaster

STEVE TAYLOR - Steve entered the room at GMA and apologized in advance for not being a good interview. He said that people assume he will be good on camera but that he generally has not done well. He was wrong... he was there doing promo for the film he directed called "The Second Chance" which stars Michael W Smith (someone we will be talking to soon). Steve played a critical role in getting relevance into the genre. He directly attacked both Christians and non-Christians with his lyrics and new wave sound. He was controversial but... I think he was right. He talked about how he went after Bob Jones U. and their ban on interracial dating with "We Dont Need No Color Code" (Bob Jones has since rescinded this policy.) Steve said he heard stories about the kids at Bob Jones getting the CD in a paper bag from the music store near campus. He also went after Jimmy Swaggart in a song and Swaggart struck back in his anti-Christian rock book where Taylor got an entire chapter. He also went after Bill Gothard, TV Evangelists, pretty much everyone he thought needed to be challenged. His most controversial song was probably "I Blew Up the Clinic Real Good" about pro-life activists. It was actually pulled out of many Christian bookstores.

His aim was not solely on radical Christians, he also had songs like, "Since I Gave Up Hope I Feel a Lot Better" and "Jim Morrison's Grave", as well as "Meltdown" which was actually a mainstream hit on MTV. After he stopped performing and before he went on to direct, he ran a label for a while that launched the career of Sixpence. So yeah... this guy has done a lot.

One last thing... for a controversial figure, he could not be more meek, humble and nice. It is obvious that he limited his confrontation to his art and left it there. I dont see Steve sitting at Denny's arguing about abortion, he will leave that to others and enjoy his grand slam breakfast and OJ.


DOUG VAN PELT (HM Magazine) - I know it is getting old for me to say this but GEEEEZ, what a sweetheart Doug was. You will not find another person on planet earth that has more passion for this genre than Doug Van Pelt. He has nothing bad to say about anyone, he seems like a guy who finds the good in anything and focuses on that, even if it is only a morsel of the entire cake. The world needs more DVP's. He is another guy who knows every band out there and has a story from every show, album, festival, etc. He has run HM Magazine (originally called Heaven's Metal) for over 20 years. He came to tears twice in the interview, once when telling a story about U2. There apparently was a show where the FBI said there was a legitimate death threat to Bono. It was a show out in the open (Memphis I believe) and they could not provide good enough protection so it was recommended they cancel the show. U2 not only refused to cancel but decided to go ahead and sing the song they had been warned not to sing, "MLK." Bono grabbed the mic, fell to his knees and closed his eyes to perform the song with a hand held toward the heavens. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Adam Clayton (not a Christian at the time) was standing in front of him to shield him from harm. Doug says he was really touched by this because obviously, the way Bono lived his life had been a witness to Clayton, so much so, that he was willing to die to protect him. Pretty cool.


MAYLENE & THE SONS OF DISASTER - Another band that I had no clue what they were going into the interview. They had been described to me as "Skynyrd-core" which was pretty impossible for me to wrap my head around. I just cant keep up with all the genres, I actually think I made up a new one the other day, "countr-emo." It is Dashboard Confessional meets Toby Keith...anyway...

These guys really won me over with their genuine hearts and straight up, backwoods, dueling banjos, Deliverance, REALNESS. One of the guys, the one with the sweetest beard (and that is saying a lot as there were some sweet beards in this band) literally asked to pause for a moment because he needed to pee. We were over at Cornerstone mainstage back by the creek (where they said they would feel the most comfortable doing the interview) and he just turned away and peed. Oh to be so free. They were like Underoath in that, they are not shy about their faith but they have not had a lot of resistance. They just do what they do and they were actually shocked anyone would even care who they were, much less sit thru a concert with them, let alone pay for it. They said it started off as a fun thing, almost as a joke, but people started to respond. When prompted to tell me about their goals they universally agreed that while it is great to spread the good word, what they would really like is to make enough money to get a nicer grill to strap to the top of their van. Great guys. Next time I hear some b-rate rocker whining about how stale his papaya on the green room fruit tray is, I am going to think happy thoughts about M&TSOD.