Mike Rimmer met up with Virginia's DECEMBERADIO and found Southern rockers well aware of God's grace.

DecembeRadio

It's a funny thing about Gospel Music Week in Nashville. Every year I visit the event to interview as many artists as I can to publish interviews on these pages. And every year I get record label publicists trying to persuade me that their latest act is going to be THE band to interview. The publicity barrage about a rock band from Blacksburg, Virginia, DecemberRadio has been growing ever since the January 7th 2006 issue of the hugely influential trade magazine Billboard named the band one of the 10 'Faces To Watch' in their cover story. The music on DecembeRadio's self-titled debut album for Slanted Records (the rock subsidiary of Spring Hill Music Group) demonstrates a pile of classic rock influences from Rush to Lynyrd Skynyrd and Led Zep but they have added a fresh mix of modern production and some excellent melodic songwriting. The band have been touting their music on the live circuit since 1998 so the buzz surrounding their debut album is not an overnight success phenomenon.

Like many classic rock bands, their power is found in the dynamic that links the rifferama guitar playing of Brian Bunn with the memorable vocals of singer/bassist Josh Reedy atop a steady throbbing rhythm section. The result is a dynamic band who are more than aware of what they are carrying. The unusual name for the band came from an unusual source. Eric Miker explains, "Josh and I were watching another band play and in the back of the room there was a calendar (with a picture of) an old-looking radio. It just kind of caught my attention. It looked like a cool photo and the calendar was actually turned to December, though it was March. So we were throwing around band names and I said, 'Hey, how about DecembeRadio?' And it just kind of stuck."

And the names they rejected? "Soul Divine, Seventh Day Rest, Consider This," Brian Bunn admits. "That was one of the bad ones! That was like, when we were 13!" In more recent times they will admit that they toyed with the name Electric Dry Wall, which definitely would have made them sound like a prog rock act! Instead the band really do draw on their Southern rock influences but somehow they throw in other elements to broaden out the sound.

Like every band, DecembeRadio have a manifesto for what they're trying to achieve. Miker shares, "We believe that a lot of people don't like Christian music because musically it doesn't fulfil them. So we want to take the cool music, the right music, and put the message of hope and a message of accountability into the music. The Bible says praise him with cymbals and stringed instruments and that's what we're doing. A lot of people think when you become a Christian that you have to stop rockin'. We're the opposite. We've got something to rock about. We've got joy and peace and hope and so we just want to use the music as a tool to get our message out there."

It's interesting that when I ask the band to name their influences, not a single Christian music artist is mentioned. "Yeah that's true," admits Brian, "and for that exact reason! Because growing up, a lot of us couldn't find Christian music that we actually liked to listen to. So that's why we want to give the youth out there today something that they can listen to; an alternative to those Led Zeppelins and all the bands like that."

Okay, so it's clear that the band want to make cool music and they have succeeded on their debut album but what else is the band about? Josh explains, "It's about reaching today's youth, obviously with the music, but we really enjoy talking and spending time with the kids we do have a chance to play for. Whether it's just a one-night show or whether it's a camp. We do some camps around the nation, where we actually get to spend more than just one day with them. We'll be able to spend a week with them and really get to know them personally. So that's definitely something that we enjoy from a ministry perspective. Just spending time with those kids. And also older folks too that really relate to our music that's going on because it's what they're used to growing up with. The things they liked to have back then when they were kids. It's one of those things where we enjoy both ends. God's called us to the music thing but he's also called us to a ministry. So that's definitely one of our main focuses."

When it comes to songwriting, the band work together to craft their songs which is quite an unusual situation. Joshua explains, "We actually write collectively. We'll come in with a riff, with the idea. Whether it's individually written or not, we'll come in and we'll mess with it. We'll play it and run it down and start messing with melody; throwing melodic ideas out there, hook things. And then at that point, it is when the lyric and the theme of the song comes into play. So that's kind of how we approach it as a band." So is it Josh's responsibility to come up with the lyrics since he's the singer? "It's all of our responsibility actually," he counters. "We all write lyrics." It seems apt then to ask about one of the songs on the album, "Greed". Eric explains, "Greed is something I think we all struggle with in the band. Aways wanting more and more. It's just a song that paints a true picture of greed and it's not a pretty song. It has one lyric that says, 'Credit card slits your throat.' It's a modern-day song about Judas pretty much. The chorus says, 'You'll go down swinging.' In other words, if you get caught up in greed! And we didn't want to paint a pretty picture about it. We wanted to be honest about it."

Listening to the album it's easy to hear what a gutsy band they are. But how much more is it than making cool music? Ministry is such a nebulous idea and when it comes to Christian rock, there is a history of very superficial ministry going on with some bands. So what do the band want to pass on to their audience at gigs? "We've got hope with Christ," responds Josh. "The cool thing is it doesn't matter what you're going through or how bad things seem, when you have Christ you know that he's going to pull you through that. It says that all things work together for those who love God. So if you're serving Christ it doesn't matter how bad things are, they're going to get better. And there's a lot of kids walking around with no hope. They don't know Christ and their lives are falling apart and they don't know why. They have nowhere to turn. So we have a big responsibility as a band to everybody we play to. I share testimony at the shows and we give a time for an altar call, because that's our main thing. We have to get that message out there. Let them know that there's hope and that Christ loves them for who they are and he can save 'em."

So is there a testimony within the band where they have proved their message for themselves? Brad shares, "Yeah for sure. For Josh and I, music was our god for a long time and we worshipped it. We just wanted to be rock stars and that kind of thing. That just leaves you empty. It was so cool, when God dealt with us on that and convicted us, and when we gave it all to him it was like the true fulfilment we'd been looking for. We've tried a lot in our lives. We've tried all kinds of things to make us happy. Stuff like greed, buying guitars, I love that eBay! All that good stuff. But nothing makes you happy. People, even your best friends, they let you down, and the only person that's never let us down would be the love of Christ."

So it's safe to say that the guys in DecembeRadio began by selling their souls for the rock'n'roll ideal. They wanted to be in a high profile rock band but now they have discovered a bigger purpose for their music and it started by changing their own lives and now the band want to take the message out to others. But isn't there still a danger that the music could become idolatrous? Isn't there a danger that the music could get in the way of their relationships with God?

Josh is honest in his response, "It's definitely a hard balance. It's definitely one of those things where you really, as a band, have to become accountability partners to each other. And obviously outside of the band too. To have someone that's really holding us accountable as a band and as a ministry, to keep that balance of staying humble and losing the pride that a lot of times comes with success. And on the road you've got fans that just really. . . I can remember back when I was a teenager just going and seeing bands and I was enthralled. They became my idols. And because of that I can really see how dangerous it can be for us as artists, how dangerous it can be for the people we're actually impacting, because we can cause them to stumble every day. So it's definitely a really hard balance but we definitely try to keep our feet on the ground, as you would say."

Is there a temptation to create an image for the band and hide behind that so that the audience are left relating to an image rather than the true people in the band? Eric answers, "Well honestly, the way that we're seen on stage, and I can say this with a clear conscience, is the way you'll find us walking down the street. The same clothes, the same hairstyles. Hopefully that doesn't change with our label. They haven't put any pressure to be anything different or anyone different so we're lucky for that. But you can see us sitting here. We're just regular people."

I tease them that they do look a little scruffy! But aside from the image, there is the issue that if they're in a band and they're telling people about Jesus there's an assumption that their relationship with God will be in a particular place. "When I share testimony in a show," Brian answers, "I always try to explain that we're no better a Christian than anybody in the audience. We try to talk about our struggles. You've heard it said a lot of times that the only difference between the saved and the unsaved person is the saved person has grace, you know? We mess up all the time but we have the grace of God."

In that case, isn't there a danger of aiming too low? If they are going to be on stage, don't they have a responsibility to be further ahead than the core of their audience? Eric responds, "There is a bar that is raised when you do step up on a stage or whatever type of venue it is. Whether you're a pastor or this, God's called you to that. Therefore you do have to make sure that your life is just a total example. And obviously we're human, we mess up all the time and I think that part of it is where Brian's coming from. So the fact that we are human, we're not these guys that lead perfect lives at all. But the fact that we do have his grace, it helps us to do that, you know? It helps us to stay faithful to Christ and stay in the Word. It's a very cool thing to be a Christian. There's a saying that, 'It takes a whole lifetime to build up integrity but one time to tear it down.' We just have to remember that one poor choice could mess up a lot of things."