The Austin Music Scene
It’s been a long time since Austin, Texas (which is known as the “Live Music Capitol of the World”) had a Christian hard music scene to speak of. 17 years or so ago, there was a thriving scene with budding talent that deserved a wider stage. The Paul Q-Pek Band, The Nation, The Cry, and One Bad Pig all had it going on. With the exception of the Pig, those bands died out in the very early 90s. Since then the only thing “thriving” in Austin’s Christian music scene has been due to a vibrant coffee house circuit that’s given platform to many acoustic and worship artists. Places like Dallas took the lead for the better part of a decade (Embodyment, Travail, Society’s Finest, Nailed Promise, and Within). But that has changed now – real quick.
Hosting a few “HM Mag Release Parties” recently has uncovered the local talent here that’s begging for a national stage: Hundred Year Storm, The Kirby, Fairfax, Falls Victim, Peter Nevland, This Side Up, Skylar Blue, Meryll, Minutes To Burn, Christopher Robin, and Bayta Darell. Add to that list The Illustrated Band (fka Gideon’s Press), Wideawake, The Rock Bottom Choir, and nearby Flyleaf, and it makes for quite a collection of artists.
Hundred Year Storm and Bayta Darell have really captured an atmospheric style with lots of layers and cool dreamy vocals with a touch of aggression that keeps the audience unsettled at just the right times. Bayta Darell sounds something like if Sigur Ros, perhaps, re-recorded Pet Sounds. They’ve got a very minimal-istic and multi-instrumentalist approach, which includes innovative ideas like stroking the acoustic guitar strings with a paint brush or hitting a prostrate guitar with a hammer for a dulcimer effect. Hundred Year Storm is just slightly more straight-up, like maybe “Mineral meets Starflyer.” Brandon Johnson, who used to DJ at the local drippy Christian radio station (KNLE – one of three ccm stations on the FM dial here at the moment), drums for the emo-flavored Fairfax, but has also just lent his mad skills to HYS, as did Fairfax guitarist David Kiesel. “If push comes to shove, my priority is definitely Hundred Year Storm,” admits Johnson. With the syndicated rock radio show Red Letter Rock 20 (who also happen to be in Austin) spinning Fairfax like they’re the next big thing, these two guys might be faced with that difficult position of which band to stay in.
The Kirby, which includes guitarist Colin Hobbs, who interned at HM for the better part of a year in 2003 and ’04, has been “full time” doing music since most of the guys graduated last May. They’ve been out on the road consistently and were picked up by small indie label Dollhouse Records (My Son, My Executioner, GODS). Their discordant riffing and guitar-slinging provides an intense backdrop for the emotive vocals of Michael Foulk.
Former Grammatrain drummer Paul Roraback moved his band Gideon’s Press from Seattle to Austin five years ago to make a go of it in what is perhaps a more artist-friendly town. Where a lot of clubs in Seattle were reverting to DJs, Austin has more live original music venues on any given night than New York City. With organizations like the Austin Music Foundation (which provides career development tools and education, with mentoring and grants), it’s a great place to make music. With a new album under its belt, they’ve changed their moniker to The Illustrated Band and consistently pulling crowds at popular clubs like Antone’s.
Flyleaf, who are from nearby Temple, Texas, played the world-gathering SXSW festival and received management and label attention, which has resulted with their self-titled debut album on the BMG distributed Octone Records. “We’ve gotten to tour with Trust Company, Breaking Benjamin, and Saliva,” states First Lastname. “There are a lot of other great bands that are called only to the Christian world, and we happen to be called to both.”
Of any of Austin’s bands, however, the most widely-traveled is probably Peter Nevland. His spoken word put to music delivery comes in two sizes – full band (The Peter Nevland Band) or as a duo with his sidekick, Paul Finley. Together with other slam poets like Bradley Hathaway, the spoken word scene is getting a facelift and much-needed credibility.
Of all the new rock from a faith perspective in Austin, the most credible and potentially best-selling new act is an all-star alliance that had its debut album financed by none other than Gene Simmons of Kiss. “Gene bought one of my songs,” relates vocalist Matt McCormack of Rock Bottom Choir, the sale of which allowed him to finance the For All The Saints album. McCormack moved here from Memphis and hooked up with Will Sexton, Ryan Carter, George Reiff, Joey Shuffield, and Bill Carter, whose collective rock pedigree is staggering. “I wanted to do this thing called The Rock Bottom Choir, which developed more into spiritual songs and trying to raise money for charities and do certain things. Bob Dylan had Slow Train Coming and George Harrison had All Things Must Pass – I wanted to do something like that. Not preachy or anything like that. I’m no saint and I don’t live my life that way, but kind of like an outlet of positive music. That’s what Rock Bottom’s about.”
"I think Joshua Tree by U2 is one of the biggest Christian records ever made. I kind of like stuff like that. The roots to Gospel music has always been there, like, in Memphis.
"The songs are about healing, I guess, and having faith. If you’re having marital problems or addictions. We wanted to do a record where, everybody feels that way. I’ve felt that way. We wanted to do this record to where you could get up in the morning and go, ‘Yeah, let’s try again. Let’s try to do it right.’ It’s about healing and faith. Faith above all. Faith in yourself and faith in God, too. It gets you through those times.
"It’s called the Rock Bottom Choir, because, man, everyone’s been there and faced every aspect of every kind of situation. Instead of saying, you know, ‘My boat’s gonna sink,’ saying, ‘Well, we’re going to swim and make it to shore,’ kind of thing. I think it’s very easy to write a song about how bad things are. Anybody can do that, and that’s very important to – to be able to do that – but I think there’s a whole other game to it if you recognize it and move in a different direction. And that’s what I’ve been drawn to.
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Comments
The Kirby is one freakin awesome live band. Everyone should check them out if they get the chance to.
dont forget Point of Contact!
