The Blamed - Bryan Gray
Some interviewers know which buttons to push to get the interviewee to go in-depth on any given subject. We figured any of our talented freelancers could take the job of interviewing Bryan Gray — the head of Left Out, and of course, the Blamed — but what would make this one particularly special? We decided to ask his pastor, the leader of his home at the Jesus People USA community, Glenn Kaiser, to interview Bryan about his spiritual life and the rebirth of The Blamed.
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Why have you come to live at the JPUSA community?
"For a while I lived at the JPUSA community on weekends when the Blamed would play in the area, or when Left Out or Six Feet Deep was in town. I would stay at the house because I was close to Andrew Mandell. I had actually prayed about moving into the community when they flew me out to produce the Cashists, Fascists album. Andrew had asked me to come out and play guitar for Crashdog, and in the same week, I got couple other band offers, and one of them was Six Feet Deep. I played with them instead.
"I went through my divorce last year and it was pretty rugged. I went to a really good church in California, the Santa Cruz Bible Church, but it's one of those mega-churches that have to have four services a week to be able to suit all the needs of the people. I didn't want to go to counseling there. I wanted to go to a place with people I knew and trusted. Andrew and I have always been accountable to each other, and also a guy named Darren Davick from Belly Acres Designs. These are guys I called on a monthly basis to just say, 'Hey, this is what's going on in my life,' and to get advice. They've always been good about talking to me."
So it was really about relationships.
"Yes, pretty much. Whenever I visited the community, I always felt that I was on the same page spiritually. When I think about the amount of Christians all over the nation per year, I find that it's still hard to find people that I agree with when it comes to spiritual things, especially ministry. As far as the community goes, the only hard thing for me is that my parents aren't Christians and they don't understand it. They live paycheck to paycheck, so they don't understand how you work 40 hours a week and you don't see it, it goes to that place you live. They're hippies from the 60's. They're deadheads, they got a Volkswagen van, the whole works. But they love that we feed the homeless and have a shelter."
They realize that your food and lodging and needs and expenses are being met. What they don't understand is that we all put our money together in a common pot?
"What they don't understand is that it isn't much different than when I lived at home and worked 40 hours a week. If I wanted to go to a movie I had to make sure and budget 20 bucks extra to go out. What often brought me to Jesus People was to have a real good time of healing and to get counseling. Andrew is my spiritual covering, and he has been a blessing.
"Andrew has shown me that I need to get up every day because I am called to serve. John Perkins said that a big part of ministry is being willing to serve. When I get up to serve, I'm also being served by others. When I'm at work I carry some guy's roofing supplies out, put it on my forklift, bring it to his truck, help him load it, and tell him to have a good day, hoping that my actions speak louder than my words, because our clients know we're Christians. I am getting my needs met by serving God."
How do you balance the ministry while reaching out to a non-ministry band and being a ministry band yourself?
"I guess the balance to me is that it's all ministry. We all have the same amount of needs, we all need to pray every day. Whether these people are willing to wear the badge of ministry of not, when you get on stage you are ministering. A guy I know who plays in a band that doesn't preach, he gets on the stage and shows the love of God. People will see... even the sound guy will see and ask, 'Why is that guy different?' We always hear that cliché in churches, and in youth group growing up, we hear we have to be different, and I can say that it is because Jesus has made a change in me.
"The Blamed has always felt called to minister to the Christian scene. I feel like God has called us to get into the Church, and we have to hold each other to accountability and love, to encourage each other to get into our Bibles every day. We need to encourage each other that we are called to be transparent to our accountability, our pastors, our church.
"I went to Calvary Chapel in Southern California and it was hard to be transparent, because people wouldn't come up to me and introduce themselves to me as a Christian. Instead, they would say, 'Didn't you play in this band?' I wanted to hear, 'Hey man, how are you doing this week?'"
What is it about punk rock that appeals to you?
"I'm not really a punk rocker. I grew up going to punk shows, and I love playing that kind of music. I love Crashdog, I love Nobody Special. Those bands are two of my favorites. Two of the first bands I ever heard were the Altar Boys and the Sex Pistols. Those were the first two records I ever had."
Why did the Blamed fold, and why is it now resurfacing?
"That's a silly question, because we never really folded. We did take some time off. All these rumors went out that stupid stuff happened. People asked about Jeremy, he used to sing for the band, and he went on to play drums for Stavesacre. Jeremy has moved on from there to do some of his own musical projects. He works with a big producer from Sony or someplace like that. He doesn't release anything, he just does it for fun. We don't keep in real close contact.
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