Gaskill, Jerry

When King's X came on the scene in 1987, it was a striking breath of fresh air. Here was a new sound, melding the 60s (Sly & The Family Stone, Beatles), 70s (Grand Funk Railroad), and 80s (Metallica) into something brand new; and it was done from the perspective of believers and seekers. I remember thinking that this was a new wind of God's Spirit that was blowing across the land. Without being a utilitarian "tool" to preach or evangelize, here was the best art of its kind emanating from a believing voice. This is the kind of stuff Christian artists have been dreaming about doing for years -- impacting their culture with excellent art.


As time wore on, this band has changed. They no longer seem to be united in philosophical direction, but the band keeps functioning as a union in the name of good art. Forget that their low end rumble was picked up on and ripped off by Seattle. Forget that these guys are old now. They still have the respect of musicians everywhere and they continue to earn respect from common music fans by consistently touring, opening for new bands and playing in front of audiences that don't already know who they are.


Ty Tabor did a solo album first. Doug Pinnick followed up with his Poundhound. He's since played with Bruce Franklin and Jeff Ament and Ty's started Platypus, Jughead and Jellyjam. Now it's finally drummer Jerry Gaskill's turn to paint a canvas all his own. The guy's got a great voice; this much we know from hearing the harmonies he's added to King's X all these years. But I was curious as to what kind of songwriting he'd bring. Some of his previous work has been dubious. Recall the weirdness and strange falsetto of "Six Broken Soldiers" or "American Cheese (Jerry's Pianto)." Would it all be bizarre?


On the contrary. It's a very musical and complex album. Simplistic melodies that float in and around your head are accompanied by some thoughtful poetry (not a surprise). Some of the heartbreaking stories heard in fellow bandmate Ty Tabor's songs (especially the Ice Cycles album by Platypus), like broken relationship, loneliness, and pain, can be found here. The lead-off track, "The Kids," sound like a retort to a child custody fight or something. Very melancholy, but calming. "All The Way Home" reads as an "I'm getting on with my life without you" letter. The rhythmic jamming is reminiscent of King's X here, and most of the settle-down and let-him-sing guitar jangling is very pleasant. While much of the album falls under almost balladry, experimental Beatlesque layers of sound decorate the songs nicely, too.


The last track, "Face The Day," repeats how one person might wake up and deal with his/her circumstances (by shouting a profanity). This occurs with each chorus. A poem on the back of the CD jacket features that famous conjunction where the Name God and the verb of damning something are joined as one. There's an interesting sound effect in the middle of "All The Way Home" (the unmistakable sound of a water pipe being smoked, including the flick-flick of a lighter...) There's a little naked woman on the cover, crouched on the floor. Granted, it's not pornographic or flamboyant (like Drowning Pool's new album cover, for example), but all these things add up to what many will construct as a roadblock to keep from enjoying this artist's work. It was his choice to "paint" with these words and images, so it breaks down to almost a raw response / reaction between artist and audience. Some interesting questions can be raised, such as: "Is that really an accurate definition of taking the Lord's Name in vain? Is all nudity pornography, or is some nude photography art? Does profanity lower or elevate art in lyrics?" For most of the Christian audience that's listened to King's X all these years, this will unfortunately be another excuse to not tune in. For many, however, this is only one other strange turn and twist for a trio of artists that never seem to stay quiet, normal and out of trouble.


Bono has been credited as saying, "I'm only interested in music that's about someone running to or away from God..." Unlike Please Come Home, Mr. Bulbous, This album, Come Somewhere, seems to do neither.


©2004 HM Magazine - All Rights Reserved.



Return to Album Reviews

Comments


 By Chris Corley

Great art can only be experienced for itself. King's X is playing in Fort Worth on Sept 21st & my band Benevolence is opening for them.
www.asylumclubs.com for more info.

 By Shawn McArdle

I come from a christian background and still ascribe to the fundamental beliefs of Christianity.
I believe that the biggest mistake that almost every Christian band makes is making music for "Christians." The primary goal of christian music should be to reach nonbelievers.
Dogmatic beliefs and questioning whether having a naked woman on an album cover is "pornographic" or not, illustrates the flaw of this industry.
To reach the mainstream, nonbelievers you need to communicate in "their" language.
People do not convince other people to believe...God does. In other words stop talking and live your life as an example to others.
Jerry Gaskill is an incredible human being and King's X is NOT a christian band. They are who they are, flaws and all. Whether or not you smoke pot, or have naked women on your album, etc., a musician's job is to express who they are...like it or not.
With that said here is some free advice for the "believers": Love more, judge less, shut your mouth and let your actions speak for themselves.

 By Dougie

Shawn touches on some subjects that could use some attention. The very fact that we dissect stuff like artwork, language, and whatnot says a lot about us. However (here's Doug defending himself...go ahead and ignore me), being a journalist I try to know my audience. While the internet is an open book for anyone to read, my audience is made up of many that will want to know about the details I brought up. Some people take great care in choosing what art/music they will buy and spend time ingesting and reflecting with, etc. Pointing out the things I did in this review does not cast even a trinkle of a shadow of judgment on the album (i made up a new word and made a leap), does it? Just bringing up these things or even questioning them is a far different thing than complaining, judging, or condemning. Is it not? Having said that, I'm all for shutting up and living love.

 By Shawn McArdle

Listen, I was not directing the criticism solely at the author of this review, it was directed more at a culture that promotes judgment first and love second.
I understand that people are falable and that christians, for the most part, have good intentions.
The problem is I believe you, as well as allot of evangelical christians, and the christian music industry are missing the forest for the trees. Singing about Jesus is great, but that doesn't work for the mainstream. What works, in my opinion, is living a life that displays Gods love, not spouting judgement. People are not stupid, you don't need to give the "Accept Jesus or you're going to hell" speech to people, you need to display a joy that people will long for.
If you truely believe that God is omnipotent, then, by default you believe that God, not your words, will make himself known to those who are searching. All you can do is be the person that those searching will come to because they respect who you are, not what you say.
With that said, King's X is a great band, composed of people with faults and shortcomings, but most of all honesty and LOVE. Focus on that, not the album cover, or a few choice words uttered by a falable human.

 By douglas

Yeah, I hear ya. I figured your comments were directed in that way. The author (myself) and many of the readers are probably not as guilty as charged as what may appear... Although the internet and message boards do not highlight the best of people. It's quite the opposite. Impatience, impulsiveness, anger, and unbridled emotion pretty much rule the day on message boards, chat rooms, and comment fields, etc. HM Magazine has probably written about King's X in a more positive light over the longest period than any publication around (yeah, it's hard to hear the editor say that...sorry for fluffing my feathers, i'm a stupid human being, too. But in case you haven't known it, HM's covered these guys since album 1. Jerry is a wonderful guy. I love him and it was very hard to say anything critical about his album here. A few good teachers have admonished believers to "always preach the Gospel...if necessary, use words," implying that good deeds, love, humility, and graciousness speak far more loudly than most 3-point sermons... There's a Scripture passage I love. It says, "Mercy triumphs over judgment."

 By bongo

i can understand why a "christian" rock magazine would look for "spiritual" gems in the music it reviews. but, king's x do not claim to be a christain band. they never did. in the early days, they claimed to be "believers operating withing a mainstream/art rock band". these days, they all seem to question their faith. jerry's wife hired a hit man to have him killed. ty's wife left him. doug always struggled with same sex attractions which stemmed from sexual abuse, rendering him confused.

we need to pray for these guys. not in a "we are the holy people, higher than these reprobates, so lets stoop to the level of praying for them., but, "god, we are all sinners. deliver us. and now i am specifically praying for my brothers here."

bottom line, ty, doug and jerry are some of the kindest people you will want to meet. i hope they turn to god in their individual crisis', but i also hope they continue to make some of the greates music on the planet!

 By Henry

I have been a fan of King's-X since the first Mega Force releases. While they all struggle with their individual faith, that makes me relate to them all that much more. We all have our own struggles to deal with in our own lives. I have met Doug at the Rainbow in Hollywood before a Poundhound show and he was so geneous with his time, even though he was trying to eat dinner. I never miss a show when they are in town. If you have the chance to experience them live, do it. It will be one of the most powerful uplifting events you will ever be a part of. If that is not God working through that, then I don't know what is. Henry ps check my band Peace Machine at WWW.Peace-Machine.com we get compared to King's-X alot

 By i"m tired

Let's all bow and worship at the feet of rock musicians. You can begin your scathing reply now! In America, the only place where Christianity can be distorted so that there are no standards and everyone's lives are excusable through distortion of scripture. Are we to love all people? Yes. But, we as Americans have distorted Christianity to include everyone into our cheap version of salvation. Maybe, just maybe, we should examine Christianity throughout the world and see if they ascribe to our cheapened grace. It's nice that we debate what is pornography just so we can justify our support of a "Christian" brother. I fear we fall short of what the apostles lived. If they spent a majority of their time constantly having a crisis of faith, we would not be here. The American church is full of scriptural contradictions, no wonder the church is consantly shrinking. We would rather debate accepting obvious sin, such as pornography and using the Lord's name in vein, so that we don't hurt someone else's feelings. Buck up and take it you Christians. Salvation isn't some cheap thing we buy at a used car lot. How glorified is God through our constant reshaping of the gospel as we continually do with our U.S. constitution to fit our degradated society. Do we have faults? Yes, but don't use God's grace for an excuse to sin. For years, I have spent time trying to support musicians that call themselves Christians in a band or whatever, but I am tired of seeing them one after the other blame other Christians and the church for their lack of time in the "Word" and gathering together with other Christians. Instead, the venues they play seem to dictated their gospel. I'm just tired of hearing it. The flack I have received over the years seems to be wasted on trying to support musicians that make excuses, instead of repentence in their lives. We were never suppose to judge ourselves by others, but by Christ. Even here, many people distort Jesus to fit themselves. The church is littered with "enablers" just as America has shifted to a country enabling every kind of distruction they can find, and then we wonder why evryone seems to be having a crisis of faith. Compromise does not work! Stand true to the faith! Restore people by loving them, but don't make excuses for knowing the truth, and keeping on doing what we do. The church is compromising and losing people one by one, and those pointing their finger at the church are not supplying an answer only a finger at the church.

 By Scott

I liked King's X a lot back in the 80's and 90's but have completely lost interest. Being a Christian who loves music, I could care less about whether a particular band or artist I listen to is a Christian. But I do always ask myself whether or not I can listen to the message in their music (lyrics) with a clear conscience. The Holy Spirit lets me know when I'm treading somewhere I shouldn't. I know of some secular bands that I can listen to with no major problems. Creed comes to mind. But then I find that there are increasingly more "Christian" bands that I'm offended by. I'm starting to get weary and wary of all the so-called Christian bands that proclaim that they are so strong in their faith but they look like the world, sound like the world, and even live like the world. Now, without getting too judgemental, the fruit on that tree appears to be worldly!! The kids need to see a difference between the true believers and the world. And when I say see a difference I don't mean necessarily physical traits like long hair or tattoos. I have longer hair and numerous tattoos and I know that Jesus lives in me!! But one of the only ways to "see" a difference is if we at least can proclaim a difference in the lyrics and lifestyle of loving like Christ. I guess I'm saying all of this to get some of my frustration out but the only thing I originally wanted to say was "Amen!!!!" to the response from "I'm tired". I couldn't agree more!!

 By Troy Winston

I'd like to comment on the "I'm Tired"
person's comments, as compared to others
here. I think I'm Tired is right. I have
NEVER believed 100% in the nude is art
thing. I've always felt to my core that
is just another (subtle) way to entertain
lust or immodesty. I'm a married man, and
I love sex...in it's proper place. To the
other issue of using profanity in lyrics
& songs/poems, I say I'm tired is right
again. To reach the world we need to go
and "speak their language"? Well, yes,
and NO. Paul did say he became all things
to all men, and Christ did say to go into
all the world and preach the Gospel. But,
the Bible also warns us to be in the
world, but not OF the world. So, what
kind of ministry is it to go to others
and live or speak a message like "Jesus
f@$#ing loves you, G-Dmmit!" No, that
does not work. Should we only listen to
Christian music? Heck no. Most of it is
garbage anyway. But, do we justify one
who may claim to know God, yet has a
trash mouth or life? No on that too.

 By Godzwarrior

I just want to say that I'm a die hard fan of King's X. I haven't herd Gaskill's solo album, but I can say this...... I am kinda disappointed in what has happened to King's X the past few years, but non theless. I know whatever Doug,Ty, or jerry does musically will be awesome. They all don't get the credit they truely deserve. Yes, it does disappoint me that things happen the way they do with my favorite bands. But stuff happens. I wish them all the best and I still know no matter what happens, King's X is a force to be reconed with. They simply won't die! They're truely one of the best. To Ty Tabor, Doug Pinnick, and Jerry Gaskill Thank You!!!!

 By timmer

Hey guys
How about some more reason. HM is about music/art from a christian perspective. That transcends genre and intentions. There is nothing wrong with considering material through the filter of someone who loves Jesus and lives as one of His disciples. Christians should not have to pretend that art isn't valid unless it's "christian" nor should they cage their beliefs to appease "the mainstream". If you want mainstream read Revolover, Spin et al. If you want choir preachers read CCM. If you want a thoughtful balance read HM. If you have a problem then don't read it and leave Doug alone!

 By Sean

Hey lets start a christian porn magazine and see what it stirs up! King's X is way beyond over rated and always has been. Each of the individual members are not even in the top 100,000. I think someone should come out with a CD cover with 100% nudity and body parts all over the CD. Then maybe we can get on with life and grow up! I think if you are looking for some major statement about Christ, you are for sure at the wrong website. This crap has been going on for way too many years. Good bye forever!