David Lichens

Talk about Petra albums, songs, and concerts.
curt
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Post by curt » Thu Oct 19, 2006 3:24 pm


Actually, the scene DID change. Christian radio and label management had changed. Christian radio was growing, because of format changes and catering to the female and/or younger audience. If you go back and investigate the styles and production of the top 40 Christian songs during the No Doubt and Wake Up Call era (which I think musically is some of Petra's best), you will find that Petra was right in line, if not still a little more "rock" than the rest. So, it was needed.

The big whammy is this. Petra's hard rock fan base is largely male. Males buy the music of their youth, which is generally rock. Females have changing style preferences as they mature, or have hallmark moments in their life. Statistics show that a large percentage of Christian males do not listen to Christian radio. Petra was NEEDING to be on Christian radio, because they were a Christian band. So, to stay, they had to appease the younger programmers/managers, etc and change, because rock to them was old school.

Had Petra gone to secular stations with some crossover tunes as well, I maintain that they would have retained their audience, if not increased it. I have tried voicing this to John, but he didn't get it. I am not saying Petra should have crossed over. I am saying Petra could have been more evangelistic, instead of singing to the church exclusively. If Jesus were a musician, I think that he would be opening at OzFest, not "LoveFest". Petra is one of the Christian band names that seculars remember, along with Stryper and Whitecross (the Van Halen of Christian music).

So, to sum it up, the rock fans (males) didn't matter to the label, management, radio, because you were a dried up source of revenue, who is stuck in the old days. The people spending the money are the teens 13-18 and young adult mothers 18-25 who usually control the house finances and listen to radio more often, albeit less intently than males.
Ok. That makes sence. I didn't know about these things since I'm Danish. The Danish radio stations never played Petra, not even in the days of the dreamteam.
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Post by greenchili » Thu Oct 19, 2006 10:56 pm

I dunno... I think except for a couple small 2-3 year periods things were pretty much always uphill for petra anyways. Rock is something that ALWAYS been pretty much unaccepted by the christian community in general.

There was alot going on at the time of No Doubt/Wake Up Call. Ownership changes, new generation of teens coming in, and Bob leaving petra, etc. No doubt (pun intended) there are some good songs on those two albums. But I still think that "No Doubt" was too radio friendly. Maybe petra shoulda just stuck with their usual formula of releasing 3-4 radio friendly tunes and making the rest rockers. Don't feel bad though, there were alot of christian artists that suddenly got dropped or went on the bend at the time.

Regardless it's a done deal. In alot of ways I have a feeling John tended to like the post Wake Up Call stuff better (aka praise style music) anyways so it may have been better for them to "retire" the Petra name then and come up with a new one. During the post Wake Up Call years they were constantly being criticized for being too "popish" because Petra is supposed to stand for ROCK. I remember seeing a couple interviews along those lines.

Personally I think CCM has past it's prime. It's all securalized now and about following statistics.
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Re: David Lichens

Post by Thief » Thu Jan 21, 2016 4:46 pm

I'm sorry to resuscitate this thread, but I was just wondering something about Lichens brief tenure with Petra. How long was it? Did he tour with the band for No Doubt? Did he record any guitars in the album?
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Re: David Lichens

Post by Dan » Sat Jan 23, 2016 12:31 pm

I think he toured part of the No Doubt tour... no recordings on any albums.
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Re: David Lichens

Post by Thief » Sat Jan 23, 2016 1:32 pm

He was mentioned in the PP2 credits. No guitars from him there either?
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Re: David Lichens

Post by executioner » Sat Jan 23, 2016 7:51 pm

Petra had about 5-6 fill in dates in between the Wake Up Call Tour & No Doubt Tour that Kevin Brandow was the guitarist for; yet it was weird that Brandow was either not considered for the full time gig at the time or maybe turned it down; for some reason John went with Lichens. Lichens played all the No Doubt Tour except for the last dates (maybe 10 or so). He was not retained for obvious reasons; at this time Kevin Brandow stepped in place and was made a perm member. Pete Orta came on board about that time. My understanding is that Lichens played notihng on any of the albums.
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Re: David Lichens

Post by shaabyi » Fri Feb 19, 2016 12:11 pm

Pete and Kevin were part of John's Unfit for Swine tour band. When they were looking to fill David's spot in Petra, seemed like an easy fit.
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Re: David Lichens

Post by Mountain Man » Fri Feb 19, 2016 2:11 pm

As far as I know, Bob Hartman did most of the studio work during his "retirement" from the band.
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