The Petra Zone

What now? Are there any bands out there that are anything like Petra in terms of music style (especially like J&H and the late 80s) and biblically-based lyrics? Are there any songwriters doing that sort of thing? Even small, mostly unknown ones? (I haven't done a good job keeping up with rock lately.)

What I'd like to see are a few songwriters writing music like this, just for ministry sake, and putting it either in the public domain or liberally licensed so that it could be performed by whoever wanted to do it.

As if some would say I'm asking others to do what I wouldn't, I have had some ideas for songs that might be good ... I just don't have much of a clue about songwriting. If I could get them down in a usable form though, I'd certainly want that for them.

Or maybe something like this already exists and I don't have a clue...

Micah,

It would be unreal if a young group of christian rockers that had the same style as Petra could as you say, keep the style alive. A band that had enough guts to be completely upfront with their christian beliefs in their lyrics and in their lives.

Any of you guys here at the Zone who are in a group play the same musical style as Petra???

I think we should just turn our attention to what John is gonna do. The end of Petra is most likely going to be a new beginning for John. I'm sure with a little encouragement from the Petheads he'll be happy to keep going and who knows, John's new music may just sound quite a bit like Petra.

Petra is my main and was almost my only influence. I wouldn't say we are near the level of Petra, but they have everything to do with what we do.

http://www.crimsontruth.com

This band sounds a bit more like Stryper, but I think you'll like'em. Especially their upfront lyrics.

http://www.strange-band.com

crossways wrote:Petra is my main and was almost my only influence. I wouldn't say we are near the level of Petra, but they have everything to do with what we do.

http://www.crimsontruth.com

Excellent, I love it! Some of that could definitely pass for Hartman songs! They might be in my playlist for a while!

Haven't listened to the other yet.

Check out Kainos' "Alive" CD if you want to hear a good rock band. I wouldn't say they sound like Petra though.

And of course there's our own dear Sam, Enosh and Mat...They all have good CDs.

Thank you Shell for putting in a plug for all of us!

There are many, many good Independent Artists out there who have a style similar to PETRA's.

If you are looking for Indie Artists and want to check them out, just go to my website: http://www.SamScales.com and click on the Indie Heaven banner at the bottom of my homepage. It will take you to a slew of great unsigned artists! I've met many of them down in Nashville at the CIA Summit and I tell ya, there are some phenomenally talented people out there!

I would like to offer an opinion, though an experienced opinion, as to the obstacles a "Petra-like" band faces today.

By Petra-like, I mean rock/hard rock and overtly Scripturally based lyrics. A lot of Christian rock bands today don't have nearly the Scriptural content in there lyrics, but do have positive lyrics. I am not arguing that philosophy. Those bands that do that are doing it for a reason and I don't believe they are trying to hide anything. I love them and support them for following God where they feel they are being led.

However, I was blessed by Petra becuase their lyrics fed me with the Scripture, often the lyrics were straight Scripture. I needed that. I needed that being in my ears and in my head daily (the Scripture, not Petra per se).

We in Crimson Truth lean that way with our lyrics, but lately we have had a lot of pressure to be more subtle with our message. The reason?: Finding venues.

Bands have to be a lot of things, especially when starting out: manger, musician, booking agent, roadie, soundman, etc. But there is just no way to successfully be the PROMOTER for every show. A band like ours is not really welcome in many bars - by patrons or by management. Most patrons avoid a night when they think they will hear "preaching" in music, though we sdon't preach. And managers need to sell drinks, the band is partially there to help sell drinks, even if it's indirectly.

Christian clubs and coffee houses are springing up more and more. However, they are usually open through donations and are just trying to keep the doors open. Often what they are able to pay, if anything, doesn't even cover gas money.

STOP - Crimson Truth is not in this for the money. But in reality traveling, equipment, studio - all of this costs money. So while we will happily travel to your town set up - rent equipment if neccesary - and play our hearts out for free (and we have done that), it limits us in the scope of our ministry.

S O L U T I O N

Churches. If we want more "Petras". I think we have to have churches getting behind these ministries. We need churches that will not be competitive with each other, but work togther in hosting concerts. And not one concert every other year - several a year. This would be feasable if they would look for "big name" groups that require a certain amount of money and and 10 page rider. Hire groups of of places like IndieHeaven - search out groups that are quality, but that may not have the backing of a lable. Many of these bands would travel for their expenses and a merch table.

Church leadership, I think, would agree that music is a powerful influencer. And that even their church kids are listening to some horrible stuff - lyrically. Then they should be wanting "Petras" for their kids.

Creative Youth Pastors can promote an concert series and get good attendance (if more than one church is involved).

Anyway - that's how I see it.

My opinion

Thanks Shell also for the plug.

Well you can visit enoshfee.com or go tto somestrangeway.com the band that actually formed after being John's band.

Micah, you may be interested in checking out my band, SickleEye. There are some song clips on the site. These are last years tunes. The new ones IMO are much better, but we don't have them recorded yet. http://www.sickleeye.com
Myself and my brother write all the music, and were influenced mainly by Bob. Lyrics are handled by two other brothers, also big Petra fans, although their style of writing is different than Bob's.
We've got our own sound, but if you like Jeckyl and Hyde, You will like our album, "House of Cards", due out in September. As far as I'm concerned, Petra is the Gold Standard in Christian rock. They can't be replicated. We're all in our 20's, but the type of music we play isn't meant to be the latest fad, so hopefully it will hold up over time. And yes we do play in Bars, cause beleive it or not, there's opportunities to minister there as well.

Hello. No one will remember me at this point, most likely. It's been a year since my last post... anyways, I'm in a band called 4th Man Furnace, and we have some clips online if anyone's interested. Petra is my favorite band of all time, and one of my biggest influences musically, along with SCC. Hopefully those influences come out in the music! Anyway, I won't say we sounds like Petra, 'cause we don't. But we strive for quality Christian music that reaches out to people, praises the Lord, and rocks at the same time. You can check us out at www.4thmanfurnace.com, or www.purevolume.com/4thmanfurnace. Both have different songs by us.

We recorded the songs on Purevolume in a church basement, so the quality's not professional grade, but good for a demo. Hope you enjoy the music!

~Matt Miazga

Thanks for the plugs and other recommendations -- I will check them out!

Crossways, agree with everything you said 100%. There is a need for both "positive" lyrics and lyrics that directly feed Scriptural truths to the listener. There is plenty of the former, not enough of the latter. Please keep it up and don't compromise! Are you working on more songs? Will pray for you and others with that goal.

Maybe Petra's retirement will cause all those who see this need unite and do something about it. That could be the greatest thing for Christian music in years! (Especially if they keep the heck away from secular-owned labels.)

Auspet wrote:Micah,

It would be unreal if a young group of christian rockers that had the same style as Petra could as you say, keep the style alive. A band that had enough guts to be completely upfront with their christian beliefs in their lyrics and in their lives.

Any of you guys here at the Zone who are in a group play the same musical style as Petra???

My group is trying go play music like petra, and write songs like they do.
I know that is not easy...but at least I'm trying. although my group is not known and it's just starting...

Trent Thomason's newest solo album, 'TEN' just recieved a review of 10 out of 10 at Cross Rhythms. I don't know why more people haven't checked it out. His music is rock, for sure.