The Petra Zone

Anyone know the story of what happened with Greg X Volz? I watched the TBN concert (which was awesome!) and he made reference to the fact that he was glad he was being given a “second wind”, like the song says. The way he said it sound like the audience probably knew what he was referring to... a sin or something else. I know he got divorced, but don’t know any of those details. Was he referring to that or something else?

Looking forward to seeing Classic Petra in NH on August 4th! BTS was my first rock concert!

Check your PM.

He explains his reasons for leaving during the interviews (heavy road schedule, family falling apart and such) and it's also noted that he and Bob had disagreements about the direction for Petra. Other people may tell you other things that are hearsay and I suggest you take that for what it is.

Wouldn't mind knowing that as well.

It didn't sound like getting a "second wind" to sing with Petra, sounded more like a personal issue with God more recently.

If he wanted people to know the specifics then he would have said so at the concert or otherwise made the information public. It's enough to know, I think, that the song is special to him.

Yeah, what happened? They mention several times that he is changed man now. I thought he never left Christ. Exe can you pm me on this?

Just because someone has struggles doesn't mean they've "left Christ". We wouldn't need Jesus if we didn't struggle. I think he was simply saying the song is special to him; I don't think we have to know exactly why. I remember reading years ago he and Bob had business disagreements, but that is moot now.

Maybe he is just saying he got a second wind to sing again with Petra.

petraman wrote:Maybe he is just saying he got a second wind to sing again with Petra.

That's the way I took it.

I think the majority of it was business and producer related. As far as I know the only public statement Bob has ever given was that they mutually agreed that Greg, JDB, and Petra go their separate ways, and this was some 20 yrs ago.

Bob and Greg have never, to my knowledge, said anything other than the decision was a mutual deal. At one point, Bob said, "Greg and I get along on everything except business."

Jonathan David Brown appears to be a different story, as Bob's early pre-Back to the Street interviews are much more negative about that relationship and differ sharply from Brown's own telling of how they left. Hartman says the band wanted a new direction (his comment on CITAS: "If that was what he thought should be 'the Petra sound,' that was an indication we needed to do something else."), and we can infer from the mountains of praise he and the others heaped on the Elefantes that they all wanted to actually play on the album and not be passed over for studio musicians and electronics (Mark Kelly about why he loved BTTS: "It was a band album. Beat the System was a producer's album. ... There was so much more a sense of unity."). Brown says it was more of a mutual decision, he had some other projects he wanted to work on, etc. One of those conflicting versions sounds more realistic to me, but that's 25 years ago now. Time to move on.

Anyway, all that to say: As far as I know, if Volz and JDB leaving the band was anything more than a coincidence, it was only because Bob saw a chance to change producers since he was already going to be changing vocalists and, consequently, the band's style.

You can read what the band said about these things on Sue's fantastic website: http://www.johnwschlitt.com/fans/mediaccmarticles.htm The October 1986 article is the key one there.

After reading the 1986 article these are the things I've taken from it.

1. Bob was not happy at all with the production style of BTS & CITAS.
2. It seems like some felt Petra had become the Greg show.
3. Unlike what some had report the BTS Tour was debt ridden, and not as successful as we were led to believe. Playing in front of arenas that were not sold out or full was the norm.
4. At the beginning of the interview when the reporter says some things can't be said because of legal guidelines shows me that lawyers were involved and the breakup wasn't as friendly as we were led to believe.
5. Mark shows he was excited about the change.

executioner wrote:After reading the 1986 article these are the things I've taken from it.

1. Bob was not happy at all with the production style of BTS & CITAS.
2. It seems like some felt Petra had become the Greg show.
3. Unlike what some had report the BTS Tour was debt ridden, and not as successful as we were led to believe. Playing in front of arenas that were not sold out or full was the norm.
4. At the beginning of the interview when the reporter says some things can't be said because of legal guidelines shows me that lawyers were involved and the breakup wasn't as friendly as we were led to believe.
5. Mark shows he was excited about the change.

I'm not sure how much we can extrapolate from the fact that lawyers were involved. This was a business, one that included complicated details over music ownership, and both sides had an interest in minimizing bad publicity that could arise from a breakup, even a mostly amicable one, and all the rumors and half-truths or misinterpreted statements that come with it.

CatNamedManny wrote:

executioner wrote:After reading the 1986 article these are the things I've taken from it.

1. Bob was not happy at all with the production style of BTS & CITAS.
2. It seems like some felt Petra had become the Greg show.
3. Unlike what some had report the BTS Tour was debt ridden, and not as successful as we were led to believe. Playing in front of arenas that were not sold out or full was the norm.
4. At the beginning of the interview when the reporter says some things can't be said because of legal guidelines shows me that lawyers were involved and the breakup wasn't as friendly as we were led to believe.
5. Mark shows he was excited about the change.

I'm not sure how much we can extrapolate from the fact that lawyers were involved. This was a business, one that included complicated details over music ownership, and both sides had an interest in minimizing bad publicity that could arise from a breakup, even a mostly amicable one, and all the rumors and half-truths or misinterpreted statements that come with it.

What complicated details on music ownership? Except for the few songs the Greg wrote all other songs and entities including the Petra name were and are owned by Bob.