Best Line-Up

[shamus414]

Petra has had a lot of guys in it at one time or another. What is your "ultimate" line-up? If you could assemble a Petra band using the guys that have been in the group, who would you choose?

For me, I think the _Beat the System_ line-up was best. Either that or the line-up with John Slick.

As a side note, I always liked how Greg X. Voltz would play rhythm guitar to fill out the sound, it was nice.

[pethead]

don't forget louie beaver...

[Michael]

This may sound like a L00ZER thing to say, but we heard them Sunday, and it's the tightest and hardest-rocking I've ever heard Petra. I actually might have to pick the current line-up. They're lean and mean, with just the four guys, and they're loud and heavy and fun to watch.

I've always been one who thought certain instruments are kind of easy to switch around... seems to me that drummers and bass players, as long as they're able to play the instruments with any degree of skill, are fairly easy to replace. Keyboards are a little harder, but good keyboard players are easy to come by, too. Lead guitar is tougher because that instrument is a little more exposed, especially in songs with a lead solo. And vocalists are the hardest of all because two people can play the same guitar and make the same sound if they are skilled, but no two voices are 100% the same. So to me, "dream team" live lineups aren't as important as the band having good material to play. And that can come from good songwriting and hard work and good production in the studio.

[executioner]

I agree with you micheal on the current lineup. I really like this group. I like the sound they are putting out. I will be going to the Sherman, Tx concert this Sat. and I am really anxious to hear how they sound. This is my opinion so don't anyone take this out of context, but I think this is what Petra should have been doing all along. This style fits Bob's guitar playing and John's vocal style.
Petra has always been my favorite band, but most albums seemed to always lack that crunch that my ears yearn for. MPTY,BTTS,OF, & BB are some of the notables that rank as their best, but in my mind, heart, and soul nothing is as good as JAH. The only drawbacks are very little guitar solos and album length, but man the first time I heard JAH I cried and felt like I went Heaven.

Talking about album lengths. We were at Mardels yesturday I was listening to some demos of some artists and noticed that none of them were more than 38:00 minutes long and they all had 12-13 songs on them. So appartently this is trend that will continue with the next Petra album.

[Pethead1]

But we do not like the trend. We want long songs.


At least they do rock

[petrafan]

i really like this line up too, but the killer line up in my opinion still is john, bob, louie, john and ronny (88-93).

[PetfanInCt]

i really like this line up too, but the killer line up in my opinion still is john, bob, louie, john and ronny (88-93).

I second that.

[Michael]

Executioner... you are gonna LOVE it. Trust me! By the way, if you're not intimately familiar with the ending of "It Is Finished" on the album, and you have it to listen to, listen to it a bunch of times before you go. When you hear Bob and Greg B. perform that long synthesizer ending live on guitar and bass, it will blow your socks off! I wish they had re-recorded "It Is Finished" that way for that The Passion CD that came out the same day as the DVD.

[spottacus]

I'm sold on this lineup. Really heavy, lots of fun to watch and dance to.

[Historymaker]

but good keyboard players are easy to come by, too.

Are you a keyboard player?

[Michael]

Are you a keyboard player?

I have some training, but not really. Why do you ask?

[Historymaker]

Just curious... you're the first person I've ever heard say that keyboard players are easy to come by. I know it could easily be classed as semantics by some people, but I think 'piano' players are fairly easy to run across, but tried and true keyboard players (piano technique, midi knowledge, sequence knowledge, synthesis ability, blah blah blah...) are a bit tougher to come by.

[Michael]

These things: "midi knowledge, sequence knowledge, synthesis ability" I would not consider part of being a "keyboard player." Those are more technician type of things. Someone like John Lawry is all of those things, and that's really good especially in the studio. But to be honest, when you're out there on the stage, all you need is a rig that will make the bleeps you need and the fingers that can push the right keys. The only time you need that tech knowledge is in the studio or in the planning stages for a complex live show, and in the studio there are engineers and producers (like Peter Furler!) who know that stuff. So I guess we've defined "keyboard player" differently; what you're describing I would consider more of a keyboard player + keyboard tech or synthesizer tech.

[Historymaker]

So I guess we've defined "keyboard player" differently

Absolutely right, and your initial post makes more sense. Not that you really had to explain yourself, but thanks for doing so.

Someone like John Lawry is all of those things, and that's really good especially in the studio

That's maybe one reason in particular WHY I define it the way I do. Or, perhaps that's why some people are merely LIVE keyboardists and than there are STUDIO keyboardists, and then there are those who do both. Whatver the case, John Lawry is one of the main reasons I say good keyboard players are so hard to come by. When he left PETRA, he left a big hole that Jim Cooper, Kevin Brandow, Trent Thomason, and Bryce Bell simply could not fill... not only in the studio format (what you call the keyboard /synth tech) but also in the live format. (Je-Je-Je-Je-Jesus loves you).

all you need is a rig that will make the bleeps you need and the fingers that can push the right keys

...As for Petra, you're right. After John Lawry, all Petra HAD was a rig that made the bleeps and fingers that pushed the right (using that term loosely with Mr. Cooper) keys. In fact (you would know this better than I do), didn't Petra's rider at one point simply require a couple of keyboard controllers and Bryce would provide the modules and so forth?

I think it boils down to the particular needs of a given band. The band I'm playing with now [shameless plug]http://www.kainosmusic.com[/shameless plug] needed someone to play the live music, craft all the sounds used on the album (the loops, production and engineering stuff you mentioned), and have a part in recording subsequent albums. I seriously doubt I would have gotten the gig if I had needed someone else to do all the programming, sequencing and synthesis for me. Not to mention all the onboard knob-turning and sound tweaking that actually takes place during live performance. But serving your point, this particular case may not be the same for every band out there.

Although... it could be argued that good keyboard players really ARE hard to find if someone like me can land a steady gig.

Thanks for the cool discussion and chat...

[Shell]

Hehehe. You are shameless.

Nobody has really been able to take Johnny Lawry's place, but in Jim's, Kevin's, Trent's and Bryce's defense, they were somewhat younger and less experienced. That may have been a factor.

Sigh. At the risk of saying something I've said before, I miss Johnny Lawry.