Ok,
this might be a bit late, but I think this is interesting enough for all you
T&N-fans world-wide. I went to a Rock Night in Germany last year in
December, especially to see bands like P.O.D., the O.C. Supertones, Disciple,
the Galactic Cowboys, The Electric and the Noisetoys. It was the first time for
me on this fest and I must say it was really awesome to be there. The whole
atmosphere on the fest and the amazing bands on the fest (besides the bands I
mentioned there were also bands like Deliriou5? and All Star United about to
play) was totally worth the money. Especially for this site I talked with most
of the bands on the festival and I will tell something about the interviews I
did with P.O.D. and the O.C. Supertones. Friday was the day when P.O.D. entered
the stage... I was the only one in the group I went with who knew P.O.D. (I had
"Brown" and the live-album), so I was glad to meet some friends from
Germany who are true P.O.D.-fans. I bought "The Fundamental Elements
Of..." that day and I heard only a few songs from that album... But when
they started to play I was totally blown away by the huge amount of musical
skills these guys have developed. Traa slappin' on the bass, Wuv hitting the
drums hard and Sonny rapping and shouting on the vocals... Their new record
recently turned Gold and when seeing this band playing live, it's no wonder
why... Man, I had seen tons of bands playing in 1999, but this was absolutely
the best. They took about ten minutes for a powerful worship-part and you could
tell that they were so spirit-filled as can be. Songs like Outkast and Southtown
as well as an older song like Full Colour just made me go crazy during the gig.
"I
cry why o why did my mommy have to die", woohoo, Payable On Death RULE THA
WORLD. It was their first concert in Europe and they were pretty amazed by the
fact that there actually were hundreds of "Warriors" showing up at
this show. I did an interview with Wuv, who plays the drums:
"Hey
Wuv, please tell us how the band started"
"Well,
we started playing together about 8 years ago, in 1992. Some of us were already
Christian at that moment, but after a year or something the non-christians,
including the singer, Sonny, were saved too. Since that moment we started
playing some local concerts in the San Diego-area and after some years we were
noticed by Rescue Records, who released our first album "Snuff the Punk"."
"What
about the name Payable On Death. Why did you choose that name?"
"The
band-name is about Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins. In fact, we
all felt like our sins have been paid with the blood of Christ and this message
is quite important for all 4 of us. That's why we wanted this band-name."
"After
releasing the full-length album "Brown" it took a lot of time for you
to release a new EP. You were just signed to Atlantic Records, so it was strange
to see that you released the "Warriors" EP through Tooth & Nail.
Why's that?"
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"We wanted to make something for our fans, who had to wait too long on a new record. This was an opportunity to present some new songs and keep our fans satisfied. Atlantic Records didn't want to release an EP and Tooth & Nail was the best opportunity we had. Their distribution-possibilities are the best in the whole Christian music-scene." |
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So,
that was P.O.D. ... Saturday was the day for bands like Deliriou5?, The
Electrics and last but not least... The O.C. Supertones !!!
The
strange thing was that I met the Supertones in Ennepetal, while walking on the
street and waiting for the lights to turn green... It was so strange, because
you know, I've been an OCS-fan since their first album "the Adventures
of..." has been released in early 1997 and first I didn't even recognize
these guys. I saw their jackets and sacks (I mentioned the Tooth & Nail-logo
) but it took me a while to understand that all 6 the members of this amazing
SKA-band were walking on the street...
All of a sudden, we went with them through the place and I talked with
them a lot !! One of the things I asked them was if it was possible for them to
play some songs from their first record. They told that they never play these
songs anymore in the USA and the first time I saw the OCS (summer'99 on the
Flevo-fest) they played only the new songs as well... Anyways, they
promised me to do some of them that night, which was awesome because "The
Adventures Of..." is one of my favorite records ever. In fact, this record
totally changed my life three years ago...
| The rest of that day was awesome, I met a lot of old and new friends. It was easy to recognize the true Supertones-fans: you just have to follow the people in suit with sun-glasses and tie. For example: check out the pics on this site ! | |
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Anyways, we were all longing to see the Supertones on this stage, a small stage in a place with about 2.000 people in it. Before the concert I talked with the Supertones again and I went to their press-conference. We asked them a lot of questions and we got free press-stuff and a copy of "Chase The Sun". I asked them too many things to mention here on this page, but the main thing I asked about was their relationship with Tooth & Nail. I hear a lot of rumors about T&N, like: "they're treating their bands like crap" and "they are way too commercial". |
| This was my chance to ask everything about it... Tony Terusa told about this: "we know about these rumours and the problems MxPx had with the T&N-staff. We don't have bad feelings against T&N at all, though. In fact, we all love Brandon (Ebel, KCS) to death and we're sure about staying on his label forever!" | |
After
the press-conference the time was there to SKANK all over the place. I helped
some chicks with blowing balloons for the Supertones and after that
everything was ready for a PARTY !!! We expected them to show up in their
traditional suits, but they played in Orange worker's-clothes, which they'd
bought in Norway from the train-workers over there. Before the show Jason
Carson (the drummer) asked me to name the songs they had to play, so I was
curious to see if they would do that, and... they played all of them !! In fact,
they started off with a song from "The Adventures Of..." called "Found".
After that they played some songs from "Supertones Strike Back" and
"Chase the Sun". I was hoping to see them playing songs like
"Adonai" and, after all... They played another 4 songs from their
debut-album. It was so awesome to see this band playing the SKA-music for the
God and I was so tired and wet of all the skanking !! It's a shame, but I missed
half the preaching-part because I went to the toilet to wash myself and drink
something. Jason prayed in English and the presentator translated it into
German, which was not necessary: the message was clear enough, I think. These
guys are really bold in their faith and the whole concert was a huge blessing
for me.
Well,
a long story, huh, never mind. I hope you liked it! Thanks to the
festival-organization for this great weekend !
Karel
Smouter
for
