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The Battalion
Page 3 • Friday, October 4, 2002
Christian music meets rock ( n’ roll
Christian rock band Third Day will perform tonight at Reed Arena
By Thomas Phillips
THE BATTALION
David Carr was very young when he decided
lorth side ol Aeing a Christian and playing the drums should
ilding into Rudj^ecome his way of life.
“1 felt, well, somehow 1 want to do some-
cession pas^iirMhing musically for the Lord,” he said. “It just
le in front ofi dndof fell in my lap, this Third Day thing. It
aiding, the l; ^d of fell in all our laps, and it’s just been
rowing and growing ever since.”
Carr, the drummer for Third Day, and his
bandmates will take the stage at Reed Arena
tonight for a show featuring songs from their
decade-old career and some of their latest
releases. Third Day, a rock band out of Georgia,
is one example of the rising popularity of
Soviet histei Christian and spiritually-focused musical acts
across the country.
“It’s kind of a funny term (Christian band),
because Christian music is the only genre of
he Universin; music that’s classified by the lyric style, so
that’s really the only difference, or so it should
be,’Carr said. “It’s hard when people say, *Oh.
what kind of band are you in?’ Do 1 say, ‘I’m
in a rock band or a Christian rock band?’”
The group writes and sings songs about its
faith, as Carr said, “the center of our lives,”
but takes its musical cues from non-Christian
bands and rock ’n’ roll idols.
Its sound echoes of southern giants such as
the Black Crows and Lynyrd Skynyrd. but
Third Day adds its beliefs into its music.
“We love all kinds of band- rock bands,
pop rock bands, Christian and secular, and I
w'ould say most of what we listen to is secular
stuff,” Carr said. “We try to just do the stuff
we love, but weave our faith into it.”
And as for rock ‘n’ roll being the devil’s music?
The band disagrees with the age-old stereotype.
“1 just don't see how you could say it’s right
or wrong. It just is what it is,” Carr said.
“There’s a few diehards who want to believe
anything with a beat is satanic or something, and
they come up with some pretty weak evidence to
back that up, but we just don’t buy it.”
The group has seen the fruits of its labor
come through in its live shows where, accord
ing to Carr, it watches its fans being “brought
to a better place.” In November, the quintet will
add Christian music icon Michael W. Smith to
its show for the Come Together and Worship
Tour and another month of performances.
With a Grammy nomination, rising record
sales and a handful of Dove awards. Third Day
has established itself as a band with staying
power. It has watched other Christian bands
such as P.O.D. and Lifehouse rise to the tops
of charts and have nothing but kind words to
say about them.
“We just really are very happy for those
guys and congratulate them on what they're
doing,” Carr said. “Sometimes hindsight’s 20-
20, and a lot of times we tell people in inter
views if we could go back and do it all over
again, we may have wanted to take that route.”
Carr said the group still entertains the idea of
opening up to a more mainstream audience. He
said it would only take one hit for Third Day to
break through to a wider group of listeners.
“We want to be genuine, and we feel like
we’ve got a good thing to say and good music
to back it up, so it’s just going to take that
song or those songs and the right strategy to
market it,” Carr said. “I don't know when it’s
going to happen, but I feel like it’s something
we're going to pursue.”
Darren Taylor, program director for the Mix
104.7 radio station in Bryan-College Station,
has witnessed the recent changes in musical
direction first hand. He said the rising popular
ity of spiritually-focused bands and artists is
driven by the music, not necessarily what it’s
teaching or preaching.
“If it’s a good song, it’s a good song,”
Taylor said. ”We don't shy away from any type
of music.”
Taylor attributes the popularity of such
bands to the success of rockers Creed, who he
said paved the way for Christian bands.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF WWW.T HIRDDAY.COM
Christian rock band Third Day (from left: David Carr, Mac Powell, Tai Anderson, Brad Avery and Mark
Lee) will perform at Reed Arena tonight at 7 p.m. Student tickets are $10 at the door.
“You’ve got these bands playing in front of
everybody, secular, Christian, whatever, but
they’re having bona fide hits, and several of
them,” he said. “So it’s obviously becoming
more widely accepted, although these bands,
unlike Michael W. Smith, aren't quite as rec
ognizable as pure Christian artists.”
Mainstream interests, Taylor said, are mov
ing away from the highly successful pop
sounds of the late 1990s and are moving
toward a harder, rock sound, like the sound
Third Day makes.
“They’ve (P.O.D. and Lifehouse) come up
with this sound that has largely taken away
from the Backstreet Boys, ‘NSYNC types or
the boy band sound that was in a couple of
years ago,” Taylor said. “Now, the rock sound
is back and the Christian bands (are) kind of
leading the front of this thing.”
Lauren Ricca, a junior education major, has
seen Third Day in concert, which she said was
unlike others she has attended. Aside from the
material the group usually performs. Third
Day played during a worship service and a
minister from the church lead them in prayer.
For Ricca, connecting with the band and its
music was one of the best parts of the night.
“I like the band because, even without
knowing them, I can know their hearts, just
because they're Christians,” she said. “I can
know what they believe and what they stand
for just by the things that they sing about.”
Ricca said she went to the show with a
group of friends and enjoyed singing and
being around other people with whom she
shares a fundamental interest. She said there
is a sharp contrast between secular and
Christian bands, no matter what its popularity.
“I guess every band has a message they are
trying to get out, or I would think so, and
Christian bands’ message has eternal value,”
she said. “Secular bands’ message is usually
about right now and being happy or things that
can make you happy. Secular music is hard to
apply in my life, because I don’t know about
that, or I don’t know where they’ve been.”
Third Day, which spends some of its time
on the road working for Habitat for Humanity
and “getting paint on our Diesel jeans,” does
not underestimate the success it has had, no
matter who its audience is.
“It’s just a fun, passionate thing for us, to
see it provide for our families and bless so
many people,” Carr said. “It’s an incredible,
incredible thing.”
The show is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
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