Regeneration Radio with Jeani Bond: THEE definitive online school of Alternative Christian Retro



www.live365.com/stations/jeanibond



What do The Lifesavors, Andy McCarroll and Moral Support, The 77s, No Laughing Matter, and Weber and the Buzztones all have in common? If you don’t know, it’s probably because you’ve never heard of them.

For some strange reason, Christian alternative rock music listeners suffer from an intense sense of either… ignorance… or at least amnesia about the past. A guy named C.S. Lewis used to define this malady as "chronological snobbery." Someone said to me a number of years ago in a place far, far away… “I guess in the 80’s the only Christian rock band you had to listen to was Petra… ha ha ha – he he he.” Um… wrong :). Long before Relient K, and even much earlier than the O.C. Supertones there was such a “dish” being served which can be dubbed Christian alternative music.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Relient K and cohorts, but… MEMO: These chaps really didn’t inaugurate Christian pop-punk. Neither did MXPX. Some might argue "they've done it better." Ok - in some ways, perhaps, but like Green Day built on ground broken by The Clash, newer Christian bands have their predecessors to thank for churning up some early dirt. Beyond that, I'm reminded of something Jack White (of White Stripes) once said in an interview (I'll paraphrase) - "most bands look back and like their demo tapes better than the finished recordings - what we decided to do was just release our demos." There is an undeniable value of "demo tape" innocence that can't be measured, and this rings true with the early years of Christian Alternative music. A famous film director once said "if you want to get into film-making, just use what you have and start making movies - there's a lot you can do with just a cam-corder." I look back on the early years of Alt. Christian artists and so much of it has that wonderful, "cam-corder" - esque, no boundaries approach to writing and recording. In comparison, much of what you'll hear on current mainstream Christian radio is chock full of hopelessly, polished fences.            

To get “schooled” in the genre of Alternative Christian Retro, I highly recommend checking out Regeneration Radio live 365 by going right here. If that link doesn't work for you, go here. Ms. Bond… Jeani… Bond, of Lloyd, Florida has a phenomenal, even incomprehensible, collection of formative, underground, and indie (etc) cuts that would embarrass most people’s surface level view – or recollection – of that era of tune-age. Even though I was an active participant in the “scene” during that time, I’m blown away by my own shallow remembrance of everything that was going down back then. For instance, Ishmael United – what a great band. They rocked. I mean – what a… great band. Or try Johnny Quest on for size. Or experience Crayzed Bunnies, The Magnetics, Blush, Blue Trapeze, Pietro Dinzee, or the Felix Culpa. Indies, demos, upbeat and offbeat. This is No Laughing Matter. You won’t hear this on corporate radio – and by that I mean virtually anything you can tune into on your FM dial. There are also other records I own that that I’ve been recently inspired to break out again which continue to deliver, such as Andy McCarroll and Moral Support. Then there’s Opinion 8? New December? And Go Go Street? As Butch and Sundance said; Who… are… those guys?

For a more extensive list of the station's artists, go here. 

In case you think this era/genre with its bands is irrelevant, you might note how at least one knowledgeable on-line music reviewer credits several of the Regeneration Radio play-list bands as having produced some of the top 50 Christian albums of all time – including even less obvious acts such as the Altar Boys, Adam Again, The LifeSavers, Andy McCarroll and Moral Support, Steve Taylor, and The 77's (among others). In fact, check out the book “Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2” by Irish author Steve Stockman, and you’ll discover that one of the aforementioned bands (Andy McCarroll and Moral Support) was an early influence on the Irish icons during their formative years. Here’s an excerpt:

“It seems The Edge was especially taken with McCarroll’s magnetic stage presence, natural songwriting ability, and the spiritual intensity of the production. The Edge would eventually invite McCarroll to Dublin for a weekend just to shoot the breeze about the purpose of what they were trying to achieve” (Walk On, p. 25)

So tune in to Regeneration Radio and get schooled – or at least re-schooled. You might even get regenerated (when was the last time you chewed on lyrics like this as part of your normal Christian music diet?).

When you tune in, contact the station and tell them you heard about it from some off-beat reference point called Potluck Suicide.