For the Love of Stryper: Impact & Influence

Arin Hancock: This week on the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast, we're going to talk once again about our favorite band, Stryper. We'll see where the conversation goes. We're going to just call this For the Love of Stryper, Why We Love the Band So Much, maybe get into some of our favorite records and songs from the band. And we've also got a few guests to join us, ⁓ stick around. Alright, welcome back to the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast. As I said in the beginning, this week we're all about Stryper. This is the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast. It's all about the classics and the newcomers. Today we're focusing on Stryper. So come and join us as you rock for the king. This is the rock that makes me roll. I'm your host Arin Hancock, joined with Kris Plamondon and my co-host. And join with a couple other fellows this week from To Hell with podcast. Why don't you guys introduce yourselves?

TH: Yeah, thanks, Arin. Kris, thanks so much for having us on today. We are excited as we were talking about before the show. And my name is Tim and I'm with Darryl and Darryl and I, we co-host To Hell with the Podcast, which is a podcast strictly, mostly all the time. We talk about Stryper, Stryper albums. We dive into their solo stuff. mean, Michael Sweet solo stuff or side projects, but that's what we do. It's To Hell with the Podcast and we're excited to be here.

DG: Yeah, man, this is is going to be a fun one. Yeah. Thanks for having us. Yeah. Tim said most of the things and yeah, to hell with the podcast is what we do. So we're glad to be hanging out with you guys tonight.

Kris plamondon: So just to start off guys, ⁓ you to do a ⁓

DG: Can I take this one? ⁓ This is going to sound really bougie. ⁓ Tim and I were at the Masters Golf Tournament and we were just just talking ish we were like, what if we did a Stryper podcast and we kind of just both looked at each other and was like, you know what? You and I could do a Stryper podcast because I mean, this is the band that we've I mean, good grief since we were in our

TH: Yeah, go ahead, Daryl.

DG: early teens. And I was like, have enough we have enough knowledge. And, you know, we can we can do the research or we could commit to it and say we were just like, Yeah, let's let's go and we're on Episode what 27.

TH: Actually we did 28 so the next one we would do will be 29 so

Kris plamondon: Wow, congratulations.

DG: Yeah, it was just it was just something that we I don't know we thought would be fun and it's really fun. It's been a lot of fun. So yeah, I was like what kind of my attitude is like I don't care if anybody's listening to it, but it's really fun to do because we pop out of bed at seven o'clock and on Saturday morning. It's like, all right, cool. We're doing the podcast at 10 and

TH: Which it has been, it's been a lot of fun

DG: You know, and I get to hang out with my boy. you know, it's just one of those, guess it sounds stupid, but kind of a passion project.

TH: I guess you could say from my perspective, Kris, I always tend to run into a lot of people. as we, as Darrell and I committed to saying, Hey, this is what we're going to do. And then we started talking about to people, Hey, we're going to do a podcast. It's going to be based upon the band Stryper. It wasn't that I found people asking me who Stryper was. It was, ⁓ I remember them from the eighties. Well, And that's the only knowledge they have of this band is those five albums with the greatest hits that came out in 91. That's all they know about this band. And it's like they don't know anything from Reborn and on. And it's like they have this whole other era of the band that they're unfamiliar with. And it's just like, do you have enough material? And I'm like, yeah, they They've basically been putting out an album every other year since 2005 for the most part. And I'm like, here, listen to this song. And they're like, ⁓ I've got to go check this stuff out. And so part of it was if we have 20 people listening, if we have 50 people, know, just want to just show, you know, tribute and honor to a band that has made such an impact in our life. just with them musically, where they stand for, lyrically, everything and just how, in my opinion, underrated the talent of these guys have been since the beginning. But really it's this back half of their catalog that I really love. And that was the other reason I really wanted to get into it was because I think some of their, my opinion, some people might disagree, but I think the back half of their catalog, if I'm going to pick up a Stryper album today, I'm picking up four times out of five, I'm picking up something from 2005 on versus the older stuff. And it's just, I just love the newer material that they've put out. So that was part of the other reason.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, I'm with you there. especially this when I started looking at my favorite albums from Stryper I'm going you know what I'm tend to go more to the newer ones, especially the late last Four or five ones have come out over the class now. I still love the classics nothing wrong with that and that might be something about the strength of this band is There isn't really a bad on when even as Kris and I have gone through the albums systematically You know when you say this album is bottom of the list That's just because all the other ones are that much better but that doesn't mean what's on the bottom of your list is a bad record.

DG: Tim's thinking the same thing I'm thinking. We gotta go somewhere.

TH: I mean, that's what we run into all the time. Yeah.

Kris plamondon: You

Arin Hancock: Yeah.

TH: I mean, when we're ranking, because what we do is we've been through all the albums now and we rank our favorites from bottom to top. And there are days I get on there and I'm like, why did I put this song at number 10? This is such a good. But then it's like, I have others that made maybe just made a little bit more of an impact or they spoke to me at that certain point in time when it came out and stuff like that. But there's probably I mean, there's probably only one album where I say.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. Hmm.

TH: Yeah, there's probably a couple of skippers on this one that I probably don't listen to. But for the most part, like you said, I mean, from top to bottom, not just the albums, but from top to bottom, opening track to ending track, they usually are incredible albums.

Kris plamondon: Did you guys see them in concert at all?

DG: ⁓ my word. That was my third ever concert and Tim and I have been to see them before as well. So yeah.

TH: we've been, we went and saw them on the Murder by Pride tour back ⁓ 09. We saw them ⁓ on the Goddamn Evil tour.

Arin Hancock: Okay, that'd be a one.

TH: And then we saw them again most recently with when we were kings. And then I saw them twice before in the early days on the To Hell with the Devil and God We Trust tour back in the day.

DG: And we saw the Michael Sweet acoustic thing not too long ago as well,

TH: Yep. That was a crazy story I live in rural Georgia. ⁓ we saw him is about 30 minutes from where we live. It's another rural county, I mean a rural city in South Carolina. And when I saw the concert list, was like, Michael Sweet is going there? That just seemed really out of place because it's in the middle of nowhere. But what was cool about that ⁓ that night when he was there, Because it was in South Carolina, Perry lives, I think, in Myrtle Beach. So he drove over. So not only did we get the chance to meet Michael Sweet, but we had the opportunity to meet Perry Richardson as well.

DG: Yeah, and it was at an old school like opera house kind of environment. It was was really cool. Yeah, I mean, he was still doing it. Yeah. What's that?

Kris plamondon: Is that the concert? Is that the concert they taped? And not that, cause I saw one on YouTube and they were in.

DG: ⁓ I'm not sure.

TH: So this one wasn't. Yeah, this one wasn't the one Darryl and I went to wasn't one that they taped. This was just the one we went to was just a Michael Sweet. It was just him with the guitar the entire time. So it was kind of cool because he did some Stryper stuff. He did some cover stuff. He did some of his solo stuff. So it was a pretty cool overall experience to be able to go and see him acoustically. And it was something that my wife was like, yeah.

Kris plamondon: Okay.

TH: I'll go to an acoustic set with you on Michael's Sweet you know, because she's not going to ⁓ the full tapped out band kind of stuff. And we brought my youngest son. So we had a good night that night.

Arin Hancock: You

Kris plamondon: Hahaha

DG: Yeah, that was a night.

Kris plamondon: ⁓ that's awesome.

Arin Hancock: That's good. I'll drive my wife to a few the heavier metal concerts that she's kind of into because I play them around her. if it was just her going, she probably wouldn't go type of thing. And then there's a few like that coming up that we're going to go to. But actually, the other thing I want to bring up there when I discovered you guys were doing this, I was all excited and like, oh, great. podcast. I got a big list of podcasts. I don't even get them all. But I do have checked out yours. It's been pretty good.

TH: Hahaha

Arin Hancock: And definitely could be one of to keep going. I kind of went back to beginning. I rarely go to the beginning of a podcast. been around a while, but I'm like, I got to hear what these guys have been doing. But here's the story too, is when we started ours, we almost started ours own Stryper exclusive as well. I'm like coming up with ideas for podcasts and I'm thinking, well, we should talk about, you know, the eighties music that we grew up loving. I could talk forever about that. And then. I'm like, but there's tons of bands or podcasts out there just talking about rock and metal in general. So let's strike this niche down to the Christian rock and metal, which we did. But I'm like, or should we just narrow it down to Stryper? Let's just open it up to anything that's Christian rock and metal.

TH: Well, Arin, I hear you on that because we've got like I said, we've gone through all the albums we what we what we do is we do four episodes of Stryper and then our fifth episode is going to be a Solo or a side project that one of the members does so we just wrapped up 15 20 and 25 we did the sweet and Lynch albums. We talked about those but That's been the topic that Daryl and I have had now since we've gone through all the albums. We're like, OK, where do we go from here? What do we talk about next? Because this is a ⁓ lot that we probably could talk about, but you know.

DG: Now what?

Arin Hancock: Yeah.

DG: Well, we did our first controversy episode last week, so that was kind of fun.

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: Alright, yeah. Yeah, we did one too. We started a series about the 80s bands continuing on in the 90s and some of those A-bands had to go grunge and alternative and we're like, oh, let's cover some of their material, which is not our favorite material to cover.

Kris plamondon: did you guys ever talk about why Walmart did not decide to distribute to hell with not to hell with the devil? ⁓ God damn evil. Thank you. Yeah. Did you guys ever talk about

DG: So goddamn evil.

TH: did talk about that a little bit when we talked about the Goddamn Evil album. But what we kind of did this last time when we got into the controversy, the controversy podcast was like, why is there controversy all just seems to be surrounding this band, not just from the secular, you know, non-church world, because, I can get it because they may not like the lyrics, you know, they may feel like that. But the controversy from inside the church as well. So we we talked a little bit about that and some trouble Darryl and I ran into in our high schools when we wore the to hell with the devil shirts, but in the controversy itself, we episode we're going to do a part two of that. So we're going to get a little bit more into the goddamn evil and the controversy surrounding. Hey, it's I mean, it was 35 years, you know, almost 40 years later. And they're still having problems with getting the material out into the mainstream because of

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

TH: because of, but we can put other trash out. mean, don't say I'm saying that Stryper stuff is trash, but we can put trash out there and let little kids see it as they walk by all day long. But if it's Christian now, we got to look out for that.

DG: Who knows?

Arin Hancock: that

DG: Tim and can't shut up. ⁓ we haven't had a podcast ⁓ under an hour and a half, I don't think. So ⁓ we'll definitely dig into that on ⁓ next episode, because yeah, we'd like to talk. ⁓

Kris plamondon: you That's awesome.

TH: Yeah, yeah, because our goal was when we first started like, yeah, we'll probably keep this to an hour. And the more we started talking, because we just start talking and it's just we keep going and it's just like, oh my gosh, it's an hour and 45 minutes later. And I got my seven year old banging at the door saying, hey, come on out. You're ready to play. No, I'm still going. I mean.

Kris plamondon: You don't. ⁓ know, Tim, if that happens, we are a friendly family podcast. He more than helped me to come in and join us. ⁓

Arin Hancock: Alright.

TH: Okay, sounds good.

DG: Yeah. Yeah, we got.

Arin Hancock: Alright, well let's start with how we all got introduced to Stryper or what all drew us through or how we all first heard of Stryper, put that way.

DG: Hit it, Tim.

TH: Yeah, so the first time I heard of Stryper, remember and it was the Soldiers Under Command album. And I'm going to tell myself a little bit here. During that time period, was 84, that was 85. And I was 11 or 12 years old. I was a young kid and Darryl knows this. I was more into the pop scene at that time. It was Chicago. It was Journey. It was, you know, those types of albums. So My brother brought home Soldiers Under Command and played me like the first riff off of Soldiers Under Command. And I went, yeah, that's a little too hard for me. So I didn't really get into them. And then it was when the To With The Devil album came out. And I remember picking that up. And I don't know why I bought it. I bought it. And I took it home. And me and a friend of mine were listening to it. And we heard the Abyss. And he was like, he hit it right on the nail. He was like, oh, man, that sounds like gates of hell or something crazy like that and then it went into hell with the devil calling on you and I kind of put it aside and so I listened to it that was probably around Thanksgiving when I bought that album and then it was later on that year and I had a bad habit back and if I knew YouTube was going to be in existence and I could watch any music video at any time from the 80s on YouTube I wouldn't have wasted so much time videotaping videos off of MTV back in the day. But.

Kris plamondon: Right.

Arin Hancock: think we've done that. I've got a collection of VHS of videos I've taped too, so...

TH: But what ended up happening was it was probably one o'clock in the morning and I was sitting there now get this it's just one of those memories that just sticks out in my head very vividly I was recording the Beastie Boys fight for your right to party song and and then the very next song that came on after that it rolled into

Kris plamondon: Hahaha ⁓ my God.

DG: And then just dry for a

TH: Calling on you by Stryper. And this was before they were on the dial MTV, before they got big. This was when MTV was allowing them to be on MTV, was like in the middle of the night when people like me would be up watching MTV. And I recorded it and I went back and I watched that probably for 30 minutes in a row, just watching the song over and over and over again because calling on you

Kris plamondon: ⁓ wow.

TH: wasn't a hard song, like more than a man and everything like that. So at that point, it really that the style of that song really hit my wheelhouse of what I was really into at that point. And then all of a sudden I was like, these guys are Christians. This is this is showing that you can be kind of cool and not always have to be in a three piece suit walking around. And it was that night that I guess you could say, you know, because I was a young kid, I probably gave my life to God 15 times, you know, as a young kid. But it was it was that night that I would say that I fully dedicated my life to God was through watching that video by Stryper. Now, I'm not saying that my path with my relationship with God has been an easy one, you know, that I've been on fire for the past.

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

TH: 40 years, you know, walking with him, there's been a lot of valleys. There's been a lot, you know, just like what David walks about, you know, walking through the valley. Now you feel far away from me, God, you know, what's going on or, you know, things happen in life and I'm turning to other things and turning to God. So, yes, but it was that night that I committed and and was just like, so this band had a very important part in me accepting Christ. in my life. so immediately it was like, love this band. You know, I mean, and then I just got, and then from then on, it was just, I became a huge fan of theirs and that's how I was introduced to them.

DG: Wow. Good story, Not that I didn't know it already, but.

TH: I mean, it's kind of crazy. I'm sitting there going, yeah, fight for my right to party. And then all of a sudden, no, I'm going to call on God now, you know, just that instant.

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: I think a lot of us go that way. listen to not just a lot of, you know, Stryper Christian metal, but all rock metal anyways put that way, so I mix it all in. ⁓

DG: Yeah, I mean, well, I mean, I've always been like a heavy metal person, like I can, I can, but and I've told Tim this a million times, I can separate the, the lyrics from the music. I'm a drummer. And so one of my, ⁓ the guy that married my wife and I, ⁓ me on to Stryper is like, dude, you're going to love this. And so it was soldiers. And so I was like, just just like kind of feeling feeling myself on the drums a little bit. I was kind of getting a little bit good and I was listening to this and it was just like wait a minute. What's what's going on here? This it didn't make sense to me at first. Just the the lyrical content. Usually I would just kind of push it aside and just give me the guitars and the drums and the bass and all that stuff. But is the this was also the first time that I'd heard those dual lead solos, especially in a song like first like especially in song like first love. I was like, Whoa, this is a different kind of vibe. And so and it wasn't like, you know, Motley Crue and all the others like, you know, sex, drugs, rock and roll stuff. I felt the songwriting was like. Different, mean, obviously it was different, but.

Arin Hancock: Okay, ready?

DG: I feel like that has never gone away. It's like, when Tim and I talk about this stuff all the time, there's like, ⁓ yeah, Mike's writing a song. It's gonna be great lyrically. So it's just, you know, there's there's some ups and downs as far as musical content for Stryper for me, not much. But ⁓ yeah, I mean, when I was just learning my instrument, Robert Sweet is a huge influence in my drumming.

Arin Hancock: Right, yeah, like that that whole band and I think it's got so much talent over the years and you're right You know, their licks have always been great, you know, maybe they were the ballads all I'm kind of with you there that I'm not much of ballad guy So has to be a really good ballad for me to like it. Otherwise, it's more in the bottom my list My with my story there I got in Stryper late because they weren't airplay up here ⁓ Probably like you I think you said I heard you say one time that they got no radio play and they didn't up here either. They and I don't even know if I saw in their videos on our video station. had you had much you had MTV. We had something called much music, which was, yeah, our Canadian equivalent. And I don't even know if I seen in their videos on there. For me, it was just around. 88, I think it was about the time that In God We Trust came out and I kept thinking, you know, I should get into

DG: You had much music. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: Christian Rock. I didn't know if there was such a thing as that. But I heard about Stryper through the magazines, you know, and the the hit paraders and the other metal magazines would talk about Stryper and talk about the religious influence and lyrics. like, oh, here's a band. I should check these guys out. So I bought In God We Trust, To Hell With The Devil, I think like the same time, same day or whatever. And threw them on. I'm going, yeah, this is this is pretty good. And from there, just became a fan. one more thing there, because my wife keeps talking about the first time she heard, honestly, actually for the longest time after she heard honestly, she didn't realize it was a Christian song. She just thought it was one of these nice ballads about a man and his wife or whatever, which was the beauty of it because it could work either way. And then I asked her, said, well, if that was the first Stryper song you heard, where did you hear this? Because I never heard it until

DG: Yep.

Arin Hancock: I'm bought to hell with the devil. she said, actually, I ended up being on some compilation tapes, power ballad tape of hers, and she played that thing extensively.

TH: So wow.

Kris plamondon: That was funny.

DG: Well, that's a, I mean, that's a cool jumping off point there because, you know, Tim and I have talked about this before. There's a bunch of songs from this band that are like, all right, are we talking about my wife? Are we talking about God? I mean, it's cool because you can, you can, there's a couple of them that are like, ⁓ yes, these are love songs. And, but there's a few of them that you have to be like, you kind of can, you can take it how you want. I think is the message. But yeah, it's funky when you can kind of flip the script on ⁓ a few of these songs. And it's like, all right, what exactly are we talking about here?

Kris plamondon: Yeah. Wow. My story has been here in Canada, we got little meg or little to join companies that would send you tapes and CDs every month. So I got one and the one was Stryper's hell with the devil. I was expecting to be classic, quiet, whatever. Right. took it in my room, put it in my cassette player, played it, and I was gone. I kept rewinding and playing to hell with the devil and calling on you. And then, but that was it. I didn't know that there was any more until I was an adult. So I'm a late bloomer, a Stryper.

TH: Yeah. Well, that's one of the things, you know, it's interesting. When I think he asked this time now at a Stryper concert, Michael Sweet will say, who is seeing us for the first time? And it's amazing how almost half of the audience seems to be raising their hand that it's the first time that they've seen them. And then he'll say, you know, then of course, the other half have seen them before. ⁓ yeah, there's A lot of people that are, when they go to the concert, it's the first time they're seeing them.

DG: And it's so fun. It's so fun.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, that's what I guess. We haven't seen them before because they just don't make their way up here. I think I've got, I think I off the Stryper website there. To hell with the devil tour shirt. was one of these retro things. But it had the tour listings from 84 on the back and I think there was one Canadian date in Toronto. As far as know, that's the only time they've come to Canada. And it's hard to bring bands up here now. Yes, I know there's lot of bands that don't normally come to our neck of the woods are coming here. So I'm hoping that the next tour, some promoter will bring up. ⁓

TH: Maybe so, because I watched this live video that he put out on Facebook And he said that they were going to be touring pretty extensively, probably. And I'm probably thinking towards the end of the year when their new album comes out. So maybe we'll send up a prayer and say they'll get up there to Canada for you.

Kris plamondon: Yes, they can. That would be great.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, I my wife they're there on my bucket list. If ever come here, doesn't matter how broke it makes us, we're going. I think I'll have to shell out for the VIP and meet and greets and all that.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. Yeah.

TH: Yeah, I will tell you this. We went to the meet and greet ⁓ on the No More Hell to Pay tour. No, not No More Hell to Pay, the Murder by Pride. And then we did the meet and greet at the acoustic show. And I mean, they're pretty, I mean, he's pretty cool to, I mean, even if it's just for a moment, you know, when he's signing something for you or talking to you and all of them. I mean, they are really great.

DG: Is it? Yeah.

TH: people when you meet them in that meet and greet. if you do get the opportunity to do that, would highly recommend it.

DG: could come to it. You come to Atlanta if you want. But yeah, they are I mean, they're all like super chill. We met. Dang, we met them a couple times. And they've always been like just super cool. Just not no rock star vibe. Just hey, we're doing our thing. And all right. So quick story. We bought the meet and greet at the old masquerade in Atlanta. And they played

Kris plamondon: You sure?

Arin Hancock: Yeah, I hope the upturn comes around.

DG: rock that makes me roll ⁓ during sound checks. So they hadn't changed their clothes or anything. They were still doing, you know, and they just freaking crushed it. And then the song ends and Mike goes, well, that sucked. I was like, what are you talking about? I mean, your ears aren't hearing what I'm hearing because I thought that was freaking awesome. So yeah, I don't know. you know, Tim and I have talked about this multiple times. Mike is just a dang

Arin Hancock: ⁓ nice.

TH: What are you hearing?

DG: He's a perfectionist. So for him to say that, I guess, didn't surprise me that much. But I was like, man, your ears are just different than mine, I guess.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, that's one thing and we're talking I think before we hit recording, Ume is getting that now that how he's one of the artists that his voice is still strong at, you know, 40 years later, he's taking care of his voice. And yes, he may not be able to hit quite the high notes he hit back when he was in his 20s. I don't think anybody could, know, 20, 30 years later, but you know, his voice still sounds great.

TH: I'll tell you, mean, you talk about hitting the high notes. We've talked about this before. You listen to the final battle and the opening track, Transgressor, and he hits that note and I think he holds it for 15 or 20 seconds. And I'm like, my gosh, you are this old and not that, you know, I don't want to say he's old, like he can't do anything, but to be able to still do that.

DG: Yeah, I

Kris plamondon: I know.

TH: almost 40 years later, it's just incredible. Because then you see some of these other people out on tour and they just need to go hang it up and pack it up and go into retirement and never perform again. He's just vocally anything that I feel that we've heard over the past few years that he puts out, it just sounds incredible. Like it was 30, 40 years ago.

DG: Miley Criss

Kris plamondon: Have a note, yeah. Yeah, especially when the new stuff are notes in there that he just ⁓ what? You know, like just he just and he could do it by just taking off. You know, he ⁓ he gets that syllable he's gone.

DG: Yeah, it's on a dime. He can just freaking jump free ranges for no reason. I mean, for a reason, yeah, he's a very underrated vocalist. I mean, I feel like the band in general is underrated, but he especially as a vocalist is really underrated.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, it's incredible. Yeah, just boom. Mm-hmm. So is he writing his own stuff or does he have a co-writer with him?

TH: Most of the time he writes the lyrics, he writes the music. ⁓ I think there's been a couple of songs recently where ⁓ Oz might've in on them, but for the majority of it, he the songwriter for the band.

DG: Yeah, he's the principal songwriter for the band for sure. Oz, gosh, one of my, ⁓ what is it? I think Yes, yeah. ⁓

TH: He did the Way on to Hell with the Double.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, and uh, I listened to you guys talking about what was against the law and the fact that that was it Oz tried to write that no funky guy or or...

Kris plamondon: Yeah, that was such a wow.

TH: not your huggy guy or something like that. Yeah, according to Michael's book, thought that that was going to be a catchphrase. And Michael was like, yeah, I just didn't see the vision behind it or something like that.

Kris plamondon: You Yeah.

Arin Hancock: the ⁓

TH: Yes, that one is a great story. he's sitting there, the, it's a wad of gum. Boom. And then it just goes out into the audience and the guy's like, that's my eye.

DG: That's a great rock.

TH: Cause I think that was, what was that? Was that down in Australia where that happened? I'm trying to remember.

DG: Yes.

Arin Hancock: Yep, Shanner. And I think it was around the time of In God We Trust Tour or something like that then.

TH: Yeah. And then could you imagine you're expecting just to flick a piece of gum and then you flick that hard marble thing and then you got to pick back up and start playing the guitar again? I know you had to be in some pain probably for the rest of the night with that.

Arin Hancock: the

Kris plamondon: I could see his manager on like, oh no. Oh no.

DG: Right.

Arin Hancock: But it was a great story. The other thing I want to get into is because we had covered this ourselves and we brought a I think was Lee Harvey who ⁓ the new guy from One Bad Pig and has also done work with Heaven's Metal. So we thought we'd get someone else's perspective and we ⁓ Reborn and Reborn Again at the same time kind of comparing the two records. So I figured, you know, get more Stryper fans. So what were your thoughts on the differences between Reborn and Reborn Again?

DG: Go ahead, Tim.

TH: You can take it. ⁓ go ahead, Daryl, and then I'll give mine.

DG: Well, my only thing is, ⁓ and the fortunate part of doing this pod is like, I'm listening to it with kind of a different ear because I have listened to all these songs like 8,000 times, but it's forcing me to like, okay, where are the distinctions? Where are the production differences? And these two records, this was fun. ⁓ I think for me, When I listen to the original, mean, I love the album. It's probably my favorite. It's one of my favorites on the back half of the catalog. ⁓ But I was looking at the the Michael Sweet version. It felt to me like it was and I don't know. I'm stealing this from somebody and it might be you guys. It feels like a director's cut. ⁓ Because I can feel the compression in the original. but once I listen to the other one, it feels more open, it feels more kind of alive. ⁓ It does give me, I think, I know you guys said this, it does give me ⁓ a Van Halen in the studio kind of vibe. that was, and I mean, like I say, I love the records there, but I love the...

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

DG: I'll say the director's cut. I like it more because it just sounds more open and alive as far as a production standpoint.

TH: Yeah, for me, Reborn versus Reborn again. First of all, Reborn and I'm I. Reborn was another album that they did that had a very major impact on my life at the time that it came out. And if you want it and if you want to hear that, go listen to our podcast on to hell with the podcast where we talked about Reborn, where we talked about the Reborn album. And I go a little bit into where I was during my life at that time, but it had a major impact. ⁓ This was before social media. It came out in 05. I just happened to walk into the bookstore one day and there it was. band is back together minus Tim Gaines because Tracy Fiera was the bass player on that particular album. And so you had three of the four originals and I loved it because I was at that time I was listening to it also from a sound of what music was kind of sounding like in 2005. So I wasn't going in necessarily expecting it to sound like 1986 or 1988 and to have the same vibe.

Arin Hancock: Thank you.

TH: From then, I was just, one, excited that they were back. it had a major impact in my life at that point in time. And then when I heard Reborn Again, Reborn Again seemed to add Stryper elements ⁓ that missing, in a sense, from Reborn. Because if you listen to Reborn, there's no signature Michael Sweet scream. You know, there isn't on that particular album, but he does it on Reborn Again in a few spots. I felt the guitars were a little bit more chunkier. Maybe it was like he added some guitar solos in them. So I really like the Reborn original and I really like the Reborn Again for what it brought kind of a new element and a new sound to an album that I loved so much. But for me, when I listened to Reborn Again, there's just a lot of It was just impactful a lot of knowing where I was in my life at that time when that album came out and hey My favorite band from the 80s just put another album out, you know, and so I I was just like I loved it I mean I was just like loving it that they were back together ⁓

Arin Hancock: Yeah, ⁓ my thoughts on that when reborn first came out I actually didn't like it because it was so different than what they had done before now lyrically you're right. It was great lyrically. I think they've always had great lyrics and This thing comes out and I get in it ⁓ especially Years later, you know realizing it was meant to be the Michael Sweet record ⁓ the band just says hey We should record this In my mind it's always been I think at the bottom order for me just because it's the least sounding Stryper sound record. I Against the least musically anyways, there were a lot of things missing. That whole faith element was missing from the record. I understand where the band was. I think I just heard you guys talk about that on your podcast. I get it why it's Michael's least favorite. It's because of where he was in his life, where the band was in their life. And he doesn't want to

TH: Yeah, I'd agree with that.

DG: fair.

Arin Hancock: you know go back there I get that but there were some great songs on against the law Michael comes out then you know how many years later with was ⁓ reborn again and going this is what the Stryper version should have sounded like you know

DG: Yeah.

TH: Yeah, yeah, I totally agree with you. The Reborn Again is what is the Stryper sounding version, even though he put it out under his name only. I feel like that is the record that is the one that gives you the Stryper sound. going to Against the Law real quick, since you brought that album up, I agree with you. Musically, out of the earlier albums, I remember back in the day, I would always say musically that album was incredible. And but lyrically, it wasn't as bold I mean, you did have some faith based relationship elements in there and some of the songs. But then there were other songs that were. Didn't have that in there, but ⁓ I agree with you. always loved that album musically. and what it sounded like at the time. I always felt like In God We Trust was To With The Devil 2.0. Because if ⁓ you listen to those, ⁓ this was my mind, when I listened to that album in sync, like, to hell with the we had in God trust, calling on you, always there for you. ⁓ Free, keep the, and it was just like the same track.

DG: you

Kris plamondon: Hmm. Yeah.

TH: Just different music, different lyrics, but it sounded the same. So I liked the album, but I was kind of disappointed a little bit when it came out because I was like, this sounds exactly like the hell with the devil. So then when they came out and did Against the Law musically, I was like, ⁓ this album, this album really sounds good like you said, they were missing that faith based element where they were being as bold as they were in their previous albums.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, I'm with you there and I think Michael had even mentioned that in his book that exactly what you said there when they did in God we trust they really tried to and did copy to hell the devil and it comes out as tell the devil part two and and I would not want to hear to hell the devil part three. So I actually liked against the law. Like I I came in with Stryper at ⁓ in God we trust, you know, it kind of went back a little bit and then

TH: Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly.

Arin Hancock: then they come up with Against the Law and I was all in. I'm like, this is great. Actually, the one thing I wanted to mention about Daryll since I heard ⁓ your podcast talking this ⁓ record, is I want to disagree. think it was Daryll or maybe both of you. Did not rock the hell out of you, which was actually one of my songs. ⁓ So I'm going to disagree with you guys on that one. I mean, it's all a matter of opinion and nobody's right or but. ⁓

TH: Yeah. Well,

DG: Hey, we this every week and Tim and I always have a little bit of, you know, button heads on what song goes where and what song we like more than the other. So it's all good.

TH: You should just you should see it when I if you're if you're watching on YouTube versus watching on Spotify or listening on Spotify or Apple It when I sometimes list out a song and I'm putting it near the bottom You should see Darrell's it's exactly what he's doing right now That's the reaction that I get from him because for me for me I've always been when it comes to to music I do buy and it's funny Because I felt like on the back half of their era, this band, the back half with the newer albums, they're heavier, more heavy consistently throughout the album than they were back in the earlier days. And I like the back half. I love the back half and what they've done. And I think it was the part, I was listening to you, Arin, and you were talking. about sometimes you've got to be in the mood for a certain like a ballad or you have to be in the mood for something, you know, like kickback or something like that. For me, I love the just the rock or if you want to call it pop rock and I and I've always been a ballad guy. Give me a good ballad and I'm I'm sitting there. But with their newer stuff, I've loved the heavier stuff because one of my my all time favorite song. And I think you wanted to get there, too. Like, let's talk about some of our favorites.

DG: That's what you call it.

TH: My all time favorite song from them comes off of the back half of their catalog. And to me, it's one of the most epic songs that they've ever written.

Arin Hancock: Alright, yeah, well why don't we get into some of our favorite songs then?

TH: Okay.

DG: Yeah, dude.

TH: So who wants to go first?

DG: Who's going first?

Kris plamondon: you

Arin Hancock: Um, you guys, when you go first.

DG: Go ahead, Tim.

TH: OK, so I will say this.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, you guys are our guests.

DG: We're going to overlap, so go ahead.

TH: So I will say this, I'll give you my top rock song and I'll also give you my top ballad by them. my favorite song, my favorite song by them, like if I only had one Stryper song probably to listen to the rest of my life, and this was the only song that I could ever listen to again until I move on from this earth, it would be Yahweh off of Fallen. To me, Yahweh is just in, just,

Kris plamondon: ⁓ okay. ⁓ wow.

TH: the music behind and I'm not the music guy. I'll tell you this all day long. If you're listening to us, it's like I'm not the music guy. I just know what I like and don't like. Darryl can pull things in and be like, did you hear that? No, didn't hear that at all. I have no clue what you're talking about. But just the way they do that song and the way that song is composed and with it just being about the crucifixion and and he gets to that part where it's the song and the slows down and he goes. He was crucified and I'm not going to try to sing it because I would butcher it. And he goes, he was in the end, just goes silent. He was crucified. And then it goes back into rocking again, just the whole composition, ⁓ composer of that song with it lyrically. It's just my favorite one. And I love it because it's become a staple for them to do at their concerts. So it's just, it's just one I just really, really dig.

DG: Man, that, yeah, for my template of Stryper songs, I love it when they do biblical storytelling and they also have double bass drums. So that's pretty cool. But yeah, Yahweh is a freaking amazing song. So yeah, I can totally, I'm getting, I'm with you on that one.

Kris plamondon: Huh?

Arin Hancock: For me I was gonna say actually, I know Michael has said that Yahweh was one of his all time favorites that he loves to do, from the Stryper catalog. Not one of favorites and I think it's just because of the content, the crucifiction story's been done. I know Bloodgood had covered it, think probably a others had covered it. Musically again, it's great song and it's not bad, the fact that Stryper decided, why don't we do it as well. So I don't hate it. ⁓ I actually think I like Fallen the song probably better or whatever. My favorite, ⁓ I don't know if I could pick a single favorite. I would probably go with Divider off of Devil Believes ⁓ The Valley from God Damn Evil. Those were great songs. And I like the classics like Tell the Devil, ⁓ ⁓

DG: Thank you. I love it, Mallory.

TH: Yeah, both of those are great.

Kris plamondon: Mm-hmm.

TH: Divider is one of my favorites too. it's I've my wife and I just to tell you this real quick, my wife and I have been married for 30 plus years, but we had a midlife gift. So we have a very young son. ⁓ So we so when Divider came out and that's that was on even even the devil believes I think. And and he we would listen to that. And when he gets that song, that part of the song where it's hey, hey. He's in the background pumping his fist like, Hey, hey, you know, so we've always had some fun with that song ⁓ playing that one. So yeah, divider is a great song.

Arin Hancock: What about you Kris? What are some of favorite songs?

TH: And I think...

Kris plamondon: Yeah, that's a song. I like God damn evil.

Arin Hancock: That's a good one.

TH: Yeah, that one is a good one.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, I really that that that's what I go to if I want to hear a scriper and a fun story for me when I heard calling on you, I heard it and of course I liked it. But I went to my to a church with my dad once and they were doing praise worship and they did their usual slow song. Then the guitarist starting. He started the opening chords to calling on you. And I looked at my dad and I'm like, no, he's not going to. And guys nailed it perfectly. ⁓ singing the song. ⁓ then I was sold with Stryper. Right? So that's my other two songs I like a lot.

DG: Nice. That's cool. Yeah, the first band I was ever in, basically we did all like Stryper and Petra.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, that's another good band we could spend hours talking about.

DG: Well, I mean, I listened to you guys episode on Petra and I was just like, all this nostalgia was just washing over me.

Arin Hancock: You

Kris plamondon: Ha ha ha ha.

TH: didn't listen to your bonus episode. I need to go back and listen to your bonus episode on Petra though. I haven't listened to that one yet, for them to put out, I will say this talking about Petra real quick. I tell you what, John Schlitt, his vocals, in my opinion, on that new album, I can't believe he sounds the same as he did 20 years ago, 30 years ago. His vocals are still so strong.

DG: It was, mean, yeah.

Kris plamondon: Mm-hmm.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, that album is incredible. And I don't know if you heard our best of Petra way back at our, I think it was our second episode. And if you heard that, or if anyone else is listening and goes back to that, I do apologize. We have very crappy audio at the time.

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

TH: Hahaha!

DG: as we all do on episode two.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. It happens, man.

TH: We're still figuring technology out and all that kind of mess. And I feel like almost 30 episodes in, I'm still figuring it out.

Arin Hancock: Yeah.

DG: Yeah, no kidding.

Arin Hancock: I am too, I've got a couple different systems that bounce back and forth. I'm like, I should try this system. ⁓ that didn't come over well. I'll go back to the tried and true system.

DG: Yeah, I'm about to buy a new microphone and I'm not sure why, but I just want stuff to sound better. Not that it sounds bad.

TH: But it's amazing.

Kris plamondon: And I have to remember to mute my audio when I leave, because we've had some interesting audio.

Arin Hancock: You

TH: It's amazing how the software can actually take something and make it sound so much better with the effects and everything that it does. So geeking out on the technology.

DG: Yeah, fair enough. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, that's the thing. Before we started out there, we weren't using this program. And I'm trying to figure things out with some really horrible program that didn't have anything with it at all.

TH: Yeah, because we tried one once and it was like, you know, we don't like that one. So we use the same one you do Riverside and it's phenomenal. I love

Kris plamondon: Hey dude, yeah I like it too.

DG: Yeah, it's been good. Yeah, so all right, so can I pick a song?

Arin Hancock: Yeah, go ahead, pick a song.

DG: It's not my favorite favorite song, it's just it's like I say, it's got a lot of nostalgia attached to it. Sing Along is one of one of my favorites, right? It's definitely up there just because of the harmonies and just I was in a band in high school and we actually had people that could sing. So Sing Along was always like one of my just and it's fun to play on drums. So that one for me always ⁓ has a little bit of swagger to it just because you know high school stuff. But I mean I have a few that are higher but I really like that song.

Kris plamondon: Do you happen to know Tim what the story is behind To Hell with the Devil? Why he wrote that song? Okay.

TH: I know. I have never heard a story on how that song came about.

Arin Hancock: There's probably something, the idea came in his head, why not, you you sit the hell with this, the hell with that, why not, the with the devil, make it truthful type of thing, you know? So, same with, I think, same with like, you know, God damn evil I think the line probably came in his head and it's like, well, let's work this into a song or something like that. And, actually it's funny, you brought up Sing Along's song, again, I listened that episode you guys had done

Kris plamondon: Yeah, maybe.

DG: Interesting. You gotta like that song Kris.

Arin Hancock: And I'm in disagreement with you guys. That's my least favorite off that record. To me it was just a song that did nothing for me. There was one, I think it was off, was it It's Up To You or something off the hell with the devil or whatever.

TH: Yeah, it's up to you as on and God we trust.

DG: God always helps.

Arin Hancock: Okay. And I got a little story about that. I remember I was in high school and I was in some club, think some club all about world peace or something like this. And we had hosted a dance. We're trying to think of songs that we could tell the DJ to play that kind of went with the idea of peace. And I'm like, I gotta make a suggestion. I don't know. I can't think of this. know, of course, you they were bringing up the usual stuff like John Lennon's Imagine and stuff like this. And I'm like, hey, what about this song, you know, it's up to you by Stryper. It's all about, you know, making the world a better place and stuff like this. And then said, yeah, okay, great. You know, we'll put it on the playlist and tell the DJ play it. And unfortunately, I didn't get to hear it because the night of the dance, got sick and go. ⁓

TH: ⁓ no. ⁓ Did they play it though? Okay, cool.

DG: See you.

Arin Hancock: They said they played it, so I'm assuming they did, but...

DG: I don't know man. just yeah, I sing back up and I play drums at my church and that kind of stuff. And it's just like, that song has always had like the cool little ⁓ mesh of like, all the harmonies and cool drum So that's why I mean, that's why it ⁓ it ⁓ holds a spot.

TH: Nah, that's cool.

Arin Hancock: But yeah, like I said before, think when it to Stryper, everybody's got their favorites. It's a personal preference. And I don't know if there is a right or wrong answer. just people like what they like.

DG: Well, the catalogs are huge.

TH: Yeah, because I because I think that's what makes it interesting when Darryl and I talk is that, yeah, there are some times we align on our favorite song off of an album, but there are times where, I've got this one higher or you've got this one lower. And typically for me, I do love the ballads. But even on ⁓ Even the Devil Believes, the This I Pray song, I love love that ballad just because it's got that Southern rock type of vibe. I've always said if they took that song musically and rewound it and put it in 1990 or 91, that song would have been huge, in my opinion, just because of the the way that it sounds. That's like that's like my favorite ballad by them of all time. Even Tops, honestly, which, that's probably everybody's favorite ballad or most people's favorite ballad. You know.

Arin Hancock: you

Kris plamondon: Hey, yeah, that's every, exactly.

DG: Earth love.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, it's hard to against it, honestly, but I thank him with you on that point. I like this, I pray. Probably one of the few ballads I like. I'm like, listen to the words going, know, this is a song I probably could have written. Maybe not as well as Michael had written it, but it's, you know, the idea is behind it that I could have written this.

TH: and Yeah, yeah, and just just and that song came out to I mean that whole album. I mean, as you all know, that album came out when the whole world was shut down. So I listened to that one quite a bit when it came out, when I'd go on a walk like, OK, I can go outside now. I'm to go for a walk. OK, let me put on Even the Devil Believes and would listen to that one all the time. So but what would when you think about the albums, let me ask you this, Arin and Kris, when you guys think about the albums. What have ended up being your favorite? Like what is your favorite album all time?

Arin Hancock: My favorite actually is even the devil believes and I was thinking about this, you know, even before I found out about you guys doing your podcast and kind of rating records going, well, what's my favorite and for a while it was between even the devil believes in goddamn evil. And then I'm started looking at them going as I count songs, I'm going, there is more I would rank higher on even the devil believes over goddamn evil. So I'm okay. I'm putting that as number one.

Kris plamondon: I like, ⁓ Goddamn Evil, Take Help with the Devil. That'll probably be my favorite too. What about you, Daryl?

TH: Yeah, I would

DG: Wow. ⁓ Man, I think my favorite is always going to be Soldiers. Just because there's so much ⁓ nostalgia attached to it and it really did like shape my style as a drummer. And so there's just a lot of stuff there. mean, there's a ton of stuff that I love, but I think that was where my Love for this band started was on soldier, so I'm going to stay there.

TH: And Arin, you and I agree. ⁓ Even the Devil Believes is my all-time favorite.

Arin Hancock: ⁓ I actually got a shirt of even the devil believes ⁓ that was actually by accident. It was kind of funny story here as They came out the final battle. I'm like, ⁓ that's great. And they got some great designs. I gotta get a shirt So I send away ordered a shirt They sent me the design for even the devil believes I'm like what? Back with him backs and you send me the wrong shirt. I wanted this design. So this is

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: Keep the what you got, we'll send you the right one." And they did. And I was going to wear even the devil bleeds, but I'm like, the design isn't that exciting. It's just the cross and the little devil on the bottom there, kneeling. It doesn't even say Stryper on the front of it. It's got Stryper on the side arm. it's kind of like the cover, but it doesn't have the big Stryper logo across the front. The other shirt I bought and it was such a cool cover was for No More Hell to Pay. Like when that came out and I'm like, I love that the cover, picture they use, I got to get that shirt. And again, they didn't put Stryper across the front of their shirt. It was on the sidearm. But yeah, that was such a great cover. Probably one of my favorite covers of the band. ⁓

DG: They have a lot of

TH: Yeah, they do make some incredible album covers.

Kris plamondon: Wow.

DG: Yeah, they have a lot. mean, yeah.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, they do. Yeah, I don't have any shirts yet, but I'm sure I'll buy one eventually.

DG: Yeah, they have a ton of great album art. was looking through some stuff today and I was like, dang, because even Reborn, I mean, that record, that cover is pretty sick.

Arin Hancock: I found in later years I started getting too comic bookish, too cartoonish and I'm like ehhhh. It's okay, I like the music better than the cover.

DG: Yeah.

Kris plamondon: Ha

TH: Well, that's what we're listening to them for is the music. That's good. But with the band themselves, ⁓ if you, if you ⁓ ask them question, what would you want to know?

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

DG: enough.

Arin Hancock: I don't know,

Kris plamondon: Arin?

Arin Hancock: That's hard because they've talked about themselves, they've been in lots of interviews over the years. It's hard to think of something that they haven't talked about yet. And I don't think about that. Yeah.

Kris plamondon: That'd be tough. What would you ask him?

TH: You know, I would probably if it was me and if I was sitting with Michael Sweet, I would probably dive more into his side projects, asking him more about his side projects, because, like you said, Arin, he he he is so open on social media. And sometimes he even says, I'm probably too open to a fault. And I say too much. ⁓ You know what's going on with the band Stryper and but

Kris plamondon: Yes.

TH: There are certain things that I would probably dive into more on his solo projects and it's been a while since he's come out with his own solo album. I mean, I know he's got the master plan, which is out But the thing with that album is not your typical Michael Sweet solo album. That's more inspirational. So it's not even your normal Michael Sweet solo album. it's just really does he draw a lot of his inspiration at the time that he's writing music as well? Because he did an album called Soul Driver, which was more of a it wasn't it was rock, but it was more adult oriented rock or AOR.

DG: Rory.

TH: than it was what he did with Sweet and Lynch. So I'd probably dive more into with him about his solo, solo inside projects.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, that might be a question to ask. know we asked, try to think of like set question we asked every guest every time we had them on. And the one we were going with for a while was, you know, who would you work with that you haven't? So maybe that'd be good question to ask him. Who have you not worked with that you would like to work with, you know?

TH: Yeah.

DG: Yeah, I mean, the thing with that I was always never brought it up. But the fact that him and George Lynch are working together is kind of fascinating in general based on their ⁓ spiritual differences. And so which, you know, whatever, everybody's got their own flavor. But yeah, I would like to dig a little more into what it was like, you know, writing, recording and creating with with a guy that's, you know, an atheist versus your beliefs. So, but I mean, I love all the sweet lunch records. I mean, I feel like they had a great separation of like, all right, Mike's going to write this and I'm going to play this and we'll just record it and it'll be cool. And it and it was, but I just wonder if there's any ever any like tense issues like with those two, because because, you know, Mike doesn't have a big ego, but I know George Lynch does. I just would like to dig a little more into that. It's like, what was it like working with that dude?

Arin Hancock: Yeah, you know, and I listened to those. Those are great records and there's nothing wrong with writing great, you know, faith value type songs without bringing faith explicitly into it. And I think that's what he had done with the Sweet Lynch records. know, the good morals were there and the inspiration was there like, know, that one song about rise up, you know, from wherever crappy situation you're in, rise up or, you know, lift yourself up. And I'm like, this is a great song for anybody to listen to.

DG: Not sure. Yeah, sure.

TH: felt the same way about the song Walk. Walk with the Y. mean, run. Yeah, walk with the Y's. Run with the fool. Never rise. I mean, that's basically a verse out of Proverbs that should just be, that could just apply to anybody's daily life. So he was still able to filter in some of his faith beliefs without it being explicit in a sense like he does with the Stryper music. So he's still able to hold true to his standards, being able to write with

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

TH: or collaborate with George Lynch.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, and maybe that is, I anytime he comes out with a collaboration or somebody who is not explicitly a Christian, the naysayers come out, oh, why are you working with this guy? There was a picture with him and King Diamond, they were talking. We're just two musicians talking back and forth, that's all. And who knows, it's a great opportunity to plant seeds. did he, did he not? It doesn't really matter. If you're a Christian, and act like a Christian and show people what Christians are like. I think that says a lot too, you know, so.

TH: Absolutely.

Kris plamondon: I'd want to ask him about the on his soul at one of his soul projects. He did the song Jesus and That's a rockin song I lost the cassette

DG: Yeah.

TH: Oh yeah, are you talking about the one off of his first solo album? Now the album I think he retitled it 1994. Yeah, that is a...

Arin Hancock: 1994, Yeah.

Kris plamondon: I think that's the one. has a... He's on the cover of it. Yeah. Yeah, I've lost it. I'd love to find that song again.

TH: Yeah, that's it.

Arin Hancock: ⁓ I had mixed feelings about that one when it came out. There were some great rockers on there, maybe not typical Stryper sound, but there were some great songs on there. And that was a time when I was still in high school, without a girlfriend, wasn't really thinking about relationships. So all the relationship songs, I'm like, I really could do without those ones. ⁓

TH: Yeah. Yeah, because when that album came out, that was the year that I got married. So I was engaged when that album came out. So it hit me a little bit different than it did you, Arin.

Kris plamondon: You You guys are awesome.

TH: Well, appreciate you letting us, ⁓ again, thanks for having us on. I know I've enjoyed the conversation today. I'm not trying to wrap it up if you have more questions. I was just going with it. But we've enjoyed being here, enjoyed chatting with you. I'm sure Darrell feels the same way. We'd love to have you guys on one week on ours.

DG: Yeah, totally.

Arin Hancock: the ⁓

Kris plamondon: Yeah, for sure.

DG: ⁓

TH: No. But we're flexible. ⁓ it in the afternoon for Kris. That's not a problem at all. ⁓ We'll you sleep in a little ⁓

Kris plamondon: Thank you so much.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, done a couple interviews. We've had Dale Thompson of Bride on a couple of times and he likes doing his interviews ⁓ in the morning almost right after his breakfast. And I'm like, well, that's lower because he's down in the Eastern time zone as well. I'm like, that's a little early. So we scheduled for his late morning, our early morning. And ⁓ was not happy guy on those ones. ⁓

TH: Hahaha! ⁓

Kris plamondon: Thanks, Miahua. I've been up since 8.30 in the morning here, so I'm a little tired, but I'm fine.

Arin Hancock: Alright.

DG: Yeah, I've been up since 430, sir. It's all good.

Arin Hancock: I'm gonna bring one more point about what makes I Stryper so so good like over the years is bad some of the bands have kind of rested on their you brought up the fact that yeah, they've continued putting out what I like is the fact that they're not ⁓ a label and never had been and they've fans out there that aren't Christians ⁓ and I to other podcasts about music in general and in the know, the 80s hard rock and Lots of times Stryper comes up their podcast, they talk about the best of the year and how many years Stryper release was out. They talk about that one or ⁓ Stryper does release a new one, they're like, yeah, that's on our top list of the year. I'm like, all right, great. ⁓

TH: Yeah, I mean, interesting too. I've got a coworker of mine ⁓ and lives in Canada. ⁓ And I was talking to him about the ⁓ To With The Podcast that we were doing, we started talking about Stryper and he was one of the guys. He goes, yeah, I never got into him for the faith, but he goes, musically, I always thought that they were a great band, but I couldn't agree with you more because you look at some of the bands that are still touring, that are still doing things. It may have been 10 years ago that they put out a new album or they could be it could have been so long ago and they're still touring on What was popular back in the 80s? And that's the thing that I did love about Excuse me about this most recent tour that they did a couple of years ago when they released when we were kings because the front half of the set Was all their old stuff, but then they did they at least did one song from every album, starting with Reborn all the way till to When We Were Kings. And they did them in the order that the albums came out. So you got to hear a lot of the newer stuff as well on their 40th anniversary tour that they normally don't play because people want to hear the stuff. Most of the time they want to hear the stuff from the 80s. But I was digging it because I was like, yeah, this is the stuff I've been wanting to hear. I've heard, I've heard calling on you live several times now. I don't need to hear that song again live. want to hear, you know, I want to hear some of the newer things. So that tour was, that tour was great, but yeah, I totally agree with you on that. They haven't rested on the laurels and they just creatively. And Michael is just always saying, when you read on social media, this is our best album. He's just always looking to better than, you know, I want to do better than my last album. And I think that's why create creatively. And this is just me talking creatively when they do things and they put things out. It is so good because they're not like you said, they're not resting on what they've done in the past. They want to continue to get the message out at a and they're not doing it cheaply. I guess you could say.

DG: Yeah, of the that Tim and I agree on is like the bar is always high. It's like whether and and we've seen posts like if I can't do this anymore, then I'm just going to, you know, I'll hire another vocalist or we'll just go away. I mean, ⁓ I appreciate the fact that always have a certain bar where it's like, the quality has got to be there or it's not getting put out. I mean, like I say, that's one of the reasons that we love this band so much is just, they're never going to give you like garbage like certain other folks might.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, actually it's funny you said that I know I saw that post he says you know it might come in time where Michael have stepped down from vocals and just play guitar with the band and finding a vocalist. I can't imagine another vocalist on that band and I know they've tried when Michael first walked away from the band they tried they brought Dale Thompson in for show or two and that wasn't well he actually said that was when Styper on the way down in popularity and

DG: You have to take.

Arin Hancock: Bride was starting to take off in popularities. So he kind of weighed his options and says, well, Bride's where I should be. And I know I stepped it up to the vocals a couple of times when Michael couldn't, but I just couldn't imagine anyone else doing vocals for Stryper.

DG: I was talking about this with my wife the other night because this came up because the post got up on social media. I was like, what about Jeff Tate? I don't know. We were just throwing ideas.

Arin Hancock: Now there's a- there's a thought-

TH: Yeah, we actually had this conversation one time when the post came up because we saw it because typically I'll look through the post that he puts out either personally or on Stryper. And then, you know, we'll talk about those for a little bit before we get into the what we're what we have on tap to talk that day. And it was about who the question was, who would replace me? And my thought was because with the lyrics being and faith-based and about God and about Jesus is that to me, you would have to, I feel like you would have to find someone who has that same conviction to be able to perform it at that level. And one person that, and I don't know if you ever saw this one, there's two people that I have from the Christian rock world that could

Kris plamondon: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

TH: that I could see potentially doing it. One I hadn't thought of until right now is Ken Tamplin one time did one of his videos, and he did Soldiers Under Command. ⁓ And so I was like, eek. ⁓ And I was like, and just his voice and the range that he has.

Kris plamondon: Yes. I was just thinking about Canon. ⁓

TH: I feel could go well with the band Stryper for the most part. but somebody else that just popped in my head and I don't know if you were aware of this, but one time Guardian did a full cover of the Yellow and Black Attack from front to back. Jamie Rowe with his voice I could see singing some these songs as well.

Arin Hancock: funny you bringup as you were talking and I was starting to think who else could do this and Jamie Rowe came to my mind Without me even thinking about this question ahead of time. I'm like who else would have the ability to do these songs and you're right Probably Jamie Rowe

TH: think too, from the Christian community, because the Christian community, and I'm going to say this very gently as I say it, I think could be very favorable or unfavorable of whoever they brought in. So I think with where they know where Ken Tamplin being with Shout and with Jamie Rowe being with Guardian and with some of the things that he's shared over the years, I think that the Christian based community could say, yeah, I can get on board with those two because we know they're familiar with them. They know what's going on. But I just think anybody who stands in, they're just going to have to be able to sing because I just couldn't. I could not imagine somebody who doesn't have any type of faith, but faith based belief stepping in for Stryper and singing more than a man. I mean, I just

Arin Hancock: Right, yeah. Yeah, you're right there, I think.

DG: Yeah, that's a good point. mean, I was looking at it pretty much from a technical perspective. I mean, I know Jeff Tate could sing those songs. I don't know Jack about his spiritual, political, anything. So I know he could probably sing those songs, but I don't know if he could sing that, like you said, with the same convictions. That's a really good point.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, like Ken Tamplin he's one of the best guitar players on the planet. I mean, and vocalists as well. That would be a big step. mean, that would, I don't know. I mean, it'd be good.

DG: Well, and you make it you. Well, you make a good point because he is a really good guitar player, so. In effect, you would have now three guitar players in Stryfer if you wanted to use those tools, but you also have Ken's voice, so so I don't know you. You could add it like in ⁓ a totally extra layer to the band.

Kris plamondon: Well, we just pray that Michael would recover and be well and he'd be able to continue for many, many years.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, well, he's already kicked the cancer or already had a bout with cancer and he's kicked that so great. ⁓ Yeah, said hopefully he can keep continuing for many years. I know he said he plans on doing like 20 solo records, 20 Stryper records. I'm going, wow, that's an awful lot of material.

Kris plamondon: I mean...

DG: ⁓ good lord, dude. It's been crazy trying to cover all the material that we've got access to.

Arin Hancock: You

TH: I think he's one of those people, I recall correctly, he may have written about this and honestly, but he's one of those people that always walks around and he always just is being downloaded with a song in his head. And it's just always, it's always there.

DG: Or you can, yeah, you can tell.

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Arin Hancock: All right, did you have any more thoughts on this, Kris?

Kris plamondon: I think our guests have said it awesomely. think they're good.

Arin Hancock: Alright, yeah, I think this has been a great conversation. It's been great talking to you guys. I'm not sure how I discovered your podcast, but it's been great. I've been listening to your podcast that this is hell with the podcast. I think it came across one of my Facebook feeds or whatever, but I'm like, definitely we're checking these guys out and definitely love the material you guys cover. So.

TH: We appreciate it, Arin and Kris. Thank you so much for having us on today. was an honor to be here.

Kris plamondon: Good luck.

TH: We appreciate it, Arin and Kris.

DG: Yeah, man. Yeah, it's been a blast. Thank you guys.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, you're welcome.

TH: hey, this is Tim from To Hell with the Podcast and you are listening to Rock and Metal Faith.

DG: Hey, this is Darrell from To Hell with the Podcast and you are listening to Rock and Metal Faith. Check it out.

Arin Hancock: And like we say all the time, ⁓ Kris says, know, let your cat, your dog, your grandma listen to show. ⁓ yeah, share this Let everybody know you're listening. We do not want to be the best kept secret. ⁓ share ⁓ it out, listen, all that.

DG: Like and subscribe.