Guardian in the 90's

Arin Hancock: That was produced by John and Dino Elefante. by Steve by Steve This is the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast. And on today's episode, we are going back to our series about eighties bands in the nineties, playing the grunge scene, and we're focusing today on Guardian and the albums that they've released in the nineties. Alright, today on the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast, it's all about the classic Christian rock and metal, the rock that makes me sane. I'm your host, Arin Hancock, joined as always by my co-host Kris Plamondon and we are talking again about Guardian. Unfortunately, that little clip we heard at the intro there was ⁓ from Fire and Love. And we're not talking about that album. We're not talking about Miracle Mile. We've already done that. We're talking about a different Guardian when ⁓ the nineties hit and the music that they put out in the nineties. ⁓ what happened?

Kris plamondon: Yeah, wow.

Arin Hancock: before we get into that, there isn't too much in news. ⁓ summer's gonna be kinda busy for us, so I'm doing a few few recordings close together, which means not as lot is happening news wise between recordings. By the time this comes out, we should have heard the new Stryper song, I'm okay. Michael is has come out now explaining what the lyrics are about. He wrote that after his ⁓ battle cancer and as he was going through that. So that's kinda where that comes from, just knowing that despite the problems he was going through, he was gonna be okay. ⁓ so right, you know, so far actually the reception on that song has been pretty good. A lot of people have been liking it. ⁓ And lot of people are excited to hear what's gonna come out. For the rest of the record, actually. So new Stryper to look forward to I tell you like I said between Michael Sweet solo Stryper and New iconic coming out. which Michael Sweet is also a part of that project. He's having like three albums in one year coming out with him on it. ⁓ That he is. ⁓

Kris plamondon: We're a workhorse, wow.

Arin Hancock: And that's about it I think for news. Not a lot to mention. We do have this to get to though first. Alright, for the plug it in, we're gonna talk about a band that has caught my attention. I think it was last year with an album that came out. And almost made my list for best album last year. Didn't quite make that list. And ⁓ the band is called Mr. Weaver Face. And it's from what I can tell it's a single artist again, I'm not sure his actual name. I believe this is a guy out of the States. ⁓ creating music and releasing it. I found out he has a new song that just just came out. And this one I actually like a lot ⁓ let me do a quick read up here on what it has to say about him. musically he blends ⁓ nineties and two styles all into one sonic song. You everything from Stone Temple Pilots Lady Peace, Food Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Radio Head, kind of blend brings all the influences together into one unique song. ⁓ he's definitely a very Christian artist, focusing on the gospel So we are gonna check out a brand new song from him. By the time this recording comes out, the song has been out for a while. ⁓ but this is a song called ⁓ River of Jordan. What do you think? Think of that.

Kris plamondon: That one's okay. I like his vocals. He's got that nice strong voice.

Arin Hancock: Right. And yeah, not not too high. It's probably right in your range there if you were to try that.

Kris plamondon: He would be, he would be, yeah, that's wow.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, ⁓ let's say that's Mr. Weaverface with a song called River of Jordan. Yeah. like I said I first heard of this guy I think was just over a year ago, I'd say. Early last year. ⁓ And ⁓ the stuff they had out then was it wasn't

Kris plamondon: Mr. Weaverface? Okay.

Arin Hancock: It was definitely up for consideration on best of list.

Kris plamondon: It almost reminds me of the band that we're gonna talk about today.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, actually you're right. And as I w was playing that clip I'm thinking, you know, the description there says, you know, blends nineties, two thousands together. I tell you, if the nineties sounded like this, I might not hated it so bad. ⁓

Kris plamondon: Yeah, ⁓ if it sounded like that, I think they would would have done a lot better.

Arin Hancock: yeah. ⁓ the problem and and I'm gonna explain why we we're getting into this episode. It it's funny. So by the time this this episode comes out, I will have made an appearance another podcast called Rock for Him. ⁓ on there they asked me about the one episode that we had done with ⁓ the Holy Soldier and in in the nineties and and Promise man. They actually liked the way that episode w was done. And here's the thing too. One of the things I said is I know we've got listeners and and fans out there who liked the stuff that came out in the in the nineties. They like the album Promise Man. They like the albums we're gonna cover today. And when those albums first came out, ⁓ I really did like ⁓ And I think they first came out he Here's my problem was I was still stuck in in the eighties. I wanted Guardian to song like Fire and Love, song like Miracle Mile. And it's not the eighties anymore, it's the nineties. And they come out with this. And I'm going, This is just this is not my Guardian.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. And I found Guardian by by accident and the only song I knew ⁓ blew away, which was not might have been on the Promise Man album, but it was on the l I think the later album when they did I Found Love. And ⁓ that was like, Okay, if that is the standard of Christian music, do it. That was awesome.

Arin Hancock: Right. Well, okay, f let me correct you. First of all, you said the Promise man that was Holy Soldier. That came out in ninety four or or ninety five or something like that. And that was Holy Soldier. ⁓ I found love, what came out on the Miracle Mile. ⁓ And that was my intro to Guardian too I came on to the Christian rock scene about the same time you did, kinda late in in in the the the game. It would have been I'm guessing eighty seven, eighty eight.

Kris plamondon: Okay.

Arin Hancock: when I came on to the scene. And I've now I've got Miracle Mile on C D. So I was buying C D's at the time, not cassettes. ⁓ I've got a big collection of both cassettes and C Ds at this point and you know, building my my C D library. But yeah, so I bought Miracle Mile on C D that was my intro to

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: let's get into it. ⁓ your thoughts well first of all, your open and all thoughts on when the nineties hit. Were you a fan of of Grunge?

Kris plamondon: ⁓ well, back then I don't even I mean, the only song from the nineties at that time that I think I really knew was Bottle Rocket, which we'll talk about today.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, and that comes out later. ⁓ look at ⁓ that came out like in ninety seven. So that the yes.

Kris plamondon: Now you say, Okay, well we could talk about the album before that they released.

Arin Hancock: That was Buzz, yeah. And there's well, they released a couple of records before that. In ninety-four they released Swing Swing Swung. ⁓ And so my first thoughts on that one, when that came out, I listened that. I know I heard it, I to it, and to me it was just sounded like an acoustic record. It was you know, Tesla had just come out with their live acoustic performance. I think it's called Five Man Acoustic Jam, which was a live acoustic show done by Tesla. That was where they do their cover of signs and all their other stuff. And when I hear Swing Swang Swung I'm going, this is just another acoustic record. And I wasn't into a full acoustic record. I didn't buy the Tesla one. I didn't buy Swing Swang Swung I listened to this and I'm going. Yeah, I w like said I wasn't into it. So I listened to it recently and I'm going You know, it's not bad. Like when it starts off, I really like it. It's kind of acoustic blues. And there's a couple of those others on there that follow suit. And then after that it it just f kind of peters out and it's more of a laid back acoustic record. I'm going, ⁓ yeah, I don't know.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, it's I mean, my first time listening to it I was impressed really, right? Most of those songs. I mean, ⁓ you know, are you gonna keep up with your word? Like like titles of those songs? I mean, that really I like that. I thought that's different. And musically a lot of their songs were again, sounded the same, but they musically They really st make them stand out.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, this I don't know, seemed like a a record full of ballads to me and I wasn't really I'm not in there were a couple on here I'm going, you know, that's not bad. It sounded like a holdover from Miracle Mile. It sounded like something that was written during that time.

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: But overall you know, I was not impressed a and I I went back, like I said, I know when when this first came out, did not like it. I've talked to people, you know, in the last couple of years since we started this podcast that that like not necessarily this record, but you know, like Buzz, like Bottle Rocket ⁓ this is kinda why I'm I'm I'm doing this series. I'm you know, I make no bones about it. I am not a fan of most of the music that came out in the nineties. but that's me. You know, everybody likes likes what they like. ⁓ for those who who do like the music that came out in the nineties, good on ya. ⁓ yeah, it is it's just not my thing, not my style. I st still like more the that that power rock. And you know, music since then has come out. I know recent bands have come out with that that'll

Kris plamondon: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Arin Hancock: classic style like you I'm still in Stryper worldview comes out with that classic song I like that Reign of glory you know but again these are old artists playing in stuff that they know and we talk about some newer bands like chaotic resemblance great band yeah ⁓ you know there was very few bands very few songs in in the nineties I did like some of the stuff like wasn't it

Kris plamondon: Yeah, you like the big song.

Arin Hancock: I think was about ninety four or or so when ⁓ DC Talk comes out with Jesus Freak. Yeah. And that one was was good. like or l like the song anyways. ⁓ I don't know if I bought that rec no, I I know I know I did not buy that record. ⁓ yeah. was it a good album? like that one?

Kris plamondon: Yes. Yeah. I did. It was it was really the what's the word of it was it really blew up for D C talk. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: ⁓ that that much I know, yeah. Just ⁓ you know, on the strength of that one song, I think y you know. And sometimes

Kris plamondon: Mm-hmm. That and after that was I Am Free. And that rocked. We should talk about that song one day, but we'll get to that. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: Okay. Yeah, we we can. I I know going forward we're gonna kinda cover the classics as well as some of the stuff y that came out in the nineties, as well as stuff that's coming out today.

Kris plamondon: And I'm hoping going forward we could have an episode talking about worship music. I did have a friend who listens to the show said that we should look at that.

Arin Hancock: depends what you're talking about worship music. If you're if you mean, you know, the traditional worship ⁓ church hymns. ⁓ I don't know if that fits in our if our

Kris plamondon: Well didn't they years ago do a rock worship compilation, I wanna say? Like with Ken and White Cross.

Arin Hancock: I don't know about that one. I don't know about that. ⁓ I think you're talking metal praise. Actually, yes. And I've got that on cassette. I don't know where I got that from now. I can't remember now, but I've got that on cassette. ⁓

Kris plamondon: I don't know if they've done the modern twenty twenty six

Arin Hancock: Yeah, and you know, we could look at stuff like Petra praise and all that too, right? Yeah. I'm actually thinking down the road too, doing a series of the Petra John Schlitt albums, you know, right from Yeah, but ⁓ I'm thinking of going like right back and and doing all of the the John Schlitt Petra albums like from On Fire and This Means War and and going forward

Kris plamondon: That might be fun. Yeah. Yeah, Petra Pace has some good songs. I was gonna say that. Earlier I saw the album on ⁓ You Just Said It. Yeah, and I'm like, what? I haven't seen that album before.

Arin Hancock: On fire, yeah. You haven't seen that? ⁓ man. That that that's a that's a classic album. It came out early eighties. But ⁓ anyways, let's get back on to to the yeah, background the Guardian, background to the n 90s. So yeah, and and part of the thing I want to do is so we're looking at swing swing swung. Jeez, try seeing that five times past. ⁓ But you know, and there was some good stuff on there. I'll tell you.

Kris plamondon: А не верси на. Guardian.

Arin Hancock: I really, really loved the leadoff track. The way back home Great great song right there. And I like come ⁓ No that that's off buzz. We're talking about No no. We're I'm on swing swing swung.

Kris plamondon: This old man ⁓ you're going to bottle rocket?

Arin Hancock: Did I don't sure if you listen to anything anything off that one, did you? Okay. So you did some of your homework. ⁓

Kris plamondon: ⁓ just be quiet and listen.

Arin Hancock: Well here we go. Let's play a track from that. ⁓ one of my favorite tracks is the the laid off track to Swing Swing Swung and Wayback. There you go. Yeah. I I love that song. It's especially now. Would I have loved it so much back then? I'm not sure. ⁓ because it's definite acoustic blues. It's got a lot of slide playing in it. ⁓ And now I think it's great. ⁓ might have had a different opinion back when it first came out, e even on on that song. ⁓ this is how you know how musical tastes change over the years, I think.

Kris plamondon: That was probably a a really good example of Guardian with ⁓ what is Guardian the vocals vocalist name?

Arin Hancock: J Jamie Rowe. Yeah.

Kris plamondon: Jamie, okay, so Jamie Jamie's got that rockin' that nice rhapsy voice.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. And here here's here's the other thing too n I follow Jamie Rowe on Facebook and he quite often will show clips of him singing the old songs. You know, he'll he'll be in the car just singing along to a guardian song. And here's the thing. Most of the time the stuff he's singing is coming off of Miracle Mile. Are you are you

Kris plamondon: And interest Wow, he should come on the show and do that. That'd be awesome.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ actually I I did try to invite him on and he says he's kind of exhausted doing podcasts right now and just wants to so

Kris plamondon: Yeah, we just talk. He doesn't have to sing, but he could certainly sing. And and to me I remember early days there was probably Okay, here's a question. What what singles do you think people would know from Guardian? Besides the the album we're gonna talk two albums.

Arin Hancock: But ⁓ Yeah, I don't know. I I don't know what was released as singles.

Kris plamondon: I th I think one for sure would have been I Found Love because that I mean that shows Arin he can do the ballad, he could do anything.

Arin Hancock: Possibly. ⁓ yeah, definitely. And ⁓ you know, I'm not ⁓ I'm not knocking Jamie Rowe, he's he's got he's a great vocalist.

Kris plamondon: Like when I first heard that single, I was with my uncle, he thought that that was John Mellencamp. I mean, I thought that that's quite the compliment. I mean

Arin Hancock: Okay. Right. Yeah, yeah. let's ⁓ do our shout outs here. ⁓ so don't forget to, you know, subscribe, like if you have not subscribed to the show. You don't wanna miss new episodes coming out ⁓ and know when when

Kris plamondon: If you haven't subscribed, why not?

Arin Hancock: And if you have, thanks ⁓ for listening and let everybody know that you are listening and try and get them listening as well. Also, don't forget we have a Facebook page. So we'll try you know you leave comments there. We love hearing back from you you from hearing comments. So you can leave comments on Facebook, you can leave comments essentially anywhere. ⁓ I think

Kris plamondon: Yes. By the way, Arin, isn't it aren't we two years old?

Arin Hancock: We're over two years old. We're almost we're probably about about two and a half, yeah.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, that we're c ⁓ we should have like a like a live face like a what's it called? a live stream once of these days.

Arin Hancock: ⁓ well actually I thought about that. We'll have to figure out what to talk about if we do a l live stream, that's the problem. and I have thought about doing live streams or whatever. and so yeah, we've also got emails, so there's lots of ways to get in contact with us. ⁓ if you're on Spotify, Spotify accepts comments. I think YouTube will accept So yeah, way back, I love like I said, I love that song, especially now. Actually, I wish the whole album was written more like that. Unfortunately, it peters out. ⁓ the other song I said on there that I like was come on, everyone. And then after that, it drops off. I'm looking at at Swing Swang Swung and going. We got two really good songs on here. A couple of ballads that okay can maybe tolerate. And then it just dies. I'm sorry. We got two really good songs on here. A couple of ballads that okay can maybe tolerate. And then it just dies. I'm sorry.

Kris plamondon: Are we doing the right podcast? You just said you like ballads. Are we doing the right podcast? You just said you like ballads.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ I said I didn't mind. I said I could tolerate them. And and for for the record, I do not hate all ballads. If it is really good, really well done, I like it. ⁓ I said I didn't mind. I said I could tolerate them. And and for for the record, I do not hate all ballads. If it is really good, really well done, I like it.

Kris plamondon: Okay. ⁓ you could tolerate it. Okay. Okay. ⁓ you could tolerate it. Okay. Yes. Yes. We should do fun little clip with that, Arin. You know, you put that out there. That might catch people. ⁓ We should do a fun little clip

Arin Hancock: I I can do that.

Kris plamondon: Mm-hmm.

Arin Hancock: He just gave me an idea for one of our clips.

Kris plamondon: Hey, come on. You could do a clip with that.

Arin Hancock: Now, yeah. Now the other thing we're gonna talk through the records is talking about Favorites and talking about ones we didn't always like I said, I mentioned my two favorites from Swing Swung. ⁓ I could s really say anything else off that record is my least favorite. I actually did pick a couple that I'm going. These ones are my least, least favorite. ⁓ And that would be Rich Man Over the Line. and like the sun. I'm going these songs just dragged and didn't go anywhere for me. And if you like those songs, you like what you like. I like what I like. I like what I like and I don't like what I don't like.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. Good luck to you. That's a that that that we're all human.

Arin Hancock: That's kinda where we're covering this. I wanna give some some respect to some of the albums that I didn't like when they first came out. And so here's the other thing too. So now the next record comes out is Buzz in nine in ⁓ nineteen ninety five. Your thoughts on on Buzz?

Kris plamondon: I was impressed when you sent me that, I was expecting I don't know what I was expecting, but when I listened to the first track, this old man, I was wow. I was I mean I wasn't blown away, but I was impressed. I'm like, how come I didn't find this earlier? Like what do you think?

Arin Hancock: Yeah. This one actually when it came out, I don't even think I even knew that it had come out. I I think they went from well, remember too, there wasn't a lot of promotion back then. And if we didn't hear it on our radio station or if we didn't check it out in the bookstore, we probably didn't know it was out. I remember when we were talking to our friends from To Hell with the podcast, you know.

Kris plamondon: On ninety two? Okay. No.

Arin Hancock: He didn't know Reborn came out until he walked into the bookstore and saw Stryper Reborn and goes, ⁓ what's this? And and that's how it was. You don't know when it was coming out. This is the days before the internet. I missed the release of Buzz. I would not have bought it anyways. ⁓ again, this is th this was a heavy alternative feel, maybe not a grunge. So I'm listing this one now.

Kris plamondon: ⁓ okay.

Arin Hancock: in in recent years, ⁓ probably like at various times over the last year, trying to get r acquainted with this one. And I'll say I'll say the same thing I said the start of of the episode. That okay, first of all, this is not a bad record. When I'm going through the songs looking at it, going which ones there's a lot of songs on here that I think are catchy. They've got good melodic hooks. The problem is and and and the guitars aren't bad. The guitars have some nice catchy rhythms to them. But when I think back to Miracle Mile, that

Kris plamondon: Yes.

Arin Hancock: was an album full hooks and riffs and I love it ⁓ they could not match that album again, unfortunately. I wanted to hear a miracle model part two ⁓ that was just not that just wasn't gonna happen. Especially at nineteen ninety five, you they're not gonna do that again. ⁓ you know, they're gonna song like nineteen ninety five. So I'm listening to this going, you know what

Kris plamondon: Didn't get it. No.

Arin Hancock: There's about half the record on here I could actually like. But it just does not song like Guardian to me. This is the problem is I think bands once they get established, have a sound. You can modify that sound a little bit. You can grow. I have no problem with with growth. But when you have established the sound and then you go around and do something completely different, I'm gonna sit back and go, Whoa, what is this? you know.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, it's different. It definitely slower pace. It's and it's more it it seemed like it was more like a a real message album. Right? Like the titles of the songs, like You know, Lift Me Up.

Arin Hancock: It's No. Yeah, there's that. ⁓

Kris plamondon: Hand and father, like

Arin Hancock: So I'll tell you while we're here, let's play a track actually. Let's play the leadoff track. This old man. So this one's not bad. You know, this album kinda has I would say an Alice In chains feel to it.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. I think I just thought that was interesting, just the having the drummer, you know, t n on his sticks and I thought that different. That's a different way to open a song.

Arin Hancock: Right. ⁓ not bad, you know, it starts off with with the riff, ⁓ a lot of songs on your head, a ri rhythm type riff to it. And you know, I'm going back listening to it, going, Well, okay.

Kris plamondon: It almost reminded me of the Seattle rock scene back then.

Arin Hancock: Well that's exactly what they were going for. That was that was exactly the song that they were do this is why I said, ⁓ I'm not sure if you're heard me all the time, but this is why I said this album kinda reminds me of Alice in Chains.

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: I don't know what your thoughts on that. But ⁓ so my favorites on here, there's actually quite a bit on here that I do like, ⁓ but my favorites that stick out would be this old man we just heard. Psychedelic Runaway, I think was good one. That had some well, I like the guitars in that one. It had it was a closest song to bringing back riffs and really good guitar work guitar playing. I think that was kind of

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: best for sty guitar stylistically. I also liked Them Nails that was kind of catchy. Yeah, it was a little short but not bad.

Kris plamondon: I thought those them nails was the highlight of the album.

Arin Hancock: Okay. Well that was on there on there. What other songs did you like from them or from this album?

Kris plamondon: Are you are you gonna stick to your word? I thought that was a different a different kind of song. It rocked, but it was good. That was the ballad.

Arin Hancock: You like You liked that one? That was on my list of ones I did not like.

Kris plamondon: Hey yo. That's good.

Arin Hancock: ⁓ my. ⁓ what about Lion's Den?

Kris plamondon: No. No. No.

Arin Hancock: No, you didn't like that one? That one I kinda liked. ⁓ lead the w ⁓ that didn't make any of my lists so that was somewhere in in between. No like I said, my my favorites on this one was this old man, psychedelic runaway, Them ⁓ And the ones I really, really hated. are you gonna keep your word? And hand of the father. I'm like, that one just

Kris plamondon: What about lift him up? ⁓ man. Yeah, that that's a good talk. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: No, that's not a good song. ⁓ my. And once again we're we're off on ⁓ disagreements, but that's okay.

Kris plamondon: My favorite what would have had the would be this old man. I added that to my sing to my library. I thought that was a good song.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, okay. I did two. I added a few to my library going through this. ⁓ what do I got on here? I added ⁓ yeah, this one man and then psychedelic runaway and Them Nails.

Kris plamondon: Doo doo doo doo.

Arin Hancock: And there's a couple others I could have added. ⁓ I do like Lion's Dan, Lead the Way, although Lead the Way I've heard so many songs now by this time with the same theme that it's starting to song cliched.

Kris plamondon: Did made something, yeah.

Arin Hancock: And I'm going, I just don't need another song with the same theme. But you know, they weren't bad, so I'm I'm going through this going, you know, there's about half the songs on here I think aren't bad. And that's okay. You know what the funny thing is though? I remember when Nirvana came out and they were huge and I listened to that all album. Didn't buy it. And I thought it wasn't bad overall. There were songs on the right a few songs I could get into. And someone asked me about that I'll never mind what I thought of that. And I says, well, you know, it's not bad. There's, you know, half of it's really good, half of it isn't so good. And at the time he says, well, that's what records are, you know, half great and then half not so good. And that kind of sums up that kind of sums up buzz for me.

Kris plamondon: Cool. I didn't really get into Nirvana. I didn't it didn't catch my ear. I back in that day I was really big in the Motley Crue, the Poison, the ⁓ Def Lefford, Brian Adams.

Arin Hancock: Well, that's the problem. Yeah, see that that's the problem. Yeah. That's the problem is that that's where I was too. I was and what I hated was when the nineties hit, people got into Nirvana Alice In Chains and Soundgarden and this is and you can't listen to the eighties anymore. You know? If you were part of the eighties, if you're a producer, if you were a band, guess what? You're done. Even the producers didn't get work in in the nineties. Yeah

Kris plamondon: I think in the nineties it was difficult for me to find something I like 'cause too many boy bands came along and that annoyed me. You know? Like there was nothing like soliciting. Like as long as you love me You know. Like no.

Arin Hancock: There was that too. yeah, that's where I was too, is I was not a fan of Nirvana. I wasn't a fan of the grunge we've established that. We've been over this this quite a bit. This is kind of where we sit with with Buzz going, Well, this ⁓ is not Miracle Mile this is not Fire and Love. You know, this is a sound that they're doing. And you and I just aren't into it.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, like I think I found Guardian on those old nineties videos where they put all like ten, eleven artists together and they had their music videos and I saw

Arin Hancock: Right.

Kris plamondon: Maybe it was an I Found Love, but it was ⁓ that the song was pretty his vocals were really, really good.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, but I mean we're not talking about that. We're talking about buzz.

Kris plamondon: But buzz, yeah. Like I mean that set h I think set the ban up for success, you know.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, they had success early with Fire and Love and Miracle Mile. You know. ⁓ all right.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. And then now they just Yeah. And I mean back then we have to remember

Arin Hancock: Yeah.

Kris plamondon: Back then, who do you think their nearest competition was?

Arin Hancock: I don't know. ⁓

Kris plamondon: Was Jeremy Camp up no.

Arin Hancock: I don't know, I wasn't listening to much music in the nineties. Or much that was coming out, put it that way. I was trying to find good I was trying to find good music from my favorite band.

Kris plamondon: Well well. Okay. Too bad they weren't promoted that well.

Arin Hancock: well I don't know. D well okay. Do you like buzz?

Kris plamondon: Yes some of the songs There's some I just you know the bass too much blues

Arin Hancock: Okay. Alright. So you like some of Buzz. Yeah, I like some of Buzz. ⁓ I think we've been harping this point that if I look at this record on its own, not think of what they did before. And just just think you know think of it as a brand new band, essentially. I go I could go, you know, maybe it isn't that bad of a record.

Kris plamondon: Yep.

Arin Hancock: And I don't think it is a b a bad record. It just it's not a Guardian record. That's my thought. No, you know, here here's the thing, like like I said, it's a whole new band. You can have the same members. They had the same members. But it's a compl it's it's a completely different band.

Kris plamondon: It's not a guardian record. Right. Muse I okay, I see what you're saying. Wow. And maybe that was their intention. Maybe they thought a new sound would catch

Arin Hancock: It was. It was exactly their intention. ⁓ you know, th they did what they they set out to do. And I don't know. All right.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. And maybe they didn't intend to be around forever, right? So

Arin Hancock: Well, most bands don't, you know, and and those that have lasted for so long, you know, if you ask ⁓ you know, did you think you would s stick around for so long? most of them don't expect to last more than a few years.

Kris plamondon: But what I'm saying is most bands will like in the mainstream, they write songs hoping it'll catch on the radio, right? And in the Christian scene, it's they don't write to do that per se.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. Yeah. Well They do well they do in a way, you know, they wanna catch the Christian radio. Put it that way. All right. beat Buzz to a death. On to ⁓ on on to ⁓ bottle rocket

Kris plamondon: Yeah, we're we're just going around in circles. Yeah. Well I can.

Arin Hancock: this I tell ya, as much as ⁓ as Buzz was different than what came from before, this was completely different. This like out of left field. ⁓ I don't know what to make of of this album at all. ⁓

Kris plamondon: Yeah. I guess th for me this is a favorite alb kind of a favorite album just because of the fun that I had with you and another friend of ours when we went to the I think we were all working it. I well at least I was. And

Arin Hancock: I didn't work it. I was there as a patron. If you're talking about talking about that that festival?

Kris plamondon: Yeah, the festival. ⁓ do you remember where it was? It was it in the West End?

Arin Hancock: I think it was no no, it was in the south. ⁓ I think at a college football field. Or or it might have been that Foote field, you know, The smaller field or where the Eskimos practice. Y yeah. K yeah, kind of outside of downtown. Anyways.

Kris plamondon: Okay. Okay, that's where it was. Downtown, yeah. Okay, I worked it and met met the guys. I had no idea who they were 'cause back then I wasn't into it like I was I am now.

Arin Hancock: Well it's it's funny actually. I should pull out my ⁓ Miracle Mile record. see I got Guardian. ⁓ I know I got Jamie's autograph. Jamie see was always with part of Guardian. ⁓ until you know, the later years. did leave Guardian for a while. He's back with Guardian doing a few shows.

Kris plamondon: ⁓ yeah,

Arin Hancock: He is really promoting his new band. We've played one here called Kalamity Kills. I know when I played their new song. You love that song. ⁓ but have what I wanted to show everybody, for those who are watching on YouTube, ⁓ is I've got Guardian, I'll hold it up. I got it autographed. ⁓ unfortunately, I was kinda disappointed with thier set at that festival you're talking about.

Kris plamondon: ⁓ yeah.

Arin Hancock: Because they played nothing off of Miracle Mile.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, they were I I mean

Arin Hancock: Yes. I think it was the same band on Buzz and Bottle Rocket as they had with Miracle Mile. I haven't looked that up to see if they did any any lineup changes. Obviously Jamie Rowe's part of the band. I know I've got the Bottle Rocket single. And that probably came as a prize from one of Terry's contests. ⁓ it had three versions of Bottle Rocket. It had the version I just played, the rock version, there's a dance version, there's some other version on there. And ⁓ rarely listen to it, you know, I am not because I had the single, 'cause I played it a few times, it probably is one of my favorite songs off of that record. And I sat down, you know, and listened to Bottle Rocket going, What out is there anything else on here I like? I would say hell to pay. Was all right. I ⁓ I kinda like that one.

Kris plamondon: Okay.

Arin Hancock: you're talking about singles, I know the other big single from this record was Coffee Can. Yeah. ⁓ And because I heard that a bit, it was kinda getting my head, I'm going, Yeah, it it I don't know, it was okay, it wasn't great. ⁓

Kris plamondon: Was coffee can. Yeah, I I listen to it again too. Of course I still like Bottle Rocket Coffee Can. ⁓ the water is fine to me was ⁓ ⁓

Arin Hancock: I'd have to hear that again. I don't even remember how that one goes.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, I was like what? And then hell to pay I was expecting like a Metallica tribute from yeah. No, no.

Arin Hancock: but that wasn't bad well, I don't know. It was those two songs, Bottle-Rocket and Hell to Pay, in my mind, are the best of the worst. ⁓

Kris plamondon: It's still a yeah, it's It is what it is.

Arin Hancock: Was there anything you liked on there?

Kris plamondon: Well I mean I like this old man ⁓ wait, yeah, them I know, I know, I know, I know.

Arin Hancock: No, no, we're talking bottle rockets.

Kris plamondon: I still like coffee can. The water's fine and I s I scratch my head at it like what? And hell hell to pay. So probably this my my what's what I'm looking for? My view hasn't changed. The only song I like on it is Bottle Rocket.

Arin Hancock: So he didn't like Hell to Pay. I kinda liked it. I th I thought the guitar work on Hell to Pay wa was good. ⁓ that's what I was looking for when I'm looking s see I looked at Buzz, I looked at at Bottle Rock and I'm going, Where is the great guitar work? And he's doing the this this whole pop guitar thing. You know, basically Bottle Rocket was the pop rock album of the time. And I'm going, Where's this great guitar work that they I'm used to hearing?

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: Hell the pay comes close to that. That's why I picked that. I kinda picked Coffee Can as a maybe a runner up just because it's it was a single and I heard it quite a bit. It got stuck in your head. But so the ones I didn't like at all. Babble on. I'm like, geez, this thing does it just babbles on ⁓

Kris plamondon: Ancient Babel God. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: break me down, I'm going, ⁓ man, what's I d And harder than it seems and it and you know when I was researching this, listening to these records, I'll make a playlist of what we're we're listening to or going to be talking about. So I made a playlist of these three Guardian records because if I did a search on Guardian or Tone Spotify played Guardian it often would play the Spanish records or it would play, you know, the older records. And I'm like

Kris plamondon: Yeah, yeah. Break it down. I was like, no.

Arin Hancock: So I made a playlist of just these three so I would hear just these three. And then I kept getting swing swings quite a bit on the random list. But so I sat down and I'm listening to, you know, clips of of Bottle Rock and I'm going, is there anything on these that in these clips, preview clips that Apple will play for you that will catch my attention? And I'm going, Yeah, no, not really.

Kris plamondon: Ha ha ha. Yeah. Something happens that when you get older, you look back at your your favorite songs and you wonder, Why do I like it?

Arin Hancock: Well, on these three that we're we're trying to cover today, I tried like when we did Promise Man, I tried to find something good in each song. Some of the songs on on Holy Soldier's Promise Man were hard to find something good. There were a couple off there I'm going. Again, if you think of it as a different band, it might be okay. Each of these records were so different from e each other that it's hard to think of this as the same band. It might show the diversity of the band that they can come out with such different music styles with each record, but it's hard to build a fan base or or retain your fan base by doing that, really.

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: and yeah, Bottle Rocket I don't know. I I I think they went downhill with each record. Swing Swang Swung I thought was was okay. Buzz I thought was okay. Bottle Rocket, yeah, just ⁓ just not good.

Kris plamondon: I I just get they had songs and the labels said we need you to put an album out. They went in the studio, they did it.

Arin Hancock: Well I'm surprised actually looking at the year, so Swing Swang Swung comes out in ninety four, Buzz in ninety five, so that's a year apart. And then Bottle Rocket comes out two years later in ninety ⁓ And yeah, but I was surprised that Buzz was like a year after. I'm kinda thinking Swing Swing Swung might have been delayed on release. You know, it might be something they had recorded previously.

Kris plamondon: I still remember the concert itself. I mean they were awesome.

Arin Hancock: Well, here's the problem with so we're talking about that that festival and I was actually kinda disappointed at the performance 'cause I think most of the songs f from that performance came off of Buzz and Bottle Rocket and I'm going, I don't know any of these songs. I mean I'm a fan of this band and I don't know any songs.

Kris plamondon: Did they play anything from Buzz or

Arin Hancock: ⁓ they probably did, but I didn't know Buzz. I did not know Buzz. All I knew was ⁓ Miracle Mile. And they played nothing off of that. And yeah, ⁓ I mean I went got

Kris plamondon: ⁓ okay. Miracle Mile, that's all you knew, yeah. Are they still doing stuff now or are they broken up?

Arin Hancock: Well they were broken up. They have done st stuff recently. And I think they tried carrying on without Jamie I know Jamie had left Guardian for a while and didn't want to go back to Guardian because he was trying to build up Kalamity Kills, his new band, his new project. Once that kinda got built up established as a band, he was okay with going back to Guardian for a few shows here and there. So he does. He'll go back and he'll do guardian shows. His main project though is Kalamity Kills.

Kris plamondon: Cool.

Arin Hancock: All right. ⁓ well, I think that's about it. That kinda wraps up. Three albums in less than an hour. So yeah. If you've ⁓ stuck with us to the end, I hope we didn't rag on your favorite album too bad. ⁓ us a comment. Did you like any of these elements? Did you like

Kris plamondon: Yes, give us give us like a hundred and likes, we'd be appreciated.

Arin Hancock: I don't know with this episode, but we'll we'll see how this one goes. Actually, we never really got too much feedback, negative or bad or good from Promise Man by Holy Soldier. We'll see how this feedback on this one goes. But yeah, we want your feedback. Are you a fan of any of these records? ⁓ you know, when did you become a guardian? Yeah, maybe it depends on when you became a a guardian fan. I know that

Kris plamondon: Yeah. What are your favorite songs? Yeah.

Arin Hancock: kinda depends a lot of times on fans' favorite album is when they became a fan of that band. We'll say we love The Hell the Devil from Stryper all the time because that's usually when we came into the the band. If you came into the band later, maybe one of the later records is your favorite record or maybe their least popular record is your favorite because that was the first thing you heard. So that could be a s the same thing with with Guardian I I think. So leave comments. And ⁓ let us know what you liked about which is your favorite Guardian record. How about that? Maybe I'll do a Spotify poll and see if we get anybody on that. All right. ⁓ well that's it I guess. ⁓ keep on rocking and God bless everyone.