Stryper: The Covering

Arin Hancock: Carry on Wayward Sun, a Kansas. This is from Kansas, originally recorded in 1976. Love I love both versions of this.

Kris plamondon: yeah. Yeah. It's it's still a very good song.

Arin Hancock: Well, I'm looking at the year it came out, nineteen seventy-six. That's that's Fifty years ago this year.

Kris plamondon: Wow. it's so well written, I mean and it stood the test of time. I mean, wow.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, some songs that are are just timeless classics and this is one of them. But the other thing to remember too, we're talking about there's a couple songs on this record that could be considered spiritual songs. This is one of them because the members of Kansas were Christians. This is the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast. On this episode we're going back to our striper album series. This time we're up to the covering.

Kris plamondon: Hey

Arin Hancock: Welcome back to the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast, where it's all about the rock that makes me sane. Christian rock and metal from today back to the classics. I'm your host, Aaron Hancock, joined with my co-host, Chris Pramonen. How are you doing?

Kris plamondon: I'm doing good. It's nice and toasty warm here in Alberta.

Arin Hancock: right, yeah. So welcome back. If you've been around for a while and we thank you for joining us. If this is your first time, thank you for joining us. We

Kris plamondon: Yeah, if you've joined us for first time, stay a while, subscribe.

Arin Hancock: Definitely, yes. Subscribe, send comments. We can we got comments either through YouTube or whatever app you are listening to. I'm sure they'll take comments and if they don't, you can reach us via email, even Messenger. I've had people reach out, follow us and then reach out through Messenger. We have a Facebook page. We also have a Facebook group page. I think I'm gonna start doing some more stuff with that, uploading up on there. And I know this is coming out like a month or so after we record, but I want to talk about something. A couple weeks back there I was on the Rock for Him podcast. And you know, those guys actually really enjoy the show, so I'm glad they're enjoying the show. I hope you guys as well are enjoying the show. But anyways, I made a comment on there that kinda got someone's attention and stuff 'cause I think they I don't remember what the question is. It was probably favorite band or or something And if you've been listening for a while, the answer to that's pretty easy. But I said what I usually say when it comes to music related, whatever the question is, the answer is always striper. Anyway, someone actually picked up on that and and and

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: I think I even said something about maybe we should get that made onto a a a t-shirt saying the answer is striper. And someone commented on their page saying they would buy that shirt. So we might have to look into into getting some made.

Kris plamondon: Get me a baseball hat with that. That would be awesome.

Arin Hancock: Well we'll see, you know, and that's something I've been considering. I think that's down the road. we're gonna look for a permanent home for our web page. Right now we're through Riverside. but we're gonna look at that on a permanent basis and we'll we'll get more information on that out as it comes. Follow us on all the socials. We're on TikTok and

Kris plamondon: Yeah, say hi. Let us know that we're actually talking to people.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, so when we're on TikTok, we're on Instagram and all that good stuff. So yeah, like and share and send this episode out to all your friends so they can watch it. And speaking of new followers, and we actually have some new followers that joined us on I I believe our Facebook page. We have Champions Gate, we have Tim Harper from the To Hell with the podcast. So Welcome Tim and thanks for joining our Facebook page.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, welcome. we hope you enjoy the journey.

Arin Hancock: we have Starland Suri. we have Rock for Him podcast. So once again, like I said, I was on theirs. And you know, I hopefully we'll do some more collaborations with them. Maybe we'll get them on on here one of these times. I've got some ideas where I can invite them on when we get to those.

Kris plamondon: I heard a little bit of the episode you were on with him. It sounds really good. And I appreciate the really good comments from about me. That was awesome. I like when he says what that made me happy.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. And we also have Randall Gene Annelson and old I believe all those guys have joined our Facebook page. So thanks for joining. And we'll try and keep things updated on there. We also have a bunch of new subscribers on YouTube. I'm not gonna go through all of them all the new subscribers, just because YouTube is the only place I can find out who has subscribed, unlike the other platforms. And I don't wanna you know, single YouTube out But we have some new comments that came across our YouTube page. No, these are good ones actually, so

Kris plamondon: okay. You didn't tell me anything so it can't be good.

Arin Hancock: Hmm. Well, I'm a little late on the comments. A couple reason is I'm not always up updating or checking comments on a regular basis. We're a little behind. The other reason is some of these episodes are being recorded really close together and then spread out in on release in published date. So like even this one is gonna be re recorded and then released down the road. Or like a month later. So stuff might come out after we recorded and all that. But anyways, so the comments we got from our for the love of striper episode, which was our collaboration with The Hell with a podcast. We got one comment here that says, Great discussion, few comments on the favorite album being against the law.

Kris plamondon: It'll be a couple of months, yeah.

Arin Hancock: And he also mentioned Res band was their favorite. I know we were talking about some ex some other bands we liked. the comment about King's X, they're a great three man band. I like King's X. I I'm not I guess you could say I'm more of a casual fan than King's X. the comment goes on to say Gretchen Goes to Nebraska. It was a great album. I know that's one of their signature albums. Another one from YouTube. I got on board with Striper in 1984 when I was 14. I bought their first album off the shelf and have been with them ever since. I think they would have been bigger band and lasted longer in the mainstream if their elms were full of harder songs like Soldiers Under Command and More Than Man and Less of the Ballads. But still, for an 80s Christian band that is still going today, that's impressive.

Kris plamondon: Wow. Rockin', yeah.

Arin Hancock: I wish other bands could have followed suit like Bride, Guardian, Holy Soldier, Brave, Tourniquet, Haven. Not much fan of Christian music from the late nineties to today. Something is lost. There's a subject for one of your podcasts. So yeah, you know, we might have to think about that. He also says, great channel. We have earned his subscription. So thank you for subscribing, I guess. Yes. Well, as far as a lot of the other bands he mentioned.

Kris plamondon: Awesome. That's awesome. Thank you.

Arin Hancock: Lot of it had to do, I think, with infighting. you know, bands get together and after a while they don't get along with each other anymore and and all that. I th I know Holy Soldier had a lot of problems, especially with the lead singer coming and going, he's in, then he's out, he's back in. It's hard. and if you like Guardian, if you like Jamie Rowe, do check out his new project, Calamity Kills.

Kris plamondon: Just got Yeah, it's right. Yes, that's right.

Arin Hancock: Alright, here we got another a new comment going all the way back to episode eight, To Hell with the Devil. gotta say that the production quality of this album suppressed many of the hair metal genre of its day. That could only be a god thing right there. well that and a great producer, I guess.

Kris plamondon: Two That's right. I think what w wasn't John Elefonte involved in that? No, not that album. Okay.

Arin Hancock: No, no, no, no. No, I don't think they've ever used Christian producers. you know they are band that have always tried to stay we away from that the whole Christian label, the whole Christian scene, even though they're a faith based band. And yeah, that was part of it. I I think too I mean we can get into that and I think you know, that might be a good subject f for another podcast episode is the this whole idea of Christians

Kris plamondon: Money.

Arin Hancock: bands and Christians in bands, being in the scene, being out of the scene. Definitely a a good idea

Kris plamondon: I think what we've learned with Stryper it could be a ministry band and the professionalism is I mean it's right up there, right, with Michael Sweet and the guys that he he hires when they go in the studio. And most Christian bands unfortunately they don't have the money to hire the the best of the best.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. Yeah, and I think that's what helped them is they first signed with Enigma instead of signing with the Christian label. So they they had more money to work with. the other thing I was surprised is a new comment from our eighth episode. So we're getting new followers all the time, going way back to the early days, and that's great. We thank you for join it's gonna be a while before he hears this us replying to him though.

Kris plamondon: Yes, yes.

Arin Hancock: And but yeah, well s for everybody who joins us where ever you joined us from, thanks for joining us. got one comment here from our June bonus episode where I talked about Bride. And I did it yeah, I think I did the every month and i I do these bonus episodes and I'm gonna start bringing you in and with them more often. But I like to talk about one band in particular, even if we've talked about that band on

Kris plamondon: Yes.

Arin Hancock: the regular podcasts like this, I wanna bring talk about a band. Cause there's always new people coming into the Christian music scene, don't know much about bands. Don't know much about these classic bands 'cause they're they're new to the genre. We think well everybody knows about Striper, everybody knows about Petra. That might be the case, but not always. So anyways, for the June bonus I was talking about Bride and I mentioned how well Dale Thompson is is done, bride is done. the comment says there's enough bride and other Dale Thompson projects for me to catch up on. But when I say he is done, is he done with just Bride or all his projects? I love the Vipers and Shadows album. I think it's the first half that I keep playing the most. he says a little more before we go on, I want to kind of respond to what he says here. So as far as Dale Thompson, yes, Bride is done. I believe he's gonna do some of the other projects. And as far as that goes, he's kind of a hired hand, meaning if you have a project, if you want him to do vocals, I'm sure he I don't know what his going rate is, but I'm sure he he'd be happy to to do it.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, it's gotta be wow. I I mean he he can sing as well, just like Ken Tamplin.

Arin Hancock: yeah. The other thing is Dale moved back from back to the States from New Zealand thinking that they would have opportunity to do shows if he moved back to States. And while they've done a few shows here and there in the States, they even had to go back overseas, like they were doing a little tour in Brazil. But the money for the shows isn't there. He's finding out they're not playing shows like like he thought he was going to be doing.

Kris plamondon: Like they used to.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. so that's part of the decision. He's kinda just done with that. He started writing books.

Kris plamondon: Are are are they still going the Brazil or just a lower scale?

Arin Hancock: they're done. That that tour was done. yeah, yeah. Striper and Petra, I believe. Or they also they also toured with Narnia, I think. And speaking of which, Narnia's got a new album out, actually. And yeah. Well we'll we'll be looking at that.

Kris plamondon: they're done? Wow. yeah. Another band that was Narnia, you gotta come on the show.

Arin Hancock: We'll be looking at that. I finally was able able to get a copy ordered through Amazon, and that should be arriving probably the day after we record this. So the other thing I want to talk about here is okay, Vipers and Shadows. hang on, let me let me finish this comment. Hang on, and then you can we can talk about what you want. we mentioned too, I think Cygnum Rejust that.

Kris plamondon: I have something to talk about.

Arin Hancock: June bonus because I think it was a birthday for one of the members. And he says, I just got the new album from Cygnum Regis, The Seal of a New World. I think they're a great band. He's listened to a couple times. He needs to pay more attention to lyrics because he's not catching on what the sounds are as far but he thinks the music is great. I don't know much about Cygnum Regis. I've got I can't remember the name of the album now. I've I've got the previous album that came out. And it's not bad. I like it. Not all their songs are faith-based songs, some are just regular type songs. if someone else wants recommend what next to get, well, go for that. Another okay, one more comment here. He says, Another band I have not heard on here yet is All for the King. He's got a couple other other elms now think they're great band. They're a band I've just started getting into. I'm always trying to keep my ear know the post of the scene, seeing or hearing what what's going on out there, following Facebook seeing what bands get mentioned. All for the king got mentioned a couple of times. I thought well maybe I should check them out. I like I'll have to get into them a little more, find out, you know, do a deep dive, find out what I really really like from them. There's a few songs I do like. but off the top of my head. All for the king.

Kris plamondon: Wha what was the name of the band? Yes, they're yeah. I've started to listen to them as well and wow. It's just like w I found on their show Calamity Kills and there's that one song I just can't get enough of. It's just wow.

Arin Hancock: You're probably talking about these day these days are evil, which we played a few episodes back.

Kris plamondon: Some yeah, the one the song you played I I just I have to listen to it at least once a day. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: Right. Okay. You got another comment you wanted to talk about?

Kris plamondon: Love of the King. Yes, about John Cooper's comment. Did you see John Cooper's comments this week?

Arin Hancock: Okay. I saw the headline, I don't think I read the whole article.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, so he and I would expect that this would happen over the years. Over the years he comes in contact with pastors and pastors say, Well, we think that your music is demonic. And he yeah, the laugh says it all, right? He turns around and he says and he uses scripture to to say no because the devil doesn't make stuff, he destroys stuff.

Arin Hancock: Ha ha ha. Right.

Kris plamondon: God made rock and roll, he made metal and he how does he explain? I forget the scriptures. One of these episodes we'll go through like if fans wanna know the argument about it, we could talk about that.

Arin Hancock: Actually yeah, I plan on doing that ver very shortly,

Kris plamondon: Yeah, it'd be great to have a Pascal on with us or something. That would be awesome.

Arin Hancock: Well, I plan on doing an episode of just kinda rambling on s of hot topics. you know, where we just sit down without any real set agenda, although I'll have a few topic ideas to talk about. And that's one of the ones I was thinking about. And we'll just kinda go through some topic ideas and talk about them. We're not really gonna talk about any specif specific band unless they come up in conversation, but basically just have a conversation about things that are going on or and

Kris plamondon: Sure. Whatever, yeah.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, and so I've I've got a list of topics, we'll do that and we'll just kinda do that off top of hand.

Kris plamondon: So John talked about that, about how he talked with the pastors to close that this thread up and pretty much said it's not demonic. I mean, we sing songs from our heart about Jesus. I mean we'll d we're we'll do episode down the road about scale it. I mean, there's a lot of their songs are very biblical, you know, being invincible, God gives us strength to endure life.

Arin Hancock: Yes.

Kris plamondon: That reminds me did you see Michael Sweet's update yesterday about someone commenting about a single Yes, yes, you saw that. I thought that was a an awesome response as well. I thought that was a great response by Michael. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: Hmm. yes. Yeah, for those who for those who don't know what we're talking about, yes, someone had commented on one one of the Michael Sweets thing about his new s the new striper single called I'm Alright, I'm okay. And he was like, What do you mean you're just okay? Shouldn't you be great or or this or that or or or you know and then he even goes out to call him out and says something about, you know, and have they lost their faith or not a Christian band anymore? And you know, and it's a

Kris plamondon: I'm okay. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, what are you talking about?

Arin Hancock: Well first first of all, I mean yeah, like when I first heard that song, and I heard when it was first released, and I'm going, well, you know, maybe that describes the song because I'm thinking that's lyric-wise, it's just okay. But then Michael came on and said some it's about him dealing with his belts of cancer that that he's had. Yes. And knowing that despite his the fact that he's fighting this cancer, he's gonna be okay.

Kris plamondon: Cancer. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: You know. So I'm okay. You know

Kris plamondon: And and and you know what? I could relate to that. I mean being that that's right. That under being under attack like that, I mean it does so much to you. Like it's it's all consuming it's all you think about. Like I mean, you were there I towards the end of it, but I mean I d I didn't know what would happen with my surgery, right? Like if I would live or die. But I mean, they were optimistic.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. You're a survivor too. Yeah.

Kris plamondon: And that's why Michael, I take that from I'm alright, I'm okay. And he's gonna be fine. I think you'll be fine. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: yeah. yeah, definitely. jeez. Well this is gonna be a long episode. We're twenty one minutes in, haven't even done our plug it in. so let's get to that.

Kris plamondon: you wedded that, did?

Arin Hancock: Alright, for today's plug it in, we're gonna do something a little bit different. We've been playing up and coming bands, bands that aren't as well known. Today we're gonna do something different. We're gonna do a classic band that had we've talked about quite a bit on here. I'm surprised we have not played a sound of theirs on the plug it in, but a lot of times we're not playing the super well-known bands either. However, like I said at the start of the episode today, we're gonna be talking about Stryper's album, The Covering. And for those who do not know this record, it is a covers record of Striper covering other people's material. So, that I thought you knew that, Chris, but anyways. Okay. Alright. So we're gonna turn around for the plug it in episode. We're gonna play a band that covered Striper. now I'm not sure exactly when this album album came out. I think it was nineteen ninety eight. at least that's what Spotify w was was telling me, and I know they're not always have the correct dates or or whatever.

Kris plamondon: okay. Yes, I did. Anyway.

Arin Hancock: but Guardian had done a tribute to Striper. They covered their entire album, Yellow and Black Attack. Guardian's was called Yellow and Black Attack Are Back So we're gonna play a track from that. This is Guardian covering Striper with From Wrong to Right.

Kris plamondon: Ooh.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, so that was Guardian covering Striper from wrong to right off of their yellow and black EP. Like I said, they actually redid the entire EP themselves. And you know, that was actually the first time I've heard well, not the first time I've heard it, because I did kind of check them out a bit leading up to this this episode, but hadn't heard that them do that one much. there actually is another album that just came out recently of various artists. covering Stripers to Hell with the Devil record, each band taking a different track from that one. And there's some good stuff on there. much better tribute than what came out back in the nineties with that Grunjum tribute and

Kris plamondon: Yeah. I mean that song still rocks. He still has that voice he could really like

Arin Hancock: Well this this isn't that new. This is like said came out I believe ninety eight or somewhere around there.

Kris plamondon: Okay.

Arin Hancock: So it's not that new. so yeah, we're on to the covering. you know, we talked about against the law and said how that wasn't a very spiritual record. Yes, there were Christian themes in there, but they didn't really mention God. This is another record for Striper that's not really a spiritual record. Just because what they wanted to do when they came out with this one was cover a bunch of bands. That had inspired them. And they, you know, were listening to music and rock and roll long before they became Christians. And even after they became Christians, they were still listening to regular rock and roll and not so much Christian rock and roll. So instead of the striper covering Christian bands, they're covering non Christian bands on here. and there is one new track on here, we'll get to that one. Definitely a very spiritual song. There's a couple other tracks on here that could be considered, I guess, spiritual songs because the members in the band were Christians. And we'll get to that. Alright, so the covering is their thirteenth release, but their eighth studio album. So you gotta remember there was so there's a little that's discrepancy, you which record is it? Is it the eighth? Is it the thirteenth? Well, they had a couple live records come out. They had a couple greatest hits records come out. So if you count everything together, it's the thirteenth album, but it's the the eighth studio album. So NOMA This was released February fifteenth, two thousand eleven. Came out on Big Three Records or Sony Records, depending on where you were.

Kris plamondon: That is crazy.

Arin Hancock: was produced with by Michael Sweet and Bill Edwards. This featured actually Tim Gaines back on bass, as well as the regular lineup with Michael Sweet on vocals, Fox on guitars. Michael is also on guitars as well. Don't forget he is a guitar player too, as well as a vocalist.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. no one n if it's Skyper, better be Michael Sweep, you know. Better be him singing it.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. Yeah. No, but I mean everybody thinks he's just a vocalist. He does play guitar too. Yeah, again his brother Robert Sweet behind the drum kit, the visual time keeper, as he's known. But yeah, there were some years where Tim was away from the band and I think this may be the last record that Tim Gaines plays on as far as bass. And I think I heard our guys from

Kris plamondon: Yeah, yeah. That's

Arin Hancock: The held the podcast talking about the next record, saying they kind of used a studio basis because Perry Richardson, who's gonna join the band, joined them after that the next record was recorded. But we're not talking about that, we're talking about the covering. Also

Kris plamondon: Is this the album before they took the long break?

Arin Hancock: No, this is after that long break.

Kris plamondon: And then they did to h they did the most recent one, right? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm getting myself confused.

Arin Hancock: no no so so Yeah, so it goes like this for those maybe just joining us here. the yellow and black attack, which was just an EP in '84, Soldiers under Command, To Hell with the Devil, In God We Trust, Against the Law. And then Can't Stop the Rock was the greatest hits record with a couple new tracks. Okay, then after that was was a big loan break.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. Right. Forgot about that one.

Arin Hancock: Okay, then when they get back together, they come out with Reborn and then Murder by Pride, which we covered last time. And now we're in onto the covering. After these three records, Reborn, Murder by Pride, and the covering. and after this, they're gonna do a re-release of songs too, called Second Coming. They wanted to regain the publishing rights to some of their songs that they had lost. So they go in the studio, re-record some of their classic songs. And a couple new tracks. This whole era I kinda call the transition because when you look at Striper, you kinda think of Striper in two eras. You think of the old Striper before the break, you know, that whole pop metal, glam rock metal that they were doing f with so with to hell the devil and in God We Trust. And then they had that break. And then they come back and there's a few records kind of them figuring out what they're gonna do again. But then they kind of regain their footing, come out with this fresh new sound that that they've been doing, and and they've been blending this fresh new sound with some of the classic sound. But anyways, everybody thinks of it a a striper 2.0 type of thing. And I think these few records in here are kind of like the transition period. know, they come out with Reborn, which was completely different musically than anything they had done. They come out with Murder by Pride, which was a straight ahead rock record. Kinda lost some of those classic striper elements. But as we discovered there were some good songs on that record. And then they come out with this. You know, they're doing a a covers record. So

Kris plamondon: Yeah. Wow.

Arin Hancock: The other thing I want to say before we get into the deep dive on this, actually I I got a few points. first of all, the episode's gonna sound a little different than it normally does. Because we are on YouTube and we normally play clips of songs as we go through the record. You're not gonna hear clips of all the songs on this one, just because this being a covers record and striper covering other people's material. There are some bands on here that will definitely block anybody else using their content. so some of those bands are not going to be played here. If you want to hear the song, the covering is available on most streaming services. You can find it on YouTube, you can find it on Spotify. Yeah. took me a long time. And I did buy this one because I knew were going to go through this one. Took me a long time to actually buy it though, just because.

Kris plamondon: Apple, yeah.

Arin Hancock: I'm not really a big covers record fan. If a band comes out and the whole album is all covers, I'll typically avoid it. If I wanna hear those songs, I'll go buy the original songs. Although I do like what they've done with s with some of these songs. And we'll get into that that as we go through this.

Kris plamondon: I never noticed that before.

Arin Hancock: What's that?

Kris plamondon: The little person on on on the guitar on the cup. I didn't notice that.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, that was part of our one of our old logos. If you look at on us, you'll see our our new logo now with with our name and I've even changed the coloring on our name or on the logo a little bit. and it it's funny actually too because on some of the promos that that Rock for Him podcast did, they had our old logo, which actually had that load that little guitar guy beside the cross.

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: I don't even know if I had the guitars in that logo or not. And I noticed as they were doing promo videos, they were pulled the picture for the logo off of my Facebook profile, which was hadn't been updated in a couple years. And like, so I asked them if they could change that and they did on the later ones. But I kinda like that little guitar guy. You know, I think I think we're not You know when I might

Kris plamondon: Yeah. That I yeah, I s just found it today, but yeah. I mean I

Arin Hancock: might do with with him is throw him on Facebook here and there. You just have him pop up somewhere, you know, I'll I'll do a post and all of a sudden, you know, include him on the post or something like that and

Kris plamondon: He'd be a great little guy to put like in an animation. Put it all across Facebook. Go to the Rockin' Middle Facebook.

Arin Hancock: What? Yeah, that o gre great. Now you want me to do even more work on this? I'm trying to do less work. anyways. I don't know. So I sent you a playlist with both the originals and the striper versions of this. I'm not sure if you listen to to both versions or or what. What were your overall thoughts on this, just in general?

Kris plamondon: Yeah. I was pleasantly surprised with this album. Listening listening to it in the last couple of days it was I was like, Wow I mean, if I saw if I heard this album ten, fifteen years ago, I probably would have bought it.

Arin Hancock: Okay. Right. I did buy the download for their brand new track when it first came out. I remember that much, when I f first heard it. We'll get to that. When we'll we'll get that one when we get that's the last very last song, but we'll we'll get to that one.

Kris plamondon: okay. I was w gonna ask what the single was, but

Arin Hancock: Yeah. Well the singles they released actually was Heaven and Hell I believe was one of the singles and Carry On. Carry On Wayward Sun I believe was the other single.

Kris plamondon: okay. Gary on my way.

Arin Hancock: I think you should let Michael sing.

Kris plamondon: thinking of the other Christian man that I heard it from. where did I hear that from? I want I want to say Rez.

Arin Hancock: I know. We'll get in there when we get to that. No, I not that I know of. I know Rez did do a bunch of covers, but not that I know of film doing that one. okay. The other thing is, were you familiar with the original versions?

Kris plamondon: Well, I just got the the songs from Apple.

Arin Hancock: okay. So you didn't listen to the the the original ones. Okay. No no no problem. I was familiar with a lot of these bands. There's a couple bands on here that I didn't know the original version. I did go back and listen to the original version. but a lot of these these bands on here I'm a fan of anyways. And I knew the original version. and I would say you know what, they didn't stray too far from the original versions. I got in my notes here I said they more or less striperified the sound. Is that a word? I don't know, though I'm making that a word stri

Kris plamondon: good. that's good. I know, I s I I noticed that. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: Straper fied.

Kris plamondon: Straper pie.

Arin Hancock: what about the cover? What do you think of that?

Kris plamondon: I was a little that was the only thing that threw me off about it when I found it the a couple of days ago when I looked at like what? That is diaper? Like

Arin Hancock: Yeah. I don't like it. Yeah, I I I'll throw it up in in the edit, but you know, yeah I like that. You know, it's a metal head with with wings and he's got the striper logo in his jacket. I think it's kinda cool. I think it's kinda cool. And anyways, so that's that.

Kris plamondon: are you looking for it so people could see? Yeah. Yeah, it's okay. Yeah. It's a little different, yeah.

Arin Hancock: all right, well let's get in the first song and I am gonna play cut off that first one. First song Set Me Free.

Kris plamondon: I like that song. Let's go.

Arin Hancock: Alright, yeah, we're gonna keep these cuts short. again just because we're on YouTube. and but you know I like this. Originally from the band Sweet, released in nineteen seventy four. I think this is a great song. It's a gr great way to start the record. They striper actually speeds the tempo up from the original one. And I think the guitars are a little tighter and cleaner. And s Michael Sweet's vocals are a little bit cleaner and more controlled than how is it?

Kris plamondon: Yeah, I like it. Set me free. Yeah.

Arin Hancock: This is definitely works well. One one of the things I did kind of researching this was I asked AI asked Chat GTP, do a comparison between the originals and the cover versions, the striper versions. And what it came up with was says a lot of the songs on here you can tell were definitely heavily influenced the band's sound. We'll get to that on a couple other ones. And When they picked songs from those bands, it works well because they're already kind of playing in that style anyways. There's a few songs on here that that's that band style doesn't work well. just because it's not really the typical striper sound so they had to kinda play another s style to cover that song. This one definitely works well with striper sound. And it's really just a modernized version of it, I think.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, it's very cool. I like it a lot. I like that song.

Arin Hancock: I do too, and I think it's a great way to start the record. You know, this is a super fast song. They like to do that.

Kris plamondon: And it opening, the first couple of chords throw you off that it's you might be thinking, Well, what? This is it's striper? You know, like the the you know, like keyboards, the

Arin Hancock: Yeah. Well that isn't. It's it's sweet. You know? And not Michael Sweet. This is the band Sweet. They wrote the song. Alright, So the next one on here is Blackout, recorded by the Scorpions in 1982. I recognize this one when I heard it. I'm a Scorpions fan, it's especially that the 80s Scorpions. I've got

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, I think yeah, this is off the record called Blackout. I've got that one. I think someone like you was on here. Anyways. I think this was a good song. Striper pretty much the keeps the The same as as the Scorpions. It definitely fits Striper's style with the harmonized guitars, the strong vocals, the big chorus. This is you know, one of those bands that definitely influenced what Stryper is gonna do and and how they're gonna sound.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, definitely a good solid song. I was never into the Scorpion, so

Arin Hancock: Alright. And then we're into Heaven and Hell, which is a Deal era Black Sabbath song. This came out in 1980. This was the first Black Sabbath record, the first of two that had Ronnie James Dio as a vocalist. I think this was a good song, pretty good take. Michael Sweet's vocals are strong, they're not the same as Ronnie James Dio's vocals.

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Arin Hancock: And Dio's vocals are hard to copy. He's got one of these distinct v vocals. There are bands out there I've heard do Dio covers and doing really well. There's nothing wrong with the song. I think this is, you know, a good version of of the song. I think there's a little bit more lead guitar work happening at near the end of the song.

Kris plamondon: yeah.

Arin Hancock: I'd say you know Stryper did well. Both Stryper and Dio have powerful melodic technical vocals. I wouldn't mistake Michael's vocals as Dio's vocals, but I don't think anybody sounds like Dio. what are your thoughts on this one?

Kris plamondon: Wow, it's a awesome song to Jam I mean another song and a band I didn't really follow so I don't know the song, but hearing this song by Striper, I'm like, Wow, I mean if they played like that in the mainstream, they would have been huge. You know.

Arin Hancock: Right. Well, they should have been actually. You know, and it's funny you say that. I think this this song is one of my all time favorite songs, period. Now I'm a huge de I'm a huge deal fan, although I become a fan later. I think it was after he had passed when I became a deal fan. I remember I had one of Dio's later records, Magicka, which was a concept record, and I listened to that going, I didn't think much of that one. Now I can't like

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: I can't get enough of Dio's vocals. I I think Dio was one of one of the best metal vocalists of all time. but yeah, so this is a great song. I like it. I think I like the original slightly better just because Michael can't although he does try and he's got some of that inflections in his voice that the Dio will use. case in point is worldview. has on their last record has done a deal cover with Don't Talk to Strangers. And they've got Ray Perra on vocals. And I I think Ray Perra can cover deal better than Michael Sweet can. Now I'm not saying Michael does a bad job. It's it's a very tough order to do. but I do like the song too, so

Kris plamondon: wow. That's cool.

Arin Hancock: where are we now? We on to lights out from UFO.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, that's that's a good song.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, this song came out in nineteen s s seventy seven. this song actually it's funny, I've heard this song a lot because I believe the current vocalist with Quiet Riot came from the band UFO.

Kris plamondon: Slow

Arin Hancock: I know the vocalist had done time with him. He's not the original vocalist for UFO. This song was recorded back in seventy seven. And but I know I've heard Quiet Right do this because their vocalist has spent time with the band that covers or that plays the song. So if you see Quiet Right today, they may end up playing this song. So I've seen the song live. It's a good song. I wasn't familiar with this. I actually went back and listened to the UFO version of this as well. And yeah, i it's like I said at the top of the the episode or at the top of this segment that again the song's been striperified.

Kris plamondon: totally. It it I mean you would never know that the songs were from other bands. I mean you almost think, they wrote these songs.

Arin Hancock: Ha ha ha. Well for those I guess who aren't into the music knowledge, like I am, They call me the professor.

Kris plamondon: I know. You're like the music professor. Hey, that might be your next your your tag, Aaron Hancock the music professor. I like that.

Arin Hancock: And I'm sure I don't know everything. If I say something wrong, you want to comment that hey I got some something wrong, I'm humble enough

Kris plamondon: Yeah, Don't have him neglected. Don't don't don't don't get mad at you know.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. Alright. We're on to probably one of your favorite songs. Carry on Wayward Sun, a Kansas. This is from Kansas, originally recorded in 1976. Love I love both versions of this. I've got the album, I got the Kansas record that this is from, Left Overture, which actually is a cool name, I think.

Kris plamondon: yeah. Yeah. It's still I mean what thirty, forty years later, it's still a very good song.

Arin Hancock: it's much more than forty this is probably closer to fifty years from actually

Kris plamondon: Yeah, fifty years I family r family reunions is as a DJ, I would always have to play that song.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. Well, I'm looking at the year it came out, nineteen seventy-six. That's that's about fifty years ago. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Fifty years ago this year. But yeah, classic. and you're right, as you were saying before, this song's been covered by many people. Why not? If you can do it. Now this is a complic complicated song. I was trying to actually learn this song and I wanted the bass player I was hanging out with at the time, I wanted to cover this song.

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Arin Hancock: And we didn't because it would be well beyond my ability, well beyond his ability. And he looked at the cell and goes, That's too hard. There's there's too many parts to the cell. And there is. I says I said, you know what? Let's take it part by part, but we never did. And if you look at my ability, this is well beyond that right now. So

Kris plamondon: Yeah, yeah. It's it's so well written, I mean and it stood the ti the test of time. I mean, wow.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, some songs that are just timeless classics and this is one of them. But the other thing to remember too, we're talking about there's a couple songs on this record that could be considered spiritual songs. This is one of them because the members of Kansas were Christians. They they weren't touting themselves as a Christian band, but they were Christians. I think we even covered that too actually way back in our early episodes with Christians in mainstream bands. And I'd have to l actually go back into my notes and find Who was in Kansas Carrie Livgren became Christian and he was in Kansas. Alright, let's move on and get into some deep purple from nineteen seventy two Highway Star and stuff. So yeah, like I said, this was recorded in nineteen seventy two. I think Striper again is pretty faithful to the original version if you're not familiar with deep tarpos music. they had that famous hit Smoke on the Water, but this is another hit of theirs. Straper came out with a heavier guitar tone, modern production. Again, the vocals are a little bit more precision, cleaner. That might be part of a production aspect of it, I think. Where the way th records are produced today. are different than they were back then. A lot of times then the band just went in the studio, recorded live, and that's what they got. But I love the song. I'm I'm I'm a again a casual Deep Purple fan. Love their singles. you know, I love the songs other songs besides Smoke on the Water. I love Highway Star. I think it's a great song. Great song. Yeah. Great song to tack. Yeah, we're gonna do that now and then talk over the clips. again, it's a f free use recognition with YouTube.

Kris plamondon: And you were singing right through it.

Arin Hancock: And but your thoughts on how we start?

Kris plamondon: That's a good song. I like that too. That definitely a song I'd play driving down the highway or, you know, maybe not in church, but

Arin Hancock: Well yeah, I wouldn't I wouldn't consider this one a spiritual song. I think like I said, carry on is a spiritual song. That's about it. you know, I don't know, heaven and hell can kind of be a con spiritual song, but I wouldn't call that a Christian song either. So and we'll get in that too w about their choice of songs. Actually it's kind of funny now that I started talking about that. What was I gonna say? Blackout. Well that's not bad as a as a content song. you know, might have picked if I was in in the band I might have picked No One Like You, might be a better song to do. Heaven and Hell from Sabbath Yeah, I'd pick that 'cause just 'cause I think that that's a great song.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, but I got I I I I would say Set Me Free I would probably after a service, if I was part of the sound, I would probably play Set Me Free. That might scare some of the old people. But yeah. The kids would the kids would love it, but you know.

Arin Hancock: Okay. I'm just talking about no Okay, yeah. They get they'd get out of there real quick. No, no, I'm Yeah, no, I I'm just looking at at this at the the original band, going, would there be other songs I picked from the original band instead of the one that they picked? And actually it's interesting because now we're getting to Shout It Out Loud, which is a KISS tune from 1976. Like, you know, this one works good for for Striper. This kind of fits their striper's sound, striper style. You can definitely tell, I think

Kris plamondon: To shout it out.

Arin Hancock: Kiss was influential in developing Striper's music.

Kris plamondon: Awesome song. Sh I thought that's all that's all I gotta say.

Arin Hancock: Okay. All right. Are you a KISS fan though?

Kris plamondon: Yeah, so yeah.

Arin Hancock: Okay. But probably more even Abies kiss. Were you familiar with t

Kris plamondon: The oldies. I don't think I bought a s cassette from them, but I know who they are.

Arin Hancock: Right, right. I'm I'm getting into KISS. I bought s you know, buying more of their classic records from the seventies. I was more of an eighties again, I got into KISS in the eighties, bought some of their greatest hits, thought, okay, that's that suits me. And then I realized what other material is out there. I'm going, I think I gotta get that too. But, you know, and it it's interesting, you know, this isn't a bad song. Lyrically it's not bad. It's it's not anti Christian or anything like that. Nothing wrong with it. There's other songs I think they could have covered. You know, maybe Detroit Rock City would been a good one. Trying to think what else would be good to cover too. but and and I bring this up because we're gonna get into the next song, which and I don't know what would have they they picked instead of this. But the next song on this record is Ozzy. And I love Ozzy, but they're covering Over the mountain from nineteen eighty one.

Kris plamondon: What? I didn't have that on my alb on the album I had. Okay.

Arin Hancock: That's why you gotta listen. That's why you gotta listen to what I send ya, Chris.

Kris plamondon: Why have I have been light lights out on fire?

Arin Hancock: I sang in the whole playlist. Yeah, you why you only listen to half the record. Anyways.

Kris plamondon: I do.

Arin Hancock: Anyways, this it it's a great song. They they do it well. I think Gazzy's version's a bit better. the striper version is slightly slower in tempo. Again, they got the cleaner vocals. That's just Michael Sweet's singing. and you know he does actually a good version of of this. you don't hear people cover Aussie lots. Usually it's Crazy Train that they're covering. And I'm wondering maybe they should have done Crazy Train themselves because this sounds an odd choice, and I'll get in that in sec. The only thing is I like I said, lots of people cover Crazy Train. They're probably trying to find something. that hasn't been overdone. But but Over the Mountain content wise is kind of a weird song to play as a Christian band. It's about

Kris plamondon: Yeah.

Arin Hancock: where where people souls leave their body and go on the this journey and then they come back to their body, you know, that transmeditation s state. This is what Over the Mountain is about. And I'm going, for Christian band to play this song, I don't know.

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Arin Hancock: let me just call up the lyrics here. okay the song is about astral planing and he even says that in in the the lyrics. It says where did I wander? Where do you think I wanted to? I've seen life's magic, astral plane I travel through. And the whole song is about, yeah, going on the on this trip, this this this journey as he's astral planing. And I'm going, I don't know why a Christian band would cover that. Now now there's other songs he could cover. The only problem is I'm looking like again.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. Why would you

Arin Hancock: They probably wanted to cover something from the Randy Rhodes era because they were inspired by the kind of music that Randy Rhodes played. And he he was on the first two Aussie records before he died. So they're looking at songs from the first two Aussie records and going, well, there isn't a lot. You could kind of do content-wise. You could do Crazy Train. You could do I don't know maybe that would work. But now, if you look at the song as just a song and the performance wise, it's great. I still think the Aussie version is better, but the striper version's not bad either. Alright. And now we're on to that trooper from Iron Maiden in nineteen eighty three. did you listen to this song?

Kris plamondon: No, no I didn't. They didn't have it on Apple. And I looked I looked or or I had internet connections issues. It's it sucks

Arin Hancock: No. It's on Apple. It's It's on I can find it right now. You probably had that. You probably had issues because I can find it right now. and tell you it's all there.

Kris plamondon: Cooper. I know I okay I've heard the song. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I've heard it w maybe once, twice. Okay, I remember it, yes.

Arin Hancock: Right. Yeah, the entire album is there on Apple, so it's there. Anyways. again, I love Iron Maiden. This was a you know a band that uses twin guitar leads, something striper does a lot, so you think this kind of fits in their wheelhouse? It does to an extent. I think Again, maybe not Iron Maiden may not be the best choice for for them to cover. And we'll get into that with the next song that that's on this record. Some of the comments that were coming out. The other thing

Kris plamondon: I would have loved to hear Michael Sweet do a ver his version Appetite for Destruction. I

Arin Hancock: Which song? That's not there's no song called that.

Kris plamondon: I That's megadeth. Sympathy of destruction. That's right.

Arin Hancock: Sympathy. Yeah. Symphony of this that's a good song too, you're right. okay.

Kris plamondon: I I I'd love to hear Michael do it. Sympathy Neo. No, no, I know.

Arin Hancock: Well well first of all, I don't think they're Megadeth fans. Michael has Michael has come out and said they're not Metallica fans. He's probably heard Metellica like on the radio or in passing, but he himself has never actually sat down to listen to a single Metellica song. And that's okay. I love Metellica, but I I know and I'm not I'm not gonna hate on Michael. When he came out with that he got a lot of haters. What do you mean you're not a Metellica fan, you know?

Kris plamondon: That's right. That's right. You know what? I think if he did a met like if he did for just for fun we're talking about if he did Enter Sam, wow you know.

Arin Hancock: Think it would I don't think it would work. He doesn't have James Hetfield's growl. You know, everything he d everything he does has the has these clean vocals. So he he should pick sounds like that. And then that might be why the Iron Maiden doesn't work well with him, is he's got cleaner vocals than than Bruce Dickinson does. I don't know.

Kris plamondon: That's true. That's true. Right. Although I mean for James Hetfield, he does it perfectly, although unfortunately the way he warms up with drinking alcohol and drugs and yeah. No.

Arin Hancock: Alright. Anyways, so now we're moving on to the next song, Breaking the Law.

Kris plamondon: Break it.

Arin Hancock: I tell you, hope you guys didn't see my music video I released because I play guitar. apparently I I released a very bad version of this song myself. The other thing I want to say, asking chat, GTP, you know, who played it better. They say Straper did not do as well as the Jewish priest version. I think again, this is one of those songs where they said it didn't really play into Striper's Wheelhouse

Kris plamondon: Ha ha.

Arin Hancock: You can tell they were influenced by the band. And you think it would work. Now, this song doesn't have that twin guitar lead solos that Straper does. Some of the pre-songs do. The other thing, the funny thing is, if you've been following Michael Sweet on Facebook, shortly before this episode gets recorded, they've been playing the song live. So they've been playing Breaking the Law Live. And They got criticized by some troll out there on on on the internet saying, Why are you playing some song by some non-Christian band? Yeah, have you guys lost your faith and all this? you know, what a waste of you know what a waste going to a concert and seeing you play non-Christian songs and and all this. You know, when they come out, listen, it's a fun song to play. Jewish Priest was a band that inspired them to play themselves. So they won't, you know, they wanna play it because

Kris plamondon: Right.

Arin Hancock: They like playing the song. You know, it's not a bad song. one of the things is they do again striperify this one, they actually add some solo into this that wasn't in the original. And stuff. So right after right in the in the break there after the second chorus there, on the Jewish priest version, there's just this break of rhythm guitars. And then he comes out, I can't remember what Halford says on that one. During that break, Strapers doing actually a solo. So they've added to the song. I think that's great. what else we got here? Okay, yeah, so that's that. so Breaking the Law, which was originally a pre-song, came out in 1980. That was on their British Steel record. Yeah. I'm sure you know that song. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right.

Kris plamondon: breaking the law. okay. yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Arin Hancock: And now we're on to well probably one of the best version or best covers they do on this record. on fire this was originally this is originally a Van Halen song came off of Van Halen's debut record you know this definitely works in striper's wheelhouse they do great version this I love this

Kris plamondon: Yeah. yeah, let's go.

Arin Hancock: I think I t I tell you one thing. Again, here's where Michael Sweet shines. His Volkas are a lot better than David Lee Roth's. And they've got the same energy I think that Eddie Van Halen had. I I like this.

Kris plamondon: I'm not gonna attempt touching that.

Arin Hancock: Ha ha ha. but yeah, originally appears on Van Halen's debut, 1978. In fact, I've got that record and I forgot that this was a Van Halen song when I'm looking at the at the tracks when I first buy this. Yeah, when I'm looking at tracks when I first buy this from the striper and I'm going, fire. Who who did that song? Like I forgot this was

Kris plamondon: That's a g yeah. Wow. I almost hit those notes.

Arin Hancock: I I in your dreams. I know. but like I said, I was forgot was a Van Halen song. I'm like, this is Van Halen? What record was this off of? And yes. Were you not listening to me? I mean, talking through it. Yes. It is on it's the last song on their debut record. And that's why I forgot that this was Van Halen. I haven't heard it a whole lot. It's not one of their big hits.

Kris plamondon: I wish, I wish. I That's a Van Halen song. Are you sure? Wow.

Arin Hancock: This is well, you can definitely hear the Eddie songwriting on on this, right? the other thing is, you know, definitely like some more polished vocals, they're a little tighter rhythm. Eddie was a little bit loose with his rhythm. Great player. I love Eddie. I'm not knocking him. So they've tightened up the rhythm a little bit. But yeah, I think a great version of this song. And then they get into the last song on this record is immigrant song.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, yeah.

Arin Hancock: Which was originally a Led Zeppelin song night re released in nineteen seventy. Did you hear immigrant song?

Kris plamondon: Yeah, it's a good song.

Arin Hancock: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's not bad. again, I don't know if I would pick that. I'm trying to think what other songs from Led Zeppelin they could have picked. So it's kinda hard. It's not a bad song. Maybe they needed

Kris plamondon: They should have picked jump. That would have been awesome.

Arin Hancock: Chris, we moved on. We're on to the last song, which was a Led Zeppelin tune.

Kris plamondon: that's Zeppelin. Okay, sorry, sorry. Technical issues, sorry.

Arin Hancock: Yeah. yeah. no again it's not a bad song, not a bad take. Although I didn't really have too much to say about this one. So well. I had asked ChatGTP if it could do a comparison of the songs which were great sounding covers comparing to the originals. The ones that according to chat GTP thought were really good. Were Highway Star, Blackout, On Fire. Those were songs that kind of really fit the striper sound. Songs that didn't come out so well because they don't fit that striper sound. Over the Mountain, Trooper, and Breaking the Law. the other ones were kind of in between there, something like that. So yeah, so what were your two favorites? And we haven't talked about the last song, we'll get to that, but I wanna kinda end with that as our closing clip. But what were your two favorites?

Kris plamondon: I would say blackout The last song you just played.

Arin Hancock: Okay, on fire. Yeah.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, on fire. That was I really like Blackout and On Fire. They're on my playlist. They're awesome.

Arin Hancock: Right. Have you heard the last song? The one called God?

Kris plamondon: No.

Arin Hancock: you should listen to that one. it's it's great. We'll play a clip. it's not the whole song. It's not a very big clip. We'll play that. I really like that song. That's the only original song on this record. So it's definitely a striper song. It's got the striper sound. Actually, the other thing is a there's a few songs on here too. If I go back to the beginning of this, that had that micro suite screen.

Kris plamondon: Okay.

Arin Hancock: Where the original version didn't have that kind of scream in it. But Michael Sweet had to put that screen into a couple of these songs. my favorites, well, my favorite covers, I have to say, yeah, again, I agree with you on on Fire. Great tune to cover. And I mean, they could have easily covered anything that is well known they could have done. Ain't Talking About Love or

Kris plamondon: Wow.

Arin Hancock: Which was a cover, and that would have been the cover of a cover, I guess. But, you know, Pick on Fire, that's a great song. I love that one. the other one I liked as far as the covers go, Heaven and Hell, just because I like I said earlier, that's one of my all time favorite songs. so if you can do a decent version of that, I'm gonna enjoy that. It's Again, carry on away with Sun, I think I like that. It that's another great song.

Kris plamondon: Wow. Mm-hmm.

Arin Hancock: are there any songs you would put say at the bottom of the list

Kris plamondon: Probably There'd be there'd be a couple. Yeah. I think hell hell to pee,

Arin Hancock: Okay. What you you can't think of them right now? No, I'm talking about str sounds off this record.

Kris plamondon: Yeah, I know the covering, right? The well the last couple of songs you just said I would put hang on, I'm grabbing I don't wanna move too much. I guess

Arin Hancock: Yes, yes. Okay.

Kris plamondon: I mean I like let me be free. Set me free th that's awesome. Just cause the words are pretty cool. I like that very much. Blackout I liked. So I would heaven in hell, I would put what's it called? an effect affectionate note, like a note like I like it but I wouldn't recommend it.

Arin Hancock: Set me free, okay, yeah. Right. Okay.

Kris plamondon: Yeah. It's good, it's good. I mean and then of course we just talked about blackout heaven and hell is pretty good. And I'm sure God would be in there. I haven't listened to it yet, but I'll put God in there.

Arin Hancock: Yes. all right. Yeah, s let's if I pick top two, well I'll pick my top two covers, but I gotta include the last song. It's an original song, it's a great song. And well let's play it and we'll end off with that. So once again, let us know your thoughts on this episode. What are your favorite songs off this? Have you heard this? And yeah, let's know your favorites from the covering. So everybody God bless. Keep on rocking. And we'll catch you next time. And Metal Faith Podcast. All right.

Kris plamondon: This is a rock and mental faith podcast. Hey, I did it first.

Arin Hancock: This is God from Striper.

Kris plamondon: What song is that that you're playing?

Arin Hancock: This is God. This is the last psalm on the record.

Kris plamondon: That's God I like that song. I was right. Wow. I like it.

Arin Hancock: Ha ha ha. All right. Thank you for listening to the Rock and Metal Faith Podcast.

Kris plamondon: That's cool. Yeah. Yes.