I am experiencing a dilemma of musical proportions today. Actually, this dilemma has been evident for about a month now, but it’s coming to a head where I’ll have to make a decision within the next 24 to 36 hours. Maybe “dilemma” isn’t even the right word. Now, I realize that in the grand scheme of life and it’s issues, this shouldn’t be much of a problem, but it’s causing me much anxiety…sort of. Okay, not really, but it’s still a tough choice to have to make.
Here it is:
Tomorrow night, there are two concerts going on at the same time that I really, really, really would like to attend. I don’t know which one to choose!
Stavesacre ~ DVD Release Show
I’ve seen Stavesacre perform more times than I would even consider counting. I’m thinking it has been at least thirty times over the years. Stavesacre is, by far the best working “Christian” band left.
A few years ago, I had to make the unfortunate choice to miss the wedding of Dan and Mel Lundmark. I stayed here in Dallas. My disappointment over having to make that choice was somewhat quelled by the fact that Stavesacre was playing a show at The Door on the same night they got married. I opted to go to this show and had a blast. It was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen this band put on. It was also filmed for a DVD release. It’s been three years since then. Tomorrow night, they’re back at the same venue to finally celebrate the official release of the DVD.
Here’s where the dilemma lies: tomorrow night is also…
The Illustrated Band ~ CD Release Show
Back in the mid-to-late 90’s I became a fan of a band that, until Stavesacre came around, was probably my favorite “Christian” band. Grammatrain had some very real, challanging, lyrics surrounded by some of the best musicianship available at the time, backed up by one of the very best drummers I’ve ever heard, Paul Roraback.
Four years ago, I landed a temp job at Earthlink in Pasadena that allowed me to listen to music while I worked. Since I didn’t have a radio or a CD player available to me, I would go to the now defunct mp3.com and browse their radio stations. There was one station that I would go back to quite frequently that was playing “Christian emo”. Kind of a gay name for a radio station if you ask me, especially since a majority of the selections were decidedly not emo. One of the bands that came up in this selection of tunes was called Gideon’s Press. Without going into my usual overuse of superlatives, I’m just going to say that Gideon’s Press blew me away. I’d not ever heard a band produce this quality of music that sounded as excellent as it did. Think of a fine cross between the tone and lyrical content of Jeremy Post (Blackeyed Sceva/Model Engine), crossed with the musical complexity and excellence of bands like Dave Matthews Band, Rush, Yes, and The Police.
The only problem was, at the time, Gideon’s Press didn’t have anything that I might be able to find out some more information about them. But I was able to find out this much: they were from Seattle, and Paul Roraback, formerly of Grammatrain, was their drummer. But of course, with no way to keep in touch with them or anything, they fell by the wayside.
Fast forward about two and a half years. I’m sitting in my Plano apartment and started digging through some old CD’s and pulled out Grammatrain’s Lonely House, which was a great album for its time. As I was listening to this album I started to remember Gideon’s Press and do some research on them. Low and behold, I actually found a web site for them. I was extremely stoked to find that not only was Gideon’s Press alive and well, that they had relocated from Seattle, Washington to Austin, Texas…only three hours away. I’m thinking now, I’ll be able to see them live.
~~this story is getting long~~
For whatever reason, I was never able to catch a Gideon’s Press performance and then they dropped of the radar when they holed up to go record a new album a year ago. During this period, I’ve had a chance to interact with some of their members, having personally met their keyboardist, Nic, on the way to a DMB show to buy Gideon’s Press’ first recording, Bound for Nineveh and drummer, Paul Roraback when he was working as Terry Bozzio’s tech at a clinic in Arlington last spring.
Gideon’s Press resurfaced about a month ago with news that their album, The Forever Of Now, has finally been completed (after over a year-long recording process) and that they have changed their name. The band formerly known as Gideon’s Press is now called The Illustrated Band. TIB is performing tomorrow for their album release party. I’ve still never seen them and it works out that tomorrow doesn’t hold a lot of goings on for me, that I might be able to cruise down to Austin to catch this show.
With all of that said, what the hell show do I go see?