FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
What if God was part of rock?
Local band seeks spritiuality in its songsTimber CD release with Burst
Friday, November 21
Quincy'sWhen Johnny Rotten spat out "I am an Antichrist" it sent out a proverbial shockwave that fully articulated the demonic subtext of rock that was born in Robert Johnson's delta crossroads and passed on down to Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. Twenty years after the fact, any goon with a fetish for eyeliner and vampire contact lenses can pass himself off as a modern day Beelzebub with nary a blink of the eye from the media (unless he tries to play in Cowtown, of course).
It's interesting then, that when an artist comes from, shall we say, a more spiritual point of view it tends to make some people uneasy (except for Johnny Cash, who sounds kind of evil even when he's singing gospel). This dichotomy is something that Calgary's Timber will both, to certain degrees, accept and refute. Woven throughout their debut CD Totem are themes dealing with issues from what could be called a religious context, but vocalist Kirby Sewell is adamant that they're not on a crusade for your soul.
"Our song 'Tell Me' has the word 'Jesus' in it, but it's really not a Christian song, per se," clarifies Sewell. "It asks 'Jesus who are you? Are you who you say you are? Why is there so much pain in this world?' A lot of people ask those questions, but a lot of people aren't comfortable talking about it. So I guess it's cool that people can listen to a song in their own personal space, open up and say, 'Hey yeah, I do have these questions.'"
"I think it's more a matter of us asking universal questions than being on a soapbox," counters guitarist Shawn Johnsen. "I think everybody looks for truth. Everyone looks for meaning in their life and we're just asking questions. Like, I think most people - regular people - have some sort of religious background, whether it's new age or astrology or whatever, people are looking up, 'Who am I?' I think there's tons of music out there - Lenny Kravitz, U2 - that expresses bold, deep, heartfelt feeling."
The funky-pop foursome, rounded out by bass player Christian Johnsen and drummer Rhody Litschke, certainly do tackle some pretty heady, existential matters on Totem, especially for such a young band (aren't there dummies like Johnny Thunders anymore who just wanna sing about "Goin' Steady" in between smack binges?). But, as Sewell explains, that's just where the band is coming from.
"It's like Brian Johnson from AC/DC with 'You shook me all night long,'" he says. "That's where he's at - he writes from his perspective and we're just musicians who write from ours."
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