Mad/Not
Mad
What would you do
if you were a Christian musician who
didn't feel that it was your time to be
out playing, but you had all these
synthesizers, sampling keyboards, drum
machines, and recording equipment in your
basement? And what if your favorite music
was a type of music that no other
Christian band was playing and you had a
real vision to make music that satisfied
Christians with tastes like your own yet
reached another whole segment of
mainstream music fans with the gospel?
Well, if you were Roger Rose, you might
create Mad at the World, write all the
songs, play all the instruments, and
produce an album of the same name. That's
exactly what he did, and his album was
recently released on Frontline
Records.
"I personally
know plenty of people -- Christians -- who
listen primarily to mainstream music
because Christian music does not satisfy
them musically," says Rose. "What
Mad at the World is about is music that
fills that kind of void, yet I feel it is
lyrically uncompromising in its Christian
message and values."
Although astute
listeners can detect the influences of
Ultravox and Tears for Fears on the music
of MATW, clearly Rose is most affected by
the sounds and philosophy of Depeche Mode.
While the group's music has deeply
impacted Rose's, he is often repelled by
songs like "Blasphemous Rumours" and
albums like Black Celebration. Rose
explains, "Depeche Mode is probably my
favorite group musically, but lyrically
they are the most offensive, so dark and
terribly depressing."
Rose responds to
these discrepancies by writing directly to
the untruths which might be affecting
youthful listeners. In the song "Dry Your
Tears," for instance, Rose describes "a
world where you see nothing everywhere"
(an expression of the nihilism found in
many a Depeche Mode lyric) before
expressing his own hope with "Close your
eyes and pray/ Heaven could be calling
your name."
"I write things
lyrically," affirms Rose, "that are
undeniably Christian but seem to be easy
concepts to accept or grasp from a secular
standpoint. Although I work at subtlety,
it's also just another way of expressing
the truth that if you love your
possessions or your girlfriend or anything
on this earth more than God, then the
result is death. That is an important
message for Christians to bear in mind as
well as something to be shared with
unbelievers."
Rose's attempts
to avoid church talk and cliche result in
some fresh, invigorating images. In
"Living Dead," the line "I need life
blood" is, Rose suggests, "another way of
getting at Jesus' words that we need to be
born again" without using those now too
familiar words. "Taking the Easy Way Out"
actually suggests that it is the voice of
the Evil One that offers suicide as a way
of ending the pain of life when it really
"isn't the easy way out."
Like Depeche Mode
and other bands of the techno-pop world,
Mad at the World will be out on the road
this year without a drummer. Like the
aforementioned band, essential kick and
snare sounds will be programmed into the
computer while Rose, backed by 15-year-old
brother Randy Rose playing percussion and
sampled sounds and Mike Pendleton on
various keyboards, will sing, play
guitars, and add occasional
synths.
Rose is excited
about the new record, its impressive cover
art by Frontline's Ed McTaggart, and talk
at the label about marketing to college
radio and reaching mainstream listeners.
Right now, though, he's thinking more
about touring and work on the next record.
After all, Roger Rose is not just upset --
he's Mad at the World.
--Brian
Quincy Newcomb
Copyright
© 1987 CCM Publications, Inc.
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