Comments on: Two Copeland Interviews

By: Kirk

Kirk — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:40:39 +0000

Yea my flatmate works at Mana (New Zealands chain of christian book stores) and they chose not to get mewithoutYou’s new album in because of the word Allah apearing on it.
End of the day a store can choice not to stock an album but it would make it easier if stores knew what to expect from a label. Like Facedown for example does that well but doesnt have christian distribution. Which im not complaining about i think they are making some very wise choices!

By: tyler h

tyler h — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:32:42 +0000

there are certain albums that they don’t distribute to christian book stores…at least not anymore…like mxpx’s on the cover 2 wasn’t because they only covered secular bands

By: matt_b86

matt_b86 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:17:06 +0000

kirk, you make a great point! it seems that maybe tooth & nail should consider making a label for artists that are not Christians and market them differently. it seems a bit deceitful to purchase a secular band at a Christian bookstore. it seems comparable to purchasing a book written by Richard Dawkins at a Christian bookstore.

By: Kirk

Kirk — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:18:16 +0000

Well i think the fact that T&N/Solid State/BEC are distributed through CMG means that they accept and embrace the christian stance. T&N using CMG distribution basicly garantees christian book shops stock their artists as far as i know. Because of this i believe maybe they should only sign christian bands or they should distribute through someone other than CMG. This is not me saying i will only accept christian music because i listen to enough very much anti music. Simply that when someone buys an album released on T&N they are expecting it to be christian in nature. So with the case of He Is Legend (whos album I Am Hollywood i purchased in a christian book store) i dont think there music should be sold in a christian bookstore.

By: matt_b86

matt_b86 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:23:15 +0000

in one sense, it does not matter to me. i enjoy a wide variety of music and do not limit my listening to only “Christian.” if an artists is blatantly satanic or involved in the occult, i will not listen to it.

here is my concern. i read a lot in various threads about solid state / tooth & nail bands being “Christian”. So, apparently, there are many unbelievers that view t&n / solid state as Christian labels. i know that, in general, we should be very careful about making assumptions. just because a band is on a certain label, it does not make them Christians, but at the same time, t&n has developed a reputation of being a Christian label. so, really my only concern is the influence this may have on unbelievers. just on absolutepunk a few weeks ago, i saw someone commenting on he is legend being able to swear in their music now that they aren’t on a christian label anymore. this is a concern to me. i really don’t have this concern with some of the other labels such as facedown, bettie rocket (rip), forefront, etc…

i guess, overall, i just feel somewhat let down. i read interviews with zao a couple months back and couldn’t believe what i read and have also felt somewhat discouraged about the state of some of previous artists on t&n. on the other hand, i am left really inspired by guys like conrad from ghoti hook, members from the Supertones, Andrew Schwab, and a few others.

By: Chris L

Chris L — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:07:29 +0000

t&n isn’t a christian label. bec is more so. my question is does it matter to you if members of a band are christian or not?

By: Brandon

Brandon — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:59:45 +0000

As far as I know, there is no mission statement. However, if you find the 1994 Crucified re-release and read the liner notes, there is a pretty bold statement from Brandon Ebel in there. I should find it and retype it here. Of course a lot of years have passed since then.

By: matt_b86

matt_b86 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:38:33 +0000

this is definitely very sad. out of curiosity, what are everyone’s thoughts on bands like this on tooth & nail?? there’s a part of me that is somewhat disappointed as i somewhat am led to believe that bands on tooth & nail are christians, but then i read interviews and find out that while some bands may have a very strong faith in Jesus (Project 86, Underoath, Showbread), others will say that none of the members or most are not Christian (He is Legend, Zao).

It’s not that I have a problem with listening to bands that have Christians in them or not, it’s that they are being “sold” as Christian being on Tooth & Nail. I don’t know, maybe I view Tooth & Nail differently that what it is, but it is somewhat disappointing to discover this. Is there a mission statement for Tooth & Nail that explains their viewpoints??

I still love Copeland’s music and will continue to support them and don’t mean anything negative towards Tooth & Nail as I am a HUGE fan of most of what they put out. I think it’s just awesome that a Christian company can have so much success, I just pray that it is never taken for granted who that success comes from. Again, not meaning to say anything negative towards T&N, just wondering how others feel on this topic and wondering if anybody else has the same questions?

By: tyler h

tyler h — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:33:59 +0000

someone reads my twitter! thanks brett hahaha.

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:16:17 +0000

i read an interview somewhere once before where he cussed once or twice, kinda stuck in my head since then. it is a sad thing indeed, but i’m glad i have that statement now so i don’t see them as a “Christian band” anymore.

this all goes along really well with what i read thanks to Tyler’s twitter update from Jon of Hawk Nelson. good read there as well.

http://jonathansteingard.blogspot.com/2009/07/re-views.html

By: The Gloamglozer

The Gloamglozer — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:35:26 +0000

That’s really sad :( Wasn’t he the guy who sang on “some will seek forgiveness, others escape” by underoath? I thought he was a total christian! sounds like he’s falling away…

By: Stephen M

Stephen M — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:35:05 +0000

that made me very very sad.

By: tyler h

tyler h — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:00:59 +0000

that first interview was mostly worthless…the second one made me kinda sad because of what Brett just posted.

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:29:21 +0000

from the mammoth interview:

While Copeland isn�t a Christian band, it seems that faith plays an important part in your lives. How much of that would you say impacts the music?

Christianity isn�t really a huge part of my life. For some of the other guys in the band it is. It�s not something I�m really into, so I don�t think it affects our music at all. Some of the other guys in the band are Christians, but we try to keep everything real separate. There�s nothing particularly spiritual from a Christian standpoint about our music, at least not anymore. I think maybe when I was younger I would try to weave it in, but that�s not something that I really try to do anymore at all.

…i can’t say hadn’t expected this from past interviews and albums, but honestly, it is nice to get a concrete word from the source to quell all doubt. you can sort of feel a transition from album to album away from a spiritual influence.