By: Ryan Sparks

Formed out of the ashes of Roxx Regime in the early 80’s, Christian metal band Stryper holds the unique distinction of being one of the only Christian metal bands to ever achieve a degree of mainstream success. Led by the Sweet brothers Michael (lead vocals, guitars) and Robert (drums), along with bassist Tim Gaines and guitarist Oz Fox, Stryper stormed out of the west coast, glam scene right alongside secular contemporaries Motley Crue, Ratt and Poison. Armed with their flashy yellow and black striped stage attire, instruments and stage props, not to mention their penchant for throwing bibles out into the crowd at their concerts Stryper were definitely marching to their beat of their own drum. From 1984 until 1990 the band released five albums before they packed it in just as the grunge movement was peaking. The new millennium brought a couple of Styper Expo’s which eventually led to both a greatest hits collection (with a couple of new songs) and a full blown reunion tour in 2003-4. Since then band activity has been somewhat sporadic and yet the decade still managed to yield two albums of new material with Reborn (2005) and Murder By Pride (2009). With their latest release The Covering Stryper decided to try something different by giving their fans a firsthand look at some of their early influences. The result is a smoking set of twelve covers that tackles Van Halen’s “On Fire”, Ozzy’s “Over The Mountain”, “Lights Out” from UFO, Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper” and Black Sabbath’s “Heaven and Hell”, to name just a few. They didn’t forget the big man upstairs either because the disc concludes with a smoldering new track entitled “God”. The new album is not only a serious kick in the pants, but it’s also blast to listen to from beginning to end as the boys firmly put their own unique stamp on some of their favorite songs. I recently had a chance to catch up with Michael Sweet as he was in Las Vegas rehearsing with the band for their upcoming tour. In addition to talking about the new album in detail, he also spoke candidly about how Stryper opened the door for other Christian metal bands, and why he feels that the band’s music and message has often been overshadowed by the their image.

Michael: Well that really does shine through and that's important because if you're making a record and you're not having a good time, people are going to hear that because there's a certain energy that comes through when you're enjoying the process. You can't create that with machines, Eq's or delays or what have you. So with this record, and I've said this in many interviews, it's probably the most fun we've had out of any record we've ever done. We just went in there and had a blast playing the songs that we grew up on that brought back so many memories. We just enjoyed every second of it, it was just as blast. Good times you know?

Michael: We made a conscious effort to stay true to the originals. The covers that I tend to really enjoy and respect are the ones that are done with the same arrangement in mind as the original. I'm not a big fan of bands that try to be real artistic and who try to re-write the song. I've never really understood that because there are times when you'll hear the song and you won't even recognize it or know what song it is. That's just weird to me because the original song is the incredible song that it is because it was a hit or it was on the charts and there's a reason for that.

Michael: Exactly. So why try to fix something that isn't broken? We just wanted to stay true to that in each song and respect that, but at the same time put our own spin on it and not just do a carbon copy. I feel that we pulled that off and we're really pleased with the outcome. We're really happy with how it turned out.

Michael: That's absolutely right. We're one of those bands that get's it from all sides. If you're a mainstream band you get it from the church and if you're a Christian band you get it from the mainstream. We're a Christian band that goes out into the world and plays with bands like Iron Maiden and Dream Theater. We'll go out and do any festival at any time and you don't see contemporary Christian bands doing that because that's not what they do, but that's what Stryper does. So we kind of get it from both sides. It's always been that way and I think it's always going to be that way.

Michael: Exactly. In picking these songs we stayed true to our faith. We feel that we chose the songs appropriately and that they line right up with what we're doing. We don't have any personal issues with any of these songs. Some people will say "Wow they're doing a Sabbath song" and the minute you hear that Stryper is doing a Sabbath song, you think it's wrong, but it's not. If you read the words to "Heaven and Hell", I've said this many times recently, but those are words that we would have written ourselves. We'd have had no problem penning and singing those words.

Michael: Definitely. There were some songs that didn't make the cut because they were over the top lyrically.

Michael: We didn't try any, but we did discuss other songs. There was a song we always loved by Sweet called "Fox On The Run". We loved the song, but lyrically I believe it's talking about a girl who's not pretty anymore or has gotten heavy [laughs]. So that's not a good message for Stryper to be putting out there. Although some people might say "Well why are you doing "Breaking The Law"?" When I'm singing "Breaking The Law" I'm kind of looking at it like, just as we had a song called "Against The Law", I'm kind of looking at more like that. We are breaking laws, and we're enjoying every second of it. What I mean by that is that we're against the laws of the church and the rules and regulations of the church where Christians try to put things on other people, that don't necessarily apply or line up with the word of God.

Michael: You know, over the years we've done covers and prior to forming Stryper we did a lot of covers. We were a trio that played hundreds of covers. As time went on with Stryper we used to sound check with covers, we started adding "On Fire" into the set in 1991 and we started adding "Breaking The Law" a few years ago. My wife Lisa actually suggested it; she said "You know, you guys would do a great cover album if you ever decided to do one." That kind of got the thought process rolling and I spoke to the label and they really thought it was a brilliant idea. That was it, we started picking songs and it just happened in an instant. We went in and started tracking.

Michael: Absolutely.

Michael: You know, the trouble I had with some of the songs were the signature vocalist songs, for example Bruce Dickinson and Klaus Meine. Before I went in to sing the vocals I had this preconceived notion that there would be no way I would be able to do it.

Michael: Yeah, I had to just keep telling myself "Oh my gosh this is Bruce Dickinson", because I kept thinking to myself that I had to sound like him. I don't know if that's how anyone else that does a cover album thinks, but that's what I thought. When I went in to do these songs the originals were so implanted in your brain that I had to find a way to break away from that. What happened was I tried to sing it a few times and it just wasn't working, so I thought to myself that I just had to be me. I had to sing it like Michael Sweet and that's what I did. Once I started thinking that way I was able to get it tracked and then just hope that people enjoy it or appreciate it and not compare it to Bruce Dickenson, because I'm never going to sound like him. He's an amazing singer and I'm just trying to do my own thing on this record and pay respect to the song.

Michael: And you know something? This wasn't done in a prideful way, where we were pumped up and thought we could pull it off. We did want to show people we could play but we wanted it to be about the music and the performances on this record. We wanted people to hear this record, and maybe someone who might not typically be a Stryper fan or someone that quite possibly hasn't even heard of the band, we want them to hear this and go "Wow who is this?" We just want to show people that we can play. We work hard. We work hard on our guitar solos and the vocals and drums. We really bust our cans man. Someone once gave us this tag that we were the hardest working band in music and I definitely think we're up on that list. We are a hard working band and I hope that shows. I hope that comes across to people and they realize that we can really play.

Michael: I think so. There was definitely a movement. Before Stryper you had Petra and Rez Band and a number of other Christian bands that were considered hard rock. Then we came on the scene and there was a movement really. When we came on the scene it was kind of like a sucker punch to the face, kind of like "Whoa what is this?" There were a lot of bands that followed suit, bands like Barren Cross, Guardian and Whitecross. There was this whole Christian metal movement. The funny thing is we weren't really trying to be a part of that; we were just doing our own thing and trying to go out into the world. Our goal was to go out into the world, into the bars where people were sitting there having a tough time and struggling with drugs or divorce or whatever. We wanted to perform for them and let them hear our message. That's what we're here for.

Michael: Exactly. There was an incredible movement and it was wild. Somehow we were the guys that kind of helped begin that movement, so it's kind of cool.

Michael: Absolutely. We were really blessed and fortunate to be able to do it and that's how we wanted to do it. Somehow it worked out that way. We were very specific about some things. We did not want to sign with a Christian label. We refused to sign with a Christian label, so we signed with a mainstream, independent label and we really tried our best along with the label, to target the mainstream and not just the Christian market. So we ended up doing two thirds of our sales through the mainstream and the other third was Christian.

Michael: Yeah.

Michael: It was unfortunately and that's one of the downsides of having a "gimick" if you will. It's like when Kiss took off their makeup it was like "Oh my gosh, how dare they?" The diehard fans that's what they want, they want the whole package. They want the yellow and black, they want it all. I may get crucified for this I don't know, but I have to speak from the heart, but if it had been up to me I probably wouldn't have done the yellow and black back in the day. I would have gone out there and just let the music do the talking. Personally I feel that many times it has overshadowed the music. We are sometimes referred to as a gimmicky band and that really stinks because we work so hard on our music. I'd like our music to overshadow the yellow and black.

Michael: It's a double edged sword man. People love it. There are times when I'm talking to someone and they'll ask me if I'm in a band and I'll say "Yeah" and they'll say " What band?" and when I tell them Stryper they don't know who Stryper is or they don't remember us from the name. Then I'll say "The yellow and black guys" and then they'll go "Oh yeah, the yellow and black guys."

Michael: Yeah, that's how people remember us. It's somewhat heartbreaking to a degree because I don't want to be remembered as the guys who wore bumble bee outfits. I'd like us to be remembered as the guys who wrote the song "Calling On You" or "Soldiers Under Command". It's a bit of a bummer sometimes, it really is.

Michael: No one really tried to test our willpower out on the road. I remember when we were touring with White Lion, we would have dinner together backstage at catering and we would pray over the food. We would bless the food, and that's just something that Styper does within our camp. At first they thought it was kind of odd, but then eventually they started praying with us. We'd sit there and we'd pray and it was very cool.

During the Against The Law period which everybody probably already knows about we got into a bit of hypocrisy in the sense that for years we had been telling people that they didn't need alcohol or this or that. Then we're out there playing in a bar and then after the show we'd be going to the bar and having a drink, which doesn't come off as setting a good example you know? I'll have glass or wine or a beer now but I try to be responsible and I try to be an example in those situations. If I'm out to dinner with ten former alcoholics from Alcoholics Anonymous then I'm not going to have a bottle of wine.

Michael: Exactly. That's where the problem lies, when you consume too much where you're completely drunk and you have no control over yourself and you end up doing stupid things. That's exactly right.

Michael: No we did back in the early days prior to Stryper. Oh man! [laughs] We got that out of our system early by the grace of God. We give all credit and glory to God because we were pulled out of that world and thankfully so.

Michael: In some ways yes and in other ways no. The most difficult thing about it now is leaving home. Back in the days when we were younger it wasn't as bad because it was prior to us being married. We were all like "Yeah man let's go, let's be gone for a year". Now it's difficult to be gone for two or three weeks and with this upcoming tour we're going out for six weeks. That's a long time to be away from your wife and kids and your home. It's never easy. That's definitely the downside of it.

Michael: Sure. We don't go outside and duke it out, but yeah we're brothers and because of that I think we go head to head more often than anyone else in the band. It always gets worked out and we always come back to our senses. We have our differences and we're different people. We view things differently in some ways and in other ways we view things almost identically. It's a brotherly thing that's to be expected, it's par for the course. I've certainly gotten upset with Rob onstage. If he goes into the wrong song or something, I'll turn around and the audience might not see it, but I'll give him that look of "What did you just do?"