Photo by Adam Elmakias

Dreams of Perception

By Jordan D. Mertens
Contributing Writer

The grunge days are over; gone are the peace times of the 90s when kids needed no reason to be angsty other than that it got under the skin of a parent or two. The very same parents whom are probably to blame for that particular generations’ seemingly unprovoked rebellion against a society that they failed to understand, nor cared to.

The hippies hadn’t quite grown up when they began to reproduce, and they would pass along their disdain toward the all mighty dollar, the all mighty power and all those whom wield it with gleeful tyranny to their unprepared and otherwise innocent, offspring: “Don’t believe everything you’re told”, “They are ALL crooks”, and “Never trust anyone over 30” were ideals that, when passed down to their children (intentionally or not) may have backfired. Now, even an upper middleclass, straight A student with a perfect bill of health might idle worship Marilyn Manson and Kurt Cobain. Was it the message such artists put forth that drew the sober in? Or was it because, simply, that’s what was hip at the time? Personally, i’m inclined to guess the latter.
Don’t get me wrong, by no means am i saying that there weren’t those who did need that aggressive outlet and who did connect with and benefit from the self-remorsing, abuse fueled lyrics of the time. Of course there were. There always have been, there always will be. Present day being nothing close to an exception.

The difference, however, in present day teens is that they are more genre selective. For those who hear music, but don’t really listen to it, the hits will always do just fine; and the hits of today are a far cry from the hits of a decade and a half ago. Somehow, I don’t think that The Black Eyed Peas and Nickelback are what teens with serious dilemma are looking for.
And with that, let’s begin.

It’s no mystery that today’s youth easily face as many challenges as any who preceded them. No doubt you’ve recently read or heard something about teen depression, bullying, drug use and even suicide. But, if there’s one medication that a generation in crisis has always been able to rely on for a sense of stability, it’s music. It seems only natural that there is still, if not more than ever before, an audience for heavy, aggressive music.

Don’t worry, folks, it’s not all bad news. In fact, it’s good news. There are bands today that, while on the surface may seem anger driven, actually put forth lyrics dedicated toward promoting love, peace, pride, hope and other beneficial ideas. And without all that ill-desired preachiness that comes with “Christian rock”. One such band, in particular, is the focus of this article.

Often mistakenly referred to as a Christian band, We Came As Romans have been steadily rising in popularity since they first formed out of Troy, Mich., in 2005.
“We have Christian dudes in our band and we have non-Christian dudes in our band, and as a whole, we’re not a Christian band…,” guitarist Joshua Moore said. “Just because we have a message, and it’s not about killing each other, we get the Christian band tag.”

Beliefs aside, what draws in audiences night after night is a group of young men who possess a mutual ability to turn any crowd’s focus toward them from the drop of note one.; be it from a throat, an amplifier or a drum kit. WCAR’s The stylistic grouping of low-tuned, post-hardcore drive beats, frequent orchestral and technologically specialized bridging in flux with pin point timing, makes for a thundering romance of a background for vocalists, David Stephens and Kyle Pavone. Such an immediately masterful sound earned them a large fan following in a hurry. In fact, “steadily rising in popularity” may be a bit of an understatement. After recording a total of two EP’s and losing as many members as currently make up the band (six), on Nov. 3, 2009, WCAR finally debuted their first, long awaited, full length LP, “To Plant A Seed,” and began headlining shows within a year of its release. Even the almighty Aerosmith didn’t begin headlining their own shows until after the release of their third full length, “Toys in the Attic.”

Some of you may alread own WCAR’s second LP, “Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be.” It dropped Sept. 13, and has been a highly anticipated record the entire 2011 summer season. The band has released several tracks via Youtube, Twitter and their Facebook page over the past couple of months.

What better timing than this for the metal-core heroes to swing into our little neck of the woods. Their “I’m Alive” tour roars into Fargo’s Venue at The Hub, Sept. 18. Sharing the stage with WCAR is: Of Mice & Men, Miss May I, Texas In July and Close To Home. Close To Home frontman, Josh Wells, is also featured on two of the tracks from WCAR’s “Understanding What We’ve Grown To Be.” Knowing this should certainly provide an extra goose bump (or three) for anyone planning to attend.

This is an all ages concert and doors open at 6 p.m. There are a couple of ways you can obtain tickets. One way, the most expensive way, would be to wait until the night of, and buy them at the door for $19. Or, you could always play it frugal by purchasing them in advance for $17. Tickets are available at 300 Broadway in Fargo from noon to 6 p.m., online at http://www.tickets300.com, or by charge over the phone by calling 701-205-3182.

If you’re a listener of the local, non-profit radio station, Dive 95.9 FM, perhaps you’ve already won yourself some tickets. Ben Larson, owner and operator of Dive, has been giving them away all this week. He might be giving some away right now. Hint.

I had an opportunity to speak with Ben about the upcoming WCAR show. His enthusiasm was made clear.

“I had a chance to see We Came As Romans last year in Minneapolis and the show was sold out and packed to the gills… This should be a great show with lots of kids and tons of energy,” he said.

He also voiced his concern over the lack of support from the mainstream toward optimism and humanity in music.

“It is sad to see a band that has such a positive effect on teens not given the time of day on the major media. It seems that big media would rather support bands with messages of suicide, drugs, and objectification of women. The question is, don’t you think that kids these day have enough problems growing up with peer pressures and such that they just might not need to get it from bands and radio as well?”

It does bring into question the amount of actual harm “hit” music may be having on influential personalities. It’s not exactly a stretch of a statement to say that the catchiest, most popular songs often do glorify vulgarity. Isn’t it strange that the bands who appear to forward the most rage are the ones with the most hope oriented, uplifting, thoughtfully emotional poetry for lyrics? It sure would come as a surprise to the majority of the population who would rather their teen listen to Y94 and learn how to “Do the Helen Keller, and talk with your hips” than a group of real musicians with real talent tackle real world issues simply because the messages of encouragement are hidden behind growls and screams.

This piece of journalism is in promotion of the upcoming We Came As Romans concert. But, keeping with their theme, it’s also in promotion of the desperate state of society and the fact that the children are their own future. So, to any parents who may be reading this, I only want you to consider that all that glitters is indeed not gold. Sometimes, the most beauty is found in the ugliest looking places. The fact is, Justin Bieber is not the next John Lennon. But, to at least a small handful of open-minded youth, someone out there in the heavy metal community might be. In fact, I believe there are many.

Maybe I’m a dreamer, but ya know what? I’ll bet I’m not the only one.

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If You Go:

Who: We Came As Romans, Of Mice & Men, Miss May I, Texas In July, Closer To Home.
Where: The Venue in The Hub, Fargo, ND
When: Doors open at 6:00 pm on Sunday, September 18th, 2011
Info: All Ages. For tickets go to 300 Broadway in Fargo, ND between the hours of 12:000 noon and 6:00 pm (cash only) or go online at http://www.tickets300.com or call 701-205-3182.