Copious Notes

Derek Webb says it was ­inevitable that he’d make Stockholm Syndrome.

Derek Webb.

“I always knew I would make this record,” Webb says. “I always knew there would come a point where I would no longer be able to live my life and be friends with the people I’m friends with in the community I am in and avoid certain topics. Specifically, some of the issues of sexuality that are on the record are paramount for me because there is this contradiction in my life.”

Webb says his best friend is gay. But, as a Christian, he is part of a community not known for being kind to gay and lesbian people.

Webb was particularly struck by a statistic in the book UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity … and Why It Matters. The book said that in a three-year survey of non-Christian 16- to 29-year-olds by the Barna Group, 91 percent of the respondents said present-day Christians could be described as “anti-homosexual.”

“I cannot tell you how much that breaks my heart,” Webb said, “if for no other reason than just generally, a community of people who claim to follow Jesus should not be known primarily for what they hate and what they’re against. But rather, we should be known for what we’re for, which should be love and compassion, ­humility.”

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Review: Derek Webb — Stockholm Syndrome

Derek Webb’s latest album has stirred up as a lot of controversy, primarily due to the presence of one choice four-letter word. Some have accused Webb of invoking the expletive to get attention and make people listen to his album.

If so, fine, because Webb’s Stockholm Syndrome is as challenging and thought provoking as any Christian album in recent memory. It is most definitely an adult album in that it tackles numerous issues that need be discussed with more than talking points, and musically it’s Webb’s most diverse and nuanced effort. The topics, to name a few,  include government, firearms, commercial spirituality, social justice, and homosexuality — specifically, how some Christians treat people who are gay.

The last point is the one attracting all the attention.

The big song in question is What Matters More, in which Webb takes on Christians who protest homosexuality while ignoring world hunger and disease. Toward the end of the song, he sings:

Meanwhile we sit just like we don’t give a —-
About 50,000 people who are dyin’ today

It’s reminiscent of something evangelist Tony Campolo has said on more than one occasion: “I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a —-. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said —- than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.”

In both cases, they’re challenging, convicting statements.

It’s something Webb, as a solo artist, has based much of his career on: confronting the conventional notions of conservative, evangelical Christianity.

On Stockholm Syndrome, he does that better than he ever has before.

Freddie, Please takes on Fred Phelps, the Kansas man who has staged protests against homosexuality at Churches and funerals. Webb sings from the perspective of Jesus, asking, “How could you tell me you love me, when you hate me?,” and “Freddie can’t you see, brother, you’re the one who’s queer?”

Webb soft-sells the lyrics in the form of a doo-wop ballad, one of several sonic turns that take Stockholm Syndrome far beyond a singer-songwriter protest album. There’s the swirl of The Spirit vs. The Kick Drum, an indictment of purely emotional, vapid faith, the dancy Jena & Jimmy that’s as seductive as the drunken one-night-stand it describes, and moments the album gears down to a simple tune and a naked voice — which is the extent of the nudity on this album — that stops listeners in their tracks.

Far beyond challenging listeners with his lyrics, Webb challenged himself as a musician.

It is too bad INO Records was reluctant to release this record and actually will not release it in its entirety. The disc, minus What Matters More, comes out in stores Sept. 1. But listeners who pre-order through Webb’s site can get an immediate digital download of the complete album.

If your fingers do the walking, prepare to give the album some time, because once Derek Webb has your attention, he won’t let go.

Note: Derek Webb has two upcoming performances in Kentucky, Louisville Sept. 17 and Lexington’s Dame Oct. 4.

Guitarist Chris Clonts, guitarist and vocalist TJ Harris, drummer Josh Oliver, and guitarist Brandon Mills are Decyfer Down.

Review: Decyfer Down –Crash

You know that guitar riff, the one with a grinding force that makes you reach for the dial (button, lever, touch screen, whatever) and crank it up? There are a bunch of those on Decyfer Down’s latest, Crash, a healthy serving of bluesy power rock imbued with enough pathos to make it a really compelling listen.

At first blush, this sounds like it may be bordering on metalcore a la Underoath, but the disc really owes much more to the prototype metal of 1970s and ’80s AOR staples with just a little more grit and a little less sheen. In Christian rock, Decyfer’s latest falls somewhere between the glossy bombast of Skillet and denseness of Underoath. But this album will do a lot to draw the band out of comparison land and up to a star of its own. That’s an appropriate reward for years burning up the highways playing opening slots and small venues.

That experience has given the band a strong sense of purpose and vivid songcraft best shown on songs like Fading, an accelerating song about addiction and peer pressure. Over those years, vocalist TJ Harris and guitarists Brandon Mills and Chris Clonts have tuned into one another to give their precedented sound a distinctive vibe. When Decyfer Down is firmly established as a headliner, this will be seen as the album that made it happen.

• Beliefnet’s Joanne Brokaw reports Decyfer drummer Josh Oliver’s wife has been diagnosed with lymphoma and is undergoing chemotherapy treatments.

Where’s the new Derek Webb album?

Derek Webb.

New Derek Webb albums don’t exactly fire up the charts the way, say, something from Michael W. Smith or TobyMac does. But Webb has a following — this blog included — that has enjoyed his thoughtful and challenging music. And we were supposed to be hearing a new album from Webb today. But Stockholm Syndrome has not appeared yet due to a disagreement between Webb and his distribution label, INO Records — or has it? Read on.

In an e-mail to fans, May 12, Webb wrote:

. . . we’re in a situation that has gotten a little out of control and it’s time to fill you in. as some of you may know, i’ve been working for months on my new record, ’stockholm syndrome’, which i’ve recently finished and turned in to the record label. they’ve been very supportive over the years, but this time we didn’t get the response we expected. it seems i’ve finally found the line beyond which my label can support me, and apparently i’ve crossed it.

i consider this my most important record and am adamant about all of you hearing it . . . but at this point we’re not sure when the record will come out and in what form. the majority of the controversy is surrounding one song, which i consider to be among the most important songs on the record. so we’ve decided it’s an appropriate time to break the rules.

but because of various legal/publishing issues we’re having to be rather careful with how we do what we’re going to do next. that’s really all i can say for now and i’ve probably said too much.

Further coverage suggests Webb’s content has gotten a bit too challenging and/or a four-letter word starting with “s” are at issue. Patrolmag’s CCM patrol reports that there is one song in particular on the album in which Webb addresses Christians’ treatment of homosexuals, and he uses the word, a euphemism for excrement. Webb has been open about using that specific word in the campaign for his new cause, digging latrines in Africa to help stem the spread of waterborne disease. Sojourner’s magazine has a real interesting article on this. (ADVISORY: Both the Patrolmag and Sojourner’s links contain the word in question.)

On his Twitter feed, Webb has written, “the record has a lot to do with race and sexuality,” and an e-mail dated today says, “our trouble with the label over content is very real, and not as simple as one word.”

The note, posted at Webb’s website, contains a coded message: you enter the letters after each “_” and get a phrase. Enter that phrase as a .com web address, and you will get instructions on what to do next. Unfortunately, it looks like something you can only do in Nashville.

Fight? Saavy marketing? Both? Don’t know. Wish I didn’t live three hours from Nashville. I want a latte.