The Afters

Here is an interesting interview (part 1) with new (well, sort of new) CCM buzz band, The Afters. I had the chance to meet their frontman, Josh, after a show one time and he seemed very gracious and genuine. I like these guys. Here is an excerpt:

What’s the difference between being a “Christian band” and a band comprised of Christians?

BW: When I hear the term “Christian band,” that means propaganda. Someone has an agenda behind every lyric that they write. In a band comprised of Christians, they write about what they know and about what they believe and what’s important to them; not necessarily every song is going to be a “come to Jesus song.” There is a place for both of those things. Youth groups want their bands to have those (songs), and MTV doesn’t.

JH: It’s a question that hasn’t been defined. Because when you go into a store to purchase music you’re going to find a Christian music section, but it doesn’t just encompass praise music (but) … it is categorized by faith. I would hope that music would be no different than anything else for a Christian. You’re going to do it for the glory of God, because it’s important to you just like any other part of your life. We want to make music for everyone, not just Christians. We don’t want our music to be judged by our faith. We don’t want people to give us merit because of our faith or to discount us because of our faith. We want people to look and judge the music on its own.