Shock value, pure and simple (and yet much less shocking than
our second choice of name). Seriously, there's so many people
in the Christian community who are really uptight about death
and dying; but the scriptures keep telling us that unless we metaphorically
die to ourselves and our sinful nature we'll never truly experience
life in Jesus Christ. This sort of death is certainly nothing
to be afraid of but rather the most liberating experience ever.
Again and again we're told to die! "Undertakers" (if
y'all excuse the play on words) are also "do-ers," undertaking
for the gospel.
There. Phew! Sorry you asked now?
You betcha! We regularly rip off many of our musical heroes.
Here's the short list: the Choir, Larry Norman, the Partridge
Family, the 77's, D.A., U2, REM, the Gaithers, the BEE GEEs and
the sound of flushing toilets.
I don't know. Ask someone who's made it.
I'll give you the short and sweet Reader's Digest version: three
of us were in the Christian Power Rock band with hair bigger than
Spike from Degrassi (and more hairspray too). Later we formed
Undertakers, making music we actually liked this time. We picked
up a guitar player who had just learned his third chord and proceeded
to lose 16 bass players (some to unnatural causes). One of the
guitar players got promoted to bass, forcing the other guitarist
to actually practise. Since then, the band has been sort of like
a marriage, without any of the good stuff (wink, wink). Lots
of fights, lots of tantrums, lots of whining -- and the rest is
rock'n roll history!
Then again, so are the scriptures. How many times in the Psalms
does David pound his fists against the walls and scream to the
heavens "God where are you? Do you even care about me?"
We were never promised an easy life -- far from it, in fact.
Perhaps it's ok, then, to sing with sincerity that yes I do struggle
with the Faith sometimes or don't feel like a Christian sometimes
or even (yes, I know this is hard to believe) sin sometimes.
This too needs to be balanced with the fact that we serve an awesome
God, worthy of all praise. There are a great deal of artists
who are quite content to sing only of the virtues of being a Christian
(these are also the artists who seem to sell truckloads of records).
To them and their listeners I say "Amen -- keep it up!"
but for others like myself who are touched by something slightly
different, the fact that I push God away and don't always seem
saved, there is music for use as well.
For those of you who do not understand where Undertakers are
coming from or why we sing some of the songs we do, know first
of all that we love Jesus Christ with all our hearts, though just
like anyone else we're trying to figure out this Christianity
thing with "fear and trembling." Mike Knott, a musician
who has made no secret of his personal struggles sums it up best:
"One thing I've found in my wrong ways, One thing I've learned
in my days...Christ saves." Amen.
What's the deal with the name?
Any musical influences?
Prove yourself! What have you done??
(This is beginning to feel like a job interview.) Ok, here's the
resume: we've been together since 1991 and have to date played
some 100 gigs. We've also had the good fortune of playing with
REZ Band, Randy Stonehill, Reckless Faith, Rhythm & News,
the 77's, the Prayer Chain and we just completed a month-long
tour across Canada with Hokus Pick. In 1992
we released an 11-song cassette called Dirge and proceeded
to sell a lot more copies than we expected to. Then, in 1994
we went to Nashville to record with Steve Hindalong of the Choir
and made a pretty darn fine CD (Stunned by the Fall).
It has since been picked up for
national distribution through CMC. We've had various cool magazine
reviews and lots of radio airplay as well.
(Wow! Looking at this I'm beginning to wonder why I haven't made
any money yet!)
How do you make it in the music biz?
How did four charismatic yet completely dissimilar individuals like yourselves get together?
Undertakers Cast of Characters
Brent Anderson can often be heard relating stories of what it
was like in "his day" when he had to walk to school
in seven feet of snow during the Great Depression, "but we
were happy then, dagnabit!" (He was also the subject of a
recent Hokus Pick hit entitled "Old Brent is Thirty,"
which he claimed was thoroughly inaccurate, though flattering.)
His unique vocal stylings can be attributed to years of neglect
and continually being punched in the throat. Often referred to
as the "hardest working man in show business," much
of the band's vision rests with him, which is unfortunate, as
he recently invested all the band's money in a pyramid scam.
Charges are still pending.
Greg "Eager Beaver" Gitzel was raised by poodles and
despite years of intense therapy has yet truly to recover. His
knowledge of the music 'biz' is truly extraordinary but unfortunately
he can't even tie his own shoelaces. Currently Greg is taking
on the bold step of trying to incorporate all four strings into his
bass playing (easier said than done, Mr. Smarty Pants). Recently
Greg has angered the other band members to no end as they can
no longer refer to him as "the single lonely loser"
but instead must call him by his given name. They have opted
instead not to call him at all.
Jonathan K. Gonyou is currently looking for a guitar instructor
to teach him about those tricky seventh chords and the pentatonic
scale (pent-a-whata?!?). Thankfully, he has yet to serve any
jail time despite being a Preacher's Kid. Jonathan is most commonly
asked two things: "what does the 'K' in your name stand for"
and "why are you such an idiot?" Neither question can
truly be answered. An avid actor, Jonathan is currently starring
in a CBC made-for-TV movie with Al Waxman and Bruno Gerussi.
Krishna Ray was born at a young age and since that day he's never
been quite the same. He's often referred to as the "musician"
in the group, which is ironic seeing as he's the drummer. He
realized his drumming potential as a young scamp beating up kids
on the playground. His shots to their abdomen had such a superlative
resonance and rhythm there was no mistaking his calling. After
his phenomenal success (and some shady record dealings), the rest
of the band started calling him "$*&%@~~|{}." "The
Artist Formerly Known as Krishna" is now a recluse who lives
with his wife and their 27 cats.
Something from the little mind of Jonathan K. Gonyou...
I was watching one of those Bill Gaither "Homecoming"
videos with my parents the other day (to date the Gaithers have
put together 97 of these videos) and as much as I appreciated
and was blessed by it, I couldn't help but notice how Gospel Music
has changed over the last few years. More and more bands are
telling us through their lyrics that as much as Christ has saved
them, Christianity is far from a lazy day at the beach. Now there
will be those who say Christian music should solely and entirely
extol the praises of God; perhaps they're right, but it would
be rather misleading, don't you think, if we spouted off to the
world that Christianity makes all your problems disappear? What
makes a band like the Choir sing "everybody wanders in the
forest" or the Lost Dogs sing "if there's no room for
doubt, there's no room for us" or the 77's sing "I am
a troubled man"? Well...I suppose because it's true. Far
from Happy-Happy-Joy-Joy music, eh?
Wanna comment? Wanna make a suggestion? Wanna send Jonathan a love letter?
You can contact the Undertakers at:
email: kray@supernet.ab.ca