Calibretto 13

Enter the Danger Brigade (2000)

thefirstfive

I need to come out… I'm a Christian. I know thats not punk, because punks all believe that God's not cool. I mean bad religion doesn't believe in God! There are times where i hate saying i'm a christian though because people use God for there own gain. (Isn't it funny? Bush bashes terrorists for their holy war. Then he says that God is on our side in this war. Hmmm…)

That said this is a christian cd. But its a christian cd for Christians who sick of the church. Sick of watching people act like saints on sunday, then judging others through out the rest of the week. Singing about Gods love, but kicking homosexuals to the curb. Looking down on single moms. This is the church of the scum of the earth, and if you're in a suit you're over dressed. I first saw Calibretto play with Slick Shoes two years ago. I expected the same old boring Tooth and Nail poppunk that was all they were signing at the time. When the band took to the stage and the lead singer was holding an acoustic guitar I shrank back, fearing I would have to listen to some whinny guy whine about God. With their first strum and ripping drum roll, i knew i had found something. Calibretto is best described as if This Bike is Pipe Bomb and Dead Milkmen were christian. And bitter… really bitter. After their set i picked up their album and talked to the lead singer for during the next two bands. He talked about his tattoos ( Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, strange for a christian band huh?) Comics, and Gore movies. At that point he was the only person i had met who had seen Dead Alive. It was great.

This album is one of the few albums i own that sounds just as good as the bands live show. The lyrics are extreamly dark at times, as shown by "Good Bye Cruel World," about murder of innocents.

"Old Man Thorn, he was good,
He was just misunderstood.
He never took nobody's life,
So how come his ended in strife?
They came in one gloomy night,
Came with the darkness, stole the light.
They took him out back and bashed his head.
One month later he was found dead.
Is there anybody out there?
Is there anybody listening?
If there's a God, oh, could You hear Him?
Was he screaming out in vain?
Did You even know his name?
Julie was a sweet little girl,
Said a prayer before every meal.
So how come Father was so bad?
She couldn't even call him Dad.
He made her live her life in pain,
Took her trust, made her insane.
Where were You when he broke her down?"

Every christian gets asked things like this all the time, and we all have to deal with our own feeling toward god when crap like this happens. The town is probably best set by the track "Christian Hate Mail" about the hypocrites in the church who say that anyone who doesn't agree with EVERYTHING they say isn't a really christian. "I'm sure the fathers proud of the way you treat your brother, its sad to say the christian way is beating up each other." These guys proved to be a little too much for tooth and nail; they were dropped recently because they wanted to record an album of songs based on slasher flicks. (It's coming out this summer on a new label, I cant remember which one.) These guys are amazing. Its rare that you find a band of christians who will openly attack their own faith to heal a conviction.