CRASHDOG is a very cool band out of Chicago, Illinois that has found a somewhat permanant residence in my beat up, little tape player. They skillfully harmonize their own aggressive, high energy style of music with the perfect message of Christ and His teachings along with a no nonsense approach to the world's sometimes distorted views and life in general. The band's vocalist, Spike Nard, graciously agreed to this interview and this is how it went.
REIGN: How was CRASHDOG formed?
SPIKE: That's a good question. It was about six years ago that we started... actually, we've all been living at Jesus People (J.P.U.S.A.) for nine years plus... each one of us members. We all came to the community just as an outreach of one way or another. After two or three years, after I was in the community, Glenn Kaiser of REZ BAND said, 'Hey... you should start a band'. I really wasn't interested at the time but through different events I started realizing that it could be used as a real ministry tool and so I decided to figure out how to get one started. I didn't have any musical talent. I didn't know what I was doing in the least. I was friends with Greg, the drummer, and I was friends with all the guys in the band and I knew they all had some musical background. So I asked them if we could work together and they were pumped on it. That's pretty much how it got formed and it's only through the Lord that we stayed together for six years... definately. Our main focus is definately ministry and that's the main reason we keep on doing what we do. We're not really interested at all in music for music's sake.
Where did the name CRASHDOG come from?
It came from about ten minutes before our first gig. We had not yet decided on a name for our band and so we finally just came to the conclusion... actually, we had a list of about thirty names that each one of us liked but we were too stubborn to give into each others ideas. One of our pastors just picked up the name CRASHDOG and thought that described our music best. It absolutely means nothing. It's probably just a good descriptive word for our music style or whatever. I don't know what you'd want to call it... but that's what it is.
Do you ever get flack from people saying that you're a punk band and therefore you can't possibly be Christians?
Yeah... we get people who say that every once in a while but we're really solid in the Lord and solid in the ministry that we're doing... and we do see the fruit from it so much that when people say that it's kinda' like them yelling at us that the earth is flat or that they never landed on the moon or the holocaust never happened. It's so absurd when they say that to us that it really just goes right over our heads... rolls right off our backs so we're not reallt affected by it much.
Who are your musical influences?
That's a question that we get asked all the time and that's probably a question we never answer the way that people want us to. We really don't know who our musical influences are. We never really sat down and said, 'This is who I like' or 'This is who we model our band after'. Each one of guys comes from a very different musical background and we all have different musical tastes... very much so. We're influenced from a very wide spectrum of people. Greg (Jaques) may take his drum sound from a band that doesn't even sound like us And Brian (Grover) the same with his bass and Andrew (Mandell) his guitar. We are all influenced by different bands.
Are your shows made up moreof Christians or non Christians?
It depends on the promoter that promotes the show. Sometimes they bring us into a church where the majority of the people are Christians... youth groups and everything. A lot of these kids are either preacher's kids or kids who've just grown up in the church and really don't know where to stand with the Lord. So we look at that as a valid ministry to minister to them. Other times we're brought into bars where a lot of these people aren't Christians and are either very turned off by Christianity or have never even heard the word at all. We try to be as sensative as possible to each situation... really pray before each concert that the Lord really speak. He knows everyone's heart there and He'd really speak to them through us.
What's the difference between who you are on stage and who YOU are?
I am who I am and I get up on stage and really try to be as honest as possible with my life and try to be transparent. I want people to know that when I get up there... they're not seeing some guy who's trying to throw up a front but just who he is. Some people like that and some people don't like that. You can't please everyone at the same time but honesty is the best policy... so I just figure you've just gotta be who you really are and hopefully the Lord will bless that.
Do you feel that Christian music is a viable force in evangelism?
I feel that music itself is a gift from God. It's a vent that the Lord created for us to express emotions. On the musical side... God gave us the musical instruments and the ability to play them so that we can express our feelings and emotions that come from inside. Then... as a listener... I think God created music so that we can enjoy. We can relate to musicians feelings and emotions. Their songs can lift us up spiritually and mentally and then on the other side to... they can also tear us apart if it's not music that really does glorify the Lord. I do feel that it's a powerful force and I think that anytime that you have something that's that powerful and you use it to glorify God... Yes, it's a great force for evangelism in the sense that... I think that nowadays everyone's out there with their message... the hindus and the new agers and the nazis. Everyone's out there trying to get their point across and the neat thing about music is... I think it's the thing that really won me over to starting a band. A couple of times, before I joined the band, I got a chance to get up and share the gospel at different secular concerts and stuff like that and I only got a chance to speak for like thirty seconds but then I realized... wow... if I had a band I could be up here for forty minutes. I think it gives you the chance to get your message across and also have people really enjoy... be blessed with some jams.
What's in the future for CRASHDOG?
I don't have the slightest. One day at a time... you know. The bible says, 'Do not boast about tomorrow' (Proverbs 27:1) We are definately just going to try to wake up tomorrow and serve God with a full heart and if that means that CRASHDOG quits... if God asks us to do something different down the road... mission fields or anything lie that... then that's fine for us. I think that the future for CRASHDOG, hopefully, is that all four of us guys are going to continually follow the Lord and where ever He leads us. That may mean that CRASHDOG may be around for twenty years or one more year... I don't know. The real reason for the band is to really serve the Lord and it's out of obedience that the band is around so if the Lord wanted it to dissolve we would be obedient to Him and dissolve it.
Source: http://www.geocities.com/eternal_reign_magazine/crashdog.html