for the News-Tribune
KEYSER — The Pillars Confessions Tour is coming to Keyser on Thursday, Oct. 15, with special guests KJ 52, Run Kid Run and 7eventh Time Down.
This event takes place at Believers Fellowship at 7 p.m.
If you were in a genre-leading rock band that had sold nearly one million albums, tallied 10 No. 1 radio singles, 13 additional top five hits, a Grammy nomination, four Dove Awards and headlined nine national tours on your way to performing for three million people, what would you change about your band's approach?
That's easy: Absolutely nothing. Yeah?
But you're not Rob Beckley, founding front man and leader of Christian music's premier alt-metal-come-hard-alternative band. He knows change has played a recurring and pivotal role in Pillar's success since its formation. For starters, consider the five former members who have come and gone during this impressive run, Pillar's continually evolving post-grunge sound, or even the ease with which the band continues to move between the Christian and general markets.
And now comes “Confessions,” the Essential Records act's sixth studio album.
Change may have been a key ingredient before, but this time around, it was a bonafide litmus test. First up, the recent additions of bassist Rich Gilliland (KJ-52, Brandon Heath) and drummer Taylor Carroll (After Edmund) to Pillar's lineup.
“Every single step of the way over the past 12 years, God has always put the right people in place for Pillar to take a huge step forward,” affirms Beckley.
“And we can already tell this time is no different. In the past, we have had great bass players and drummers, but no one ever talked about our rhythm section as a unit.”
That was then. As he explains, “We're still a guitar-driven band, but now, for the first time, we have a tight rhythm section with a serious groove. Musicianwise, this is the strongest lineup we've ever had.” And both on the road and “Confessions,” it shows.
While the band's previous album, 2008's “For the Love of the Game,” was “100 percent old-school Pillar,” Confessions” is the kind of record that will make CHR (contemporary hit radio) listeners fans of hard music. The 11-track disc, which features songs ranging from muscular, guitar-driven gut rock to beautiful, orchestral ballads, gives Pillar unprecedented commercial appeal.
“Confessions” may be musically intense and layered, but melody is king. Beckley offers further insight concerning the album's production.
“As a producer, Graves is not only a master of the big picture, he's a formidable guitar player himself, extremely good with melodies, and as deliberate as you can get with songwriting,” he explains.
“He pushed us places we never would have heard us going.”
On an album completely loaded with potential CHR radio singles, yet another must-highlight is Pillar's cover of Collective Soul's modern classic “Shine.” Whereas the original 1994 No. 1 smash was just a demo recorded on a 4-tracks complete with simplistic programmed drums, Pillar's version increases the tempo and features beefed up production with full instrumentation. While most of the song's basic arrangement is loyal to the original, Pillar's take features both a shredding guitar solo written and deftly performed by Henson and
an artful scream-lyric Beckley tags on as his exclamation near the song's conclusion.
Lyrically, Pillar's new album picks up where the profound “Confessions Tour” left off.
“Every song on this record could be broken down to 'If you just confess,'" says Beckley. “Confess your secrets.”
Under this umbrella, recurring themes on “Confessions” include unity, commitment and perseverance. Consider the album's lead single to CHR radio, “Secrets and Regrets.”
Beckley, himself, put it best when he said, “If there was a title track, this would be it.” Thick on guitars and even thicker on melody, “Secrets and Regrets” emotively confronts the destructive cycle of hiding secret sins and the toll it takes keeping those secrets.
Pillar simultaneously slows things down and turns the beauty factor up to ten with the genuinely moving, symphonic rock ballad, “Will You Be There.”
The song's multi-layered lyrics were born with a vulnerable, remorseful chorus Henson wrote for his wife. From there, Beckley composed a relational song about being committed to one another through life's mistakes and hardships while, at the same time, grasping to comprehend God”s unshakeable love for each of His children.
For the up-tempo active rock track, “Whatever It Takes,” meanwhile, Beckley reflected on the extremely determined way he pursued his wife relationally while they were dating. Comparing a man's feeble efforts to pursue a woman of his dreams with the way God pursues each of us, Beckley concludes in a nutshell, “God will do whatever it takes to get you.”
Pillar, KJ 52, Run Kid Run and 7eventh Time Down Confessions Tour tickets are available at TacoDelMar at the Country Club Mall and Lindas Hallmark and Castiglias in Keyser.
Tickets are $12 group (15 or more) $14 advance and $16 at the door.
For more info or to reserve tickets, call 304 813 0949 or 301 268 6067.
Keyser, W.Va. —
