X - SINNER
This time we'll take a look at the melodic metal band X-Sinner. I got in touch with the bassplayer Rob Kneip and asked him some questions about X-Sinners past, present and future. (This interview can also be found in Noizegate)
Website: www.x-sinner.comTo start with would you like to tell us about who you are and how it all began with the band: X-Sinner was started by Greg Bishop in the mid 1980's. X-Sinner was started because we wanted to rock just as good as the secular bands of the time period but glory to God at the same time.
We just thought that the name X-Sinner was a cool name. We wanted a name that represented God but also sounded cool. What happened to your old singer David Robbins? Do have any contact or know what he is doing now? David was fired from the band due to personality conflicts. I don't know where he is now but if you happen to find out I would love to talk to him. Tell me some of the best memories with the band: There are a lot of good memories. I think that the Get It tour had the best memories for me. Meeting people, playing and having a great time. Some of the worst memories: Same as previous answer. Gigs cancelling, being hungry, broke and discriminated against by people assuming things about you. After the Peace Treaty album there were many years when I didn't hear anything about the band. Did you totally disbanded or what happened? We were always together but the music scene was changing and no one wanted to hear our style of music anymore, they wanted Nirvana. For a short while I played with Paul, the original singer for the band Guardian. Recently you released the Loud and Proud cd and now you seem to be back again in full force. Tell me about it: We have always wanted to continue playing but since we all have families we needed to continue to hold on to our jobs, which kept us from touring. Now Greg is living in Australia, Rex lives in California and I live in Las Vegas. We are writing new songs and mailing them to each other where we will each finish recording our own parts. If we have the opportunity to get a good tour going we will arrange to take off work and tour because we all miss playing live.
How did your new release Loud & Proud came about : We had songs that never made it to a third X-Sinner album that we wanted to release. We also had pre-production versions of several well known X-Sinner songs that we thought people would enjoy to listen to. Do you have any new material on the way? Yes… You spoke about that you are writing new material. In what direction will you go musically compared to your previous albums? Will it be more like the sound on Get It or Peace Treaty or a combination or? We were not happy with the production of Peace Treaty. It was way too soft sounding. The songs that are written now are a mixture of Get It and Peace Treaty.
Your first album Get It is by many, me included considered as a metal classic. Do you have any plans to rerelease it? I love the Get It album! We don't control if it get's rereleased so I can not answer that question. What do you see as your mission, what do you want to accomplish with X-Sinner? We want to provide great music with a message that God would approve of, meaning that weather we are talking about God in our songs or something else we need to make sure that the message we get across is the same sort of message that Jesus would have said if he were right next to us. We believe that our mission in life is to evangelize and teach the people just as Jesus has done. This is everyone's mission no matter what sort of talent they do or do not have. How have nonchristians reacted to your christian message? The don't seem to mind the lyrics. I think that they are mostly listening to the music. Many people don't believe in God because they can't see Him. What would you like to say to them? It's all about faith. If I am right and I live a life that God would approve of then I get to go to heaven. If I am wrong about God then I sacrificed my life for nothing. On the other hand if God exist (which we believe that he does) then I don't even want to think about what would happen to me when I die if I'm not living as God intended me to do. What's your future plans, any tours planned?
At this time there are no tours planned. I need to get back surgery due to injuries that I sustained in a car accident. We would need a few months to put a tour together since we are now living in different areas. Do you have anything you would like to say to our readers. Thanks so much for being our fans and listening to our music. We hope to see you all soon. Thanks for the interview Rob. I'm really excited to see you back again, you have been greatly missed! I wish you good luck in the future. May God continue to bless and use X-Sinner in a mighty way.
In His Service
This is X-Sinners first and classic album. Soundwise it's reminding of AC/DC, but X-Sinner is both faster and heavier in all ways. Tune after tune just shreds with melodic hooks, crunchy guitars and that megacool raspy voice! If you are looking for a christian alternative to AC/DC this is the perfect choice. Personal fave's on the album are Steppin' on Toes and No Way In. If you like melodic hardrock/metal you will love this. If you like AC/DC you will love this. Can't go wrong with this release, it's truly a classic, one of those albums that you just don't wanna miss. So do yourself a favour and go and Get It or you will regret it!
It's hard to follow up a classic. That's a problem X-Sinner had to face when they recorded this album. Another thing they had to deal with was a new singer, since David Robbins had quit the band. The new singer is Rex Scott. (Rex Scott sang in the band Zion for those of you that remember). I prefer David's voice before Rex Scott's, even though Rex has a good raspy voice as well. The production on this album is too soft sounding and unfortunately don't got the crunch Get it had. The tempo is also slower than Get It but you can still feel their characteristic moving AC/DC-influenced sound. With this said, this is still definately an album worth checking out. Cause what you get here are some great melodic metal tunes with hooks that directly goes to your head and won't let you go. My fave's are Hold On, You Got Me and All I Need. Another personal fave with a heartgripping message is the anti-suicide tune Don't Go. The lyrics goes like this: "The time was spent together was truly heaven sent. But the price of loneliness is one that's overspent. I know life can hurt you, I know that life can make you wanna die. But the truth can set you free. All you have to do is ask and believe."You got to hear this tune and feel the emotion in it. It really touches your heart for those that take their lives as well as their relatives and friends who is left with a great void. If you are struggling with suicide thoughts right now, I just want to tell you that no matter what you face and how bad your situation is God can always help you out, just call on his name and He WILL help you. Suicide is NEVER a solution, it only causes pain and misery. All in all I like this album and I recommend it, even though it's not in the caliber of Get It. Nonetheless, this is definately an album worth checking out and I'll give it a 3+ rating.
X-Sinner is back again! After many years break the melodic headbangers in X-Sinner are now back again with a new album. The cd is a special edition limited to only 1300 copies. It contains both unreleased tunes and different versions of album tunes from their two earlier albums. The production is good. Their nice groovy sound is immediately recognized and makes me think about the time when their classic album Get It was released. A classic already then and it still is. If you haven't heard X-Sinner before they sound like a christian AC/DC, but heavier and with more speed and crunch. Both singers, especially David Robbins have a great raspy voice. All in all this cd is not really in league with Get It (should have been more speedy tunes), but it's definately a must have to all fans of X-Sinner. And since it's limited to only 1300 copies you better get it quick before they are all gone...
Back To Featured Band Main Page© Johannes Jonsson 1997-2001 e-mail: johannes@metalforjesus.org |
I've always been curious about your name, how come you choosed X-Sinner as your band name?
