Showbread

Showbread
Background information
Origin	Guyton, Georgia, USA
Genres	Alternative CCM[1] Post-Hardcore[1]
Years active	1997 – present
Labels	Tooth & Nail(2006-Present) Solid State (2004-2006) Steel Roots Records (2003) Coastal Rock Productions (2000)
Associated acts	DIES Knife to Meet You The Thieves Guild The Epic T-bird The Wedding
Website	showbread.net
Members
Josh Dies Mike Jensen Patrick Porter Landon Ginnings
Former members
Matt Davis Ivory Mobley John Giddens
Notable instruments
Keytar

Showbread is an American rock band originating in Guyton, Georgia. They formed in 1997. The band has gone through numerous lineup changes since its formation but maintains its two founding members, Josh Dies and Patrick Porter. Dies being the primary songwriter and creative director behind Showbread, they have yet to change stylistically because of a difference in lineup. The band had two full time vocalists until Ivory Mobley's departure in 2007. Josh Dies is also the author of "The Spinal Cord Perception" and "The Insect". Showbread gained media attention when, in 2006, a fan made video for the song “Dead By Dawn” was featured on YouTube.^{[citation needed]} The video was seen by the band and posted on their own site, giving rise to controversy over Showbread's lyrical themes. According to former guitarist Matt Davis, the band's name comes from "a biblical reference that Jesus used to show how Christianity isn't so much about rules but about love." ^[2]

History

The band was formed in 1997 by Patrick Porter and Travis Riner. Their purpose was to create a praise and worship group fit to play Sunday mornings at the southern Baptist church they attended. They began to play "goth punk" music, and in turn, the church they attended was less than thrilled with the approach and told them to stop playing that form of music.^[3][4] Eventually, Showbread was left with only Patrick Porter, Josh Dies, and Ivory Mobley.^[5]

The band went through line-up changes, including the addition of Eddie Oritz as vocalist, and began playing local and regional shows, which garnered the attention of musicians in other Georgia based Christian rock bands. It was through these meetings that the additions of Mike Jensen (guitar), Matt Davis (guitar), and John Giddens (synthesizer) took place. Ortiz left the group in 2001 but does appear as vocalist, and is credited, on the independently produced and released record "The Dissonance of Discontent" and plays guitars on the album "Goodbye Is Forever", he returned briefly to tour and run merch for the band in 2004. With their new line-up, Showbread toured independent of management, booking agents, and record labels for two years before signing to Tooth & Nail / Solid State Records in 2004.

Showbread played at the Cornerstone Festival in summer of that year and quickly gained a strong following. In fall 2004, they released their debut album for Tooth & Nail Records, titled No Sir, Nihilism Is Not Practical. No Sir was produced by Sylvia Massy, who has also worked with Prince, Tool, and Johnny Cash.^[6]

Showbread's Age of Reptiles, was released on August 1, 2006. On this album, Showbread departed drastically from the spastic, screeching style of their previous albums, to a more alternative rock sound, while keeping with their trademark lyrical style and keytar.

Showbread announced on April 2, 2007, that Ivory Mobley would be leaving the band in May, his last show being Cornerstone Florida.[1] Ivory continues to be a close friend to the band and has even appeared on various songs for their records after his departure. Two months later, on July 13, 2007, they announced that they asked drummer Justin Oblinger to step down from the band. Oblinger was replaced by Ricky Holbrook, the former drummer of Our Heart's Hero. Soon after the release of Anorexia Nervosa and shortly before the proceeding "You Can't Save Yourself Tour", John "JG" Giddens, the keytar player, left the band to pursue other interests, and guitarist Matt Davis also left around this time, however Josh decided against announcing his departure.^[5] Matt Davis's guitar role was replaced by Landon Ginnings (formerly of The Wedding) for the tour and JG's by Garrett Holmes. Both members were released after they completed the tour, but returned in 2009.

Anorexia Nervosa

On March 4, 2007, Showbread posted on their official website that they would be writing a new record in the spring that they hope to record in the fall and release in 2008. On May 1, 2007, the band's blog [2] became home to bizarre videos and messages filled with codes and hidden messages leading to more clues and hidden messages about the band's new record. Fans worked together to connect the puzzle pieces that they believe coincide with the new album. Anorexia Nervosa was announced by the band to be released May 13, 2008. The "album" was released as two separate albums, one called Anorexia and the other Nervosa. Many of the songs on each album share the same names, although the sound is different for each album. They also come with a different story to be read along with the song. The story comes in the form of a booklet in each of the albums. There are time markers above each section of text in the booklet to inform the listener when to read that section during the album. The music often matches the tone of the story in the album booklet in order to create a true multi-sensory experience.

The Fear of God

On August 11, 2009, Showbread released their new album "The Fear of God". Recording began in April at RadioStar Studios in Weed, CA. Frontman Josh Dies has said in a recent interview, "This is a record we've wanted to make for a long time but in the past we've had so many opinions in the band that made it difficult. It's about energy, and passion, and aggresion. It has a punk rock spirit to it.. There are elements of all the Showbread styles involved, but put together in a new and interesting way... It isn't about trying to be anything but raw and just letting it all come out....."^[7]

The band will embark on an 8-week headlining tour called the "Nothing Matters Anymore Tour". Joining them will be Goodnight Caulfield and The Gallery ^{[disambiguation needed]}.

Musical and Lyrical Style

During the first half of the band's career, their trademark was the alternating vocals between Josh Dies and Ivory Mobley that included elements of screaming, yelling, and singing. Combined with their frenetic live shows, they were often labelled a spazz rock band. Additionally, they utilized a keytar between 2004 and 2008 while John Giddens was the synthesizer player. In keeping with their campaign for originality in the music scene, the band generally does not refer to their music as a particular genre; instead, they prefer the term "raw rock." Matt Davis, the band's former lead guitarist, stated, "No one ever knew what to say when people asked what style of music we were, so rather than come up with some hyphen filled moniker, we just started saying 'raw rock' and turned it into our campaign."^[8] Josh Dies also credits Ivory Mobley with the idea, stating "For the longest time we all used to live together and at some point like Ivory started saying raw all the time. Anytime something was good he’d go “that’s raw” and than like so it became to the point where we said raw for everything, anytime anything was great it was raw. At the same point everyone was asking us what we call our music and no one knew what to say, just uh I don’t know what we call our music, it’s rock."

Showbread's lyrics are often introspective and inspire many different interpretations from different listeners, sometimes using unusual things to draw analogies to larger topics. For instance, the song "A Llama Eats A Giraffe (And Vice Versa)", the lead track for No, Sir, Nihilism Is Not Practical, uses the two animals as symbols to represent conflicting views between Nihilism and Christianity, and how the two actually share similar ideologies. The lyrics in each album also contain similar symbolism, such as evisceration and gore in "No, Sir," and vomiting and reptiles in "Age of Reptiles."

Showbread uses metaphorical references to horror movies in their lyrics, as can be seen in the titles of some songs. For instance, "Welcome to Plainfield, Tobe Hooper" from No Sir, Nihilism Is Not Practical refers to American film director Tobe Hooper, famous for the film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Plainfield refers to the hometown of serial killer Ed Gein. The song "George Romero Will Be at Our Wedding" from Age of Reptiles is a reference to another American director, George Romero, famous for such films as Night of the Living Dead. In "Dead by Dawn" the entire song deals with the Evil Dead movies. Their metaphorical use of symbolism is not limited to their lyrics, as they use the same style in interviews.

When asked about other bands and their usage of the "Christian band" label, Porter responded "Some people are just trying to get around the stipulations that come from being a Christian band and some people that are Christians and in bands have their hearts right but they don’t want to be called a Christian band because that just is not what the band was called to do and it’s just something they're doing because they love it and they're doing the right thing. It’s just a different avenue that we’ve taken and some people don’t take that one."

Strange Traits

Showbread is known for giving ridiculous statements in the press and in interviews. Most interviews, regardless of purpose, vary from light hearted nonsense to outright absurdity, becoming serious only when answering questions dealing with their faith. They have made many absurd claims, ranging from the accusations that Blindside's members are vampire, werewolf, and zombie hunters,^[4] to accusations that Pillar's band members are made of grass clippings. Despite the nature of many of these statements, it appears they were meant to be taken in a light-hearted manner.^[9]

Very open with their Christianity, the group has even been known to point out that the only serious things they will say during their set are those that deal with their beliefs. Showbread also give whimsical names to their headlining tours like "Kings Of Krunk" and "To'...Fo' Sho'" and even reportedly suggested that their 2006 tour with the band Roses Are Red be titled "Dookie Eaters Anonymous," due to a re-occurring joke between vocalists Mobley and Porter.

They are known for wearing matching outfits when performing to promote their albums, such as red and black for "No Sir, Nihilism is not Practical" and black and green for "Age of Reptiles." And more recently Doctor and Nurse outfits for their more recent releases "Anorexia Nervosa."

Controversies

Despite their open statements concerning their faith, Showbread has endured intense criticism from some Christians who feel certain aspects of their music to be offensive and repugnant in terms of Christian morality.

In 2006, a fan made video for the song “Dead By Dawn” featured on YouTube was seen by the band and posted on their own site. In turn, this video was misinterpreted by some as an actual Showbread music video which brought attention to the subject matter and lyrics of “Dead By Dawn”. Certain Christian groups retaliated on web forums calling the band “satanic” and insisting that “the only reason these degenerates should be allowed in a church is if it is to get them saved”.^[10] The album, No Sir, Nihilism Is Not Practical, was even briefly pulled from some Christian music retailers in the wake of the backlash. However, upon further investigation of the accusations and those that made them, the album was restocked and the controversy dismissed. After a period of silence, on September 7, 2006 the band reposted (after their website crashed) a Statement on their site discussing the debate between Christian morality and secular media in defense of their music and the beliefs they stand for. From the Statement, Josh Porter concluded with:

"Showbread is a Christian band. As I tell you from the stage in dark musty concert venues each night, dressed in silly outfits, covered in sweat and in a tired voice. This means that we as a band believe in Jesus Christ, we believe the Bible to be the living word of God, we believe in love."

Despite their blatant evangelical and biblical messages, Showbread's albums "Anorexia" and "Nervosa" were banned from Christian retail outlets because of the overall "dark" nature of much of the story and scenes involving rape, animal cruelty and abortion.

In the late July/August 2009, not long before the release of The Fear of God, the band was the subject of controversy among certain Catholics who found the band's depiction of a pope on the album cover to be offensive. Josh Dies addressed these concerns on the band's Wordpress blog.

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (June 2008)

• The members of Showbread have created and maintained many slang words such as Raw (positive) and Shame (negative). Their catch-phrase "Raw Rock Kills" can sometimes be seen on the front head of their bass drum.
• Literary references are another common trait on Showbread records. Songs like "The Bell Jar", "Sampsa Meets Kafka", and "Naked Lunch" all reference well-known novels.
• Almost all of the songwriting (lyrically and musically) on Showbread's records are credited to singer Josh Dies. Exceptions include the song "Diary Of A Failure" from Goodbye Is Forever featuring music written by Mike Jensen, and "Girls Torture Guys Cause They Can" from The Dissonance Of Discontent which has lyrics and music written by Eddie Ortiz. On the same record, Ivory Mobley co-wrote the lyrics to a song called "Kaboom".
• Members of Showbread are also involved in the Horror Punk band Knife To Meet You.
• Vocalist Joshua Stephen Porter (aka Josh Dies) has published a novel entitled The Spinal Cord Perception.[3].
• Recently in a radio interview Josh confirmed that he and Reese Roper (Five Iron Frenzy) are currently involved in a project called The Thieves Guild

Band members

Current members

• Josh Dies- vocals, guitar
• Mike Jensen- guitar, back-up vocals
• Patrick Porter- bass guitar
• Landon Ginnings - guitar
• Garrett Holmes - synthesizer
• Drew Porter - drums

Former members

• Ricky Holbrook Drums (2007-2009)
• Matt Davis- guitar (2001-2008)
• John Giddens- keytar (2003-2008)
• Ivory "TAE" Mobley- vocals (1997-2007)
• Justin "Big O" Oblinger- drums (2006-2007)
• Marvin Reilly- drums (1997-2005)
• Eddie Ortiz- vocals and guitar (1997-2001)
• Chris Nunnaly- synthesizer (1997-2003)
• Travis Riner- guitar (1997-2001)
• Emmett Belagorska - vocals (1997)
• Casey Belagorska- vocals (1997)
• Davy Minor- bass (1997)

Discography

For full discography check Showbread discography

Studio albums

External links

• Official homepage
• Anorexia Nervosa Website
• Showbread Forum
• Showbread Fansite

References