Pedro the Lion roars into controversy

By: Chris Ward

Posted: 8/23/02

With everything else going on in the world, it’s strange that a cloud of controversy would hover over a band like Pedro the Lion. Since Seattle-native David Bazan’s small start in 1996 to 1998’s “It’s Hard to Find a Friend,” (which, that year, “Rolling Stone” named as one of the “Top 10 records you didn’t hear”), the lead vocalist and songwriter’s brand of honest lyrics, drowsy vocals and undeniably catchy, stripped down melodies have always been thought-provoking, softly spoken, and perfectly constructed.

But controversial? As an artist, and as a person, Pedro the Lion has always been as gentle as a lamb.

However, Bazan’s latest record, “Control,” explores darker themes of infidelity, spousal murder and corporate scum via several characters in a running, almost cinematic, storyline. On the “Control” B-side, “Backwoods Nation,” he sings darkly and sardonically, “Calling all frat boys to trade in their hazings/Their keggers and cocaine/And casual date raping.” And yet another verse uses, well, “the F-word.”

These lyrics and themes are hardly offensive in a world where artists like Eminem rule the charts, but I’ve neglected to mention one important thing. David Bazan is a devout Christian and Pedro the Lion is a Christian act.
For the past two years at the Christian-based Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, Ill., attended by some 25,000 people, Pedro the Lion has always played to sizable crowds of devoted fans on its smaller stages. This summer, however, Bazan was suddenly thrust into headliner status at the festival because of “Control” (which broke the CMJ top 5) and the help of his label (indie-giants Jade Tree). Pedro would now be playing “Main Stage” before thousands — on the same stage P.O.D, Hammer (yes, that Hammer) and Sixpence None the Richer have graced in years past.

Sitting in his trailer after a sound check, Bazan is all too aware of the kind of weight on his shoulders for tonight’s performance and the unspoken but implied pressure to not play certain songs (one new song likens an adulterous act to “a symphony of misery and cum”).

EDGE: It must be hard because Pedro the Lion rides the line between “Christian music” and secular music. So when you say “Most everything turns to shit/ … Rejoice,” on “Control,” what kind of reactions do you get from Christian fans, and what kind of responsibility do you think you have when it comes to that?

David Bazan: Well, there definitely are some people who disagree with my use of that word, and some of the other subject matter on the record, thinking it’s inappropriate or somehow that I’m not living up to my responsibility as a, well, whatever place I have in Christian music. Some people at shows have come up and said, ‘Hey I don’t understand, like, what’s going on with you,” and then, you know, just a lot of hearsay — people saying, “Well obviously that guy’s not Christian,” because a Christian wouldn’t really swear on their record. But then there are a lot of other people who come up, like at this festival, who are obviously Christian, and just say they really appreciate what I’m doing because they feel like it’s real and it speaks to them on a level that is really compelling.
EDGE: So you think they “get it” in a different sense?

DB: Well, kind of in the way I do, I guess, and (they) have a similar concept of religion that I do, and that’s pleasant to me. And as far as my responsibility goes, I mean, I really believe contrary to the theory of most Christian music, and my responsibility is that of an artist. My responsibility is that of the creative impulse, and making sure I don’t alter it in a really unnatural way, and not to let a lot of social pressures alter what is going to most naturally come out. There is something really valuable in the expression of a person’s personality when it’s as pure, and sort of un-filtrated as possible. I think that ultimately, our interaction with culture will enrich culture because there is genuineness and an honesty that is really important.

EDGE: Have you had any pressure to not perform some of the songs on “Control” tonight?

DB: No one’s told me that I can’t play certain things. I guess I could take the route of creating controversy, but I’m not really interested in doing that because, at a certain level, I know there are going to be some Christians that just won’t be able to get down with what I’m doing. I want to present (the music) in the best light possible, so that they might understand “well, this guy’s not a jerk,” or whatever, and that “there’s possibly something legitimate going on here that I didn’t give a chance, because on the surface it was offensive to me.”

During that night’s show, Pedro the Lion played a decidedly short, but powerful set with mostly old favorites and barely any new material. And as always, a Q & A session between Bazan and the crowd broke out between songs, with fans raising their hands and yelling out questions to a vulnerable, and somewhat sheepish, Bazan. Soon after, Bazan launched into “Indian Summer,” from “Control.” You could feel the tension in the air at the Christian event, as Bazan approached a questionable lyric (“All the experts say you ought to start them young/That way they’ll naturally love the taste of corporate cum”) in his anti-corporate anthem. Arriving at the word in question, Bazan simply slurred over it, flashed a sheepish grin and continued the song as the crowd applauded the humor of the situation. And as the show ended and the sun was setting behind the crowd over the western hills, fans, Christians, non-fans and non-Christians alike left content, wondering what all the fuss was about in the first place.