As I sit down to write this Blog, TBP is about to embark on year #9! To our fans, current and future, we thank God for each one of you!
Before I dive in, let me say thanks so much for reading my Blog. This is the first of what I hope will be many. I look forward to sharing things I am passionate about and hope to bring a perspective that honors God and is encouraging and perhaps inspiring to many.
I remember when we launched The Blameless Project in October 2014. At first it was to put a band together and play some original music for one show. That show did happen. It was called "Get Ready 2015". We did the show on New Year's Eve 2014 at a local church. I think about 30 - 40 people came. We had a worship team come to open for us. They actually played and left before we went on. That's kind of a common thing at "Christian events". They played some familiar worship songs which everyone enjoyed, and it was great, but I was kind of scratching my head wondering why they didn't stick around. Today, it has become a familiar pattern. I may touch on that some more later to explain relevance. Ultimately, the show went well enough, and we found ourselves afterward asking, should we keep this going?
I remember being excited and nervous simultaneously when it was time to play our set. I hadn't done the "rock band" thing since college. Most of my time on stage with mic in hand and a band in support from college until this event was spent on the Worship platform at church every Sunday morning. I had gone from lead singer of rock bands in the 80's to a worship leader in the Christian Church. Why in the world am I fronting a rock band again? The answer is pretty simple. In 2012, I was sitting in church taking notes during service. I was totally into the message as Pastor was preaching about how God sees us, the meaning of Blameless (that will be discussed in another Blog), and that God made us who we are, so that's who we should be! I have been a song writer for most of my life, at least since my high school years. Once I became a worship leader, I tried to emulate the best-known worship leaders in the songs I would write. It seemed however that every song I would write ended up sounding like a rock song. I would pray to God and ask him to help me write songs that sounded like the worship song writers I wanted to emulate. As Pastor was preaching it was as if God was saying, son, you're not those people. I made you exactly as planned, no mistakes. He was saying to me "those sounds that are in you, that music that is in you, I put it there!" He said to me it's time to be genuine. Be Scot Thompson and let the music I put in you come out! I said, ok, let's do it. Heavy weights lifted!!!
Everyone that likes music generally has a favorite style of music. I can remember as a young boy being attracted to music that had guitars, drums, and energy. Back then I would turn the dial on the radio until I heard something that fit my taste. I would search stations until I heard them playing songs like "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf, or "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad. Why??? My parents weren't playing this kind of music at home. My friends weren't really musical to the extent they were saying, "hey Scot, check out this band" or "check out this song". Eventually that would happen, (i.e., friends asking friends if they had heard a certain song) but not at first. What happened first was I knew what kind of music I wanted to listen to. I also knew what I didn't like. In fact, I was pretty arrogant in that if it wasn't rock, I was turning the dial. I would make fun of country and disco. Today, rock is still by far at the top of my list, however, my appreciation for other styles has expanded and I am more eclectic.
One more important factor that I am sure impacted my perspective. When I received Jesus as Lord and Saviour in 1986 my first reaction as it relates to music was "it's over"! My perception at the time was Christians were only in to kum by yah. I didn't really care because I knew now my eternity was secure and ultimately nothing else mattered. The girl who I would eventually marry led me to Jesus. My birthday came a couple of months after we met. Shelley knew I loved rock music. She knew I missed it. So as a gift, she picked up a couple of cassettes for me. The bands were Petra, and Stryper. I remember popping one of the cassettes into my Walkman, and with the music cranking in the headphones I yelled "this is Christian?!" She laughed and assured me it was. I thanked her and said, "I'm in"!
For the next several years I got in to "Christian Rock". Petra, Whiteheart, Kutless, Skillet, and yes Stryper were just a few of my favorites. Simultaneously, I put myself in a Christian music "bubble" and stopped listening to secular music. It was a necessary part of the journey for me. Growing up, my favorite band was Led Zeppelin. During my "bubble" season I would occasionally hear a Led Zep tune, or a song by another secular artist that I had chosen to stop listening to, and really want to dig in and listen again. Was I turning my back on God if I listened to The Immigrant Song? I decided to get the answers to my questions about music, and what was ok and not ok. I came to this conclusion: Listening to secular music was not going to send me to hell. However, for me personally some secular music rubbed my spirit wrong. So, the way I handled it was to choose not to listen to what offended me, because it was actually offending the Spirit in me. God doesn't control us. It's quite the opposite. He gave us free will and discernment. If I'm professing that I'm a Christian, I don't want to be a hypocrite in the way I live. It's just choices.
So, let's answer the question. Who is The Blameless Project? TBP is an Original Rock Band. Its members are Christian. We are passionate about our Faith in Jesus and love to communicate about it through music. We love to write and record our original music, and we love to play our songs Live and Loud for the audiences we have the privilege to play for. We don't put ourselves in a box and only play at Christian venues. Infact, it's funny, we have played some Christian Coffee houses where a few folks in the crowd were a little taken back by let's say...our volume! Others were like "wow, you guys' rock, I love rock" as if it were a nice departure from what might be expected at a coffee house event. When we play secular venues, we have a blast (we have a blast every time we play, even at rehearsals!). So far no one has thrown tomatoes at us when we play club or festival venues. The feedback has been awesome. It's really cool when we make friends outside the church! We had the privilege to open for Stryper at a club in upstate New York. We made several friends at that event, many of whom remain fans. We love when people come up to us after we play and the conversation usually goes something like "you guys' rock, you're Christian? Where can I get your music?" When bands are passionate and honest when they play, especially original bands, people are moved. Fans generally know if a band is the real deal, and if the music is great, and the message is honest, the rest will take care of itself. I know TBP has a lot of fans that don't share the same faith. That's cool because converting people isn't our job, it's God's. We focus on writing music that doesn't pervert what we believe, by living a lifestyle that doesn't make us hypocrites, loving our neighbors (everyone) as ourselves (Matthew 19:19), and doing our best at live shows to give the crowd great music, great fun, and huge energy from start to finish. You would think it would be a greater challenge to play clubs and venues outside the church. I have learned that just because our lyrics do not compromise when it comes to our faith, many in Christian circles have a difficult time with our style of music. Thats ok!!! Our job isn't to convert people that prefer another style of music to head banging, fist pumping rockers!!! We believe if you like to rock, you'll like TBP! God didn't create clones. Our differences are His artwork, including the differences we have in musical taste. I mean, imagine if the only music was...disco? LOL.
If you liked this Blog, please share it and invite your friends to visit tbpband.com and join our mailing list. Thank You! Let's ROCK!
In His Love,
Scot / TBP
