Embracing our new Skin with Bride
01-22-2007
by Brenten Gilbert

The name Bride is quite well known among those who have paid attention to Christian Rock over the years. In fact, the band began twenty-four years ago (twenty-one as "Bride") when brothers Dale and Troy Thompson teamed up to share the Gospel message with a metal slant. Through the years, the group has released over twenty albums and maintained a level of integrity and respect within the Christian market.

However, the last few years has seen the group take a lower profile as they've toured less and gone the independent rout with their most recent releases. But with a new album, Skin for Skin, a solid presence online, and a growing fanbase, the group seems poised to make another run. CMCentral's brenten gilbert recently caught up with Dale for an eye-opening interview that touched on the new album, the future of Bride, the war on terror, and a possible Presidential bid.

Below is that entire transcript for your reading enjoyment.

brenten gilbert: How are you doing today?

Dale Thompson (Bride): I'm doing fine

Good. Why don't we just go ahead and get into it?

Okay. Fire away.

Alright, Bride has been together for a long time now - just over 20 years, What kind of steps or actions have you taken to keep things going strong after all of these years?

Mainly, we got to a point to where everything had slowed down. The Christian market was catering to more of the radio-friendly pop sounds and switching over to praise and worship - giving itself more to the youth groups and such. And then it seemed like the internet boomed and when it did, we kind of got a second life. I think we had a pretty good run with our official Bride website, drawing in a lot of people that had been disconnected with us because we weren't touring as often and weren't making festival appearances. It seemed like the internet and just normal email was slowing down and then a friend introduced me to MySpace.com. So we fired up a MySpace. Next thing you know we've got a third life. So it may be that we'll need some other invention later on, but right now things seem to be going as smooth as it can be without the support of a record company or management.

You've been on a lot of different record labels in your history. How are things different as independent artists?

Well I know how much money we make. That makes a big difference for me. I know where it goes and I can keep a count on the CDs that I sell. I know exactly how much it costs to record and to master and produce the CDs, whereas before, everything was fake or the numbers we were getting were distorted. I know that it doesn't take long for an artist to get out of the hole so to speak, as far as paying off the record. When I was with the record companies, I was always in debt to them. My records supposedly on paper were costing $30,000-$40,000, but my last three records combined didn't cost that much. So I know a lot of prices were inflated. As an independent artist, I don't have the opportunities, like we had before, but at the same time I was ready to scale back a bit anyway.

Sign of the times I guess.

Well personally, I got burnt out. So really up until we started writing for the album, Skin for Skin, I had spent about three or four years just doing other things. I had concentrated my efforts on my power lifting and on some mixed martial arts and things like that. I gave my bass player Lawrence [Bishop] some opportunity to continue riding professional rodeo -he's a very successful bronc rider. And we just kind of did the things that we hadn't been able to do that we really wanted to do. Pursue some hobbies, while all along I was still maintaining a ministry. We just weren't as visible to the masses that we were before. Mainly, we weren't buying big full page ads or we weren't up for Dove awards. We were absent from the festival scene.

Fair enough. You mentioned Skin for Skin. What is the significance of that title to you?

For me, you know, it comes from the book of Job. It's all about one guy trading skin for skin, but it's also talked about in the New Testament. The old wineskins and the new ones. I just kind of see it as the rebirth. Taking off the old nature, becoming a new creation in Christ, and having a change of mindset. No longer thinking in the Adamic mode but having a Christ conscience. Understanding our true identity is in Christ and pursuing that and leaving all the elements of the world as far behind us as we can.

Very cool. It's a good time of year to think about starting over I guess.

Yeah everybody makes new years resolutions. I haven't made any.

(laughs)

I'm just pretending it's not a new year because very new year I get older. That's kind of a drag.

Oh it's not so bad.

Well, when you've abused your body the way I have over the course of the last ten years doing all of the physical activities that I've done, your body just doesn't hold up like it did when it was young. I have like three different surgeries that I'm looking at, so that's not going to be the highlight of my year.

Makes sense. Alright, now since you are a metal artist, I have a very basic question. I've always wanted to know why metal singers scream so much - are you guys angry all the time?

I've never really been angry. I just always considered myself one of the best screamers and I figured not too many people can scream the way that I do with the clarity. You know, make my words come through so people can understand them, so I thought that was an art in itself. Now I can't scream like I use to - I guess it's an age thing and abuse to my vocals - but I can still sing, so that's a good thing. I just can't hit the notes I use to hit.

You've hinted in your newsletters that you guys have been tossing around the idea of closing the chapter of Bride and ending the band. . .

Well here is the thing. If I can't continue to progress. . . If I feel like I'm going backwards, then it becomes too hard and it becomes too much like work. And we've already recorded almost twenty albums through the years in one form or another, whether it's a live album or independent or on a label. So I don't know how much more we can actually add to the Christian market. It may be that our goals will change as far as continuing Bride. I know that Troy and I will continue to write. We are writing partners and we'll just continue to write songs, maybe not in the Bride style. We are actually tossing around the possibility of doing a praise and worship album. The big reason is because I feel like we still have viable things to say and some of the people who are turned off by the sound of Bride might receive some of the things that I'm saying if I hit it with a different style. I grew up in church, I know what praise and worship is and I'm not a fan of it. So that is the reason I would put my own spin on it. It would be my own interpretation of worship. To me, praise and worship, when you hear one song. . . It's like country music, you hear one, you've heard them all. So it's like, Why keep writing the same thing over and over? Many people feel that way about heavy metal, once you've heard one guy scream or one loud guitar, you've heard them all. That's why we are all different.

Yeah. You can probably make that conclusion with just about anything.

Yeah. And I do appreciate the fact that people like things other than what I do. Without diversity, life would be very boring. The only thing that really gets me is when they tell me that what I'm doing is wrong, that it can't possibly be something that God would honor. There is just too much evidence the other way for that case to be made.

Have you gotten a lot of that?

Through the years, yeah, a lot. I've been criticized for preaching by Christians. I've been criticized for playing heavy metal. I've been criticized for having long hair. I was hated for cutting my hair by Christians. I've been criticized for tattoos. I've been accused of this, that, and the other. Heavy metal is like professional wrestling in a way. There is a little bit of fake to it, but you have to know what you are doing to make sure that nobody gets hurt. That's the way I look at heavy metal. If it was easy, everybody would do it. But not everybody can. It's like professional wrestling. Yeah, it hurts.

That's cool. Now there is song on the new album, The Government Song. . . Obviously, you have some issues with the government and the leadership worldwide as well.

Well yeah. I think that things in the world have gone really, really sour. I think the problem with the government is that people are looking to our political leaders to bail us out of the messes that we are in when we are actually the ones who have gotten [ourselves into those] messes. So who is really to blame? A guy can get up there just like our president did and say this is going to be a very long war. Well after twelve months, the people that voted said, "Yeah, we don't want a long war anymore." We are such a contradictory bunch of people that is manipulated by media and soured by the criminal activities of our politicians. It's horrifying to think that if God would turn His back on us for an instance, we wouldn't have a prayer because this country would definitely dissolve. I vote and I would encourage everybody to vote, but at the same time when you go into that booth and you pull the lever, you are just praying that God is directing you on who to vote for. Even though I haven't agreed with what we've done as far as Iraq goes - I would have done it differently. . .

I don't know if you've seen my website. I'm actually running for president in 2008. I would have done the Iraq war completely different, not that it would have a different outcome, but if you are going to have war, you have war for victory. That is something that I don't think that we are ready for. Not to completely get off on a whole governmental or political thing, but the democrats are asking that we leave and it's insane. Once we've gotten in, to just pack up and leave? We are the greatest nation on the face of the planet and if you are at war you are at war, whether you believe in war or not. So the ideal [outcome] is to win and get out. There is a formula to victory and I can't see that any of our politicians have seen it. I wonder if for some reason God hasn't put a veil over the eyes of some of these people, so they can't see the truth right now for whatever reason. It makes me wonder when simple people like myself, who have very little knowledge of the politics or government or anything else, seem to be able to sit down with common-sense people and square this thing up [so that] it would have a different outcome.

How would you define victory in the case of the Iraq war?

Where we could withdraw our troops and have the confidence that the Iraqi people could govern themselves. To me, that would be victory. Where they could govern themselves and protect themselves and wouldn't have need of an occupying force in their country. To me, that is victory. I thought we went in to liberate them, set them free from tyranny. Suddenly, no matter what they want to call it, there is horrible civil war going on in Iraq and that is far from victory right there. I know that our soldiers are doing great and wonderful things, opening schools, getting people work, getting the power restored and things like that, but I think that unless our guys are given the okay to pull the trigger, we are just not catching the bad guys. From a Christian standpoint and from a guy that doesn't endorse violence. . . from me, that is saying a lot. But once again, I say if you are in war you've got to win it and you've got to use every means possible. I'm still waiting for the "shock and awe." I haven't seen it yet. I was hoping that the "shock and awe" would come early on [so that] less of our soldiers would have to give their lives. [That] it would send shock waves through the Arab world and the Muslims who so hate the Christians would be so terrified that they would decide that Jihad wasn't worth it and go back into their caves. But we never showed them that strength that we truly have.

And do you really want to run for President in 2008?

Actually, I have a website set up at MySpace.com/PhilipDaleThompson and I've actually started running for president in 2008. It kind of started out as a spoof, but I do have support. I don't expect to even be on the ballot, but I'm just trying to bring awareness. I send out some political messages - a bulletin on MySpace from time to time and it's crazy that. . . My thing more than anything else is that if there is a group of people who are willing to vote for me. . . I've never held any office. I've won four dove awards, but I think that was set up by the record company. But if someone is willing to vote for me, that says a lot about who we have to chose from, as far as our strength. You would think there is someone out there who could stand up and say they were a man of God and have better answers and a better plan for America. There are so many things. Even though we are the greatest nation on God's green earth as Michael Medved says - and I believe that to be true - there are still so many things that are unattended and it's so sad.

Okay. So I have one of your MySpace bulletins in front of me listing fifteen items that make up your proposed 2008 platform. What would you think is the biggest issue or problem facing this nation right now and what should we do about?

I think our biggest problem right now is a combination of immigration - because I don't think that everybody coming across our borders are Mexicans - and I truly believe that the Jihad has been called for against America. I really believe that the Muslims are intending to make a move on America. Mosques are going up in record numbers and they are not full. As a matter of fact, some of the mosques that are going up, there is nobody in the parking lot, but if you ask the people that are putting them up - you ask them why - they will tell you it's because [they] plan on having them full. I really think that the Muslims are a threat to America in a greater way than the media is letting us know. They seem to be getting a lot of special treatment because you can't racial profile in airports and so forth and I just don't think that America understands how ruthless these people are and how vicious they are trying to get rid of the Jews and getting rid of the infidels.

Okay. . . So what do you think should be done? Like some practical steps.

Boy that's hard. Well for one, I think it's really up to the Christian people. The Bible speaks about "If My people that are called by My name will repent and pray, [God] will intervene." We can't go on living in the decadence that we live in today. Everything from Hollywood to Vegas. Things that go on in the big cities - Chicago, New York City, Miami. We can't go on like that. We see New Orleans gets blown off the map - I don't necessarily think God did it, the wind and the flooding has done it. But I think that they get blown off the map and instead of everybody saying, "Let's re-evaluate our lives, we've lost everything, what do we turn to? " . . .

The next thing you know they are all back, dressed in. . . The transvestites are back. All of the gays are back. The drunks are back. And they are trying to have Mardi Gras again. It's insane. People will not repent. They really do love that sin for a season, as the Bible says. The Bible says there is pleasure in sin for a season, but when that season is up, whatever they sow, they will reap. I think our country is reaping a lot of things that we've sown through the years. People ignoring the word of God, not listening to the Spirit. . . And our church leaders have failed us because of their greed.

Not that all is bleak or all is lost, because there is always Christ. That brings us hope, but the people have to step up. The Christian people, the people called by His name, have got to step up and make their voices be heard whether it's in a political arena or whether it is in the church or on the streets. For over 20 years now, I've taken this band out and [we've been] uncompromising in our positions. When I get on stage - whether it is in a club or a Christian place - I always make my voice be known. The main thing that I tell people is that you've got to wake up. There is a life inside of you that wants to be awakened and that life is Christ. It's the seed that is in every man and everything that is in that seed is Christ and He just wants to grow inside of you. And that's been my message from the very beginning. For people to have a rebirth, a renewing of the mind, to be transformed. And yet I see people who just go through the motions and it takes a whole lot more than just attending church on a Sunday or saying your prayers at night. It's a lifestyle that we have to incorporate basically and we have to become what He is in this world.

That's a good message to have.

Yeah, it's a hard message for people to hear.

Alright. To have a lighter question before we wrap things up. What kind of music have you been listening to lately?

My number one favorite band is Muse. I'm in awe of that guy's voice. They are a secular band, but at the same time, I don't necessarily listen to music for just the enjoyment of listening to it. It's kind of hard for me to just sit down, listen and be really enthralled with it. I'll listen to music, basically to learn. Like I'm reading a book and Muse has just fascinated me with their sounds and the way that he does his voice. I used to have other favorite singers Chris Cornell and Ronnie James Dio and early on I liked Robert Plant, but I can't even remember this guy's name [Matthew Bellamy], but this is just an incredible band. And right on the other end of the spectrum, I've actually been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash, too. So, I like some of his newer stuff.

Very cool. So the new album is called Skin for Skin. It's available at BridePub.com. . .

I think it's available at a couple of different places right now. We just haven't secured the distribution, so we don't really have a big network, but if people want it, they can come right to us and order it. And for anybody that didn't even know we had an album before Skin for Skin, we did release an album called This Is It which is just as wonderful as anything we've ever done. A lot of people think our last couple of albums were some of the better work that we've done overall. They really didn't get a lot of the deserved press, but at the same time we are a bit limited. . .

So, you guys are getting better with age like fine wine?

Well, I hope that is the case.

It all comes back to the new wineskins thing. . .

I just hope we don't disappoint anybody before we wrap things up.

Is there anything else you wanted to share before we . . .

For anybody out there who thought that Bride broke up ten years ago, I just wanted to assure them that we've been around. We just haven't had the opportunities that we did in the past. We've made a few swings through Brazil and over in Europe. As a matter of fact, we are going back to Germany in February. Also, we may have a possible date at the HM tent at Cornerstone this year. If that is the case, maybe we will have a couple of more of appearances here in the states. We've got a wonderful set of music worked up - everything from Live to Die all the way up to the new album. So, if we can ever get the band out there, people will hear some good music live.

Very cool. Thanks for doing what you do and thanks for taking the time out to chat with me a bit.

Yeah, thanks for giving me a ring.

Find out more about Bride and Skin for Skin at BridePub.com or MySpace.com/BrideMusic