God rocks

Christian heavy metal band Stryper is known for its edgy and hard music from the 1980s, but the band is still touring and headed to Odessa Nov. 7.
Their latest album “Murder by Pride” was released in July. The band reunited in 1999 to record new albums after initially breaking up in 1992.
For Dos Amigos owner Rick Purcell, the band would provide a different feel than typically goes on at the venue’s concerts.
“We’ve done a few Christian bands before and got a good response,” he said. “We try to provide a variety to reach different audiences.”
The band is one of the first to start the Christian rock genre in the 1980s, and Purcell said that alone has spawned a desire by other bands to play with the group.
“I’ve had bands tell me they want to get on that show because Stryper was an inspiration to them to get into music,” he said.
He said the Dos concert is special because all the original band members are back and touring together. Many Christian youth groups have expressed interest in attending the show.
Odessa Christian Faith Center music minister Lowell Hohstadt said he remembers Stryper as a pioneering group in the Christian music industry.
“They were persecuted when people didn’t understand them at first, and now Christian music is accepted. They paved the way,” Hohstadt said.
He said people can have different perspectives on music like Stryper, with younger people feel-ing more comfortable with the music because they grew up with it. Others are used to a softer style and may not enjoy the harsh music. In his case, Hohstadt said the style isn’t important.
“It’s really about the message. It’s important to approach it in a way that’s relevant to the audi-ence,” he said.

STRYPER
>> Stryper is scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. Nov. 7 at Dos Amigos, 4700 Golder Ave. Tickets are $20 each and may be pur-chased at Dos. Visit: www.dosamigoscantina.com. Special guests will include Manic Drive and Flight Patterns.

SONGS
>> ‘Free.’
>> ‘Honestly.’
>> ‘Always There for You.’
>> ‘To Hell with the Devil.’