No artificial flavors or colors

Have you ever seen the commercials where diet products claim to be just as good as the original product? For instance, the Dr. Pepper commercials where the claim is made that Diet Dr. Pepper tastes just as good as regular Dr. Pepper or the Coca Cola One commercials that make the same claim about Coca Cola One and regular Coke. I've tasted both Diet Dr. Pepper and Coca Cola One and I can say with certainty that they don't taste like the real thing. In fact, nothing with the term "diet" in it's name is ever going to taste as good as the original "undiet" version.

I feel that I am pretty good at spotting the real thing from the imitation. The same goes with Christian music. There is a place in my heart for the old hymns and there always will be, but I really like good music that rocks. I can remember listening to Resurrection Band back in the early 1980's and thinking that these guys were awesome. That just made me all the more hungry for more music that would be a healthy spiritual alternative to the regular stuff that I was listening to. But after Res. Band, things went quiet for a while.

You see, the Christian music that came out in the rest of the 1980's and much of the 1990's was, well, lame. Bands might have one song on their album that kicked but the rest of the songs were just weak, pop-driven knock offs that really didn't do anything for me. I was wanting something that sounded edgy and aggressive - like the mainstream bands that I listened to - but without all of the dark stuff attached to it. It took a while, but I found some bands that really brought it: Sometime Sunday, Disciple, Pillar, and Family Force 5 just to name a few. Still, I felt like there was a dearth of good Christian bands that had musical integrity to go along with their spiritual integrity.

This is where the band Fighting Instinct comes into play. Just this past Friday night a couple of us youth pastors brought them in to do a show after the local football game. After hearing them live I have just a couple of words to say about Fighting Instinct: They kick! I've been a fan of theirs for a while but there is nothing like hearing a band live. If you like rock n' roll then you will like Fighting Instinct. And just as their is no compromise in their musical sound, there is no compromise in the message they bring. These guys love Jesus...they just sound better than most other bands that love Him too.

But perhaps more impressive about Fighting Instinct is their "realness." What I mean is, they are just like you and me. They have families, they are approachable, they have second jobs to pay the bills, and they aren't afraid to hang out with regular people. I had a great time talking and cutting up with them and they were more than accessible to the students and anyone else who wanted to talk to them. To me, this is just as important as the music.


So check out Fighting Instinct and buy their CD. They are local to the Winston-Salem, NC, area and they get to play nearby pretty regular, so do yourself a favor and go see them live. There ain't nothing artificial about Fighting Instinct.