"If you wanna rock the world, come along with me - You want it, we got it
Rock that lifts you up and doesn't bring you down
Stand for it, Fight for it - rockin the world." -Stryper
Stryper were one of the best heavy metal bands of the 80s. Stryper were best known for their songs "Rock the People", "Can't Stop the Rock", "Rockin the World", "The Rock That Makes Me Roll", and of course "Rock the Hell Out of You". Stryper have been one of my favorite bands since I was in Jr. High School, and I always wished I could have seen them play. They broke up 12 years ago and swore they would never ever play together again. All 4 members insisted there would never be a Stryper reunion. On Sunday October 5, 2003 Stryper reunited and played at Recher Theater in Towson, Maryland. It was my destiny to be there.
Me and Rachel (Flower Soup's drummer) drove from Newark, Delaware to Towson Maryland. The doors opened at 7, but we got there a little late because I had to get my hair just right. Tickets were $25 for just Stryper and some local band touring with them called Mars Hill. I called the theater and asked if I could take pictures and they said absolutely no cameras or recording devices allowed inside. This just translated to I would have to sneak my camera in. I knew what I had to do...
Obviously a lot of people today don't know who Stryper are, so here's a quick heavy metal history lesson. The band was formed in 1983 by Robert Sweet in Los Angeles and were one of the glam metal bands who played the local clubs, as what was called Sunset Strip. Michael Sweet was the singer and guitarist, his brother Robert Sweet was the drummer, Oz Fox was the other guitarist and Tim Gaines was the bassist. They were famous for wearing black and yellow stripes (stripe-ER), singer Michael Sweet's high pitched opera inspired screaming, and their rock anthems about how hard they rock. To avoid being mispronounced as STRIPPER, they mis-spelled the name with a Y. Stryper played with lots of then local metal bands like Poison, Ratt, and Motley Crue. Stryper broke up in 1991 and Michael Sweet became a forest ranger, but still played solo. This was the first time all 4 members played and toured together in 12 years. But they made it clear, Stryper is NOT back together - this is a one time tour for the 20th year after they first started.
"Cameras are not allowed at any of Stryper's shows." -Stryper.com
It's important to dress like you're in an 80's metal band when you go to see one play. I wore black vinyl pants, a black vinyl jacket, black boots with neon pink laces, red studded bracelets and an Iron Maiden shirt. I have long dyed blonde hair, so I put too much mouse in it to give it the glam rock "mouse abuse" look. However, when I got there I noticed I was the only one dressed like that. I also noticed there was a very long line stretched down the sidewalk and wrapped around to the end of the building with people waiting to get in. We went behind the building and saw Stryper's tour bus. Instead of getting in line like everyone else, I thought it would be a good idea to crawl under the caution tape wrapped around the bus and touch it while no one was looking.
How easy is it to meet Stryper? It's definitely not easy. This is from their website:
"We have received hundreds of emails from people asking can I meet Stryper? It's impossible for the band to meet everyone. So we've devised an opportunity, a chance for fans to win backstage passes. You can buy as many chances to win as you'd like for $3 each. The more you buy, the better your chances of winning. 5 lucky winners will receive backstage passes." -Stryper.com
As I'm walking up and down Stryper's tour bus fondling it, I see this guy with long hair and vinyl pants walking up to me. It was Robert Sweet, Stryper's drummer. "What are you guys doing?" he asked us. Rachel replied, "We're touching your bus." He was wearing sunglasses and black gloves and had a backstage pass around his neck with his name signed on it. I ran up to him and shook his hand and asked him to sign my "To Hell With The Devil" record, that is now long out of print. He was really nice about it, but before he could finish, Rachel asked him if we could take his picture. I brought a Flower Soup sign for him to hold, but somehow it fell out of my record and I lost it. He told us, "my name's Robert", even though he knew we already knew who he was, and we told him our names. He was much nicer than I expected. He talked to us for a few minutes, saying how cold it was in Maryland, and he told Rachel he liked her hair and that his used to be that long, and he told me he liked my jacket. I'm not sure why he was even in the parking lot, but by this time a small crowd of people had gathered around him. While he was busy with them, Rachel offered to run to the car to get my Stryper poster I found while dumpster diving so we could ask him to sign it, while I made sure he didn't leave till she got back. Just as she returned with the poster, a roadie had come out and said, "Robert, it's time for sound check, we need you right now." I said wait, wait! Can you sign my Stryper poster? I gave him the record to lean on, but instead he said "let me borrow your back," and used my back as a desk while he signed it, something 80's metal bands were famous for doing. I said, "Can you write: to Flower Soup, that's my band." He said, "Ok, I have to go to sound check now."
"Wanna rock so you can see, we can rock as well... Rock as well for you." -Surrender, by Stryper
We took the record and poster back to the car, but I decided against what all the signs and security said, and brought the camera in anyway, by hiding it in my crotch. As we were waiting in line, still starstruck from meeting rock god Robert Sweet, Stryper's guitarist Oz Fox walked right by us. We yelled "ooooh Oz Fox," and I held out my hand, hoping he'd touch me. He walked over and poked my chest and said, "Cool Maiden shirt, I'm into them too." I grabbed his hand and shook it, so did Rachel. Then he ran off. By this time, we weren't even inside the building, but we had already touched half of Stryper. We were determined to touch the other half as well.
We got past security easily because they thought the big bulge in the crotch of my vinyl pants was either natural or just too embarrassing to point out. By the time we got in, Mars Hill was already playing. They were ok, but I wanted them to hurry up. After they were done, they took their equipment off stage and behind them were big piles of black table clothes. Roadies ran out and pulled them down, and behind them were Stryper's huge, and I do mean huge, yellow and black stripped amps. There were 5 amps on each side of the stage, each holding 4 speakers, so you can imagine how loud it was. They were using outside arena sound inside a small club, which only made it sound better. Behind it all was a huge Stryper banner.
"Rockin... for the... one who... is the... rock." -The Way, by Stryper
Suddenly the room went black and Stryper began playing Battle Hymn. When the lights came back on, the band were on stage and went right into Singalong Song. They were so loud and heavy, I couldn't even believe how good they were. They played almost every song we expected to hear: The Way, Calling On You, Free, More Than a Man...they played for about 2 hours. They even played 2 new songs they wrote for this tour. For as far as you could see in the audience, it was just hands in the air doing the metal sign. We were right next to these 3 total morons who played air guitar throughout both bands, while one guy switched from air guitar to air drums and even air keyboard during Honestly. One of the 3 guys had on a shirt that said "abortion is murder" on the front and "you will not mock my god" on the back, and he decided he would crowd surf. His 2 friends picked him up and tried to push him, but nobody was playing along, so he fell in the floor and looked like a bigger idiot. The security guards kept announcing that anyone caught with a camera would be kicked out, but I still managed to get a few pictures of them playing without getting caught.
Stryper ended with Soldiers Under Command, then walked off stage. The crowd was chanting Stry-per, Stry-per, and they ran back on stage and said something like, "you didn't think we'd forget this one, did you... to helllll with the devillllll!" Michael Sweet can still hit the high falsetto screams better than anybody, even Savatage or King Diamond. After the encore, they started to leave, then ran back and said "we got oneeee more, YEAH one more," and they played an extreme metal version of the Christmas song Winter Wonderland. Hearing Stryper cover Winter Wonderland live was almost worth it all alone. Then they ran off stage again. I didn't know if they were coming back out or not, so as the crowd left, we stood in front of the stage and waited for them. We stood there about 15 minutes and then figured it was time to go wait by their bus again. Just before we left, and almost everybody else had left, some jerk security guard stood on a chair and yelled, "the band said they will come out and meet people, but no cameras. The first person to take out a camera will be kicked out immediately."
They were selling really old Stryper tshirts for $25 and CDs for $20. It was supposed to be buy something and Stryper will sign it, but I had a better idea. I ran out to the car to get my record and poster. We had to wait in a line to meet them, but it wasn't too bad because most of the people had already left. I shook all their hands and asked the singer Michael Sweet to write to Flower Soup. He said "what's Flower Soup?" I said that's MY band! Then Oz Fox said, "Look Michael, he's wearing an Iron Maiden shirt," and they sang in high voices "runnnn to the hilllls." After we left, our ears didn't stop ringing until the next day. Stryper did exactly what they promised they would do, and rocked the hell out of us.
"We're gonna rock, tonight's the night
Together we will stand to rock the land
Tonight's the night we rock, so let's lift up our hands." -Stryper
It wasn't easy meeting Stryper. I had to wait for 12 years for them to tour again, I had to drive almost 2 hours to where they were playing, I had to sneak in my camera against the rules of the band and the theater, I had to crawl under caution tape and touch the bands tour bus, and I had to wait around in the building for 30 minutes after the band was done, but finally I got my picture, I got my Stryper record and poster signed, but more important, I got to tell Stryper about Flower Soup. It was definitely worth the 12 year wait.
