Petra (1973)

Come And Join Us (1974)

Washes Whiter Than (1979)

Never Say Die (1981)

More Power To Ya (1982)

Not Of This World (1983)

History-Reviews

Looking Back On Petra's Amazing History and Albums
By Daniel Brian Abbey

The 70s: an era of lush musical discovery. Rock music, birthed in the 50s by fusing rhythm and blues with country music, was growing and evolving into many subgroups. Sprouting and mutating came acid rock, grounded in drug experiences (Pink Floyd, Deep Purple), hard rock, underscoring a solid rhythmic beat (Led Zeppelin, Genesis) and progressive rock, which allowed long instrumental solo's and more precocious melodies (Fleetwood Mac). It was an exciting time, where musicians were constantly experimenting, formulating and pioneering great modes of music. It was also during this age that one of the world's most distinguished rock bands was born: Petra.

It all began in 1972, Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Four young Christian musicians, Bob Hartman, Greg Hough, John DeGroff and Bill Glover, felt God calling them to a unique ministry. Their vision - to create a Christian rock band and reach the world through pointed and radical new music. It was an exciting thought and could only have been pulled off by these likeminded souls whose fervent passion for music made such a revolutionary vision work.

Hartman and DeGroff, who both hailed from Ohio, were actually former band mates in a three-piece group they started together called Rapture. DeGroff later moved to Ft. Wayne to pursue a Bible course while Hartman stayed behind and established a friendship with fellow guitarist Greg Hough.

While in Ft. Wayne DeGroff attended a local youth ministry called the Adam's Apple and it was there that he met Bill Glover. Glover recognized him from Rapture and invited him to jam with some friends every now and again.

Meanwhile, Hartman and Hough decided to move up to Ft. Wayne to pursue their careers in Bible ministry and pretty soon they joined DeGroff and Glover at the Adam's Apple. They consequently jammed together and things started gelling. God was moving them slowly but surely and sure enough each one became more and more committed to the idea of a sold-out-for-Christ rock band.

It was towards the fall of 1972 that the band became official. Hartman and co christened the group Petra, from the Greek word which means "rock" (something they might have picked up in Bible College). The name was chosen as a testament to their foundation - the rock of Jesus Christ (and also because they played rock music, as "Petra" also explicitly implies). The explosive line-up was as follows: Bob Hartman (guitar, vocals) Greg Hough (guitar, vocals) John DeGroff (bass) and Bill Glover (drums, percussion).

Their mission was simple - to stage gigs and afterwards, share the gospel with the people who came to listen to their music. And that's exactly what they did for the first couple of years. Playing mainly in the Midwest, they appeared at coffeehouses, high school assemblies, church basements, colleges, and even in city parks. Slowly but surely they etched a name for themselves as hot Christian rockers, even though they met various opposition from the more conservative sides of the Christian community. But athough they were often misinterpreted, doubted and maligned by their own brothers and sisters in Christ, Petra trudged on, playing and reaching out to Christians and non-Christians alike.

In 1973, Petra signed a recording contract with Christian label Myrrh. The following year, after two weeks of recording and at the cost of a mere $900, their self-titled debut album hit the shelves.

Petra didn't exactly shoot the band to the top of the charts although it was a trend-setting album and a fine first for the band. It was reminiscent of California country-rock popularized by the Eagles. Hartman gave listeners their first taste of his songwriting skills, although much of what he wrote on Petra wasn't exactly impressive stuff compared to what he would later accomplish. Yet where they lacked in depth lyrically, he and Hough made up for with their hot guitar riffs and sizzling double leads. Their onslaught, combined with Glover's drum attacks and DeGroff's thumping bass lines, made Petra a great debut album, although it didn't do so well in terms of sales.

Despite the less-than-mediocre success of their debut, the band went on with their vision and began earning a reputation for rousing live shows. People began to take note of their ability to enthrall on stage. Their small following no doubt lent inspiration to them as they continued to pursue their mission.

Petra's second album, Come And Join Us, featured Greg X. Volz as a guest vocalist (popular recording artist Steve Camp was among two others who also shared singing duties). Invited by Bob to perform the leads on two songs and backups elsewhere, Greg crooned - and evidently thrilled Hartman. It was the start of a long-term relationship between Hartman and Volz, an amazing chemistry that would spill all over Petra's work and later put them at the forefront of Christian music.

Notable songs included Ask Him In, Where Can I Go, Woman Don't You Know and their first version of God Gave Rock And Roll To You (later to be released as a different version on Beat the System). Killing My Old Man was almost included on this album but because of the prevalence of "death rock" at the time, they left it off to avoid controversy (it later appeared on Never Say Die).

Come And Join Us was yet another remarkable album, a little harder than their debut, though not the blockbuster Petra was waiting for. In fact, slow sales prompted Myrrh to drop Petra from their roster and for a moment, the band seemed on the verge of a premature end. But they pressed on.

Undaunted by their lack of a record label, Petra simply continued with what they set out to do in the first place - play live and share Jesus to the audience. They traversed the country, electrifying crowds with their hot Christian music, at the same time presenting the gospel to their spiritually thirsty spectators. They became renown for their fiery playing and such hits as Killing My Old Man and Disciple were unleashed with gleeful vehemence. A 45-minute version of Backsliding Blues complete with 10-minute guitar, bass and drum solos, never failed to drive the people crazy. Petra were quickly celebrated as extraordinary road performers.

One day, while still touring without a record contract, Petra were approached by a relatively new record label - StarSong Records. This visionary company, fascinated by Petra's goals and potential, laid an inviting contract on the table for them. The band welcomed the development but had to make sure there wasn't going to be any compromise in ministry and music. After sitting down and becoming convinced that StarSong understood their aim and mission, Petra signed up with them.

Their third album, Washes Whiter Than, yielded the band's first radio hit, Why Should The Father Bother? Hartman's thoughtful lyrics and playful melody undoubtedly impressed people while Volz, amplifying the song's charm with simple and honest passion, captivated listeners with his singing.

The overall sound of the band on WWT was not as hard as its predecessors but that simply softened people into paying more attention to what the band was trying to communicate. Their success on the airwaves began to signify a brighter future for the group although they still had to face opposition from many churches and Christians who couldn't tolerate their "radical" sound and approach to ministry.

At the turn of the decade, StarSong invested in another Petra album. Jonathan David Brown was brought in as producer and with him on board, Petra's sound began to shape into a distinctive brand of rock that would characterize their music for the next six years.

The band's lineup fluctuated during this period, but nonetheless they managed to properly group themselves for their next project. Mark Kelly joined as bassist and John Slick assumed keyboards as the original band underwent a major shake-up. Despite this, however, Petra poured in a lot of energy and creative effort into their fourth album. The resulting breakthrough: Never Say Die.

This was the album Petra had been praying for. The band cranked out many radio pleasers such as The Coloring Song and For Annie while still retaining their rock sensibility with formidable songs like Chameleon and Angel of Light. Petra hit the road with fellow C-rockers Servant and blazed their way across the country again, gaining a fierce following as they ministered through their steadily improving music.

Never Say Die also marked the beginning of some rather strange yet visually engaging album covers - flying guitars doing all sorts of wierd things. On NSD's cover is a guitar sailing through the ocean shooting torpedoes at ships. A shell it has just fired into the air is on the right-hand side of the picture with the words "NEVER SAY DIE" plastered on it. In the background is a burning ship and a plane that is going down in a burst of flames.

Petra performed 161 concerts in 1982, riding the smash success of Never Say Die to the hilt. In June of that same year they took five weeks off to return to the studio and record their next album.

By now Petra's lineup had solidified with Louie Weaver permanently signed on as drummer. Comfortable with this development, the band took advantage of their new chemistry and created the hit follow-up album More Power To Ya, which turned out to be as successful as Never Say Die.

Again, More Power To Ya yielded radio hits that made them ever more popular with Christian listeners. The title track of the same name was included on a 1982 compilation record of the top ten Christian songs for that year. Other classics included Stand Up and the acoustic hit Road to Zion, both inspiring tunes that quickly caught on with their fans. Of course MPTY had its batch of rockers, most notably Judas' Kiss which is arguably one of Petra's best rock anthems ever.

It starts with a backmasked message and progresses hauntingly through slow distorted riffs and a threatening beat. Volz is uncanny as he laments through the song and Hartman totally unnerves listeners with a nifty solo near the end. (The backmasked message, for those who don't know, was a surprise for many. Ultra fundamentalists had hoped of catching Petra communicating a Satanic message on their song, thus proving that the group was occultic and not at all Christian. They were disappointed, much to the fans' delight as the following statement was discovered: "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKIN' FOR THE DEVIL FOR WHEN YOU OUGHTA BE LOOKIN' FOR THE LORD."!)

Petra staged 152 concerts the next year, heavily promoting More Power To Ya and continuing to minister to the lost. Concerts always featured "altar calls" as the band encouraged listeners to make a decision for Christ. Their priority with evangelism helped bring a wayward culture back to the Lord - and they managed it in style too.

August of 1983 saw the production of Petra's sixth record Not Of This World as the band took six weeks off the road to cut the tracks. Not Of This World featured more synthesized sounds than Petra's previous albums and John Slick did a good job of expressing the record's sentiment with his cool keyboard work, evoking mystery and unearthliness in many songs. Hartman penned some of Petra's best radio hits to date, including the stirring Graverobber and the title track. Volz's sounded even more chilling on this outing and his renditions of some of the songs left listeners truly feeling not of this world.

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