“Hey it’s going groovy dude, for real. I’m like an old hippie."...Renee

Amidst the chaos of a night of Metal at Rhythmstx comes Renee, who reminds us that it doesn't have to be electric to rock.  With her melodic and emotional songs, she had us in a trance with her almost gothic sound.  Very groovy, very hippie, very cool.

GILBERT: “We are here at Rhythmstx with Renee and the one man band.”

RENEE: “One woman.”

GILBERT: “One woman band, little girl, woman band. So Renee, tell us what you did tonight, what songs you played, or basically just tell us what your purpose was tonight.”

RENEE: “To exalt Jesus Christ. I can just get down and jam, you know. Throw a little coffe tunes in there, a little cappuccino song on the side, you know just hang out. Cause it’s all melodic, you know. I like alternative."

GILBERT: “So, tell us how tonght went for you.”

RENEE: “Hey it’s going groovy dude, for real. I’m like an old hippie."

GILBERT: “What’s your best episode of Little House on the Prairie?”

RENEE: “About the indian that came to help them and the other guy tried to shoot him. And then when he helped Laura’s dad, Charles, cause he was like stranded man, you didn’t know what he was going to do. He took him in his teepee and he warmed him up and gave him some food. And it was because of the indian that he didn’t die. And then this other white guy is trying to kill the indian and he shot him, and he still didn’t shoot him, and he went into the house and was holding him hostage and stuff, the indian guy and Charles and the kids, and the white dude was all jacked up. Then it was like the indian fell asleep, and he just like took off when they was sleeping and like he came back and you know what, I’m not even high you know and everything, for real. And, you know,”

GILBERT: “Yeah! That’s awesome.”

RENEE: “Then they showed it, he like showed them straight out hey just cause I’m indian, you’re predjudice, doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with me just because I’m different than you. You know, he showed what big of heart he had and he helped his family and everything. You know, so that white dude was wrong man, for reals, and he was wrong. It was cool.

GILBERT: “So um, I would tell you my favorite Little House on the Praire but we’d probably run out of tape.”

RENEE: “Yeah, ok.”

GILBERT: “Yeah, I like the Christmas episode.”

RENEE: “I’m all into indians because I’m half indian myself.”

GILBERT: “Really?”

RENEE: “Yeah, Native American.”

GILBERT: “I’m Mexican Indian.”

RENEE: “I’m Cherokee, Apache and Mexican. Hey, that’s half indian right there, just not Native American.”

GILBERT: “Aztec. We were the farmers. We were the peace people, we just grow beans and trade them to the cowboys.”

RENEE: “Just as long as you take some of my laughing gas before, you know, you’ll be ok.”

GILBERT: “We get that from the cowboys from trading. Anyways, back to tonght,”

RENEE: “Yeah, anyways, jamming, playing.”

GILBERT: “So, do you have any futures of playing besides today?”

RENEE: “Definately, man.”

GIBLERT: “Where and when and what and how?”

Renee Alina Barela Pontious

RENEE: “Hey Sacred Faith asked me to play for them, or just you know as long as it’s all good for the Lord, you know. Cause I want to make sure that, you know I’m right with God before I play and that you know just, songs about like just being real with life. Some Christians they think, you have to be happy go lucky all the time. Hey you know what, that’s not real life man. Who ever said it was going to be easy once you are a Christian, if anything it’s going to be harder, you have to fight. You have to fight with your mind and be like a strong warrior for Christ. Put on the armor of God you know, cause the devil ain’t messing around. And with my music and the things I’ve gone through, being a single mom and just being like a loner, going through things, you just wouldn’t imagine. I write poems and then I write them into a song. And that’s just my, being an artist a musician, it expresses my heart to the world. And that’s what I want to do, no matter where God puts me, if He wants me to express my musical talent, that’s what I’m going to do just show my heart to the world. So I can tell them, hey it's ok to cry, it’s ok to be in pain, it’s ok to be depressed sometimes. But then the next day, you get up and you’re ok because you have God and you’re not going to give up. And you have God there and Jesus there and your friends there. It’s going to be hard, but He won’t give us too much that we can’t handle and it’s all good. It’s like even though I may have all my doubts, why am I so alone, why am I going through all this, you know, He tests our faith.  And you know what, God knows what’s going on with our life, He knows better than anyone else, so who are we to question Him? But you know sometimes it’s just understandable because so many people let us down and then we think God is going to be the same way, but He’s not, you know. And it’s like I’ve got tons of testimonies and I just want to like help people so that they understand that I understand and it helps them not to feel so alone, you know.  It’s not easy growing up in this world for real. I may look like a little girl, but I ain’t. I’ll show you my license man, I am 29, even though I look like 19, for real man. I just had to show this one guy.”

GILBERT: “What’s your favorite punk rock band?”

RENEE: “Right now my favorite band is Gryp man! Bigtime! They are like ripping big time.”

GILBERT: “Never heard of them.”

RENEE: “They are Christian like funk hardcore, punk.”

GILBERT: “Oh, Gryp.”

RENEE: “Yeah dude!”

GILBERT: “Oh, we played with Gryp at the Headshop. I thought you were talking about old school punk, like back in the 80’s like Boy George or something.”

RENEE: “Yeah because they’re real about going through pain, they’re real about suffering you know. And just I told them hey man, you know I emailed them and told them dudes, you guys are down you know, because I relate to that and it helps me to feel like I’m not the only one who’s going through pain you know. And that it’s going to be all good because only Jesus you can rely on.

GILBERT: “Cool.”

RENEE: “That’s why you’ve got to be a testimony and a witness in our lives as an example to Christ, you know.”

GILBERT: “Any last words for the people of America?”

RENEE: “It’s all about Jesus man for reals! He’s the only one that will never let you down.”

GILBERT: “So that’s Renee, she played tonight, she’s solo and she’s incredible. That’s the word for today, incredible."

RENEE: “My whole name is Renee Alina Barela Pontious.”

GILBERT: “And she’s signed with Tooth N Nail Records. Thanks Renee.”