In The Beginning
Stryper, originally known as Roxx Regime, was formed
in Orange County, California by brothers Michael and
Robert Sweet and guitarist Oz Fox.
Stryper stands for Salvation Through Redemption
Yielding Peace, Encouragement and Righteousness. The
Isaiah 53:5 under their logo is the bible verse that
states "by His stripes we are healed". The band
earned their stripes on the Los Angeles metal club
circuit and in 1984, after recruiting bass player Tim
Gaines, signed with Enigma Records and released their
debut mini-album, The Yellow And Black Attack (Y&BA).
Rockin' The World
Their first full-length release, Soldiers Under
Command (SUC), sold over half a million units
worldwide in the eighties, and stayed on Billboard's
Top 200 album chart for over forty weeks. In addition
to the hard-rocking tunes that Stryper's core
audience has come to expect, the ballad "Honestly"
from their platinum selling 1986 release To Hell With
The Devil (THWTD) hit the Top-40 charts. The video
for "Honestly" rapidly became the number one most-
requested video on M-TV. 1988 saw the near-platinum
release of In God We Trust (IGWT), as well as renewed
success on M-TV, which was bombarded by thousands of
phone requests for "Always There For You".
Caught In The Middle
Coming off the acclaim of the 1989 tour supporting
IGWT, the band released Against The Law (ATL) which
shipped gold in the fall of 1990. Despite its sales
success, some fans were confused by Stryper's change
in appearance and lyrics. This lead to numerous
rumors and questions about the sincerity of Stryper's
faith. "We were making a grab for musical freedom,"
says Robert Sweet, Stryper's drummer. "But we never
should have let that been misinterpreted as a change
in our beliefs."
In 1991, Enigma Records went bankrupt, and Stryper
was left without a record company. This was short-
lived, as they were quickly picked up by Hollywood
Records. In the summer of 1991 they released Can't
Stop The Rock, a "best of" album with two new tracks.
In January of 1992, Michael Sweet left the Stryper to
pursue a solo career. Although officially Robert
Sweet, Oz Fox and Tim Gaines continued as a three
piece for another year, there were no further studio
recordings as Stryper once Mike left.
Together As One?
Michael Sweet was the first to re-appear back on the
scene, when he secured a record deal with the
Christian label Benson Records. (Benson distributed
Stryper to the Christian retail stores in the 80's.)
This union produced two albums: the self titled
Michael Sweet, and Real. In 1998, Mike put out a full
length demo by himself titled Truth. This generated
label interest, and he was soon signed to Restless
Records. The remastered and updated version of Truth
was released early in 2001.
Tim Gaines and Robert Sweet joined legendary
Christian guitar player Rex Carrol in the band King
James. Although King James released two releases to
date, Tim and Bob only performed on the first album
which was released in 1994 on the Christian label
Star Song.
Absent from the limelight for many years was Oz Fox,
who last was seen making guest appearances on several
Christian releases including JC & The Boyz, Bride,
and Ransom. Oz and Tim joined forces once again in
1995 to form Sin Dizzy. Together with Bobby MacNeil
on guitar and John Bocanegra on drums, they released
He's Not Dead in 1998. Tim left Sin Dizzy in 2000 to
continue working musically with his wife, Irene Kelly.
Robert Sweet released his solo release titled Love
Trash in 2000, in which he plays all the instruments
on the album and features Larry Worley on vocals. (Ex-
lead singer of Christian rock band Fear Not.) Robert
recently formed Blissed with fellow members David
Pearson, Trevor Barr, and Jeff Miller. Their album,
Waking Up The Dead, was released in early 2003.
Can't Stop The Rock
On May 21st of 2000, history was made when Stryper
hit the stage again for an informal jam at the first
annual Stryper expo in New Jersey. December 16th of
2000 marked the first full blown set preformed by
Stryper in 9 years, held in Costa Rica. The second
annual Stryper expo was held in Azusa, California on
May 18th and 19th of 2001. The two day expo featured
multiple bands and vendors, with Stryper closing the
expo with a concert. Shortly after, Stryper played to
one of their largest crowds at Cornerstone at
Bushnell, Illinois on July 7th, 2001.
For You
On March 25th of 2003, Hollywood Records released
Seven, The Best Of Stryper that included 2 new songs
(Something and For You). That fall, they embarked on
a 35 city tour that both fans and critics agreed was
one of the hottest tours of 2003. In March of 2004,
Stryper triumphantly returned to Puerto Rico to play
a sold out show that was recorded for a DVD release
scheduled to come out later in the year. The prayers
of Stryper fan everywhere were answered in May of
2003 with the new live CD recording titled 7 Weeks:
Live In America. The last scheduled concert at the
time of this writing is at Walt Disney World in
Florida on Sept 10th.
Keep The Fire Burning
Stryper.com was officially launched in November of
1999 by Craig Erskine and Brett Christensen. After
years of designing the site, Craig has moved on to
other projects and has handed the baton over to Greg
Hayes in 2003. Stryper is managed by Deep South
Entertainment, and works with Stryper.com to help
keep the fire burning!
