ROCK AT A CROSSROADS WHEN THEIR GOAL IS MAINSTREAM SUCCESS, CHRISTIAN BANDS WALK A FINE LINE.

Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer

Last year, a band called Pillar independently put out ``Fireproof,'' a hybrid of alternative rock and heavy metal, but you couldn't find it while browsing the aisles of your local record store.

Distributors got the album into the big-name chain stores like Wal-Mart and Best Buy. But because the band's lyrics take their inspiration from the Bible, the album - soon to be re-released by MCA Records - was put in the gospel section.

The guys were confused.

``We're a rock band,'' says Rob Beckley, 27, singer of the Tulsa, Okla.-based group. ``We should be in the 'P's' with other rock bands, not isolated.''

Alternative metal bands made up of avowed Christians encounter this curious typecasting all the time. Unless they plan on spending their careers in the contemporary Christian market, many of these groups do their best to wash their hands of what is, to some in the secular music business, a taint - religion.

Secular success is a powerful temptation, which some bands that start out appealing to mostly Christian audiences find difficult to resist. Just last month, the multiplatinum-selling hard-rock sensation Evanescence - eager to discuss matters of faith early in its career - was caught dogging its Christian ties in Entertainment Weekly.

This did little to change fans' perception of the band.

``I just think they're learning to be smart in the spotlight,'' says Josh Spencer, 28, of Los Angeles, who in 2000 interviewed Evanescence for Stranger Things Mag, a webzine. ``As a band becomes part of the mainstream media, they realize that any message or identity they hold dear is going to be misrepresented or manipulated by the cut-and-paste nature of mass media. If you know your beliefs are never going to be accurately communicated and will only cause division, it's best to keep quiet.''

Believers' backlash

But perhaps most jarring to the Arkansas band's Christian fans was member Ben Moody's closing comments likening himself - in jest - to ``the guy who was crucified next to Jesus. All I want you to do is remember me.''

The comment crackled across the Internet. Christian bookstores that had been pursued by the band's label, Wind-Up Records, began pulling the record off their shelves. Even CCM magazine was left with no other choice but to take back its support.

``We certainly don't want to put somebody in a Christian magazine that doesn't want to belong there,'' says Matthew Turner, the 29-year-old editor of the contemporary Christian music publication based in Nashville. ``We're about people that are passionate about their faith. If that's not their mission, man, that's fine.''

The publicist for Evanescence refused to grant the Daily News an interview. But another band caught in the Christian cross hairs wasn't so timid.

In the mid-'90s, Seattle-based punk trio MxPx signed with Tooth & Nail Records, a Christian music label, because ``nobody else was knocking down our door.

``All of a sudden, people started calling us a Christian band, and we're like, 'Why? We're just a band, dude, we like to play hard, fast and loud,' '' Tom Wisniewski, MxPx's 26-year-old guitarist, says. But the perception wasn't unfounded. ``We're all Christians; so if you're being honest in your music and your lyrics, it's going to come out, you know.''

So, how did the band get out of it?

According to Wisniewski, he and his band spent a lot of time correcting people until eventually they stopped asking. But lots of bands have resisted being tagged with the Christian label, including Atlantic recording artists P.O.D.

The alt-metal band, which could not be reached for comment as it is in the midst of recording its next studio album, got its start in the Christian market but has since become a successful mainstream band. While the band's publicist discourages questions that draw attention to the members' spirituality, its Christian following remains solid.

Last month, the band won a Dove Award, a kind of gospel version of the Grammy. It was also recently featured in CCM.

``They seem to have their stuff together,'' says the magazine's Turner. ``I believe they indeed are followers of Jesus. I just don't think that when they go out and do music that their main goal is to be there to minister. They're there to entertain. They're there to play rock 'n' roll.''

On both sides

Fans say they're not offended by musicians that don't wish to identify with the Christian rock movement as long as they're assured that the artists are still Christian. In a dynamic that reflects the same kind of emotions when it occurs among ethnic groups, Christians are even proud of their crossover icons.

``I think that the Christian community just wants to know that there's somebody cool on our side,'' Pillar vocalist Beckley said. ``I can say it because I know I feel that way sometimes. Like, Steven Baldwin is a Christian of a year or less now. ``We just met him, and he was sharing his heart with us, and it's like, 'Oh my gosh, dude, I saw you in ``Bio-Dome.'' ' ''

Now that Beckley and his band are making their secular debut with ``Fireproof,'' he's beginning to get questions about where his band stands. But he doesn't let the pressure get to him.

``You can ... moan about it and deny it to the death, but honestly I don't care what people call us, because my job description is a singer in a rock band. If it just so happens I'm a Christian and that's what comes out in my lyrics, that's cool,'' Beckley says. ``People want to know you're real and that you believe in what you're writing about.''

Chapter, then verses

In ``Fireproof,'' the lead single and title track of Pillar's major label debut, Beckley draws inspiration from his favorite Bible story, Daniel chapter 3. It's about a king who sentences three men to die in the fiery furnace because they refuse to reject God and bow down before a golden statue.

When the men are seen walking through the inferno safe and sound in the company of a mysterious fourth man, it makes a believer out of the king. Not everybody appreciates that Beckley makes no effort to downplay the old-time religion in the song.

``I've had one guy say our lyrics are very condescending, and I was like, 'OK,' '' Beckley says. ``I think that it's got a very powerful message, and if you're already a believer, then I think that song is very encouraging to you. And if you're just somebody who picks it up and listens to it, I think that song is a no-compromise song.''

The song was written before MCA Records came into the picture. Back then, Pillar was just the local alternative rock band in the small Kansas town where its members were attending college. They were seen honing the band sound in bars, churches and at concerts in the park.

By the time the band forked over nearly $2,000 for an old school bus and began touring the country, it had released two independent albums, including ``Fireproof'' on the Nashville-based Flicker Records.

The album has sold nearly 200,000 copies. On June 10, MCA Records makes a newly remixed, remastered and repackaged version of the album available to the masses.

Included in the first 25,000 copies will be a DVD documentary with concert footage.

``But none of those decisions were made in terms of making them more secular or mainstream,'' explains Jeremy Hammond, vice president of marketing for MCA Records. ``It was purely to increase the impact and make it more appealing to the target.''

The target?

``Just kids that like hard-rock music, you know, the MTV generation, 'Head-Bangers Ball,' kids that like their music in the hard-rock vein,'' he says.

In essence, it's the same audience that pumps its fist to the heavy rock sounds of P.O.D. and Evanescence.

While Beckley disagrees with Evanescence's remarks based on his own spiritual convictions, the Pillar frontman says he relates to the frustration of being stuffed into a little box. But he doesn't try to fight it.

``Personally, I think it's OK to call somebody a Christian rock band, but you have to realize that the ones that make them a Christian band are the Christian record labels,'' Beckley says. ``The second you sign to a mainstream label, then you're just a band with a Christian message.''

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Thou Shalt Not...

...use the word Christian

Some hot rock bands are trying to shed the label

(2) Pillar

(3) P.O.D.

(4) MxPx