Backbone with Michael Sweet: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Backbone with Michael Sweet: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Ken McMullen:
You guys started with your faith is with hearing Jimmy Swaggart on television. Is that right?

Michael Sweet:
Yeah. Mean it before Jimmy Swaggart. We were certainly believers. We believed in God. You know, we read the Bible from time to time, went to church from time to time. And we certainly believe in God, had of faith in God. But it wasn’t deep rooted yet, you know, it hadn’t really taken shape or form until we started watching Jimmy Swaggart and my brother started watching, and then my dad and my mom and then my sister and myself and the whole family would literally sit down from the television and watch Jimmy Swaggart every Sunday. And that was our church. And we got so into it and it moved us and touched us so deeply that we committed our hearts and our lives to Christ.

Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart:
Some of you are sitting back and I’m talking to Catholics, I’m talking to Protestants, I’m talking to independents, and I’m talking to dependents. You can sit back in that old cold mausoleum that you called a church that doesn’t believe in God and doesn’t believe in a Bible and doesn’t believe in Jesus and doesn’t believe in holy and doesn’t believe in anything. And you can say, well.

Evangelist Jimmy Swaggart:
It’s not my responsibility.And you’re going to wind up in hell, too. That’s blunt, isn’t it? But I’m telling you the truth. Make up your mind. I’m living for God. It may cost me my friends. It may cost me my loved ones. It may cost me my job. It may cost me my mama. It may cost me my daddy. They may kick me out of my church. They may turn the lights out on me. I may lose everything I’ve got. But I’ve made up my mind. I’m living for Jesus and I’m going to have victory. And I’m going through all the way. The devil’s not going to destroy my soul, my heart, my life. I’ve made up my mind.

Michael Sweet:
And then went and got involved in a Southern Baptist church locally and started going to church, you know, every Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday night, you got involved in the music worship group, all that stuff, and it really flourished. Uh, but Jimmy Swaggart was certainly instrumental in that, in that decision to devote our lives to Christ, for sure.

Ken McMullen:
Yeah. And in that day. Now, people may not have been around to remember or been in church then, but you got to put it in context. There weren’t drums on the stage. Nobody was playing electric guitar in church. Not really. It was the devil’s music. It grew up in that, but yet now it’s church worship music, you know? But in the day you guys had spines, you go out and start doing, you know, real rock n roll even. I’ve seen people kicked out of church in that age for just doing something with rhythm.

Michael Sweet:
Oh, yeah, 100%. And you know, back then, remember when we joined it became members of that Baptist church, Southern Baptist Church. Uh, we were part of the music team and it was literally a choir, you know, with an organ player, an organ player, kind of like a big.

Ken McMullen:
Fluffy colored orange and yellow microphone windscreens.

Michael Sweet:
Oh, yeah, we had those and we wore all matching shirts. You know, we didn’t have the gowns, the choir gowns, but we had matching shirts and we were a choir, more or less. There was a guy who played acoustic guitar, but that’s as far as it went. And I remember being asked as a young kid to perform a few songs, and I was really reaching for the stars and shaking things up by wanting to perform Sweet Comfort and a few songs from Sweet Comfort Band, you know, because I thought these guys are kind of rocking. And I remember that was risque. And the the congregation members were like, What is this? So, yeah, interesting.

Sweet Comfort Band:
Never seems to go as I’m planning. That way, no matter how I try to understand it, give it all just enough. One day you see the glass half empty. Forgive me if I disagree. I can see it full already believing that it’s there for me. I can.

Ken McMullen:
Progression. You didn’t start out as stryper. You just started out doing Hollywood rock and roll. Music and were Christians. Right. What was kind of the evolution of it becoming? I don’t think you guys ever termed it as a Christian band, but where it became seen as that.

Michael Sweet:
Yeah, Stryper is definitely a very unique in, in every every way. You know, we became Christians at a young age. I was, you know, when I became a Christian, I was 12 years old and actually not quite 12. And they got involved in the church. And then soon after that I started, I joined my brother’s band. And when I was 12, almost 13, and once I joined my brother’s band, it was just the regular rock band. It wasn’t a Christian rock band. We weren’t playing Christian music. We were playing, you know, David Bowie and Hendrix and Aerosmith and all that kind of stuff. And once that journey started, I got involved. As I got a little older and playing clubs. I didn’t go to church, stopped going to church, started drinking and doing that whole thing, smoking and drinking and try to be cool and act cool and playing all the Hollywood clubs. And I remember being out on the street in front of these clubs when I was, you know, 17, 18 years old. And Arthur blessed its folks coming up to me with the cross and preaching to me and me not wanting to hear it, you know, at all.

Michael Sweet:
I was involved and caught up in my own sinful ways, my own world, if you will, and didn’t want to hear it. But yet I knew what was right and I knew what was wrong. And there was a conviction there for sure. And then not long after that, when I was 20 years old and we were rock stars. Jim Almost striper when Tim joined the band, that’s when we rededicated our lives and decided to, you know, dedicate the band to God, focus entirely on our message representing Christ and, you know, spreading the gospel. And that’s it hasn’t wavered since, you know, I’m 50, 59 years old now, and that’s the way it’s been ever since that that time. And there’s no looking back, man. I’ve never thought about doing anything differently for one second other than maybe getting a different job, you know? Um, yeah, this, this music world is a tough gig. And, you know, other than that, I’ve never thought about changing my faith or put my faith on a shelf or, you know, my devotion to Christ on a shelf whatsoever.

Sweet Comfort Band:
You know.

Ken McMullen:
Yeah. I really respect you guys. And you mean you’ve had a. Then a lot of projects been with Boston. Other we’ve done solo stuff, but it’s more about to me, it’s less about the I’m impressed with the music and yours and the band’s career and stuff. It’s that you’re not there isn’t the line of Christian and secular, you’re just Christian guys doing rock and roll and you are who you are, no matter what venue or environment you’re in. Not that it was always perfect, you know. None of us are. Yeah, I’ll have our season. You’re the first time I ran across you. I don’t expect you to remember. I had my face behind the camera. I was, like, 19, doing a. Video internship at a cable station in Michigan, and we drove to Ohio. And you were touring with Tesla. And honestly, we interviewed we being I was just the camera kid and some guy named Bob. I don’t remember his last name, interviewed you and he interviewed Tesla. And at that age, I heard things Asla talked about that I didn’t know existed in my young, naive Christian ears. But you were always right in that just being. Driver with the Isaiah scripture and throwing Bibles out and. I don’t know if I have a question in that other than. Well, you know what I’ll mention to your friends? Is that right? With like Stephen Pearcy of Ratt.

Michael Sweet:
We’re friends with a lot of these guys and and not, not just acquaintances are like ships passing in the night, but we stay in touch. Yeah, we see each other and, uh. It’s I need to know something or, Hey, do you know this guy? Or. Hey, man, what are you doing? Let’s get together. You know, we stay in touch. And not just Steven, but so many. And that’s really what our ministry is all about. Uh, you know, I’ve gotten some flack over the years for claiming that we’re not a Christian band, and people get all up in arms about that. They don’t understand what I’m trying to say when I say that. And it’s very simple and very cut and dry in my mind. You know, you have Christian bands. When I think of Christian band, I think of, uh, of Petra. You know, I think of, uh. D gambling t I think of right now, White cross, right? And, and, and in reason why I think of those bands is because they literally, uh, they have a certain type of ministry in a way of presenting their message in their music. And it is very Christian in the sense that, you know, they’ll come out, for example, mid-set and pull up a bar, a bar stool and sit on it and pull out a Bible and preach for 15 minutes during the set.

Michael Sweet:
Stryper doesn’t do that. We’ve never done that. We’re I, I refer to us as a rock band that’s comprised of Christians. You know, I don’t like the categories. I don’t like the terms. I can’t stand it, actually. I just think it’s silly. I feel like you’re either a rock band or you’re a country band or you’re a jazz band or you’re a, uh, you know, funk band. They’re what is Christian and satanic. And it’s like, if you’re a Christian, you’re a Christian. You know, I just I use this old analogy and people like us, it’s a billion times, but it’s so true. You know, when you’re calling a plumber, if you’re a Christian household and you want a Christian plumber, is there a category to go look through that says all the Christian plumbers, Right. Know these guys have Christian. These guys are. And it’s just it’s really weird to me. It’s a weird mentality that we’ve gotten ourselves into. We are Christians, but we’re a rock band. We’re not a Christian rock band. White rock band.

Ken McMullen:
Yeah, you could be an attorney and you don’t have to be in a Christian attorney. And actually, a lot of the the Christian radio that markets like Christian attorneys or Christian plumbers is a little nauseating. Let just people be their trade.

Michael Sweet:
And they are.

Ken McMullen:
On their trade.

Michael Sweet:
Do a good job and be honorable. Be trustworthy, be respectful, have dignity. And that’s it. You know, and you know, when I say things like this, so some people are like, oh, my gosh, I can’t believe he’s saying that. It’s really weird to me that they can’t grasp what I’m saying. It’s so simple. And it doesn’t they think that I’m or we’re, you know, side, you know, sidetracked, taking a sidetracked path or we’re like sweeping Christs under the carpet or we’re ashamed of our state by saying something like that. And it’s like, gosh, it if there is a ban that’s more bold than striper show. Show me who they are, you know, in terms of their faith and standing for Christ. I mean, we’re as bold as he gets, but I don’t like being called Christian band. I just don’t.

Ken McMullen:
Yeah, You’re able to play to crowds. That would never hear a message. Yeah. Don’t know how they don’t see that. You know, there’s other artists that, you know, may be gone now, but even in the different genres, like Charlie Daniels and different people that were great Christian guys. But they don’t have to be Christian artists, but they’re just who they are and they’re playing to people that may never make it into a church.

Michael Sweet:
Exactly. Exactly. And I mean, if you’re going to say that, I mean, then you have to go down the list. And all the guys that are Christians in rock and roll, you got to call them Christian bands, too. And there’s a lot of them. You know, Dave Mustaine’s, a Christian, is Megadeth, a Christian band. I mean, it is.

Ken McMullen:
A band with a Christian guy in it.

Michael Sweet:
Yes. And there’s a lot of bands like that. And there’s a lot of bands where all the guys are Christians, but they’re not Christian bands. Right? Because they weren’t marketed that way. Yeah. Even don’t upset.

Ken McMullen:
That it’s hard to wrap my brain around. But you get around the Alice Cooper, who a pastor advises him. Like the world needs Alice Cooper. And it’s hard as a Christian to think, well, that’s kind of dark, but he’s still out in front of people that no one else would ever get in front of if he wasn’t Alice Cooper.

Michael Sweet:
Exactly. And he lets every time I’ve heard him speak or seen him speak, he always represents Christ. He never, ever is a poor representation for Christ. So that’s what it’s all about. And really go a step further. It’s really about, you know, the cameras are rolling. You can say whatever you want to say, but it’s really about what do you do when the cameras are shut off? That’s really what it’s about. Yeah.

Ken McMullen:
Strypers been around, what, 40 years mean on and off. But.

Michael Sweet:
Almost 40 years next year, next year’s official 40 year anniversary of the. At a minimum.

Ken McMullen:
You’ve been doing music that longer than that and and you’ve been Michael sweet longer than that.

Michael Sweet:
So I have been since 1963, July 4th.

Ken McMullen:
So I’m sure you’re asked a lot. You know, like so what? Where’s a stryper at now? I’m not going to ask you that. Actually, where’s Michael Sweet at now? You know, as a person.

Michael Sweet:
Well, I mean, I struggle with many things, like every other person in the world on the planet today. Um. I have my weaknesses, I have my downfalls, my shortcomings. I’m not perfect. I have concerns. I have fears. Uh, you know, but I really try. To move onward and upward. It’s a favorite saying of mine. My motto, Onward and upward. And it’s so true. You have to keep moving onward. You have to keep moving upward. Or at least trying to. Don’t let life and everything that it brings tear you apart and and stop the story. You know, keep moving. Keep creating the story and adding to it in in with integrity and you know, representing, you know, obviously Christ representing God, being a light in the dark. That’s what I try to be. I try to be the light in the dark. And, you know, I’m just blessed. And I’m here almost 60 years old and I’m still able to do it. And in a light time. Don’t know when my time will come. When I won’t be able to do it. It could be tomorrow. It could be in 20 years. I don’t know. But I never take it for granted. And I’m very happy to be able to still do what I’m called to do on this earth. To do. It’s amazing.

Ken McMullen:
And if this was Michael Sweet’s last day and I hope it’s not, I hope you have a 60 more but 60 more years, not days.

Ken McMullen:
Well. What do you hope you’d have accomplished as a as a human being, as a believer, as a husband or dad or whatever?

Michael Sweet:
Well, I hope I would hope that I always represented. My God. You know. Appropriately. I know I haven’t. But I strive to do so, and I would hope that I have done so that when people talk about me, when I’m gone and they remember me, that they say, you know, he. You got to give it to him. He always stood his ground. He always, you know, waved that flag of his faith in Christ. And he never wavered from that. And. I hope they remember that. I hope they remember that I was a, you know, someone that cared, somebody that tried to have a positive effect on the world and on others. And I also hope that they remember that I was real in the process. You know, you get what you get with me, good or bad? You know, there’s something that is always turned my stomach, and that is when someone represents themself one way. On video. Or audio and then you go and have lunch with them and they’re completely different person. Yeah. I don’t like that. At all. And I try to give you the Michael Sweet you’re going to get when you go have lunch with him. Or dinner with him right here on video and audio. I’m the same guy I try to be. You know, I.

Michael Sweet:
I just don’t like hypocrisy. I don’t like people that are double sided and two faced. I can’t stand it. Can’t stomach it. Just be real. Be real. With the good, with the bad. People will get it and people will respect you for that. And I tried to be and I hope people remember that too, that, hey, you know, I might not have agreed with them that Michael likes his bourbon. You know, I don’t understand that. But, you know, he was at least he was real. And he opened up about it and talked about it. I don’t consider myself an alcoholic. I just like bourbon. I like the I like the the thrill of trying different sipping different bourbons and like all the different flavors and everything. And it just kind of fun for me, you know? And but you talked about that as a Christian. Look out. You better not. Or smoking a cigar like a good cigar. Every now and then you do that. You post a picture of that. Look out. You’re a Christian. You’re not a Christian. If you’re going to if you’re going to smoke a cigar, You see what I mean? I’m I just try to be real. Not. Not a farce. Yeah.

Ken McMullen:
My favorite was growing up that having a drink, having a cigar was wrong, but it was coming from a glutton minister that missed the second part of the scripture about eating too much.

Michael Sweet:
This is this is exactly right. And it’s like if you go through everything biblically speaking, you’re going to find something for everyone. That they need to work on. For every single one of us. So that’s why we’re pointing fingers at this guy saying, what in the world? You know, how can you love this person who’s who’s, you know, gay and they’re this and they’re that. And then but then you go into the person pointing the fingers, private lives, and you’re going to find all kinds of muck and crud and junk. That they need to work on. You know, and that’s the thing. That’s another thing that astonishes me is the judgmental attitude. A lot of Christians feel they have the right to judge. Now, you don’t. You really don’t. Um, you have the right to judge yourself. That’s for darn sure. And we all need to start doing just that. Look out. Look at ourselves in the mirror and start cleaning up our own dirt. And it’s going to take a lifetime to do so.

Ken McMullen:
All right, Mr. Sweet, I appreciate you. I appreciate your time.

Michael Sweet:
Hey, brothers, thanks for having me on and absolutely wish we had more time. I have other interviews and whatnot, but you, uh, maybe we’ll talk again soon in the very near future?

Ken McMullen:
Yeah, for sure.

Michael Sweet:
Okay, brother.

Ken McMullen:
Hey, thanks. Hey, before you go, I want to let you know we had a You may not. Do you recall back? I’ll let you go your next interview. But we had a mutual friend and Greg Fulkerson.

Michael Sweet:
Oh, yes.

Ken McMullen:
He. I brought him I was. I was on FM in Nashville and I became friends with him that year. He had just finished, I think, producing your solo album.

Michael Sweet:
Yeah. And he and he and I co-produced that first solo album together and co-wrote it. Yeah, absolutely, man. And I was like.

Ken McMullen:
Hey, I’m going to see Michael Sweet at a GMA or whatever. And I brought him along one time. Not that you remember me, but I don’t know if you remember that he popped in at a hotel and interview.

Michael Sweet:
You know, I’m trying to remember. I of course, I stayed with Greg. I moved to Nashville for six weeks and lived in his house and so became really good friends with Greg. And Greg had a huge heart and, you know, wrestled with a lot of things like all of us. And sadly, he’s he’s gone. Yeah. Such an incredible talent.

Ken McMullen:
Just reconnected with him after literal decades on Facebook. And then less than a month later, I start seeing all these. So sorry, you’re gone. I’m like, What? What?

Michael Sweet:
Unbelievable. And I think I think what happened with Greg is just some things in his life got the best of him, you know? And we all have our demons. And he had some demons that he was wrestling with, and it was difficult to overcome. And you know what? I think it was heart wrenching when I heard the news of Greg capacity and just just I couldn’t believe it. And he was so young. I mean, mid-forty seconds maybe, if that. Uh, and it’s just. It’s unbelievable. Truly unbelievable. But you know what? What a talent. And if people haven’t, go check out Greg’s work, you know, Blue Tears and all the stuff that he saw and. And just amazing talent, man.

Ken McMullen:
All right. Thanks again.

Michael Sweet:
Okay, brother. God bless you.

Blue Tears:
Don’t you? Listen to your heart. Is. Why it promised Gyppy forever. One love. Those little myles trees.

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