January/Febuary 1998 -- Issue 16

It's become so common to hear someone say, "We're not a Christian band -- we're Christians who just play in a band", that it's refreshing to talk with Plankeye. You see, they are a Christian band, and they don't care who knows it.

"The message in Christian music is important," says bassist Luis Garcia, "but I don't like the fact that people place Christians in sort of a mediocre category. Christian music is looked down upon because people view it as mediocre. I don't think that is glorifying to God."

Lead vocalist Scott Silletta, however, points out that sometimes Christian music has earned the title mediocre. "Sometimes it seems like Christians are all living in the same building, patting each other on the back and ignoring the arena rock show down the street." He thinks Christian bands should be of the caliber to perform the big shows in the big venues for the big crowds. "Christians should be excellent examples, because God has given each one of us a gift."

Discussing their faith has never been an issue Plankeye avoids. In fact, they're developing quite a reputation for their staunch Calvinist beliefs. "Yes, the rumors are true--we are pro-Calvinist and have all embraced the reformed faith," says guitarist Eric Balmer.

However, they say, it's not some "contest" of beliefs, as when the Corinthians were taken to task for fighting over whether it was better to be followers of Apollos, or Paul (I Cor. 3:4). "It's not in that regard at all," Balmer says. "It's that we believe the doctrines of Calvin -- the doctrines of grace -- are what the Bible teaches. This is what we believe when it comes to Christ and Christianity. We're not in some John Calvin club, we're in love with Jesus Christ and want to everything for His glory."

But, according to Garcia, this theological philosophy didn't come without a struggle. "I've been thinking through these ideas for the past couple of years; the ideas embodied in the Calvinistic form of belief were so great and so heavy that I hated it and had a lot of trouble with it. There were times I literally could not go to the Bible because I was afraid of what I was going to find." The members of Plankeye stress they have studied long and hard about embracing the reformed faith. In fact Garcia points out, Balmer was a Biblical Studies major in college.

However, Balmer takes a fairly humble approach to his knowledge of theology. "We want the fans of Plankeye to know we don't pretend to be experts on this at all. The five of us don't pretend to be experts on the Bible, on God, or anything, but we do search the Scriptures and continue to learn stuff. We believe the convictions we have are of God and He knows we love Him."

The reformed faith basically consists of five main points, with predestination seeming to be one which always sparks debate in the church. Before I can get the words out of my mouth, Balmer jumps at the opportunity, as if wanting the question to be asked: "I think that God chose me and I didn't choose him. My salvation had nothing to do with me saying, ' Ok, God, I want you.' God created me as a vessel of honor and He chose me. The only way I saw the Gospel's was because He first loved me and enlightened me heart."

Garcia adds, "Some people have a problem with predestination because they are afraid to let go. They want to be in control. But the fact is, God is sovereign and nothing happens without it being allowed by Him."

Drummer Adam Ferry, who seems quit and reflective, finally speaks : "We don't call ourselves predestinationalists, we call ourselves Calvinists. Everybody always focuses on that one thing. I believe, first and foremost, that I am nothing. I believe the nature of man is deplorable and Romans clearly describes this. It say our hearts are deceitfully wicked and deplorable. Eric was the first in the band to embrace the reformed faith then Luis, Scott, and I followed, investigated, searched and fought with these same issues. If you don't fight with these issues, I don't think you really get Christianity, because the gravity of it is insane."

He's right, the conversation is absolutely intense -- these guys are passionate about their beliefs. Ferry adds, "It is very challenging to subscribe to the complete sovereignty of God. That's why it is Grace."

Yet, night after night, they continue singing about Jesus, talking about Jesus and telling people why they need Jesus. If they believe in predestination, why bother?

"The bible is our final authority and it commands us to be evangelistic, even if at times we don't fully understand it." According to Garcia, "We may not fully understand everything in the Bible but if we call ourselves Christians, then we must believe it."

Balmer, who seems to be the most knowledgeable about Calvinism, is pretty good at summing up the other's thoughts concisely: "The Bible is filled with mystery. No person's human reasoning can understand that God is Three in One, that Christ was born of a virgin, that God always existed and created the world out of nothing. People like to pick on the fact that God is sovereign and yet man has responsibility. God commanded us to evangelize and that is all the motivation we need."

About this time, the newcomer to the band jumps into the action. Ryan Dennee plays guitar for the band's live show, since Silletta has set down his performances. About halfway through the last tour, with the Newsboys, Silletta decided to stop the guitar and concentrate on singing. He's happy about that decision -- but in the studio, he felt like a guitar was missing so they added another one.

Then they had to find someone to pull it off on-stage -- enter Dennee, who has actually been a fan of Plankeye's for awhile. "I've only been in the band about a month, and when I heard the new record I couldn't believe I knew the guys who made it. I've known these guys for about six or seven years and this is the best stuff they've ever done."

They added Dennee because he fits in with the guys real well, he plays well, and, Silletta jokes, "chicks dig him". Dennee, however, says they may have picked him for a simpler reasons: "I play to tracks."

Wile Dennee can easily jump in while they're joking around, he can just as easily bring the conversation back to the band's ministry. "Just because God knew, before the creation of the world, who was going to Heaven and who was going to Hell, doesn't mean we know. It is a joy to share the Gospel, because the Bible clearly says that God created us as vessels. Jest because we can't control it or convince someone doesn't mean we're not used. The Holy Spirit does the convincing."
There have been other changes with Plankeye, too. They no longer give alter calls because they don't like the idea of delivering a handful of kids to people they don't know. In fact, Garcia says there are some churches where he wouldn't want people to go. "There are things out there that I would feel bad about if I knew that people were going there and I had a part in it."

"We never close off the possibility to evangelize to an individual after the show," Ferry clarifies. "We've seen bands give alter calls and say, 'Hey, how many people got saved tonight?'. The kids raise their hands and the band yells, 'Praise the Lord', and jumps into their next song. Where did the accountability go? What happened? Who was that person?"

The members agree many young people today seem to get caught up in the hype and emotionalism of concerts and, before they know it, they're running down an aisle getting "saved". Silletta feels especially passionately about this. "Emotions are really misleading a lot of times," he says. "You have to discern -- what's God and what is you? I used to run completely on emotion and that got me into some disastrous situations. The Gospel is, Repent and be saved. It's not, Raise your hands and come on down. The Bible says they preached and many believed. It never says they had an altar call. That is a totally man-made form of getting saved."
Personally, professionally, and spiritually, this band has been through an amazing period of change -- which has defiantly affected their music. When asked what has happened musically over the past two years, the band responds with a unanimous, "The Newsboys Tour."

"That was a neat learning experience," says Garcia, "It defiantly bettered us as a band and showed us some thing we'd like to change."

Knowing that kids are paying anywhere from $5 to $15 per show is important to Silletta. He wants to do his best to glorify God and give the fans their best performance. To Plankeye, being the best band they can glorifies God.

Their new show has a souped-up production, compared to Plankeye shows before the Newsboys tour. Their style seems to have changed a little, as well. Their new record, The One and Only, will undoubtedly categorize Plankeye as more of a pop band, as they move farther away from being labeled "alternative."

I'm not trying to blow my own horn or anything, but I think we've become better songwriters," Garcia says. "In my opinion a good song is a good song, and I want to write good songs."
The fact is, Plankeye had twice as long to work on this record as a collective group than they had for "Commonwealth", Ferry says. "This album is different from the others because it has more continuity. We didn't just sit down and say, 'OK this is what we want'. Luis actually wanted to make sure all the songs had a similar feel. It was frustrating to play the same 2:4 structure so much, but in the end, it worked out great."

"The One and Only" should pick up quite a few new fans for the band -- but may lose a couple of the old, hardcore Plankeye followers. "We received a lot of criticism on our last record because it was moody," Ferry says, "Well, it was a very weird year. On this record we decided to just have some fun."

When talking about their plans for the tour, they decide to have some then, too : "We're going to do The One and Only tour in the Spring -- March through May. We're thinking of having Point of Grace and Out of Eden open for us. I'd especially like Carman to tell us a few stories."

Plankeye fans will have to wait and see. In the meantime, the members of Plankeye want to challenge us all to examine -- and understand -- what each of us believes. "Roman's 14 exhorts us to be convicted as individuals," Ferry says. "It says anything not from faith is sin. If we're making decisions and accusations and forming opinions about other people without being fully convinced in our own minds what we believe, we may be in sin -- on the judgmental seat, looking at someone else while having a plank in our own eye. No pun intended." 7

"What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task." - 1 Corinthians 3:5, NIV