The Medium Is the Lofty Message at Suburbiafest

Too often, Christian rock doesn’t, because pasteurized lyrical sentiments take precedence over musical form. Suburbiafest ‘99, a low-key Faith-a-palooza of sorts held Saturday for its fourth year at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center, is an admirable effort to bring together bands and fans who prefer celebrating their faith to the max with the amps cranked to 11. The nine bands featured this year varied widely in style and skill but not in good intentions.

Topping the bill was the O.C. Supertones, a septet (complete with deejay and two-man horn section) specializing in a rambunctious blend of ska, rock, pop and hip-hop. The music was meatier than many ska-related bands; the playing was solid, and the musicians struck a comfortable balance between melodic lilt, edgy energy and dance imperative.

The audience (about 2,500 strong--enough to fill the main floor and a good portion of the stands) threw itself into the music, bouncing merrily and chanting along with the songs.

The hour-plus set covered a lot of ground, from frenetic mosh-worthy outbursts to mellower dub-tinged numbers. It also included a solo spot for the deejay to show off his mix-mastery, an enthusiastic sermon about the inescapable nature of God’s love, a prayer interlude, a solicitation for a Christian relief fund and a hymn-like acoustic sing-along.

Other bands on the bill didn’t have quite so full an agenda, but all seemed equally genuine in their desire to give it up for God--though some were more effective at communicating that desire than others.

The youngsters in Switchfoot played a lively set of Green Day-ish power pop (including a pleasantly scruffed-up version of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect”) that indicated a promising future.

The foursome may one day mature into something like Plank Eye, a power-pop quartet that turned in a set of solid alternative rock with glimmers of “Murmur”-era R.E.M., a touch of Green Day and perhaps a tinge of the Buzzcocks.

Opening act Fono (billed as “special guests,” though the only overtly special thing about the band was the fact that they’re from England) likewise stirred up a sturdy set of alt-rock, though they favored the heavier end of the spectrum.

The weakest set musically (though you’d never guess it from the exuberantly bopping crowd) was One Eighty, an eight-piece ska outfit with two female singers who managed (for better and worse) to make up in perkiness what the band lacked in coherent playing.

Several bands expressed a much more fiery side of faith. Within minutes of taking the stage, P.O.D.’s influences became fairly clear--a bristling, impassioned mixture of Rage Against the Machine, Korn and Deftones--but the quartet had the chops, fierce energy and charisma to pull off such ambitious intentions.

Stavesacre, a quintet of men in black, took a slightly mellower tack, stirring up a short but simmering set of dynamic, brooding tunes that occasionally smacked of Tool.

Ghoti Hook (“ghoti” being the phonetic rendering of “fish” that’s perennially popular among the junior-high set) gave the evening a decidedly punk turn. Though the affable five-piece group played for only 20 minutes, it made the most of its time, launching directly into a handful of blazing songs that mined the melodic side of punk (Social Distortion, Offspring, Ramones) and culminated in a festive, unruly version of Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

When all was said and done, Suburbiafest played out with all the strengths and weaknesses that most secular multi-band extravaganzas do, but everyone took it all in joyous stride, caught up in the spirit of the event.