Stryper Reunites, if Only for Weekend

Ever since Cain and Abel, brothers have had trouble seeing eye to eye. In pop music, that’s been all too apparent in famous blowups between Phil and Don Everly, the Kinks’ Ray and Dave Davies and Oasis siblings Liam and Noel Gallagher.

But nearly a decade after calling it quits, the siblings who fronted ‘80s Orange County heavy-metal band Stryper are hardly at each others’ throats. In fact, founders Robert and Michael Sweet are setting aside the differences that led to Stryper’s breakup long enough to play together in a reunion show on Saturday, which caps a two-day Stryper Expo at Azusa Pacific University.

They do, however, hold diametrically opposing views on just what that show says about the future for the band that proved Christian pop music didn’t have to sound soft and soothing.

For drummer Robert Sweet, the show will be a chance to reconnect with fans on the way to a full-fledged resurrection of Stryper and its mission, which came to a halt nine years ago when his younger brother, lead singer Michael, left to start a solo career.

“To be honest, I’m hoping the band will get back together,” Robert Sweet says. “When you’ve got a mission in life--something special you can do and it helps people--I believe that you should do it.

“I know Stryper can’t last forever,” he says, “but I know it’s not over yet either. There are still a lot of places to play, a lot of people who can be influenced, people who feel empty inside and who are looking for something. . . . To me that’s a higher calling than music. I’m hoping [the band’s other members] one day will feel what I’m feeling.”

For Michael Sweet, Stryper’s show is simply a brief look back as he focuses most of his energy on promoting his latest album, “Truth,” and continuing to build a solo career.

In addition to playing Saturday in Azusa with his old bandmates, who include lead guitarist Oz Fox and bassist Tim Gaines, Michael will play a solo set today, and separate shows Sunday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano and Monday at House of Blues in West Hollywood. They’re part of a tour promoting “Truth,” which came out in January.

Michael Sweet lives with his wife and two children in Cape Cod, Mass., thousands of miles--geographically and philosophically--from Robert Sweet’s home outside Las Vegas. The younger sibling says, “Stryper had a lot of success and opened a lot of doors, but people need to realize it’s definitely a new time and a new era. . . . I’m very proud to have been a part of [Stryper] and what God did with that, but it’s time to move on.”

For him, that translates into pushing hard to find an audience for “Truth,” his third solo album. So far, it’s sold only 3,300 copies, according to SoundScan (although that sales-monitoring service does not track sales in Christian book and record stores or sales through https://www.michaelsweet.com). Michael attributes some of the album’s slow start to a management shake-up at Restless Records before the album came out.

Even the renewed public interest in ‘80s rock bands of all stripes doesn’t shake his belief that a long-term Stryper reunion is not in his future.

“I kind of compare it, whether this is good or bad, to a marriage,” Michael Sweet says. “You were married, and for whatever reason that marriage didn’t work out, so you moved on and remarried. Are you doing to leave your new wife to go back to your old wife? It’s not going to happen. I’ve got a new record out, so to do an occasional Stryper show is fun, but as far as a full-fledged reunion, no.”

When Stryper exploded out of Orange County in the mid-’80s, the group alienated as many Christians as it attracted mainstream hard-rock fans with its sonic assault and Scripture quotations. The band also became famous for tossing Bibles into the crowd during concerts as its response to heavy metal bands that sang of Satanism or celebrated violence.

Stryper’s 1985 debut album, “Soldiers Under Command,” was certified gold for sales of 500,000, and the follow-up, “To Hell With the Devil,” went platinum, helped along by regular exposure on MTV and VH1, another breakthrough for an unapologetically Christian rock group.

“What we had to say was that not every rock ‘n’ roll band has to be the same, and not every song has to have the same meaning,” Robert Sweet says. “You can see yourself that there’s a lot of negativity out there in the music scene, and since we live in America, everyone has the right to do and say what they will. But we have the right to say something positive, to try to shine a little light into the industry, especially into some of its darker corners.

“I heard someone on VH1 say that Creed was the Stryper of 2000,” Robert Sweet adds, “and I think we did help bands like Creed and [Christian rap-metal band] P.O.D. to be more accepted.”

* Stryper Expo, Felix Event Center, Azusa Pacific University, 901 E. Alosta Ave., Azusa. 11:30 a.m to 10 p.m today, 10 a.m to 10 p.m. Saturday. Michael Sweet plays at 8:30 p.m. today; Stryper plays at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. $35 for both days. (626) 967-2893. Michael Sweet plays Sunday at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. (949) 496-8930. With Bridge of Hope, Crimson Stain. 8 p.m. $15. Also Monday at House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. 8 p.m. $20. (323) 848-5100.