In a recent Interview with Totally Driven Radio, STRYPER frontman Michael Sweet was asked about controversies around the band. He said:
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“Well, controversy follows STRYPER, we don’t follow it. It’s just kind of par for the course. We do what we do and people talk about it and they get worked up about it.”
On using ‘God Damn Evil’ as an album title:
“Yeah, a lot of people get it and are on board with the title, but some people don’t. You would think after 35 years of following us and knowing our hearts and our motives and exactly why we do what we do, that nobody would question what we’re doing, unless we came out with an album where we were naked on the cover and it was called ‘F-You’ or something. But, it’s a pretty clear message. ‘God Damn Evil’, we live in a society that seems to be, we’re watching evil go to new levels that we’ve never seen before. Such as the [October 2017] Vegas shooting. Who in our lifetime could have ever imagined that we would witness such a thing and such a level of evil? So, it’s a very bold message in a very bold time. It’s a prayer request from us to God asking God to ‘damn evil.’ We’ve explained that, the lyrics speak for themselves, we posted the lyrics. People who don’t understand it or get it or question our motives, I don’t really know what to say. I really don’t.”
On whether he’s at a loss for words over the fact people don’t understand the “God Damn Evil” title:
Michael: “Yeah. It’s just like, it’s hard to understand. Those people, you could put a Coke in front of them in a Coke can from a Coke representative and they would still tell you it’s not Coke. You’re never going to convince them otherwise. And then you got to wonder, ‘Why are you a fan? Why are you here? Why do you call yourself a fan?’ Because a true fan wouldn’t do that, in my opinion.”
It is a title that Robert [Sweet, drums] threw out there a few years back and we didn’t go with it. We felt like it wasn’t the right time and we certainly contemplated and thought about it for a long period, then I threw it out there again in ’17 and everyone is, like, ‘Yeah, this is perfect.’ It is perfect for the times that we live in. It’s a powerful message, makes people talk, makes people think and hopefully makes people pray.”
On next SWEET & LYNCH album that features a concept with the two men telling, presumably, their side of religion:
Michael: “George’s [Lynch] opinion of ‘going to be another one’ is different from my opinion. What I mean by that is George has this mindset — apparently, he thinks that I agreed one hundred percent to doing a concept album where he presents his side and I present my side. I never agreed to that. He and I have talked about it multiple times and he keeps pushing for that, but I’ve also told him, quite a few times, that I have to believe what I’m singing since I am the singer in SWEET & LYNCH, I’ve got to believe what I’m singing. If I don’t believe it, if I don’t feel it, I’m not going to sing it. That’s the tricky part. I’m not calling George a liar.
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He’s no liar at all. It’s just that he probably really believes that it’s going to happen. We got a lot of talking to do because it’s not going to go down that way, that’s for sure. I’m open-minded and I’ll try different things and I think I jokingly said, ‘If you want to do that…’ He wants to write lyrics and be a part of that whole thing. I said ‘Well, are you going to let me play half of the guitars?’ [Laughs] We spar back and forth. George and I have, I think, a really good relationship. We joke around a lot and stuff. Again, it’s got to be done…the only way another SWEET & LYNCH album will happen if it’s done in a certain way and I can sing the lyrics believing them.”
Via Blabbermouth.com