What’s up Reign Rockers? I had yet another chance to talk with one of my heros growing up. Tim Gaines is such a great guy to talk to. He’s real and he’s honest. I sat down a few weeks ago and talked to Tim by phone. To see how Irene and him are doing and where their future is headed. So sit back crank the Reign til the house shakes and listen to Tim Gaines.

BigHairBrewster: So what’s up with Tim Gaines?

Tim Gaines: Well, uh all kinds of things. My wife and I just moved to Nashville about a month ago. We’re just getting plugged into the city out here, and trying to do the music stuff. I built a studio in my house, and I spend most of my time in the studio recording and writing songs with my wife and trying to put everything down, other than that I don’t know what we’re doing(both laughing).

BHB: Well Nashville and California has got to be a big change, so how are you getting used to that?

TG: It’s not really that big of a change. Weather wise you know things are a little different, it’s a little more humid out here. As far as the people go all of the people are a lot nicer than the people in California. There’s a different attitude than in L.A. particularly where everything seems to be more violent, and the freeway with the road rage and all that. Out here everybody’s very courteous, and polite and we really enjoy that. A lot of our friends that lived in LA during the 80's, in fact most of our friends have already moved out here. Over a twenty year period. So I’ve found that I have more friends out here now, than I did in California. It’s a lot of fun.

BHB: Yeah I’ve noticed that a lot of people from the Christian metal days like the Sanctuary church moved out there. Like Pastor Bob and those guys. Well what’s going on with you and Irene? Are you guys gonna make an album and tour in the future together?

TG: Right now we’re just concentrating on writing songs. We have about two albums worth of material that we’re trying to get down. Right now we’re in the demo stage getting all the songs together in demo form. Our goal is to release two cds, one is going to be praise and worship and the other will be more straight ahead pop/rock...you know acoustic rock type music. I don’t have any time frame as to when we’re gonna get this stuff completed, we’re just gonna let it go til it gets completed. But our goal is to have stuff ready that we can either present to record companies or publishing companies, which is what we’re really trying to do, is get a publishing deal. Also to have some kind of product that we can sell when we do play out. We haven’t put out a cd in about four years, so it’s time for something new.

BHB: Any chance of you doing like the Jazz Fusion stuff?

TG: I don’t know... I kind of switch gears, I have all these things I want to do, and I haven’t picked up my bass since the last Stryper show which was in Puerto Rico in March. I’ve mainly just been playing the acoustic guitar. I’m just kind of doing a different vibe as far as music goes. I’m writing more of the acoustic type music that’s more rocking.

BHB: Ok, well are you still doing the ham radio thing?

TG: Yep, I set up a little tiny station here in the house. Nothing like I had in California, but I find that I don’t have that much time to play with it anyway. I’m just too busy doing the music thing.

BHB: Irene was into that too right?

TG: Yeah, she’s also a ham.

BHB: Ok, well I kind of want to change gears here for a second. I know last time that you and I talked we got into a little bit about prophecy and the end times and stuff like that. So given now the current events that are going on, not just the war, but things like the whole foundation of marriage as we know it about to be abolished, and not only our rights as americans but as christians also that are being taken away daily. I mean we’re slowly losing all our rights man. So how do you see things like that? I’m a firm believer that, and don’t get me wrong we’ve been in the last days since Christ left the earth, but it seems like now more than ever we’re reaching that point where it’s gonna implode.

TG: Yeah, I agree I’m watching it every day in the news. I’m just kind of wondering myself where we stand as a country as well as believers. You know I don’t know, my biggest thing right now is just praying and asking God for direction, because who knows what’s gonna happen. Only he does. But I definetly believe that we are in the last days, everything that I keep reading in my daily reading of the word is just like I’m coming soon you know? It’s like I just open up the bible, and I always catch a little scripture or passage about being on guard because I’m coming soon. So I don’t know....we’ll just have to see.

BHB: Yeah, it’s kind of hard not to, because I’ve had discussions with people about this, and it’s like if you don’t think something is going on, and our society as a whole has changed, you just plain blind. That’s cool though man, I was just asking cause I know you and I had talked about it in the past, and I knew you were into prophecy and I was so I thought I’d ask again.

TG: Yeah man, I mean I can’t even watch tv anymore because it just makes me sick with the programming that’s on. It’s crazy.

BHB: Ok man, well do you see God taking you in a more solo direction, or do you think you’ll go in more of a band direction with Irene? I know you told me you’re just making demos right now, but are you planning on putting a band together?

TG: I don’t know, in fact that’s the weirdest thing. I know that we had confirmation after confirmation about coming out here. The Lord just opended the doors for us to move out here. It was just amazing how we ended up in the place where we’re at with the house. So I know that God has brought us out here, and now we’re in kind of a waiting period. We don’t know really why right now. So we’re just waiting on the Lord. I couldn’t really say, we’ve found a really great church out here and we’re getting closer with that. What our purpose out here is I have not idea. Whether it’s to do music or maybe not even do music at all I have no idea(laughing).

BHB: Ok, well I’m gonna give you a light question here. How does it feel to know that you’re one of the greatest bass players to hit the face of the earth?

TG: (laughing) Who says that?

BHB: I do!

TG: (laughing) Well that’s crazy to me, cuse I think I’m terrible.

BHB: No dude, you can’t think that. I know you don’t want to be cocky, but you have to believe that you have God given talent.

TG: I do believe that. I know that the Lord gave me a gift to play. Why it’s not being used I don’t know. That’s what drives me nuts everyday. I see other guys with less talent, and that’s not to say I think I’m a great player, because I’m not. I’m very humble about it, but I know that I can play, and the amount of time and experience that I’ve put into it and I’ve got almost thirty years now. You know playing bass guitar. I’ve done different style and aspects of it also. I know the instrument and that’s pretty much all I’ve done my whole life. Yet I find myself not being able to do anything with it. I see guys with less talent that are getting jobs right and left and it boggles my mind and I don’t understand it.

BHB: Well I don’t know if this helps man, but a friend of mine I was talking to the other day, and I’ve been going through almost a similar situation but he told me that what we think we see isn’t always what’s really there. You know Gods hand is always upon your life, so I’ll pray for you on that brother.

TG: Yeah thanks man.

BHB: Ok well if you had to choose between the two would you choose a Spector bass or a Warwick bass?

TG:(laughing) I’‘ve played them both and they’re both very similar. I would probably......see I was endorsed by Spector in the 80's so I know the Spector stuff. That’s a tough question(both laughing). They’re both so very similar, I think I would go with the Warwick, cause there’s just more vesatility.

BHB: Ok cool, Well do you feel any remorse for the fact the you and Stryper we’re partly responsible for killing the ozone layer back in the 80's?

TG:(laughing) Yeah I mean imagine that. I mean if you cold see me now I don’t even have any hair.

BHB:(laughing) Yeah I know I saw you on the reunion tour. I was like he’s got no hair!

TG: (laughing) yeah I cut it all off. In fact I cut it even shorter just the other day. So it’s maybe a quarter inch long. Yeah it’s amazing all the hairspray that we used, and Robert still uses it. I think I read somewhere that he wishes he could get an endorsement with Aqua-Net(both laughing). So that was kind of funny.

BHB: Ok, getting back to the music for a second are there any bands out there that you like. Cause I know you said a while back when you were talking about the bands with no talent, I don’t even listen to mainstream music anymore. I mainly listen to underground groups and artists. All the bands sound the same, and it reminds me of right before grunge broke out, when all the metal bands sounded the same. So are there any bands out there that you like?

TG: Well, none in particular that I can name off the top of my head. I listen in from time to time, a lot of Christian radio lately. I find that the Christian scene is in a weird stage right now, where all this pop music tries to copy like Creeds sound. It’s just really weird sounding music to me. There’s a lot of praise and worship music that’s popular right now, that it’s almost becoming commercialized, and it has nothing to do with praise and worship anymore, it’s just something to make a buck by. But if there’s any particular style that I’ve been listening to lately it’s country of all things.

BHB: Really?

TG: (laughing) Yeah

BHB: I listen to some country, but I thought that would be far off for you.

TG: I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but a lot of people associate me with the metal scene amd just automatically assume I really like metal. Actually next to rap and gangster rap it’s actually my least favorite music.

BHB: Yeah, well I know you like Jazz too right?

TG: Yeah.

BHB: Do you like Diana Krall?

TG: Oh yeah.

BHB: I just had a friend of mine, get me into her music and I love it. It’s pretty cool. I’m slowly getting into Jazz. She just blew me away.

TG: Yeah she’s great. You should get her live dvd it’s a compilation of everything she’s done over the last few years.

BHB: She’s good. That made me get into some Norah Jones as well.

TG: Yeah that just opened my mind up here a little bit because also a lot of the stuff I’ve been listening to are a lot of female artists like Norah Jones and Diana Krall. I don’t know why but I prefer to listen to female artists more than male artists. For whatever reason. So that’s the kind of stuff that we have playing all the time at the house here. Irene likes it too.

BHB: I think a lot of times it’s because it’s more soothing.

TG: Yeah, In fact Irene listens to more music than I do. I just maily listen to whatever she’s got on. It’s pretty much those artists like Sarah Mclachlan, Sheryl Crow, stuff like that.

BHB: Yeah I kind of wish like you were saying a few minutes ago, about the Christian scene, and it’s always been like that as far as copying the secular groups. I kind of wish someone would come out and do like a whole reformation of the whole scene(laughing) because it’s horrible. That’s why I mainly stick to bands like Disciple, you know them right?

TG: Yeah they opened up for us at the expo in California.

BHB: They’re an awesome band, and the Holy Spirit is on that band. They’re an anointed band, and those are the types of bands I like. The ones that are on fire for God and make no apologies for it.

TG: Yep That’s where it’s at.

BHB: Yeah, man. Well were you happy with the way the reunion tour came out?

TG: I guess overall it was a really hard tour for all of us. I think just because we’re so much older now(laughing). You know being away from home and I haven’t really been out like that in probably ten or twelve years. So it was kind of weird. You know I was working in a music store for the last ten years so. But to go back to it was really cool, but it was hard at the same time. The energy level for me wasn’t there. I felt like I was going through the motions a lot as far as playing. You know twenty year old songs and all, but it was fun and we had a good time. There was a lot of time on the back of the bus with the band members, and we got to talk about our problems with each other(laughing) and kind of worked out our differences so.

BHB:(laughing) Cool like Stryper therapy huh?

TG: Yeah that’s pretty much what that tour was, Stryper therapy.

BHB: Cool.

TG: But overall I think the tour ended up doing what we should have been doing all along. You know at the end of the show Mike would pray, and some nights there would be an alter call, but he was always praying over the audience which is what we should have been doing from the start. I think that made it really special for me.

BHB: That’s cool. For me, and I saw the second show in Springfield Va. But for me it was like closure, because the last time I saw you was on the In God We Trust tour and after that I didn’t get a chance to see you again. It was like I want to see them do it one last time. I mean it’s pretty safe to say that an album is not going to happen right?

TG: I don’t think it’s gonna happen. There was a point where we got together and we had a meeting, to kind of talk about the next step and what we were going to do. I thought we were kind of headed in that direction, but somebody changed their mind(laughing). I don’t think we’re gonna see another studio album from Stryper. After the Disney show coming up in September, I don’t even know if we’ll do any more shows together from that point on. I think this last tour was just like you said, it was closure so, but we do have the dvd coming out.

BHB: Yeah that’s cool. For me and there’s a LOT of fans that will disagree with me but, I think it’s cool that you do end like that. There’s a lot of bands in my opinion that should have ended years ago. When you don’t do that and you keep dragging it and dragging it, I think it hurts what the band did in the beginning. So for me even though it wold be cool for another album...I think it’s just as cool how it ended. Now I’ve got the memories of how it was, like back when I saw the To Hell..tour and In God We Trust tour. The whole thing with Michael doing the prayer and stuff, that took me back to when Yellow and Black Attack came out and the Live in Japan thing when you guys were so on fire for God, and now to see you end like that, I think that’s how I want to remember it.

TG: Yeah. I’d love to see another studio album, where the four of us got together and wrote stuff together as a band. You know kind of in the same vein of Against the Law...but more of a Christian oriented album(laughing). You know then kind of have that as closure but you know there’s always a chance that we can do something.

BHB: Yeah, I always told people you got it reversed cause if the music on the Against the Law album would have been matched up with the In God We Trust album that would have been killer(laughing).

TG: Yeah.

BHB: But whatever man, it’s still part of your life. Well I know there’s a million things that you can thank God for everyday, but what’s the most important thing that you thank him for in your life?

TG: (pauses) I ....I just thank him for bringing me to a new level. I appreciate everything He’s done for me, before I really didn’t pay attention to what’s important. He’s given me a new life and a new start and I’m really thankful for that, and for my wife. It’s just a whole new start. You know He’s wiped the slate clean, and I"m starting over and I’m really thankful for that. Just you know the growing and all that I’m going through. I’m just thankful that He’s in my life.

BHB: Cool man. Well any words to your fans?

TG: Well for those of them that are going to see us in Disney World, we’ll see ya there. But for the rest of you I want to say Thanks for all the support over the years and your blessings.

BHB: Cool. Well Tim brother I really appreciate you taking time again to do this for me. Thanks for doing this for me again man.

TG: Cool Greg.

BHB: I’ll be keeping in touch bro. God Bless.

TG: Thanks man you too.

End Of Interview.

As always let me know what you think. gb@reignradio.com Check out my next interview coming with Gretchen. They’re a really great band that’s got a new album coming out. Look for it soon. Peace and God Bless.