They Heart Jesus And They Rock

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 10, 2006 5:28PM

Tonight at Schubas is the (free!) DVD release party for Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music, the winner of the 2004 Audience Choice award at the Chicago Underground Film Festival. The Reader’s J. R. Jones gives a good capsule review of the film here and Bob Mehr profiled the filmmakers in a Meter article here.

Our familiarity with Christian rock is mostly limited to accidentally hearing an early Creed album at a party and a scratchy recording of “Plastic Jesus” we heard on Dr. Demento in junior high school. So we’re not exactly experts on the subject. Whenever the mainstream examines a subculture, there’s a tendency to diminish either the influence it has or the reasons why people are drawn to it. But these musicians bring honesty to their work, if only because it’s a labor of love since few artists get fame and fortune by melding their love of Jesus and three chords.

The screening also features a performance by Detholz!, who also appear in the film. Afterwards, Reckless Records holds their new release party featuring the best of 2005. Wait, huh? How can it be new AND be the best of 2005? Ah, forget it. There’s free ping-pong and cheap drinks and that’s all that matters.