For southern rockers Maylene And The Sons Of Disaster,

The boyswerea bit miffedto find
out this wasn'tthe stairwayto heaven...
For southern rockers
Maylene And The
Sons Of Disaster,
*
genuflection
does not equal
v
perfection...
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ffi
ojoe'sRockHouseis tucked behind a behemothof a
big-box hardwarestorein 0rland Park.illinois, in a
mind-numbingstretch of strip-mall hell about 35 miles
from Chicago.0rland Parkis the kind of suburban
wastelandthat attempts to make up for its suffocating banality with an appattingsurfeit of corporate
enterprise,which in the end only compoundsits
completelack of character.Beseton all sidesby a Kmart, a BestBuy,
a HomeDepot,a nearbyWalmartand other juggernautsof Arnerican
retaii, itt the kind of placethat needsrock'n'roll - if onty to filt
the void while shuttling betweenparking lots. Unfortunatety,the
kind of rock OrlandPark generallyreceivesis entirely in step with
its suburbandisposition.
As such, Mojoe'shostsan ongoing cavaicadeof heavity commodified
teen entertainment- the emo, screamoand "punk" bandsthat pass
for youth culture these days.Stitl, it's a welcomedistraction from
schooland parentswhen you're a teenagerliving outsideof a major
Americancity that you probablyhavelimited accessto. In addition
to an all-ageslive venue,Mojoe'shas a separateroom with a lounge
and caf6 (no boozeis served),wherekids can hang out between
bandsand the performerscan peddleT-shirtsand CDs.
SOUTHERN ROCK BRIGADB Mayiene
AndThe
Sons0f Disasterare here tonight as part of the Thee SummerBailout Tour. a bitl that includesAustralian prog enthusiastsClosureIn
Moscow Texanrock troupe Ivoryline, Canadianpop-punk upstarts
Kiros and South CaroiinascreamosoidiersEmery.
Mayiene,Ivoryline and Emeryare all Christian rock bands,which
makesfor a decidedtynon-secularnight out at Mojoe's.0f the
three, Mayleneare the least overt about disseminatingtheir beliefs
through their musicand lyrics.
tistening to the band'sthree full{engths - including their latest,
aptly titled'III'- one would be hard-pressed
to evenpick up on
Maylene'sdeep-seatedTeverencefor Christ. The band'smachinegun odesto Midwestfolk hero Kate 'Ma'Barkerand ball-stomping
Dixie rawk anthems have more in commonwith AlabamaThunderpussyor even Clutch than anything currently galloping out of the
God-rockcircuit.
"We'rethe type of peoplethat if you met us on the street, you're
not going to automaticallysay,'He'sa Christian',"Mayleneguitarist Ketly Scott Nunn tells RockSoundin the band'svan before
the show."We don't fit into that box. We'rejust normal people
who love God."
And yet Nunn went to Bibte collegeback home in Floridaand
spent yearsas a pastor,doing what he calls "full-fledged ministry" at his local church. For a while, he was even home-schooled
- an educatipnal hallmark of the EvangelicalChristian movement
in the US - as was the band'sbassistand co-founder,Roman
Haviland. Maylenevocalist DaLlasTaylor has self-identified as
Christiansincethe age of six. Now 29, he prays daily, but says
the band is not overly concernedwith proselytising.
"When I write lyrics, I try to makeit so everybodycan get something out of them. Eventhough I have my beliefs.our biggest
reasonfor being in a band is trying to reachother people,to love
on people,"saysTaylor.
He relates a story about a young female fan who cameto see
the band play two nights ago. Her dad had died of a heart attack the week before.
"Her dad loved Mayleneand Emery and she wasballing her eyes
out. I think the reasonwe werethere that night wasto talk to her.
Shehad a rough life evenbeforeher dad died. Whenshe was seven,
she suffereda massiveinjury; her fingershad to be cut off, she lost
a lot of skin on the side of her body. and her dad put all the blame
on himself. Peoplethink she'sa freak becauseof the way she looks
now. We don't look at anybodythat way. I askedher if I could pray
for her so she could copewith the loss of her dad. That'swhat this
is about for me - trying to be there for peoplein times of need."
oolpretty much have nothing
going for me other than this band,
and the only thing keeping
my head op is Codl'f)allas Taylor
TAYLORHAS BBEN IN PLBNTY OF NEBD
himself over the courseof the last two years.In early 08. four of his
band matessplit, leaving the singerwith a mountain of debt and a
long list of unfutfitled commitments.
"What happenedwas that we were all going to leave together and
just end the band," he clarifies. "When I was tatking to the label
and our managerabout it, I realisedthat atl the merchandisedebt
is in my name. the tour van is in my name - everything. We'd
alreadyagreedto go to the UK and to do a Clutch tour. The money
had alreadybeen put into it, so the tabel guys askedme to at least
stick it out through the end of the tour."
Haviland was still on board, but Taylor neededa drummer and at
least two guitarists to round out the iine-up. He called Nunn and
drummer Matt Ctark,both formerly of Floridian screamobrigade
Undersath,a band that Taylorco-foundedin 97 and remaineda
memberof until 03. Nunn enListedfellow guitarist ChadHuff, and
within two weeksof nearly going tits-up, MayleneAnd The Sons
0f Disasterwere resurrected.Residingin Nashvitle,Tennessee,and
Birmingham,Alabama.respectively,Haviland and Taylor flew down
to Florida to rehearsewith the three new members- in Nunn's
rocksound.tv
[65]
#q*
"I guessthe biggest thing to say is that I hurt my wife pretty bad
a few months ago and lost her trust," he explains."\4lhenI was
home, I thought everything was going to be better, but it obviously isn't, so I'm going home again to do what I should do. which
is win my wife back and reatly try to get my life in focus. That's
somethingI just cannot take care of ftom the road."
Nunn can relate. Last Octoberhe left a Maytenetour for a week to
deat with a similar situation, only in reverse.
"My wife hurt me and I endedup going home for a while," he says.
"I was contempiating quitting becausemy family is most important to me. When this happenedwith Dallas,I putled him aside
and told him to do what he's got to do. Wetatked with our manager and consideredgetting a guest vocalist to finish the tour out
becausewe didn't want to disappoint the fans, either. However,we
all fett that it probabtywasn't the best idea to keep going and not
be 100 per cent. It sucks- we definitely hate cancellinga tour but famity has to come first."
makesthinqs easier."
After that, the show seemslike an afterthought. Within 90 seconds of Maylene'sfirst song, a fight breaksout in the audience.
When Taylorjumps offstage and into the fray, the band immediately stop ptaying. Clark throws down his sticks and storms
toward the m€16e.Within a minute or two, the beef is squashed
and the band blast through their set. It's more or lessuneventfut until the last song, when membersof lvoryline, Kiros and
ClosureIn Moscowpile onstage.flailing aroundwith unplugged
WHICH ISN'T TO SAYTHAT CHRISTIANITY instruments, detuning Nunn's guitar and making an all-around
nuisanceof themselvesin typical end-of-tourparty fashion' Beis a priority in all of Taytols musical endeavors.In fact, he and
Nunn say they're starting a side-projectwith death metal musician spectacledKiros drummer Tyler Wells scalesthe rafters above the
stage, hanging upside down while Taylor douseshim with water'
Kevin Quirion, who recently signed on as secondguitarist with
It's a festive end to the show.perhaps,but just the beginning of
infamous Satan-ioversDeicide.
a long drive home for Taylor.
"Dallasand I both agreethat we'renot goingto compromise
"fm not ashamedto say that I make mistakesand i hurt peopie,
ourselvesor who we believe in, but we care enough about our
but that's where I find my beliefs can hetp," Taylor says."Right
friend Kevin to play in a band with him," Nunn explains."That
now I pretty much have nothing going for me other than this
mutual respectworks both ways. Sometimesyou have to get past
your own personalfeelings in a musical collaboration.The creative band, and the only thing keeping my head up is God."
processoutweighsit."
The album'III'is out now on Ferret. Catchthe band live on
But as new doorsopen.older onesseemto start closing- if only
temporarily. Tonight wiit be Maylene'slast show on the Thee Sum- the Taste 0f Ghaostour this month and next; see gig guide for
dates and Une-up,
mer Bailout Tour. even though the trek has three weeksto go. As
www.mayleneandth esonsofdisaster.us
a married man with a nearly four-year-old son, Taylor has some
fencesto mendback home.
church. They practicedfor four days and then flew to the UK.
'At first it wasjust to fulfil the tour obligations.but as soonas we
hit the UK, it was like, 'This is running better than it's ever run
before'," Taylor explains."The new guys, who didn't even know
what the status of the band was, were putting in more effort than
the old guys had.,It was awesome,and we'vebeen picking up
momentumever since."
A short time later, the band recruited a third guitarist. Mississippi
native Jake Duncan.For Taylor,it was important that the entire
band be comprisedof Christians.
"I wanted to have guys that have a lot of the sameviews as me,"
he confirms. "It's kind of like that old Jewish hardcoreband, Sons
0f Abraham.if they had a non-Jewishguy in the band, it might
be kind of strange.A lot of my friends aren't Christians.but as for
playrng in a band with them, I don't know how well it would work
out. Ptayingwith guys that beiieve the samethings as me just
ooWe're
just normal people who
love God." Kelly Scott Nunn