Stryper, originally known as Roxx Regime, formed in California with brothers Michael Sweet (lead vocals/guitar) and Robert Sweet (drums/vocals),Oz Fox(guitar/vocals)and Tim Gaines (bass/vocals)  The band gained experience on the Los Angeles club scene and in 1984 signed with Enigma Records - releasing  their debut mini-album. “The Yellow And Black Attack”. Michael Sweet sat down and talked to Rhythm, Art & Groove before Stryper’s show at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio.

Rhythm, Art & Groove – Michael, how would you define Stryper's style of music?

Michael Sweet- It’s rock, definitely rock influenced musically by groups like Queen, Van Halen, KISS as far as when we first saw the look and costumes and clothing. Aerosmith, we don’t sound anything like Aerosmith. You do hear some Van Halen influences a little bit…Queen in the harmonies. You know we’re into big harmonies. We do get heavy on occasion, a lot of screams and loud guitars.

RAG- Why do you think you’ve generated such a large following and kept your music going as long as you have?

MS- All I can say is God has blessed the band for whatever reason. We’re not really sure. We try to stay humble. We try to let God lead and follow what God’s will is for our lives. We pray and read the Word. We communicate it on the tour especially. I think because of that, God has really blessed us. Because if it wasn’t blessed by God, it wouldn’t fly. You know mixing Christianity with rock, a lot of doors have opened and a lot of things have happened. We’ve seen miracles.

RAG- What were some of your best and worst encounters with label executives?

MS- Enigma gave us complete control. They never once influenced us whatsoever. Basically we would write songs and say “We’ve got songs ready for the record” and they’d say “Okay, that’s great. Let’s book the time” and we’d go in and record. Our experience dealing with Enigma was fantastic! The only negative that we dealt with a label was with Benson Records, a Christian label. They decided to stop distributing our records during the “Against The Law” period. That was a little strange. We really didn’t understand that.

RAG- What were some of the bands you’ve toured with? Maybe the good or the bad matches?

MS- Let’s see. We’ve toured with Hurricane, TNT, Loudness (a bunch of great guys) We always saw it as a great opportunity to take out bands on the road that weren’t Christian bands. A lot of people in the Church didn’t understand that and came against us because there was an opportunity to Fall, to be tempted in more ways. It gave us an opportunity to pray with these guys and be examples and witness to them. They (the Church) got excited about that. But anyways, White lion, Trixter, Zebra. We’ve played with a number of bands….Dio. (See Dio photos-09/03 issue of RAG)

RAG- I bet that was interesting?

MS- Scary. Most of the tours or shows we headlined, and there was an opening act or acts and it usually worked out our way or no way. It was an opportunity for us to kind of have certain rules that were established on tour. Not a bunch of garbage going on behind the scenes. If we were opening, we’d basically be at there mercy. They would call the shots right down to the food on the rider, etc.

RAG- What effect do you feel MTV played on your career?

MS- MTV directly…none. The people that bothered and bugged MTV to play us helped a whole lot. MTV didn’t want us on…never will! So many people called in and requested our videos. They didn’t have a choice but to play the videos. That’s what had an effect on Stryper's career. We’d submit a video and they’d say we had a flag in it, and they wanted the flag out because “It’s too patriotic.” It was unbelievable. They were always nit-picking everything we did, just to try not to play the video.

RAG- What is your opinion concerning radio programming and support these days?

MS- We get a lot of support actually. We don’t get a lot of airplay, but the stations we do come in contact with have been fantastic?

RAG- Where in the U.S. is your biggest fanbase?

MS- I’d say a couple of areas. I would say Texas. Texas is huge. California, cause we’re frorm there…Orange County specifically. New York, Boston. We did a show in New York just a short while ago. It was wild. The Northeast, West Coast…especially California and Texas. Puerto Rico is huge. It’s unbelievable.

RAG- What about in Europe?

MS- Yep…Japan is really good too! We did really well there. We’re very well accepted there. Parts of Europe, not all though. But England, Germany, Sweden did real well.

RAG- What’s your current opinion on the record industry and it’s future?        (mp3, Napster, RIAA lawsuits, piracy?)

MS- Well, I do think it’s definitely hurting the labels. It’s hitting them in the pocketbook. I kind of think that something needed to happen as a wake-up call to the labels. For so many years, I think labels robbed artists. They took most of the money. Now they’re having to completely re-evaluate and rethink the way they run their label. I don’t think it”s right to steal music, to go online, copy entire albums and duplicate them and sell. I’m a believer, (I could be wrong), that a lot of people that go and burn songs, still want to see the pictures and read liner notes. The complete package.

RAG- Do you see merchandise sales as being more important to your tour success than with other types of rock, since you’re a Christian band?

MS- We do pretty well in merchandise. We did really well before. To this day, we hold the record at a company no longer in business called Nice Vendor. They represented bands like Van Halen, Prince and a number of bands. If I remember, it was$18.00 and change a head to 14,000 people. So it was just unbelievable. Stryper had 10 different shirts. We had sweat suits, bandanas, earrings, caps, posters. We had everything you could imagine.

RAG- Bibles?

MS- We actually didn’t sell the bibles, we always gave them out. We never sold them that I’m aware of…bootleggers possibly.

RAG- How did Roxx Regime evolve into Stryper?

MS- As soon as Timmy (Gaines) joined the band and we signed with Enigma, we decided on the name Stryper.

RAG- A lot of people don’t know what the name Stryper stands for?

MS- That came after the fact, but it stands for Salvation Through Redemption Yielding Peace, Encouragement and Righteousness. The Bible verse Isaiah 53:5 (that is under our name), speaks of before Christ was crucified…he was beaten. So, through what Christ went through for the world, we are healed. “By His stripes we are healed.” The stripes on all the gear, all the clothes, that’s what they mean.

RAG- The band has received strong support from some churches, but been condemned by others. Has this response changed over the years?

MS- It’s less condemning. But there’s still some. Back in that time period, the band was a lot more shocking, because there wasn’t many bands like us. There was Petra…but we had spandex, big hair, loud guitars, screaming and all that stuff. I just think a lot of people in the church didn’t know how to accept it. They weren’t educated (about us). They really didn’t know our hearts and know who we were as people. Instead of trying to get to know us…they’d write columns and books and all kinds of stuff against us. But, they still didn’t know us. I think if they’d have came to the shows and got to know us, there’d been more support.

RAG- What about your solo career?

MS- A lot of support on the solo career…yeah. Anywhere we go as a band or individually, we still get people that protest what we’re doing.

RAG- What kind of response did you receive from fans when you announced plans for a reunion tour?

MS- On the website, (www.stryper.com) the hits went through the roof. A lot of people calling wanting interviews. We’re playing to a lot more people each night than we expected. It’s been fantastic! It’s been humbling. It’s been just a neat experience to be onstage and see all those people out there supporting what we’re doing.

RAG- Why now, after 11 or 12 years, did you decide to get together and tour?

MS- Like now is the right time. It felt like God’s hand was on it. Like He was saying “This is it…go. This is the time. This is when I want you to do it.” I didn’t feel that a year ago. I didn’t feel that 10 years ago. We all have separate lives and jobs and it’s been almost impossible until now. That was the biggest hurdle to get over and because God opened the doors for us to be able to do that…we’re able to do this…to come out here. 2½ months on a tour bus. We have wives and kids at home. That’s the toughest part of it all.

RAG- What’s the groups’ plans following the tour?

MS- Right now…no plans. We’re not saying no to the possibility of more down the road, but there are no plans as of yet to do anything else. I have plans to finish a solo record. The Stryper thing is more of a celebration reunion. A time for healing. A time to come together and show the fans that we love each other. Some great memories, just to get together with the fans and just have a great time.

I want to thank Amy Cox and Jonathan Harris at Deep South Entertainment for all of their help, efforts and support.