Showbread. The legends. The dudes. A band with a small but loving and vocal fan base.
Although I haven’t listened to them as long as other bands (such as Relient K and skillet) they have a profound and lasting impact on myself. I can barely remember the exact details of how I “found” them, I believe it was through scanning through tooth and nails band profiles. Then I read an article in HCM magazine that they were featured in for “The Fear of God” and at the time I was about 15, and had just started going to public schools (previously only private Christian school). It seems almost silly, but my worldview at this time was extremely small and so when I first saw photos of Showbread they actually scared me, and was confused why they were in a “Christian” magazine. Skillet is one thing; Showbread is a hole other branch out.
In 8th grade my life kind of fell upside down, went into the blender, through an avalanche and then proceeded to run me over one or two more times (that’s being dramatic). My grandma died, my mom nearly died (the doctors said if she showed up just a few minuets later than she did she would have been dead) and then proceeded to have around 4-6 surgeries. On top of that I started becoming less interested in school, and when she tried to take me back after my grandma died, I cried, and I mean hard. School life was okay; it could have been worse but it wasn’t making me happy. I had little, to no friends and always felt like I was trying to fit in. I liked Skillet, and flyleaf and RED and was the girl who wanted to wear jeans and sneakers, and was contemplating future tattoos. My mom pulled me out of the school, and I enrolled in an online type school, which I also hated. It did work because I was in the hospital with my mom, or at friend’s/family house while she was in the hospital and actually going to school would have been too much. 9th grade was still somewhat tumultuous as I entered a public school (which I ended up loving) and then 10th grade was when things really kicked into high gear.
Enter Showbread, a band I thought scary at first, but quickly became my favorite band, I started to write Raw Rock and showbread on everything, and I even got my car license plate to say Raw Rock. I would extensively draw their album art for fun, listen to the music almost 24/7 and also create wallpaper based off their songs. Where the skepticism left and sheer obsession took over I’m not sure, but it I believe it was pretty quickly before I hailed them as the greatest band. My 10th grade year I started to question everything, and I mean everything; I had called myself a Christian up till this point and had believed a lot of stuff but I wasn’t sure why I believed it, I didn’t feel it or think about it. The school had “projects” called passages where we learned new skills, and learned about ourselves. They had start and end goals, a proposal and wrap up and often could span our entire high school years, my adventure passage (basically my spiritual searching) did in fact take my 3 years, and will be forever ongoing.
I wondered if everything was set in place or if we had free will, or why my life is better than my brothers or children on the street, I wondered why I could so easily believe in God but others could not. I started to question everything and as I did, the fabric of my world seemed to fall apart. Showbread had a lot to do with me mustering the courage to challenge the world, and the worldview I had been taught. With Precursor off of Nothing matters Anymore I realized I didn’t want to be that person, and it became my motto for a bit. Then I went back and listened to older albums and fell in love with Anorexia Nervosa and No Sir Nihilism isn’t practical and age of reptiles. I discovered through showbread, and other writings and music a whole new world, one that I basically had thought of but didn’t believe it could exist. Without rambling on for pages more in a nutshell my dealing with the church were damaging because they wanted me to conform to their cookie cutter shape of wearing dresses, enjoying cooking and not watching action movies, or listening to rock music. I joke you not I signed an agreement in middles school saying I would not listen to any rock music, Christian or otherwise.
Showbread was freedom, showbread was fresh and exactly what I needed. I bought all their DVD’s shortly, and managed to attend two shows of theirs, meeting them both times. I can honestly say my life would be completely different without showbread, and to be honest I don’t know what would have happened to me if I didn’t find them. I was miserable, and felt I had no place, and would forever be the person people were correcting and trying to fix. Their music has made me more confident in my beliefs, and has also challenged my beliefs. As I read the joke we played on the world by Josh Porter I never felt more at home, and that continued into The Book of worms (the sequel to Nevada). Probably what had the most effect on me was their album Cancer, it came out my senior year in high school and again changed my life. I was still learning about moving on from my past church experiences and was discovering just how deep the damage was, I could barely step inside a church without feeling nervous, it was like there were a hundred TV’s blaring in my mind, each one listing everything I’ve done wrong, and everything that can go wrong. This did go away(mostly) when I found a nice church, a local Calvary, and started to heal by reading books, and praying.
Because of showbread I found A Jesus Church, which was the first church I had listened to in years, and liked(loved). I started watching horror movies because of their lead singers love for them(and the song dead by dawn) and subsequently I have gone on to love horror movies (and eventually books), going to festivals and even wanting to make horror films. Because of Showbread I found numerous other writers and music that have influenced me, it was a chain effect that still is rolling today. Much like my high school(JCOS) showbread has had an everlasting and deep impact on me, and I will forever proclaim just Raw they are, and yet I will still fall short of ever giving proper praise.
I am writing this because just last Friday they released their LAST album, there was no waiting and no announcement before the day (that it would come out then) and although initially super sad, I cried all morning, I’ve come to realize its just a new chapter. The members are not done contributing to the world, and I’m not done following them, it just means showbread is show dead. The gifted us with singing about the evil dead and people who complain about their music and then to songs about us and God, Age of Reptiles being the single best worship song in history. Showbread is something not everyone understands, to most we look insane but we’re okay with that. Most importantly I want everyone to know, showbread ruined my life.
Thank your showbread for your continual years of efforts on albums, music videos, tours etc., and I can’t wait to see what you guys do elsewhere (I particular love You hate movies podcast, which I just found)
May Raw Rock Kill you forever and ever
Amen.
here’s their website where you can purchase their newest album, and two new movies they have done. also some new things individuals are working on like Josh,Patrick and Garret.
forevertomorrowland 