The Knights of the New Crusade

The Knights of the New Crusade seem to be controversial to everyone. And that's probably the point. Their straight-ahead "Jesus is the only Way and without Him you'll perish" message is likely to turn off many non-Christians. Yet the other side of their message is an open rebuke to the "Christian" music market for watering down the message and chasing money and fame. Currently signed to Alternative Tentacles, the label owned by renowned non-believer, Jello Biafra, many wonder if the whole thing is not an elaborate gimmick. The Alternative Tentacles website explains their position: "we here at AT debated the wisdom of signing such an outspokenly fundamentalist religous band to the historically spiritually skeptical label owned by Jello Biafra. Other AT artists have strong spiritual beliefs, but none approach the stridency or literalism of the Knights' beliefs. However, the Knights of the New Crusade's stated objective is to take Christianity back from the powerful hypocrites who have hijacked it and to make Christian rock that actually rocks. Besides, Alternative Tentacles thrives on controversy, especially when it is as double-edged as the swords the band wields on stage." Controversy seems to be the point and it certainly abounds. The band plays garage-style punk and has often been tied to The Mummies, so much so that the band says on their Myspace page: "We've come to San Francisco to save souls. They say that Las Vegas is the city of sin, but we've found San Francisco to be gridlocked by sin. Good souls can't escape; though they try to rise above the drugs, sex, alcohol and unsavory activities, they are trapped. Well...we are the gate keepers, we'll show you to the kingdom but you have to let jesus into your heart for the gate to be opened..... and oh yeah, in case you didn't hear, and it's news to us, apparently we are the Mummies." Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.