The Kingpin Wrecking Crew!

Technically, The Kingpin Wrecking Crew is not an existing band. This has been the source of much confusion and distress for me, but I still love them. Or not them, but what they are now. Whatever.

The Kingpin Wrecking Crew, for those who don't know, was an amazing band with an amazing label debut called Abolition Strategy. They were based out of Maine and I had heard of them before watching them open for Sanctus Real at a local concert. But once I saw them live, wow! Their musical innovations were a sound to behold. They managed to be both catchy and original, and the lyrics!

I'm unsure whether the music or the lyrics is the best part of The Kingpin Wrecking Crew, but I'm leaning toward the lyrics. Their songs read like poetry and (gasp) sound like it, too! They find the coolest ways of saying things. For once, I don't get a sense of deja vu while listening to a Christian band.

A couple years ago I was walking through a church where Micah and I were performing Fun With Phone Solicitors to promote NCFCA and I saw a poster for a concert being held at the church later in the year. The members of the band looked eerily familiar.

Wait, wasn't this The Kingpin Wrecking Crew? No, the poster insisted, this was a new band called The Wrecking.

Did they think they could fool me with such a flimsy, see-through disguise? It even had the word "Wrecking" in it. This was definitely my friends The Kingpin Wrecking Crew.

No, the poster patiently corrected me once again, this was The Wrecking.

Okay, so they changed their name. NBD. I still loved them. Oh, and this just in from the poster: they've got a new album out! It was apparently titled A New Abolition. That's funny, both of their albums have the word "Abolition" in them. Well, that's not so unusual. They just like that word or something.

I went home, pulled up the internet, and discovered something shocking.

A New Abolition was horrible. Half-horrible, anyway. It was nothing but a rerelease of six of the songs from Abolition Strategy combined with 5 new cuts by The Wrecking. The Kingpin Wrecking Crew was gone. The Wrecking was here.

And no, it's not just semantics. From what I could tell in the 30-second iTunes previews, everything that made The Kingping Wrecking Crew awesome was not in those 5 new tracks. I'll get into that in more detail in a moment, but let's get back to the future. Since The Kingpin Wrecking Crew became The Wrecking, I've been trying to get my hands on a copy of Abolition Strategy. Yes, A New Abolition has half of the good songs, but some of my favorites aren't on there. I didn't want to waste money buying half the songs if I could buy the original album.

Recently, a family who took our speech class gave Micah and I some gifts. I received The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook and an Amazon.com gift card. Now not only did I know how to land a plane if my pilot was knocked unconscious, but I also had the opportunity to fulfill my materialistic desires.

Wonder of wonders! Miracles of miracles! Abolition Strategy was used on Amazon.com! Yes! Yes! Finally! After years of searching! Quick, push "add to cart!"

...And then I looked at the price tag. Unfortunately, I had already purchased a book of Keith Green sheet music (admittedly, a choice I was very glad I had made), and didn't have enough money to buy the album. So close! Then I noticed that you could purchase tracks on the newer A New Abolition individually. I had just enough money to purchase all of the Abolition Strategysongs.

You'd think after all this waiting I'd be able to wait a little bit longer. But no, I hadn't ever counted on actually having this sort of situation at my fingertips. Besides, there wasn't anything else I wanted to buy with the small amount of money left on my giftcard, so... why not?

I did it. I caved. I bought the songs. I was so happy. A few minutes later, I started thinking, "You know, these guys are so good that their new stuff can't be that bad. So I caved again and bought the rest of the album. Bad idea. The stuff really was horrible. They sounded like every other U2 soundalike Christian rock band, borrowed everything from their other songs but did it worse, and were uber repetitive. I mean, really!

And the writing was bad! NOOOO!! Okay, I know Doug Elder can write better than that. Here's a sample of his writing from The Waiting:

So much of this sickness,

Far too much to witness

I wish a God-shaped fist would fix this

Reality breaks you every day

Yes I know you're dying dear,

Drowing deep inside your fear,

The same this time as every year

There's no joy in these darkest of days

When stumbling blocks get used in foundation

The downward spiral of a nation

First comes a bloodbath

And after that the aftermath,

But Jesus hears the accusation

I know you're waiting there for me

Across the deepest water

Beyond everything I can see

Life is short, but time is shorter

Remember to never surrender your colors

Like towers you know that we stand together

We shine the light in the darkest of cellars,

We're searching out voices we hear forever

March on soldiers, you know you belong

We kick the dark 'till it bleeds the dawn

We'll never forget you, the beat goes on

We'll strangle out screams 'till they bleed out songs

Try, act, move, don't relax, win

Decisively break what don't fit in

Trust and now wait expectantly for reply, swim

Turn corners and dive

Deep into water that's breathable,

Deep into water that's alive, shh

I think something's about to happen,

The conductor's hands are held high

I know you're waiting there for me

Across the deepest water

Beyond everything I can see

Life is short, but time is shorter

Pure poetry. Now here's a sampling from Sights and Sounds:

Closed doors suddenly start to open,

This healing comes so beautifully to the broken,

You're all around, more real than sights and sounds

I fall for you, I feel my feet leave the ground

You're all around

I know you surround me, and suddenly I see

That I'm lost without you here beside me

I know you surround me, and suddenly I see

That I'm lost without your hand to guide me

Lost life suddenly is revived

This future calls so beautiful and open wide

You're all around, more real than sights and sounds

I fall for you, I feel my feet leave the ground

You're all around

I know you surround me, and suddenly I see

That I'm lost without you here beside me

I know you surround me, and suddenly I see

That I'm lost without your hand to guide me

That's it. How did they get from that to this? Now, don't get me wrong, I listen to stuff much more simplistic than that, and I'm fine with it. It's only when I know they can do so much better that I get mad. It's a fine song, so long as they mean it, but I have trouble believe that they worked hard on that. What probably happened is their label didn't think they were accessible enough and told them to make something a little easier to understand and catchier.

The music is stupid. Just the same chords that everybody plays, with no variance, except what's copied from their first album and watered down. So all I can do is listen to the lyrics, and there's nothing there to hold onto. Basically, it's forgettable. So I'm going to make some money and then buy the original album, even though it has songs I already own now. This post is such a waste of time because I can't show you any of the music. I can't any good songs to stream anywhere. So much for the web being a bottomless resource! Seriously though, if you're interested I'd love to show you some of their music sometime. I'll bring it to Nats, how's that? And for once I can say with a clear conscience that you should definitely buy this album. Abolition Strategy, that is. If you don't want to buy it used on Amazon like I'm going to, the good songs on A New Abolition are as follows:

The Reel to Real

The New Jerusalem

March On

The Waiting

In Your Eyes (Cover of a Peter Gabriel song)

Burn the Bridges

The only one of the new stuff that I can recommend is Inside. It's nowhere near as their oldstuff, but it's pretty good. I like it. Don't love it, but it's okay. Buy Abolition Strategy if you can.

Isn't this sad? My longest post to date is a music rant. It took me multiple hours to write and I'm not sure if it was worth it. But I have to rant to somebody, and you were the only one available to me today. I hope you don't mind.