Tony Cummings reports on THE SHOWDOWN, a band of "dudes and ol' boys" who have hope beyond any situation.

The Showdown

Record label biogs aren't renowned for accurate communication of info. Yet the blurb that accompanied the release of The Showdown's 2004 album 'A Chorus Of Obliteration' summed up the band succinctly. "The Showdown are an epic heavy metal band from Elizabethton, TN. Their crunching sound draws from all styles of metal that creates a brutal yet unique result." 'A Chorus Of Obliteration', produced by metal guru Bruce Fitzhugh (lead singer of the legendary Living Sacrifice) and with guest vocals from Fitzhugh and Josh Scogin of The Chariot, proved to be a favourite with the critics. Now their new album 'Temptation Come My Way' seems likely to further their reputation as one of the most creative bands in a hard music scene that too often seems content to clone the hardcore sound of Norma Jean.

It was produced by Paul Ebersold (Three Doors Down, Saliva). HM magazine asked the band why it took them so long to follow up 'A Chorus Of Obliteration'. Responded the band's bass player Eric Koruschak, "Basically, because we want everything to be perfect. We started writing in January '05, started tracking in January '06 and the record is coming out in February '07. We just didn't want to go in and spit out another record. We have to give the best possible product. And to do that we pretty much had to go through hell and back. . . every single aspect of making this record has been a huge obstacle. The last record was basically a collection of riffs separated into songs. This time we wanted to focus on the overall songs instead of the individual parts. So we used all the elements of songwriting we ignored last time around; we stepped up the vocals and spent a lot of time arranging. We all spent time in the woodshed getting better at playing our instruments. We focused on melody and dynamic, and we stepped out of the comfort zone to write something that still felt heavy, but that wasn't frantic or overstepping its bounds. Heavy is about feel, and we know you're gonna feel it."

The band from Tennessee consist of David Bunton (vocals), Josh Childers (guitar), Travis Bailey (guitar), Eric Koruschak (bass) and Andrew Hall (drums). They were featured on the MVS compilation 'The Revolution Will Begin' but in 2003 were signed to the Gotee subsidiary Mono Vs Stereo. David told Cross Rhythms presenter Greg Sammons about what drives the band. "Our faith is definitely a big part of our life and a big thing that fuelled us, especially being young men, you know, there's so many different things coming at us all the time. We're definitely really, really interested in the battles of life and the victories through Christ and things like that. We definitely want to bring out both sides of that in our music."

The band have continued to record for the Gotee subsidiary Mono Vs Stereo. Continued Eric, "Mono Vs Stereo in the United States has really good distribution outside of the Christian market. So it's really helped as the majority of our sales have actually been outside of the Christian market. We like working both markets. We've definitely had a few problems along the way, from both sides - people saying 'how can that be Christian music?' Plus we get a lot of backlash about our faith from the metal scene. But we believe in respecting people and that usually earns us our respect."

The band spoke to HM magazine about their faith. "We are just dudes and ol' boys and rough around the edges, but the reason we do jam is that we feel this is a mission trip. The way the band came together - it's no coincidence how things have happened. It's all God. I know every single person is owned by God. It's easy to get in the motion of touring and lose focus, but it makes you think if someone is like, 'I got saved listening to your disc.' That gets you right back on track. It's just like. . . God is for real using five of the most crazy dudes in the world who don't deserve it. . . If you wake up in a ditch every day until the day you die, God will still be there for you. I think it's crazy that our band is still together. That's enough evidence for me."

Eric Koruschak continued, "Every person in our band makes it a point to hang out with the people at the show. It's not at all important for us to give a message or an altar call from stage or tell someone why they are wrong, but it's insanely important to have interaction with people at our shows. We don't care what people are doing wrong. We want people to see that we are just like those kids and the kids know we are on the same level. We have gone through the same things those kids have gone through, but at the end of the day none of that matters because we have hope beyond any situation we or our fans are in. We want to be honest and let people see us for who we are. We don't have anything to hide. It's been the hardest thing in the world for us to finish this record and everything has been a huge trial. We don't want sympathy, but I can completely relate to the average kid who wants to give up. When you are going through hard times it seems so real, but we want to be light hearted and no matter what you do, no matter how many times you screw it up, the Lord is there."