Pedro Vs. Headphones: The Conflict of David Bazan's Fans

David Bazan is one of my favorite songwriters in the last 10 years. His work in Pedro the Lion is often overshadowed by other Seattle contemporaries such as Death Cab For Cutie, The Long Winters, The Divorce, Rocky Votolato, etc. If you ask anybody who is a marginal Pedro fan what their favorite song is, the typical answer is "Big Trucks" from 1998's "It's Hard To Find A Friend."

After releasing a couple concept albums, "Winners Never Quit (a murder-suicide tale)," and "Control (a failing marriage)," the last Pedro the Lion album, "Achilles Heel," abandoned the rock sound of "Winners" and the experimental nature of "Control" for a journey back to the bare bones, psuedo-Christian days of "Whole" and "Friend." Unlike his two previous works, Bazan's "Heel," wasn't as consistant and, in some ways, can be looked as "It's Hard To Find A Friend Pt. 2."

During the summer, Bazan, frequent Pedro the Lion collaborator TW Walsh, and Frank Lenz of Starflyer 59 formed Headphones, a band that features Bazan's signature soft-spoken lyrics but backed with keyboards. Postal Service comparisions are mistaken since Headphones is far more political and probably shares more commonality with Dead Kennedys. In the middle of their self-titled album is "Natural Disaster," an indictment of George W. Bush and American people who found God after September 11th.

I suppose the reason why I'm writing about this band months after their debut dropped is based around that song. Last week, I had a conversation with a friend who is a devout Christian (and I dare not use those words lightly) and he expressed his disappointment with David Bazan because of "Achilles Heel" and "Headphones."

We discussed that "Heel" is probably one of his more faith-inspired works in some time and, as if almost to juxtapose it, "Headphones" is a politically leftist album. He was explaining that many Christian bookstores carry the Pedro the Lion catalog (no doubt because of his early EP "Whole," which was released on Tooth and Nail) and that he felt that "Headphones" betrayed that particular fanbase. I told him that just because you believe in God doesn't mean that you can't criticize the president, or the country for that matter.

I was a little surprised by his feelings since Pedro the Lion has crafted songs about murder, suicide, adultery and violent America. To put down Bazan as a songwriter now seems sudden. In "Backwoods Nation," an unreleased track from "Control," Bazan sings: "Calling all rednecks to put down their sluggers...pick up machine guns and kill camel fuckers." If you don't know anything about the band, you could write off that statement as a call from the KKK to Wal-Mart-fed Pro-Americans, but if you are familiar with Pedro the Lion, then you'd realize that the man is merely singing about the feelings of Americans, post-9/11, and the reality of the rural and Midwest United States.

I guess what I am most uneasy about is that many of these kids want David Bazan and Pedro the Lion to reflect their beliefs so badly that they shun any chink in his armor. Or anything that they may disagree with is dismissed as Bazan "losing his mind (my friend's take on "Headphones")." So an inherently racist song such as "Backwoods Nation" is taken with a grain of salt, yet a song like "Natural Disaster" that features lyrics like "Maybe a couple of airplanes could crash into buildings/and put the fear of God in you" is lambasted because it is critical of the President who has blurred the line of separation between church and state.

I suppose Bazan is probably used to this sort of reaction. There are times when I've seen Pedro the Lion play and it's been more like a press conference than an actual show. During their set, the band will often have an impromptu Q&A and the most popular question is "Are you saved?" Bazan usually responds with a witty remark such as "Saved from what?" Almost always, in my head, I picture him adding, "From idiots?" but it never happens.

I'm not suggesting that Bazan is only shot down by Christians, however, I've met many secular people who've said that they would like Pedro the Lion, if they weren't a Christian band. Though I can't say I ever been to one of their shows and witnessed them inviting someone from the audience to get saved, unlike Emery, who do inform people of the promises of being saved and continue their Bible-thumping at the bar.

It's apparent that Headphones is an entirely different band than Pedro, not only in name and in sound, but the messages in Headphones songs are personal. They do not have the stigma of God attached to their band, but David Bazan does.

It's just a sad state of affairs that "Headphones" actually may open a person's eyes, whether they are believers or not, but they'll probably disregard it since they can't decide for themselves whether an arbitrary thing such as Bazan's personal faith exists or not.

Related Links:
Pedro the Lion
Headphones