A rock band with a positive message
Image Credit: Memphis May Fire
9th Mar 2020
Tags:
Music
News
Memphis May Fire
Rock
xRhythms have been playing some tracks by Memphis May Fire, a Nashville-based group of four who describe their music as “melodic hardcore”.
They have been building up a loyal following.
Since they formed the band in 2006, they have been building up a loyal following through albums such as ‘Sleepwalking’, ‘This Light I Hold’ and ‘Broken’. The songs ‘The Old Me’ and ‘Live Another Day’, from the latter album, are now playing on xRhythms, as well as their single ‘This Light I Hold’.
On a lightning visit to the UK at the end of last year, their frontman Matty Mullins spoke about his faith and how it plays a part in their hardcore music.
He told Cross Rhythms, “It feels like a lot of times in rock and heavy metal, the darkness is not just seen and heard, [but] the darkness is almost glorified. It’s like, ‘I’m depressed’, ‘I’m at my worst’, ‘I’m at the end of my rope’ and then the song is over.
Write songs about the times in your life when you learned something.
“I think that’s OK”, Matty expressed, “but if you’re going to write songs about failures, if you’re going to write songs about heartbreak and depression, then please also write songs about victories. Write songs about the times in your life when you learned something and changed, when you enjoyed something, whatever it is about life that you wake up for every day."
Matty isn’t the only Christian in MMF. Guitarist Kellen McGregor also believes in Jesus, and it’s Mullins and McGregor who write all the band’s songs.
The band are very much part of the mainstream music industry, and over the years they’ve been interviewed by music journalists who, most of the time, don’t seem to pick up on the subliminal messages of hope in their songs.
Matty acknowledged that he's not a perfect person.
While speaking to Cross Rhythms, Matty acknowledged that he's not a perfect person, but they want to expose the "light at the end of the tunnel" through their music.
Hiding his faith in MMF's hardcore music is not an option for Matty. In the interview, he expressed, “I feel like if I have something that’s played such a big role in my life, had such a big impact on my life, I feel it would be selfish to keep it a secret."
When you listen closely to the lyrics of ‘This Light I Hold’, you can hear more about the light they refer to in the song.
They read, "With my hands raised up high / I'll keep fighting the good fight and I am not alone / This light I hold will glow."
Hope can be built though hardcore rock.
It's evident that faith and hope can be built though hardcore rock and metal music.