By The Grace Of God:For The Love Of Indie Rock

please note that the 7" version is different from the CD version. The 7" version is on top, CD version info is farther down the page.

By The Grace Of God]:For The Love Of Indie Rock

Record Label:

Victory Records

Recorded By:

Mike Baker at DSL

Released:

1996

Out of Print:

yes

Formats:

7" - 2000 pressed(?)

Side A:

Side B:

engineered by Mike Baker
Produced by By The Grace Of God
Cover & Inside Photos: Sean Cronan. color Photo: Dr. Larry Shapero.
Above Photo: Andy Tinsley. Design: K Composite.
Special Backing vocals by Matt Piece courtesy of Mouthpiece Straight Edge Inc.

In this bookley you will find lyrics and personal essays. The essays are included to illustrate the intentions of the group. lately groups have been forming and reforming to gain profit or enhance popularity. Rest assured that these are not the intentions of By The Grace Of God. this band exists for several reasons. the main reason is fun. Yes, By The Grace Of God is a drug-free unit. But that should not be a dividing factor.
Everyone, if so inclined, should enjoy themselves. By The Grace Of God is not a joke project, it is a serious band. This band is as much for you as it is for us. Please enjoy!

Jay:

And to think we've spent all this time being discontent with what our life's blood's become. What      
the sweat and sound could do to us. And these years have just faded us into cynicism. Picking  
each other apart over our differences. Forgetting the fact that we found this existence because 
we were the ones that didn't fit in anywhere, and saw too well how unacceptng people were towards 
and each other. And now we're letting it destry us. This band has put that electric back into the 
music for me. The feeling that brought us all into this. This is for the hope that people 
remember what music and emotion is to us.

Rob:

In 1985 I first appeared, wide eyed and enthusiastic, into the Louisville punk/hardcore music  
scene. it was an inevitable placement for me as I was having a hard time adapting to stagnant 
suburban lifestle of my high school peers. This new mystical world held empowerment for me. It 
celebrated diversity and bestowed upon each member a new voice, powerful and passionate. the 
music was fast and the lyrics voraciously attacked serious issues that I held as important to my 
generation. it revealed a new meaning of life for me. Now, in 1996 the media has manipulated that 
movement into a lifeless trend. The majority of bands are more concerned with record sales and 
esteem than their listeners. Many kids have segregated themselves by causes or music types. There 
is no longer a sense of community Fortunantly, there are still people who work towards creating 
an alternate movement for young people, a haven for those who choose to embrace a more difficult 
path. By The Grace Of God is a salute to those people because we recognize that without the 
punk/hardcore movement most of us in the band would not have probably made it. Thank you... rob.

Thommy:

I love the misc, the nergy, and I love the people involved within the hardcore scene, so why 
wouldn't I have said yes when Duncan asked me to play drums for this band. Duh! Any idiot 
straight edge kid would've said yes. By The Grace Of God is tons of fun. It makes me happy when I  
see all of my friends, and other people, getting into the music and feeling the same feeling that 
they once felt about hardcore before it wasn't cool. The energy and compassion that dwells within 
hardcore hasn't been felt by many people in Louisville for a long time, and by rockin' with by 
The Grace of God, I am hoping that i will see that fire ENKINDEL within those people's hearts 
again. I hope you enjoy this record/cd. See ya in the pit!

Love, Thommy Browne

Jonathan

Alright jerks, I love hardcore and straight edge. No other kind of music has done as much for me 
as hardcore. It gave me so much. When hardcore was new to me, it was so awesome to go to a show 
and see bands that could make chills go down my back and chase chrome turkeys in the snow, but 
few other tyes of music bring out my emotions like hardcore. The whole straight edge thing made 
me feel secure and proud. It was great to be with a group of apples who defied the poisons of 
society. Self discipline has always been an important part of my life, living was so easy after I 
found straight edge. Finding time to be in a side band is my way of getting back to hardcore, 
which for a while seemed to be dying in me and in the scene its self. It wasn't time for it to 
die. It's also food because it will give kids new to the scene a chance to see and have what I 
had. It's fun, the music itself doesn't mean so much to me, it's what I find in it. It's my 
release, my driving passion for penguins on the side as I tight rope solemnly this time I rage. 
It's more of an emotion release than burning bridges. Sure i feel emotion in other kids of music, 
but this is different for me. I love driving, raging music with a message. Fight the man and eat 
carpet covered toast. It'd never be in the c.b. if hot dog flavored ice cream didn't scream. 
Everyone who has stayed by my side, I love you. Thanx to all who have supported us. XXX

Duncan

When this group began there were many speculations as to what the band would be avbout (i.e.
ideals and music). Many people expected the group to follow the increasing trend of bridge
burning. When i say bridge burning what I am referring to is the constant denial of punk and
hardcore roots. We began this group because each one of us wanted to be in a hardcore band. We
all still believe and love the music and the movement. As for the ideas expressed in the group, I
believe that straight edge is a rather large part of it. I shed the label of straight edge for
three years for personal reasons, I think there is a time when a person must detach themselves
from movements in order to completely cal themselves their own. I stopped using chemical
substances in 1985, and I made a vow to abstain from chemical substances for the remainder of my
life, I will hold true to that promise. My mother died in 1995, she chose her death as she became
a slave to the alcohol industry. I watched her last breath slip from her lungs like an angel
soaring towards heaven. Chemical abuse is not a stranger to my life, I grew to manhood in it's
lap, that is my reason to hate addiction. When i was younger straight edge was all I had, it was
my only shield from peer pressure, it gave me something to belong to. And when I see ignorant,
jock mentality, Marine types giving the movement a bad name, I become outraged, because i know
that self improvement is an inner decision which no tattoos, violence, or militant literature
will ever enhance. DJ, a friend of mine, and I were talking in California during the Guilt/Earth
Crisis tour in 1995, and he asked me why I shed the label of striaght edge, and I told him that I
did not want to be connected with a movement which had become so violent. DJ explained his
philosophy of building your own concept of straight edge, and for some reason it all came into
focus. Maybe it was because DJ was even older than me and still called himself straight edge, or
perhaps it was because my mother just passed away and I was open to more because of the loss,
nonetheless our conversation stuck in my mind. I came home and began thinking about straight
edge, and came to a realization of why it was that no one ever considered straight edge cool. Who
really sticks with the concept? How many people call themselves straight edge as they age? Not
many. Well, I have decided to sign myself to the list. I don't care if I am in Guilt, By The
Grace of God, or Big Black, I will always call myself straight edge, and set a positive example.
Violence is only justified in extreme cases, at any other poin violence only serves as an icon
for ignorance. i want to see the fun restored in hardcore.