Kotaku
By: Brian Crecente and Michael McWhertor
They've been called fanboys, gaming's fab four and Microsoft employee wannabes, the game-inspired rock band The Xbox Boys crashed onto the gaming scene earlier this year with a set of catchy tunes and an oddly religious fervor for the Xbox 360.
But that fervor doesn't seem as odd when considering that many of the band members have or had ties to New Hope International Church, a Bellevue, Washington-based Christian church that hopes to "turn lost people into fully devoted Spirit-filled disciples of Jesus Christ in our city and all over the world."
When contacted for comment, band front man and church couples minster, Brendan Aye, said that "none of The Xbox Boys work for MS or any marketing companies. Just a bunch of fanboys who like music and gaming (maybe too much)."
Aye, who said he is not part of the band but takes care of their "business/Internet dealings", did not return emails in response to questions about the group's ties to New Hope International Church.
Reached by phone Wednesday, the band's lead singer, Phil Fischer said that the band was "not a religious thing, it was just an Xbox thing."
"We are just in love with the Xbox. This has nothing to do with our religion at all."
The band lists four members in its group, P-Box, B-Box, Beat Box and D-Box. But none of them use their real names. Fischer confirmed this afternoon that the group is made up of: guitarist Bryan Barrows, AKA B-Box; Seattle-area drummer, Bryan Lash, AKA Beat Box; bassist Dave "Kitz" Sproull, AKA D-Box, and himself, a 37-year-old Seattle singer song-writer and former church music minster.
Lash is also a former member of New Hope International Church and Sproull says in his MySpace page that he is a local student worship leader
Fischer said that while the group has nothing to do with religion, its members are Christian. "We aren't ashamed of that, but this is about our love for a console."
According to the official Phil Fischer website, Fischer, who up until recently was a church couples minster with Aye at New Hope International Church, decided to drop his first solo album, "Wounded Soul" and devote his life to God about five years ago.
"I now use my talents to serve Jesus Christ, who without him, none of this would be possible," Fischer writes on his site. In his "Six Promises to You Lord" Fischer says he will "worship you in bars, dancehalls, taverns and other places to reach non-believers."
On the official Xbox Boys site, Fischer, also known as P-Box, lists a different set of laws, laws of the "Keepers of the Orb":
1. Uphold gaming integrity for all gamers of the world
2 .Bring the power of the Xbox to all countries by performing and showcasing the games and consoles
3. Make sure that all age groups and all peoples of Earth have access to the X-Box console and to its games."
These laws, the site says, were delivered to the four band members in the woods of Bellevue, near Microsoft's campus, from a voice "sounding like a thousand horns all at once, but also as quite(SIC) as a single violin note".
The voice also delivered a prophecy, according to the site:
"For thousands of years I have watched, and waited for this moment. I give you three laws to follow. But there are ten total. The final laws the Xbox boys are to uphold are to be written by Microsoft itself when the final prophecy is to be revealed. The final prophecy is that you four, four of integrity and honestly, will receive an endorsement contract by Microsoft. You will perform shows; sell merchandise, and UPHOLD THE LAWS OF GAMING AND THE INTEGRITY OF MICROSOFT. THIS IS THE final prophecy."
The band's official site currently hosts two music videos, one dedicated to Xbox Live and the other to the killing of the final boss in Gears of War. Both are catchy, though bland, pop-rock pieces.
What is unclear is if the messaging of the Xbox Boys band is a deliberate tie-in to Christian themes because the band is, in fact, a Christian rock band or because their leader has such strong ties to religion and Christan rock. A source close to the band said that whichever the case is, Fischer does want to use the money earned from The Xbox Boys to help fund his ministry work in other countries.
Again, Fischer denies this, and asked that the story not run because he feared his budding fan-base wouldn't believe the group is strictly secular.
Erika Doss, a professor of Art and Art History at the University of Colorado Boulder and soon to be chair of Notre Dame's American Studies Department, says it's not unusual for a ministerial group to borrow the language of the people they are trying to reach in order to connect with them.
Doss, who studies the issue of religion and pop culture, said the Xbox Boys site seems to be filled with religious themes.
"It's rare when you listen to Christian music that you would hear the word Jesus," she said. "But everyone usually gets it, there's this pervasiveness of Christian rhetoric."
And the fact that the Xbox Boys aren't upfront about their religious ties isn't unusual either, she said.
"They are appropriating the current technological means in order to proselytize on behalf of their faith," she said. "They are appropriating the whole culture's rhetoric under (their) vision statement."
Doss said she is a little concerned with their possible duplicity, but said proselytizing is about "bringing people to the light through any means possible."
"If they are really about proselytizing then I have some problems with that because they are not being up front about it."
Luke Plunkett contributed to this story.
Comments
FOCUS!
If they aren't on MS payroll directly or indirectly then....
creepy....just....creepy.
...fanboys FTW.
Seriously...wtf?
weird, yet captivating article, when did kotaku become gamer CNN?
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Why?
Seriously fan boys, just why?
That's a wee bit past sane to waste energy on things like that. At least machinema can be humorous.
this is the lamest post i've ever read on this site.
Sucky songs about a sucky console. How appropriate.
@yurlittlepony: Very hard to read. I had a hard time following any of that. Then I watched the video. Still made no sense.
The hell, with all that money m-soft is making, they couldn't afford to buy out one of those 2 year wash up punk bands that always appear on mtv/much.
Or if the words they speak are true, this could just be a good lesson why you shouldn't do drugs...
I don't know whats been given a bad name here the 360 or Jesus Christ. I'll go with the 360 since Jesus would't want these fanboys up there with him anyway.
Interesting article. Shame if it turns out that they really were secular. Then their whole project would fall apart because people read religion in their songs when it wasnt there. And unfortunately that is so easy to do that they seem doomed before they even had a chance to see if they had an audience.
Is this a serious article? Really, I don't know.
@instantpop: Summary: They are X-Box fanboys. They are also Christian. The band says the two facts are not related. Some seem to believe that they are using X-Box to get people into Christianity.
IMO if that is the case they should have went with the Wii. Likely just X-Box fan boys who are also church goers as they say.
Either way that song sucks.
I'm sorry, but christians singing xbox fanboy songs? Please tell me i'm not the only one seeing the irony here?
Gross!
so they praise Jesus and Xbox, if that's not a tool, I don't know what is.
Good... lord....
Man they're getting ripped off, someone needs to call Microsoft about a missing paycheck, these guys deserve it.
man on left = uglyest human being west of rosie o'donald
@explodingman:
The Wii Boys! Well, I have to go... call some friends...and get some instruments, for I have a plan!
Cole Train > these n00bs
I really don't get the point of this article. Maybe they're endorsed by microsoft. Maybe their using their music to bring people to Christianity.
Honestly though, who cares. Their music sucks. Let them have their fun and stop scrutinizing whatever motives they hold. I'm not quite sure what you guys are trying to get at with this article, but whatever.
@Citan359:
that sounds slightly homoerotic... but it would be funny to see some Wii musicals... maybe more in line with a musical on broadway than a stupid song :p
♫I want to get down on my knees and start pleasin' Jesus.♪
♪I want to feel his salvation all over my face.♫
Whether or not this has anything to do with religion, hard drugs or under the table payoffs, the song fucking sucks.
Oh, and they're weird.
Used to think cosplayers were strange, but at least they worship characters, not a piece of hardware. This is just stupid. Next we'll see bands spreading the love of tampons to the world.
When they meet Jesus, he's going to point and laugh his ass off before pulling the lever.
wow
Something about this article irks me, and I'm not sure if it's the cynicism against this band (yes, they're not good, but that's not really the point) or the borderline psychotic Christian religious right that feeds the cynicism.
A person's life experiences and beliefs necessarily affect the tone and attitude of that person's voice. Of course there will be some level of a Christian slant to their message... they're Christian. Just in the same way an atheist's or Muslim's or whoever's message will slant that way.
I really wonder if this article would have been written (or more specifically, written in this manner) if the group was affiliated and pushing a Jewish, Hindu, etc. faith.
Nevertheless, it is still a provocative and interesting article and I hope to see more of a similar discussion-brewing nature.
These guys suck bollocks. I'll stick to my dark jungle and neurofunk. Pop is already shite enough as it is , adding religion just makes it that much worse. I hope I see them playing Gears so I can chainsaw those douchebags.
You shoudl have waited for them to get popular before publishing. Because from the sound of it, they're never going to get popular, so no one will care, now and for forever and ever, amen.
I've never heard of them, and after watching that vid, I have no problem with that. If that vid is any example of their music style/talent, I'm obviously not missing much.
Either way, the whole thing seems sort of insidious.
Nice job painting them as proselytizers in disguise when nothing they've done or said in the context of their band seems to suggest that.
This is as shoddy a piece as I've ever seen on kotaku.
I find humor in the fact that they use the PS2 Guitar Hero controller, not the 360 one.
If their sound was a flavour, it would be vanilla. Value-brand vanilla.
Also, they need much more than boring makeup. They shoulda gone full-mask. Not that'd it'd help, they are still completely boring.
I enjoyed this article. I've grown fond of this site's blog nature, but getting some articles with a more professional execution is certainly refreshing (even if the topic is a little out-there).
I've always loved reading newspapers and magazine articles, which is the sort of layout this was presented in. Seeing some truly original articles, in which the journalist actually does some research other than sending off an e-mail to rumour squash, is a huge step for the gaming media. Keep up the good work.
@code.monkey: You don't see the connection between their mission statement and the statement of their ministry? It's practically the same thing, just replace stuff like Jesus and God and replace them with Xbox and Microsoft and you have the same thing.
While it may be a sign of being unoriginal it borderlines cult/subversive religious advertising.
Beat-Box claims his favorite game is "Snow Patrol"
What a tool.
They can't even properly spell Xbox.
It's not X-Box, XBOX, or X Box. It's just Xbox.
This reeks of some church ministry pulling an 'alliwantforxmasisapsp.' Honestly, if you're that passionate about a console, make a tribute song. A tribute band is a bit much when it's for a product still on store shelves rather than existing as a fond memory.
@poplin: I agree...
maybe im missing the point of this article, but it seems to me that this band hasnt done anything shady, like imply they want xbox gamers to convert... if they did the article hasnt made it clear.
In other words, it seems that they are being singled out because of their religious beliefs/inclinations.
I've grown up with Christians who accused the kind of games I played preaching violence and/or witchcraft and I've always been smart enough not to believe them.
So come on Kotaku guys unless there is real concrete evidence don't get on the same ignorant boat.
Seems like most of the commenters here missed the point of the piece.
While I agree that the way the article is written leaves a little to be desired (as in give us a hint at what you're driving towards early on with a rhetorical question or something that holds the reader's interest), there is some serious weirdness going on with the xbox boys.
Their music sucks, and just for the record: idolatry of any kind, be it for an electronic box or a carpenter's kid, is pretty frightening. Now is it just me or did Jesus build their Hummer?
Seriously- can you think of a greater walking contradition that a Jesus freak who drives a Hummer and evangelizes a game console?
I don't know if the band's existence is the grand conspiracy which the article seems to suggest, their purpose could be just as innocuous as they proclaim. Regardless, whether they're co-opting Jesus to sell xbox360's or vice versa; I think the creepy intertwining of the two is more indicative of the mentality which drives a certain kind of person's actions.
People who have come to rely so deeply on institutionalized spirituality tend to evangelize as much as they can in their lives. It's like a drug, and the only way the are able to satisfy thier ego along with their soul is by treating anyone who opposes their "good news" as a sheep in need of a shepard- a cross they're usually more than willing to bear.
Now I just hope Christ does return so he can smack that a-hole for driving a Hummer with Jesus bumper stickers on it. I don't care if it IS a hybrid. It's still a napoleonmobile!
Wait a second... First a church that has Xboxes in their youth area (which in my experience isn't a rarity at all - my church has had them for years, as well ast ps2s and cubes)...
Now some guys who go to church together and are vying for the title of "Ultimate Xbox Fanboy"... while making what appears to be a VERY sarcastic analogy of Xbox and what I would call Mormonism (with the revelation in the woods, very joseph smith)...
And then I just realized: Xmas = Christmas, right? So does Xbox=Christbox?
As for the article, it felt like it was trying to generate controversy where there was none... I kept waiting for the point... but the comment thread has been fun so far!
@Elly:
What if the cosplayers dress like xbox's? :P
Yea Yea XBOX , im surely that they have a little secret room to play PS2, PS3 and the Wii and the DS..
oh, why is this the first i'm hearing abt this band ...
@Ape.of.Gods: I agree with you and your points of concern are valid, but I see it as a very literal and poorly constructed parable, not subversive advertising. Frankly, I think it's too poorly done to be worrisome to all but the slowest and most easily-convinced people.
As far as "cult-like", maybe I'm missing something, but the New Hope International Church, at first blush, seems to be your standard protestant sect. Nothing "Heaven's Gate" or "Branch Davidian" about them.
wait..whats up with churches and X-boxes.....hmm..here's the tie. Its the conservative values in theses churches that make them adhere to domestic companies and pledge allegiance to them and hate foreign competitors. X-box=Microsoft= company based in the US. NO WAY!!!....either that or ..these dudes just really like X-box.
Alot of the comments on youtube are showing a positive attitude towards them ...
Oh Wait, majority of those registered around the same time of the videos post. Strange indeed.