”Have the strength to practise what you preach and live what you believe,” implores Whill van Staden, lead screamer of the metal-core Christian band He* Sha* Burn.
His Saturday-night audience at the Harvest Church in suburban Durban North is a hyperactive mosh-pit of teenagers throwing themselves at a wall of furious guitars and relentless drumming, all flailing arms and perfectly executed capoeira-like kicks.
The vocalists sound like hell’s denizens running their vocal chords through an industrial-size cheese grater. Yet, they’re singing about Jesus Christ.
The 200-strong audience is dressed for the teenage rebellion: hoodies, skater-punk, pseudo-Goth-chic and androgynous skinny jeans are everywhere, as are foppish fringes, tattoos and socks worn as gloves. Yet, they’re dancing around in celebration of ”Him”.
Edgecombe says his music is an offshoot of the straight-edge scene — a subculture of rock music based on moral austerity and rejection of the clichéd norms of excess associated with it.
Straight-edgers don’t drink or, if they do, don’t get drunk. They keep their bodies pure by not taking drugs; some are vegans or even forgo caffeine. They don’t shag groupies.
”Straight-edge was about moving away from the whole rock-star mentality that you find in the music scene. I sing about God because my faith is my life, the most urgent thing in my heart is my faith and we sing from our hearts,” says Will Edgecombe (25), vocalist for ÂDurban-based metal-core band The Rising End and a born-again Christian.
He* Sha* Burn’s Van Staden (29) is the son of a preacher and also ”born again”. Van Staden ”got to know God on a personal basis” after a period off the path: drinking and drugs — he says he spent 10 years ”going totally backwards” on cat, cocaine, Mandrax and marijuana — and finally finding himself ”alone”.
Does he feel that by singing to impressionable audiences affected by teenage alienation he is putting them on a restrictive life-course?
”Do we really want them to go through all that, to make a turn at death’s door?” Van Staden asks, referring to hedonism and drug abuse.
There is more to youth Christianity than salvation, though. The Christian market is growing as evangelism allies itself to pop-culture consumerism.
Market research firm Package Facts says projected sales of Christianity-related products in the United States — including books, films, clothing and music — will top $9,5-billion in 2010.
Now, brand Christianity is beginning to show its potential in South Africa. Born-again Christians Nobantu Mthembu and Bheki Mfeka’s Christ Pro clothing store opened next door to Durban’s Musgrave Centre three months ago and sales are, they say, ”much better than we could have expected”.
The gear includes hoodies, T-shirts, shoes and a more formal range designed by local designer uMusa Grace. Graphically the designs are advanced: a hoodie bearing wing-like stripes is framed by small lettering reading ”— by his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5”.
The hoodie, as with most of the clothes in the shop, is tasteful, with the fonts and graphics more reminiscent of skater-punk cool than anything worn by a Sunday-school teacher. ”We wanted people to be proud of who they are and what they believe in,” says Mthembu.
”A lot of Christians feel they can’t go public about their love for God; with luck this will change through the clothes we sell,” says Mfeka.