Giancarlo Floridia and ex-STRYPER bassist Tim Gaines recently talked with me about their band, FAITHSEDGE. In this exclusive interview, Tim Gaines for the first time confirms his exit with STRYPER and a few of the details that led up to the decision to leave the band he was with for over 30-years.
FAITHSEDGE, which was formed by Floridia in 2011, has had many powerhouse performers. The band presently has Matt Starr-drums (MR. BIG, ACE FREHLEY, DOUG ALDRICH), Tim Gaines-bass (ex-STRYPER), and Alex De Rosso (DOKKEN), and I’m told a very special keyboardist is on board to join very soon. Floridia would only disclose that the keyboardist is someone that he used to have posters of as a boy, and will complete this band’s potent lineup.
While the name indicates that it may be a Christian based band, I am told that the intent is to be mainstream. The songs are melodic, with a hard edge that falls into a more prog rock genre. With such a powerful lineup, the potential is limitless.
A big thank you to Giancarlo and especially to Tim, who felt comfortable to open up about the hushed circumstances surrounding his exit from STRYPER. WIshing the best for this band and looking forward to hearing what FAITHSEDGE will further produce.
KNAC.COM: Hey guys! Tim, I’m not sure what’s okay to talk about as far as STRYPER goes, and what is not, and if you’re uncomfortable about anything, we’ll just pass it. How did this FAITHSEDGE get started? I know Giancarlo, you started this about six years ago.
FLORIDIA: I started the project in about 2009, and we got signed in 2011. We put out two records and our producer was Fabrizio Grossi, he was with Steve Vai and STARBREAKER with Tony Harnell’s band. I really liked the work he had done on the STARBREAKER record, and I reached out to him. I originally had a 5-song EP I put out with Juan Croucier from RATT, which he produced. Grossi was impressed enough to meet up with me and come up with an idea. He was a bass player. He was doing other things and not really producing melodic rock. He’s got this thing called SUPERSONIC BLUES MACHINE he’s doing right now with Kenny Aronoff and Steve Lukather, and Billy Gibbons. It’s a really big list of people. I then moved to work with Alessandro Del Vecchio, he does Frontiers Records and he does HARDLINE. During the time, I knew there was going to be a transition with the bass, and he kept saying, “What about Tim?” And I was like, “Well, we’re friends you know.” But I thought it would be great because I’ve known him for so long and it would be like family.
KNAC.COM: But he’s not Italian [Laughing]
GAINES: [Laughs] I’m the only German I think in the band.
FLORIDIA: We kind of bring him over though, you know. We teach him our ways.
KNAC.COM: Tim, I don’t know if you can talk about this or not. Is there no more STRYPER for you? Is this your new project?
GAINES: Well, I’ve been working with Gian for a year and a half now. Yeah. The STRYPER thing is a touchy subject right now. I can’t really elaborate on too much of it. You would probably be the first person that I would say to that I am officially no longer a member of the band. It’s been out there for about a year now that things have been going sour. It hasn’t been officially said by either myself or the band, but yeah, I’m no longer working with them.
KNAC.COM: That’s too bad that it went that way. Giancarlo and I were talking about Christian rock bands and that whole moniker that’s given, and it’s a weird kind of social experiment, I think in that it’s almost like you have to be nearly a monk, with the expectations that the fans and community place on you.
GAINES: It’s very weird. Very strange.
KNAC.COM: Giancarlo and I were talking about how if MOTLEY CRUE does something, it’s celebrated. But God forbid, somebody that plays non-secular music of any kind, then it becomes a great big crime.
GAINES: I hear ya. I’ve gotten bashed for playing with other groups that weren’t Christian, by the Christian community anyway. And I think even the other guys in STRYPER would agree, we never wanted to have the Christian name in a sense put on the band. We were always a rock band that happened to be made up of Christians. There’s this whole industry built around Christian music in a sense that’s like separate from everybody else. Often times the music is mediocre. It’s something I never really wanted to be a part of. I just wanted to be in a real rock band.
KNAC.COM: FAITHSEDGE, denotes that it could be a Christian rock band, is it directed toward that? And that’s not to say that you can’t be a good rock band, being a Christian rock band.
FLORIDIA: Honestly, it’s like a prog, metal rock, melodic, all sorts of things. A lot of people ask me, “Is it based on this or that?” We have a song called, "This War", and when I first worked with Tim, I said, “Hey, is this song okay with you?” Because some of the lyrics would definitely not be in any sort of Christian band. And there’s dark subject matter on some of the songs. It’s not focused toward anything religious. I think that the best way to look at it is that it is a band that you’ll get more out of lyrically than your typical rock stuff. I think everything is positive. I write about experiences, overcoming. Things like that. Kind of look at BON JOVI. When you look at Jon’s lyrics, and he says things like, “God”, or “Angel”, but it’s not to the point where it is labeled as that. I want to keep it to a point where you know there’s some spiritual stuff going on there, but not to the point where I want to be a ministry band. That’s a very heavy position to be in. That’s something I choose to keep in my personal life or my family. It’s a personal thing to me. Christian bands are a different genre. That’s not what we’re doing.
KNAC.COM: Tim, I know you got attacked by the Christian community for your personal life, and I won’t go into any details into that, but does it shake your faith at all? I mean when you have that kind of judgment coming down on you, is it tough for you?
GAINES: Yeah. You’re put under a microscope in a sense. Because I was in a band that spoke out so much as far as the Christian thing, I was automatically put under a microscope to look a certain way and be some kind of example, which no one can live up to. People fit into this mold. People that go to church, they dress the same. Listen to music a certain way. And it’s just kind of a weird subculture. People in church should be out hanging out with everybody. They pretty much stick to themselves and become this weird little group of people that can’t relate to anybody. When somebody in the church has a problem, and it suddenly becomes known, one of those little things, whatever it might be, in my case I ended up getting a divorce. Which is taboo as far as Christianity, I guess. But all hell broke loose. Nobody bothered to look into why I got a divorce. It was 20-years of a bad marriage, but nobody bothers to look into the abuse and all the stuff that went along with it. They just see me getting a divorce and getting remarried and come to their conclusions. So whatever. People will be the way that they are. There’s nothing I can do about it. I’m not the only guy in STRYPER to have gotten a divorce. Everybody in the band is married to divorced people. And I’m the bad guy, but everybody else has done it too, so? Whatever. Live in glass houses and everything will be exposed at some point or another.
KNAC.COM: There’s a great joke regarding the mormon community. It’s something like, ‘How do you get another mormon to stop drinking? Add another mormon.’
GAINES: [Laughs]
FLORIDIA: Religion is tough. Here’s the thing, when I met Tim when I was 20, I was a kid. I was going through a brutal, brutal time with the music business, trying to get established, showcasing my music and something bad happened to me. Really bad in the business and destroyed my family, and I was down and out. Tim came to one of my shows. I’d go hang out. It’s that attitude that Tim had back then that helped me. He really took a step above to be a friend. He didn’t go, ‘Okay, I’m in STRYPER, we’re a Christian band and we don’t get involved with people who aren’t.’ He went out of his way to do something nice for me. To come to my gigs. To me, with somebody that wasn’t into that type of thing at the time, it was inspiring. That’s how I know Tim. He’s inspirational, he survived a lot. He survived the whole downfall of the grunge scene and pulled himself back up. There’s so many things in this past year that I’ve heard that was negative, it boggles my mind because he’s such a good person. He’s easy to work with. He’s a great guy. I can go on a list of good things about him, but whatever happened, happened. He’s always going to be Tim. I know the real Tim. We all make mistakes. I make mistakes. Tim knows about it, he forgives me and we move on. That’s what I feel a brotherhood should be in any band.
KNAC.COM: That’s human.
FLORIDIA: Yes. Exactly. Tim is awesome, he’s always going to be awesome. So to hear things anything besides that about him, is just a load of garbage.
KNAC.COM: It sounds like it’s a great positive move all the way around.
FLORIDIA: Yes.
KNAC.COM: Tell me a little about the other players. You have Matt Starr.
FLORIDIA: Yes. Matt is our drummer. I met him in the same city I met Tim at the time. Fullerton. I was doing a cover band at the time, and someone said Matt was sitting in. He was ACE FREHLEY’s drummer at the time. Our other drummer was more of a studio drummer. It was time for a change with the album. Me and Matt were playing a show and it just happened. Just the way he plays drums. He really understands songwriting. Vocals, formatting. I like prog, but sometimes the drumming you have to understand the song, and Matt does that great. Matt’s going to be on the new album. He’s playing with MR. BIG right now in Brazil and Japan. He played on their new album. He’s a great guy. Just like Tim and our guitar player Alex. We have a keyboard change coming up that I can’t announce yet. I’ll figure out the details by the end of the year. It’s one of my favorite songwriters in one of my favorite bands from back in the 80’s, early 90’s and it is a big band.
KNAC.COM: Can we guess?
FLORIDIA: If it is, people are going to be going, ‘Wow!’
KNAC.COM: So, you have a new album out now? Are you in the studio?
FLORIDIA: Pre-production. It’ll be out next year. Probably by October of next year. I just want to make sure all the songs are up to the level of the last album. This year has been kind of a tough year for good albums coming out. So I want to focus on quality of songwriting, instead of producing harder, more production, how loud can you master it, how much more can we push the digital end of it. I really want to get back to what good melodic rock once was. Good songwriting. Good band chemistry. Good drive. Everything that’s missing. Instead of just pushing it.
GAINES: We might have to use cassette tapes to get that. [laughing]
FLORIDIA: A four-track. [laughs]
KNAC.COM: Are you guys all part of the songwriting process?
FLORIDIA: We’re gonna try. [laughing]
GAINES: We’re going to get together soon to write some songs.
FLORIDIA: It’s going to be great.
KNAC.COM: And the new keyboard player, who’s name is?
FLORIDIA: If I say one thing, it’ll give it away. All I can say is when I was 11, I went to the mall and got a poster and put it in my backpack and came home and put it on my wall. He was my top pick of any keyboard player, because I’m such a fan of that band. That’s all I can say.
GAINES: JOURNEY [laughs]
KNAC.COM: Rhymes with trolley?
FLORIDIA: No, no. [laughing]
KNAC.COM: Do you guys have any tour plans?
FLORIDIA: Me and Tim are talking about it.
GAINES: It would be Japan or Europe.
FLORIDIA: Definitely. One of the labels are out of Italy and the other is in Japan.
KNAC.COM: And, it’s unfortunate for us here in the states, but rock, metal, prog is all very much alive in those countries. The support seems to last forever there, unlike us fickle Americans.
GAINES: Oh yeah.
FLORIDIA: Well, the stores are gone. I remember going into the music stores and that’s how I found my bands and once people bought the albums, then the label had more money to put them on tour, set them up with videos, promotions, now with that gone, it’s difficult. Or almost impossible. I’m pretty lucky, considering.
KNAC.COM: Definitely. Looking forward to hearing from you guys.
FLORIDIA: Yeah. Just expect a really kickass record. Again, we’re going to really focus on prioritizing songwriting, as I’m feeling right now in the business, I’m not too inspired lately. I used to look forward to new records, and I just want to put out an album that’s going to get people excited.
KNAC.COM: I think you have all the key players. And you’re right. I haven’t heard a lot of good albums so far this year. A lot of them are dropping this time of year.
FLORIDIA: Very rough year. As a writer, you look around you. And you ask, ‘What’s working right now, what’s not working?’ I just want to focus the energy on writing a good album and having a good time recording it with the guys. Just having a good time. Kicking ass. Good energy. And since we all get along so well, I think it’s going to show in the end product.
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