Flyleaf

Irony is dead — at least in the world of alternative metal. The organizers of the Family Values Tour shot it through the eyeball when they booked these Texas-based Christian rockers to play alongside the likes of Korn and Bury Your Dead in 2006. See what I mean? What’s the point of ironically naming your rock ‘n’ roll event the Family Values Tour when one of your headliners does, in fact, embrace family values? That’s like saying to Einstein: “Wrong answer, genius.” Currently touring in support of 2009’s Memento Mori album, the band has never officially copped to the “Christian rock” label — even after lead singer Lacey Mosley asked fans to pray for Korn in a 2006 interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. Later, guitarist Sameer Bhattacharya went on the band’s MySpace blog and played coy: If Flyleaf is a Christian band, then “we’re signed to a Jewish label and all Steven Spielberg movies, like Jurassic Park and E.T., are Jewish movies.” Maybe, but when was the last time A&M/Octone CEO James Diener went on TV and name-checked the prophet Elijah? And how many times has Spielberg asked us to say a Birkhat Ha-Gomel for Mel Gibson? Christian is as Christian does.
Thu., May 6, 6 p.m., 2010