Your Connection With Theocracy

guitr4God

Member
Sep 10, 2010
191
0
16
Hey everyone! I haven't been on here forever but I thought of a thread that could be pretty interesting. What is your personal connection to the band?

For me, its pretty much just a fan thing. Theocracy is the first power/symphonic metal band I really got into other than *mumbles* Dragonforce :Smug: But I know there's a few of you guys on here with more personal connections with Matt and the rest (lookin at you Ryan M :p )
 
I don't know, I think I just stumbled upon the name when I was searching for decent metal with a positive message...
I know I listened to a sampler of Ichtus and loved the intro.
The band captivated me when I heard On Eagles Wings, which is, in my opinion, their greatest song, it just is, I'm sorry.
 
I was into metal in high school (mostly Christian black and death metal) and I was buying a bunch of CDs on the online store Radrockers.com when I saw Theocracy's self titled release on the front page. I listened to the samples over and over while I was waiting for the album to ship. When it finally arrived I listened to it constantly, they quickly became one of my favorite bands because of their awesome lyrics and epic songwriting.

So yeah, just a fan.
 
When my interest for decent music was growing and I started looking into Stratovarius and such, someone sent me some Theocracy samples. This was in the beginning of 2005. Sold ever since. :)
 
Cool question. Looking forward to everyone's answers on this one. I think I actually heard the Metallica tribute song first...ran across it on the Internet. Thought it was super funny and wanted to hear Theocracy's actual music, and ended up falling in love with the first album and listening to it, Star One, and Shadow Gallery (two more bands I had also just discovered) every day over and over at my old job. Good memories...
 
Well, from here just a Fan than checking on the Metal-archives.com site some christian metal bands, the name Theocracy was there so I search for the albums, that week I was working at home, a big and detailed job (as graphic Designer), so I put TMOS as "background music" and heard it over and over and over (not getting tire...) and over, and over... since that day I am a Loyal Fan!!!!! but not a personal relation with the band (just by PM)
 
Interesting how this has naturally morphed into "how did you first hear about Theocracy?". I'll tackle both questions.

I can't remember how, but somehow I came upon their myspace page back in May 2004, I think. They had a full song up (On Eagles Wings?) and two partial songs (Theocracy and Ichthus?), all downloadable. I downloaded them all onto a CD and put them into the car for a long trip my (now) wife and I were taking. I absolutely fell in love with them on that trip. My wife, who's not a metal fan but plays in a orchestra, appreciated the vocals and the orchestration - I think this was the first metal thing I had ever played for her that she liked :D What really got me were the lyrics. This is the first Christian metal band I can remember where I did not feel cheesy singing the lyrics out loud! I ordered the debut album and have been a huge fan ever since.

Connection to the band: I was so in love with that first album that a friend and I ordered like 40 CDs to give out in our city to try and build a fanbase here. As an occasional concert promoter, I've been trying to book them to play here in Minneapolis/St. Paul since Day 1 (it almost happened when they played Cornerstone in Illinois). When myspace was a MUST for bands, we convinced the band that they needed to be on myspace and a friend and I agreed to administer the page to make it happen (mostly answering fan inquires). The friend quickly dropped out and various bandmembers have jumped in to help over the years (Patrick Hoyt; Val). I still do it, but there's very little work there anymore (myspace is dead as a doornail). I've worked with Emil at Ulterium in that process. He's about the coolest dude ever and I hope Theocracy fans make sure to check out the other Ulterium bands and support them if you like them!

Other than talking to Matt for maybe 2 minutes at ProgPower a few years ago, I haven't met the bandmembers in person, nor have I seen the band live. But I will!
 
Ryan M is a stalker, the only personal connection he has is through Matt's bathroom window, hahaha. As for my connection, I've been friends with Matt for years, both from Athens Ga and such, and I was at the first ever Theocracy show, in front of about 10 people (including friends and girlfriends), but it was a lot of fun.

I suppose I should also mention that I have seen more of their shows than most and they played my going away party at a local club in Athens (ironically the club they played their first show at) when I moved up to Minnesota from Georgia.
 
Never met any of them personally....

I heard about them from a guy on the Disciple boards (he goes by PaperCarnival here), in early 2009. I got Mirror of Souls off of iTunes and have been in love since. I've been around these forums for a while, and fortunately caught the news when the self-titled was on Amazon for a reasonable price, so I am one of the lucky ones to have the entire Theocracy discography thus far. And, while I eagerly await As the World Bleeds, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim makes for a nice distraction and it passes the time very quickly.
 
I actually found them on a christian bands list on wikipedia and got only the song laying the demon to rest. I played it for my dad and he bought both albums, now they are both of our favorite christian band.

The song Laying the Demon to Rest keeps me going, very inspirational, reminds me to turn to God for help with dethroningmy own personal demons.
 
SeaStorm that's a pretty cool story, I've never heard of anyone buying dozens of albums to spread the word. That's very nice of you, and if you happen to be particularly charitable when the new album comes out, just let me know, I'll send you my address :D
 
A guy I was working with played me some Dragonforce and I was impressed,
but when I checked them out I thought they sounded a bit dubious.

So I Googled Christian Power Metal but kept finding 7th Avenue who I don't like.
I eventually found and bought HB Frozen Inside on iTunes and saw that
Listeners Also Bought: Theocracy Mirror of Souls.

Thank you iTunes - best purchase yet!
Wikipedia lead me to the Christmas and joke songs and the self titled album...

So I'm just a fan, but a HUGE and very loyal one!
 
By time I found them I already listened to a lot of power metal, prog, etc. Already loved stuff like Stratovarius, Angel Dust, Kamelot, Smyphony X, and a ton of others. I was looking for more stuff along the lines of Angel Dust and then branched out finding Theocracy during my hunt.
 
I came across Matt's stuff on the old Yamaha AW4416's forums years ago. Bought his first album and have been supporting him ever since.
 
I personally have only shared a couple of words with a band member here and there. No real relationship. Just another fan.

I found Theocracy in a long list going over the "history of Christian metal". The guy gave them such a good review I checked out their site and found On Eagles' Wings.

Up until that point I'd listened to Alternative Rock and such, and I really had a hard time getting used to the high register "metal" voice that Matt uses.

After I got over the new vocals, I fell in love with the song. I had it on repeat for about two weeks before I started looking for MoS.

Ryan M is a stalker, the only personal connection he has is through Matt's bathroom window, hahaha.

Ahah, classic.