All things considered, this would be a fairly excellent group Halloween costume.

If the odds of you owning any vestigial Lita Ford tapes is slim, you probably have no damn idea who Stryper is. If, though, back in the day, you could watch Headbanger’s Ball all the way through without snickering even once, you’re well familiar with the metal bumblebees who pioneered “777″ as a Godly alternative to the number of the beast.

Their earnestness for Christian rock was met only by their supremely Spinal Tappish stage show, wherein among other things, drummer Robert Sweet would turn his kit (which at one point include more than 100 pieces) sideways so the audience could better see him play. They were one tiny Stonehenge away full-on parody. Yet they’re so, so completely serious. Serious to the point where the outgoing message on guitarist Oz Fox’s answering machine tells you you’ve reached “The Stryper Hotline.”

Still, the band is touring their 25th anniversary and new album Murder by Pride, making a stop tomorrow night at Santa Fe Station’s Chrome Showroom at 8 p.m. Tickets are $24.95. We talked to Fox about writing ’80s rock in the ’00s, being tricked into buying devil rock and how the Sin City Sinners apparently need some help finding Jesus.

How’s everything going for you guys with the new album?

Everything’s going good. We’re on the road right now. We’re coming to the tail end of this tour here in the U.S. at least. The crowd response has been phenomenal. Everyone’s real excited about seeing the original bandmember lineup. It’s going as well as we expected it to, if not better.

What’s the biggest challenge of putting out an album that hews to a glam rock sound when that sound has fallen out of popularity? Is it harder without that kind of music floating out in the zeitgeist or can you just hole up with a bunch of old Ratt albums to get you in the right mood?

The band as a whole, the sound of the band and all, is not necessarily glam rock. The stuff that we’re doing is definitely more thought-out. It’s not about the glam thing anymore. That pretty much left with the ‘80s. This band is focused on an ‘80s sound that sounds more modern and updated. So far the response and the reviews on this album have been incredible. People have been praising this album more than we’ve ever seen.

It’s pretty much your classic ‘80s metal sound, in the lines of Judas Priest or Scorpions or UFO, but it’s got more of a new feel to it. That’s kind of what we were raised on. We took it to a place in the ‘80s where it was a combination of that kind of sound and more Iron Maiden-ish and Priest and then to the Journey side because of the vocals and whatnot. We pretty much got in our spandex suits and Aquanet hair and it was a cross between all of those genres.

Now this band has taken this time, this period, the age we are and the maturity level we’re at, and it’s gone way beyond that now. That’s why we’re getting such a great response for all of these people. We are pretty well experienced at putting on a great show and slamming out some solid rock without tracks. Most bands these days run tracks behind the music. This is all live. You’re getting the whole thing for real. Nothing is fake.

Are you guys still doing the yellow and black thing?

Yeah, we still have the yellow and black instruments. That’s still happening. Yellow and black all over the amps and whatnot. It’s not as elaborate as it used to be. It’s just just like the small mini Bose system that kicks butt.

And you’re still throwing Bibles out to the crowd?

Absolutely. It’s something we haven’t stopped doing from day one.

Has the response to that changed? Because people’s relationship with rock ‘n’ roll and the theatrical elements – people seem more in on the joke of a show, so to speak, than they were 20-30 years ago.

I don’t think there’s as much of what we did in the ‘80s out there. Some of the guys are coming back to do it again. I guess a good example of who’s still getting away with it and doing very well with it is KISS. They continue to do the theatrical type of thing and that’s what they’re known for. As far as Stryper goes, we are known for being all yellow and black striped. It’s not as elaborate as it used to be, but we’ve still got them. We’re still doing the yellow and black outfits and trying to still come across in the Stryper way. But I’m not wearing spandex now. I’m 48 years old. I’m not going to look good in spandex.

I have to admit, I bought To Hell with the Devil when I was around 13 and I thought because it had “Devil” in the title, it was just going to be something like Number of the Beast or Shout at the Devil. How much of your sales to you attribute to mistaken kids who thought they were buying another record to add to their collection of devil rock?

I look at it in another way. We had an alternative to all of this stuff that was negative and corrupt and drug-ridden, sex-ridden. We gave an alternative to young people who probably got a lot of pressure from their parents not to listen to that kind music, but got the OK from their parents when they found out we had good morals. We became their No. 1 band. That’s what set this band apart from so many groups. We were able to make the connection in that way and not only that, but we gave them a good dose of some good music, whether it be pop metal or just the heaviest of “To Hell with the Devilish” songs. And we gave everybody a visual when they came to see us. The kind of visual they would expect from a band like us. I would say we won them over more than anything else.

What’s the landscape like for Christian rock these days? Do you guys still consider yourselves primarily a Christian rock band first, or a metal band first?

I think there’s different opinions about that within the band. I’ve heard so many things from different groups and different artsist on how to interpret what their band is. Flat-out, to me, yes. It’s a Christian rock band. That’s what we are. Without any kind of frills or any kind of fancy explanations. That’s bottom line. We are a Christian rock band. We believe in our faith. We live our faith, and we are true to our faith. For a lot of other bands that are out there that are so-called Christian bands, unless you’re living it, you’re not for real. That’s the way it goes. You can’t fake that. You have to live the lifestyle as well as say it.

That sounds a little bit like a swipe at Creed.

I’m not going to say anything (laughs). OK? You can say all you want. You can say all you want within your music about maybe goodness or talk about golden streets, or you can talk about God gave rock ‘n’ roll to you or whatever, but unless you’re living a life dedicated to Christ and it shows in your personal life, you’re just saying hot air.

You’ve played with the Sin City Sinners out here, right? What did you think about that set?

What was really cool was when I’d get up and play with them, Todd (Kearns) would say, “Tonight we’re changing the name of the band to the Sin City Saints.” That was really cool. They’re a great band. They get out there, they entertain. There’s some great musicians there. I’m really impressed with the band for what they do. They offered me the opportunity to come jam with them and I thought it was great. If I could be an example to them in some small way, you never know. You never know what your life will do to influence somebody. If there’s any way I can influence them to start looking in the path of what Christ said and what it means to live a life following Christ then hey, maybe something will happen some day for those guys. I don’t think you can do something like what they’re doing forever. I certainly think they’re an excellent band and I’d love to continue to make connections with them and play with them again.

By Jason Scavone

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