Thunderous backing beats provide the foundation for roaring anthemic guitar sounds, for the wailing lamenting lyrics of Sean Lewis, aka, Xwan Solo, the multi-instrumental musician, songwriter, and producer, who's freak Gospel Rock mission is motivated by a distinct vision, and conviction that music and art can be more than entertainment, and in fact, provide the cultural foundation for what provides a society the values they need in order to come together, and function with cohesion, and unity. Christ Messiah Heavy Rock Troop from the Pacific Northwestern USA. Animated by Tradition of the Ancients/Your Spiritual Warhorse on the Apocalyptic Front Lines. Good God Father is a psychedelic rock experience from the greater Oregon wine country, with music that reaches in all directions for a solid presentation of truth, pain, love, loss, past and future. The brand is devoted and dedicated to the real and raw nature of music that transcends the songs and stories of our time, to bring everything together under a shared expression of the intuition. Going back to the heart of what music is and what it is for. Namely energizing all of reality. So the story of this band is to drawn the line that connects the plains above to the planes below.
After years playing in the local Oregon music scene under the former monikers, Masonic Weird, Auburn, and Martyred Whitmans, the pressure of the unfolding internet music phenomenon forced the Sean, and his fellow compatriots of a network of various musicians to pause, and look inward to find a different perspective that would give reason to pursue the craft, as we each grew older, started families and became responsible adults. This was a seed that was planted in 2014, the last performance with that band of 4 guys, that had been performing with these various names.
Three years later, those songs would rise again, to be employed yet again by their crafter, who would build a new apparatus for their use, as the arsenal for a rock act which would carry with it a spiritual zeal, derived from a purely personal source. That makes these songs, not only a record, but a tradition which now spans decades, to tell a story of someone who was once defeated, and yet carries forward for the sake of a mission which is more than what is worth the cost being given. An intentional sacrifice for the joy of something that is worth fighting for, no matter how humiliating that journey might be.
This has led to the Good God Father mission to bring a revolution of the heart and mind to wage a war against hopelessness, fear, anxiety, depression, and every other ailment of the human condition. With this in mind, every guitar serves as an axe, and every lyric an arrow aimed directly at the chest and head of every form of oppression, deception, and every destructive force that comes against the body, soul, and mind of humankind.
Xwan found this start as an artist, being the grandson of a musician entrepreneur, who would come home from work at the lumber, to unwind at the keyboard and share some songs with the family. Music enlivened every corner of his upbringing, from the riffs that cousins and uncles were learning and teaching, to the songs playing on the radio, turntable, or tape deck. So when the time came to learn the first lick, Sean was as eager any to pass this test of ability, when at the age of 11 picked up his first guitar out of his mom’s closet where it collected dust, to play, “Come As You Are” by Nirvana, with his meddling pals.
This one step unlocked a flood of self education that took him through his high school band years, and in his first post-punk “emo” band called, “Inexposed”. A great first teenage step in the direction of being locked in a life time of confusion, inner dialog and confliction, and intense contemplation, as Sean’s love for music and culture came alongside a life in pursuit of Universal Truth because of it’s innate power to be so moving, yet also be an issue which is the subject of ongoing debate with regard to its commercial viability. The question would come with the next band, after Inexposed, Joshua Fire, a local indie pop Christian rock band, with a very heavy handed American Christian connotation, performing at numerous Christian rock festivals.
The question asked was that asked of many who seriously revere the object of their devotion in that sphere, the Lord Jesus Christ, whether they were to be a secular product, or a Christian product. This question was fundamentally answered for Sean in the forming and establishing of what was now become the Good God Father enterprise.
This brings us to our second and most important question.
Who is the Good God Father? The Good God Father is not Sean. Nor is He Xwan. But He is the most fundamental founding element of this band. His name is WHOWASWHOISWHOSHALLBE, and He is the Almighty creator of the Universe. While He rules the entire Universe, He has all the power in the world to invest in to His children, because He loves them, and He is, according to His children, Love itself. He’s chosen to create a universe wherein He can be with the Ones He loves, such as singing and writing and recording and performing songs together, for the pure joy of being alive. But in order for those songs to come, his children have to decide that they’re going to quiet down and listen to the tempo. While He is the primary songwriter, and rights holder to all Good God Father music, He offers all, and has signed those rights off completely to Xwan, as ghostwriter credits might be attributed.
While Xwan happens to be the only legitimate source to the details on this mystery character of the band, he challenges listeners to ask themselves, “Who IS WHOWASWHOISWHOSHALLBE”? The answer to that question, is the riddle behind who is the Good God Father.
In the meanwhile, the band has found its way in to a cycle now of generating new music and touring annually, with various performances throughout the Northwestern United Sates.
