Dave Wang: The Godfather of Catholic Rock

by Hugh van der Linden
Grapevine Magazine (Fall 2005)

A forty-three year old college professor and father of nine doesn’t sound like the sort of guy who would front the most prominent Catholic rock n’ roll band in the world. But David Wang is just that man. Leader of the Canadian Catholic rock band, Critical Mass, he’s one of the principal architects of Catholic rock.

Catholic rock? You didn’t know there was such a thing? Well, that’s understandable. Catholic rock music is a relatively new phenomenon, thus its history is very simple and brief. The story actually begins in the early 1950’s with the birth of rock n’ roll (as I’m sure you know). Thanks to the likes of Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and others, secular rock music rapidly swept across the world and started a cultural revolution. Two decades later, a long-haired “Jesus freak” named Larry Norman recorded the first Christian rock album, and the world of mainstream Protestantism was forever changed. Now, almost a half century after Elvis recorded Blue Moon of Kentucky at Sun Studios, and three decades after Larry Norman plugged in his electric guitar at church, it looks as if  rock n’ roll has finally reached the steps of the Catholic Church. Sure there’s been folk groups singing “Kumbayah,” and guitar strumming youth ministers, but rock n’ roll…not really, not until now. Thanks to the likes of David Wang and a few others, the doors of the Catholic Church are beginning to give way to the wail of stratocasters and the thunder of drums. Wang, and the group Critical Mass are leading the charge, bringing the energy of rock n’ roll to the Catholic Church. They’re hoping that rock n’ roll will be the fuse that ignites a revival in the Church as it did for the rest of Christianity.

Critical Mass has now released 3 albums over the past several years (Faith Looks Up-1998, Completely-2000, and Grasping for Hope in the Darkness-2004). They have received numerous awards and recognitions including the Canadian Gospel Music Association’s Best Album of the Year Award for both Completely and Grasping for Hope in the Darkness.

The band has gone through a couple of metamorphoses. Wang explains it this way: “After World Youth Day 2002, all the original members (except Wang) decided to pursue other ministries. I decided to continue the ministry and this resulted in Grasping for Hope in the Darkness being released in late 2004. Although much of the songwriting team from previous albums appear on this album, the recording itself features studio musicians.” The band’s current line-up includes David Wang on vocals, Luke Kupczyk on guitars, Lawrence  Lam on keyboards, Scott McKendrick on bass, Paul Kieffer on drums, Tracey Doyle on Djembe, and Harvey Armoogan working the board. Regarding the current Critical Mass members, Wang says, “The band actually came together through our Rosary group. Every Wednesday night for almost a decade now, we have opened up our home for people to come pray the Rosary. We met almost all the new members of Critical Mass through this group.”

Officially, the band describes its music as modern rock, which of course leaves things pretty wide open. When you listen to Grasping for Hope in the Darkness you especially hear glimmers of 80’s rock icons such as Bryan Adams, R.E.M., and Rick Springfield. For the most part, the album is guitar driven rock with straightforward vocals, and a little rap sprinkled in for good measure. Wang admits that he has a wide range of influences, yet he says he is not particularly impressed by much of the new music being produced today. “Everything from the Beatles, to Christian bands like POD, DC Talk, and the Newsboys,” says Wang when listing his musical influences. “I have also been influenced by the punk/emo/alternative Christian scene. Lyrically, an artist named Steve Taylor, who released controversial Christian rock albums in the 70’s and 80’s, is a huge influence!” Wang’s top five favorite albums reveal his familiarity with the greats of both secular and Christian rock. His list includes Sgt. Pepper by the Beatles, The Wall by Pink Floyd, Meltdown by Steve Taylor, Jesus Freak by DC Talk, and The River by Leslie Philips.Wang took a somewhat daring and unusual approach when conceiving Grasping for Hope in the Darkness. Rather than writing a dozen random songs and then recording them (the way most records are made), he came up with a story and then wrote songs related to that narrative. This is what is known as a “concept album.” In the 1970’s it was popular with progressive rock bands such as Jethro Tull and Yes. Interestingly, a variety of secular artists are now attempting a fresh revival of this genre. Wang explains their record in this way: “The new album is a concept album in that all the songs relate to a story about a jaded man, his daughter who gets pregnant and a priest who convinces her not to have an abortion. This has, to our knowledge, never been done in the Catholic market.” Wang has even gone so far as to put together a comic book of the story with edgy black and white illustrations.

When describing the group’s approach to songwriting and recording, Wang comments, “We are unusual.” He explains that he usually tackles the lyrics first. “The music comes second. This is backwards to most other groups,” he points out. “I often take my inspiration from what I see in the news,” Wang declares. Then he makes his case by stating, “Lyrically, we take pride in presenting the faith in atypical ways. For example, we have a song about pornography that uses the Oscar Wilde book, Dorian Gray, as its title. The rap in Reverend Larebil is full of alliteration and satire. We want the listener to have to think a little bit about the words.” Another one of the noteworthy songs on the album is a raw, stripped-down cover of Wayward Son, originally recorded by the group, Kansas in 1976.

The new album is unique in another way. Wang explains, “Previous Critical Mass albums were really reproductions of what we had been playing in concert. This new album was different in that we went into the studio with only lyrics and chords. The songs were all constructed in the studio with no preconceived ideas of how the songs should sound.”

When asked about the condition of the current Catholic music scene, Wang was not optimistic. He probably knows better than anyone after spending years receiving demos from artists, doing concert promotion, and writing a music column for the Catholic Register. “It is small and is growing very slowly,” he laments. “Partly this is due to apathy in the laity and among the clergy to what is happening. There are some very talented people but without funding to create bigger projects that are competitive to secular music with respect to quality, most artists are fighting an uphill battle. Catholics, unlike evangelical Christians, aren’t willing to buy CDs from Catholic artists unless the recordings are on a par with what is on the radio. As well, Catholic artists tend to work in isolation. As such, many recordings I hear lack the polish in terms of the songwriting. The artists simply don’t have anyone to bounce ideas off of.”

So what can we expect from Critical Mass in the future? Wang gave a vague but promising answer. “The musicians are much more mobile, being mostly college aged,” he says, “We will definitely be doing more touring. We are presently planning a Canadian fall tour and we are playing at select events in the US (e.g. Proud2BCatholic music festival near Boston). There are also plans for a live album, a possible DVD based on a live show as well as a Christmas recording. We are hoping to have another studio album coming out in 2007.”

With the task of leading an extremely busy band, and the weight of a musical revolution resting on his shoulders, one would think that Wang would have no time for anything else. Amazingly, this Canadian songwriter manages to raise a family, play and coach soccer, and teach at the University of Waterloo at the same time.

Finally, we had to ask the quintessential rock interview question: How did the band get their name? Wang responded, “The Mass is critical to our faith.  The words Critical Mass also have a physics origin. Once you get together a certain amount of radioactive material that can sustain fission, you get an explosion.” He adds, “We hope that if we can hit a critical mass of youth, we can cause an explosion of faith, and devotion to our church will occur.” And to this we say, “Carry on wayward son, carry on!”