Guitars and gospel
Lynchburg metalcore band BoughtXBlood shares God in a secular industry
When Lynchburg-based metalcore band BoughtXBlood tours, it does so with the full intent of bringing the gospel to the audience — no matter who the audience is or what god they worship.
ROCK — BoughtXBlood opened for The Devil Wears Prada at Liberty in spring 2016. Photo credit: Michela Diddle
BoughtXBlood has been active since 2013, delivering the gospel to long-time believers and hardcore Satanists alike with its unique platform as a Christian metalcore band.
As individuals, they overcame adversity and personal demons to find their footing as a Christian band in a secular industry.
Despite having many things in common, vocalist Alvin Triplett and drummer Cecil Johnson never met until the formation of BoughtXBlood.
Both were raised in the Lynchburg area, both regularly attended church and both developed a passion for heavy metal in their teen years.
“I think the first time, 20 some years ago, when I heard ‘Bang Your Head’ by Quiet Riot … I think that changed everything in my world,” Johnson said.
For Triplett, the son of a Lynchburg pastor, metal became a way to break away from the church lifestyle.
“I think metal, for me, was my escape from the legalistic part of what church was,” Triplett said, “I remember the first time I heard ‘Master of Puppets’ by Metallica I was like, ‘Yes, finally something that
speaks to me.’”
As Triplett and Johnson’s love of heavy metal grew, drugs and alcohol managed to creep into their lives and separate them from God.
“Around the age of 16 years old, I started to rebel,” Triplett said. “When I left home I got into the wrong stuff. … It went from drinking a little bit of beer … and smoking some dope to doing harder drugs.”
Johnson had a similar experience. Addiction had pulled him far from his identity in God.
As time went on, both men spiraled further out of control until they ultimately hit the bottom, which brought them back into a relationship with God.
For Triplett, it was the death of his brother that put things into perspective for his own life.
“I remember my dad looking down in that casket and seeing his son,” Triplett said. “I watched him break, and when I watched him break, it broke me. I said, ‘I’m not going to be a statistic.’”
Shortly after his brother’s death, Triplett rededicated his life to God and began to turn his passion for metal into a mission.
After playing in various bands for several years, Triplett and guitarist Josh Hall were hanging out after a previous band they were in had broken up.
According to Triplett, that is when God inspired him to start what would eventually become BoughtXBlood.
“I was like, ‘Hey man, we’ve got to do something, but this has to be something we do for God,’” Triplett said.
MOSH — Concertgoers moshed to BoughtXBlood’s music at the LaHaye Event Space. Photo credit: Michela Diddle
Shortly after that, Triplett and Johnson met for the first time at a North Carolina music festival.
They then partnered up with Hall and began working on the project that would become BoughtXBlood.
The trio was then joined by guitarist Dane Harrison and bassist Gary Jordan. Jordan later left the band and was replaced by Joe Graybill.
Since then, BoughtXBlood has been touring and releasing material that openly professes the gospel.
Some of their performances include opening for The Devil Wears Prada at Liberty University and a recent independent EP release titled “Rebirth/ /Reanimate.”
“(Metal is) something we loved ever since childhood, but it’s something to relay a solid message to reach kids that are in these kind of genres because they come out of places like we did,” Johnson said.
While BoughtXBlood plays for Christian audiences regularly, other times it plays for those that oppose God and Christians alike.
At one event, Satanic bands ripped Bibles apart onstage and threw the pieces into the audience.
“A lot of people don’t understand how I could stand in front of a bunch of people that just ripped Bibles up and threw them on the ground and stomped on them,” Triplett said.
“(We can never) think that we’re too good to stand in front of people that don’t love God and tell them about God. Jesus did it, and if we call ourselves Christians, we are to do it.” And that is what Triplett did.
“I stood on the stage, and I testified to these kids,” Triplett said.
“In a room full of kids that hated God, I told them what God did for me.”
FRATICELLI is a feature reporter.