Slipknot cemented the state of Iowa on the extreme music map. You can’t think 311 without thinking Nebraska. Oklahoma’s Pillar have bigger designs: hauling the entire Midwest to national prominence on their backs, Atlas-style.
“People get so wrapped up in the New York and L.A. mindset,” notes frontman Rob Beckley. “Which I don’t have a problem with at all, because I know the creativity coming out of that area is just ridiculous and many artists move there. But the suits forget that a lot of this country is not New York and L.A. The majority is small-town America and suburban living out in the middle of nowhere. Those type of hardworking people, that’s who we are, that’s where we come from.
“We’re all from the Midwest. It’s all about AC/DC and Lynryd Skynyrd. Rock and roll in the Midwest is rock and roll.”
Consider The Reckoning hard notice that Pillar is the latest powerhouse to do the Rust, Corn, and Bible Belt’s rich rock legacy proud. The fourth full-length from the monolithic (duh) four-piece is the kind of staggering evolutionary leap all fans wish upon their favorite bands, but few ever come close to achieving. Sure, preceding albums Above, Fireproof, and Where Do We Go From Here—arriving in reliable two-year intervals since 2000—were solid efforts, marking an assured progression from frothing rap-metal to muscular, hook-laden hard rock, but The Reckoning is truly truth in advertising. “Sometimes” skips with the infectious punk urgency of pre-ubiquity Jimmy Eat World; leadoff single “Everything” attacks like Rage Against the Machine and AC/DC activating wondertwin powers; “Tragedy” deploys scabrous vocal conniptions to mirror the dual guitar runaway train. Clearly, Beckley, guitarists Noah Henson, and bassist Kalel, and drummer Lester Estelle aren’t content just running in place.
“We’re concerned with what our fans think of us,” Beckley grants. “And we don’t want to let them down, but at the same time we know that in order to grow you can’t stay stagnant.”
For the frontman, that meant unshackling himself from Pillar’s preordained formulaic constraints. He found himself using his voice as an instrument for the first time in the haunting introduction to “Last Goodbye,” then nodding to country legends on the melancholy ballad “Angel in Disguise,” a more optimistic take on “Janie’s Got a Gun” with jaw-dropping narrative twists.
“I like Hank Williams and Marty Robbins, just the way they told a story with the song,” Beckley explains. “They made you want to know what happens in the third verse. A lot of Johnny Cash’s songs, they didn’t even have choruses; they were just verses and you’re like, ‘Dang, what’s the last verse gonna be about?’ And that was kind of my goal in that song. It’s just one of those avenues that I’ve never been down before.”
The band matched Beckley’s adventuresome spirit on The Reckoning’s unrelenting second track, “Awake,” in which Kalel’s anchoring bassline conjures Tool’s 10,000 Days, building organically into a hammering pre-chorus and a soaring, screamed climax. It’s a study in patience and release, one of Pillar’s most mature, yet moshworthy compositional efforts.
“If musicianship sold records, Primus would be gazillionaires,” Beckley shrugs. “Or Bela Fleck and the Flecktones would be the biggest band in the world. I just like ‘Awake’ because it’s every dynamic basically in one song. It shows the musicianship of the guys in the band, what they’re capable of. It’s so much more than just a good hook.”
Take it from a guy who claims that if he weren’t making music he’d be working at Home Depot: Pillar do some Schwarzeneggarian heavy lifting here. Many bands shrink from challenge—give them the opportunity to write the album of their career, and they’ll be content with a passable single and 45 minutes of filler. Pillar’s not having it, now or ever.
“It’s way too convenient nowadays to record music,” says Beckley. “It used to be if you wanted to do it you had to really work at it. You had to be obligated and committed to it. Nowadays it’s just like, ‘Hey man, we’re gonna start a band,’ and in three days, in their dad’s living room, there you go. The mystery of making a record is gone.
“I think that’s why this record is so cool to us—because there’s so much passion in it, because we worked at it. In an era where you don’t have to work to make music, we worked really hard on this record.”
Pillar is
Rob Beckley - vocals
Lester Estelle - drums
Noah Henson - guitar
Kalel – bass
DISCOGRAPHY
2006 The Reckoning (October 3, 2006)
2005 Where Do We Go From Here: The EP
2004 Where Do We Go From Here (240,000+ scanned domestically RTD)
2003 Broken Down: The EP
2002 Fireproof
2001 Above
RADIO – Seven No. 1 singles, Eleven Top 5 singles
7 No. 1 Singles
“Sunday Bloody Sunday”
“Frontline”
“Bring Me Down”
“Echelon”
“Live For Him”
“Open Your Eyes”
“Fireproof
VIDEO
“Everything” (2006)
“Frontline” (2005)
“Bring Me Down” (2004)
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
• “Bring Me Down” featured in two video games: MX vs ATV Unleashed and MLB 2006
• “Bring Me Down” video voted No. 1 at Fuse TV’s “Oven Fresh”
• “Bring Me Down” video saw heavy rotation on the Fuse TV program “Rockzilla” and MTV2
• “Fireproof” featured on Sony Playstation’s MLBaseball 2005 video game
• Pillar was Fuse TV’s NEXT BIG THING award winner for August 2004
• 2003 Dove Award for Fireproof as Hard Music Album of the Year
• 2002 Dove Award for “Live For Him” as Hard Music Recorded Song of the Year
• 2001 Dove Award for Above as Hard Music Album of the Year
• Career sales exceed 650,000 albums
MEDIA
• Band on cover of HM Magazine (November / December 2006)
• Noah featured in Guitar Player (Jan. 2005)
• Feature interview with Pillar aired on MTV’s “Headbanger’s Ball”
• First Christian band ever to be featured on the cover of R&R (Aug. 13, 2004)—named one of the five biggest up and coming bands in rock music
• Kalel featured in Bass Player (July 2004)
• Featured on the cover of CCM Magazine (July 2004)
• Featured on the cover of 7Ball magazine (May/June 2004)
• Full-page feature in Hit Parader (Jan. 2004)
• Featured in Rolling Stone (Oct.16, 2003)
• Featured on the cover of Rockline Magazine (Oct. 2003)
• Featured in Spin (Sept. 2003)
• Featured on the cover of Christian Retailing (May 5, 2003)
• Featured on the cover of Breakaway (Dec. 2002)
• Featured on the cover of HM Maqazine (May/June 2002)
• Band additionally featured in Billboard, Guitar World, and Modern Drummer
TOURING
2007 Headlining “Days of the Reckoning” (second leg) Tour with Showbread, Tyler Reed, and Local Artist
2006 Headlined “The Days of Reckoning” (first leg) Tour with Kids in the Way, Day of Fire and The Showdown
2006 Special guest on P.O.D.’s “The Warriors II” Tour
2005 Special guest on Audio Adrenaline’s “Until My Heart Caves In” Tour
2005 Co-headlined “For Those About to Rock” Tour with Thousand Foot Krutch
2004 Headlined the “Where Do We Go From Here” Tour
2004 Performed main-stage at 23 summer music festivals
2004 Headlined “See Spot Rock” Tour with 12 Stones
2003 Headlined 35-city “Underground Uprising” Tour
2003 Headlined 43-city “See Spot Rock” Tour
2002 Headlined 35-city “Fireproof” Tour
2002 Festival Con Dios
2001 Festival Con Dios
*Pillar has performed additional shows with Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Alice Cooper, Kittie, Shinedown, Drowning Pool, Monster Magnet, Switchfoot and others
ENDORSEMENTS
Equipment
Mesa/Boogie
Risen Drums
Evans Drumheads
Warrior Instruments
GMP Guitars
Traben Bass Company
DiMarzio
Michael Kelly Guitar Company
Audix
I stanbul Cymbals
DR Strings
Gallien-Krueger
Kansas City Drum Company
GHS Strings
Vic Firth
Clothing/Misc.
Souldog
King of Kings
TMCD
XXXCHURCH
CONTACT INFO
Management: Booking: Label:
Cook Management, LLC. CAA Flicker Records
THE PROFESSIONAL BLDG. www.caaccm.com www.flickerrecords.com
117 W. 5th St., #203
Bartlesville, OK 74003-6615
(918) 336-0600
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