May 17, 1980: Barnabas performs a concert in Christ the King Lutheran Church, CA (AUDIO)

Published on may 17th, 2020 | by Anthony Martinez, from the archives and words of Mike Brown

Despite not being one of the most famous bands, Barnabas is one of the most important Christian bands since they were among the first to play heavy metal along with Rez Band, Exodus or Daniel band (to mention a few), long before Stryper or Barren Cross, by the end of the 70s this band was making much heavier music than other bands of that time.

In this audio file belonging to Mike Brown, you can enjoy a live concert held on May 17, 1980, where there are two songs that were never recorded. 

More details about this concert can be read below in the text written by Mike as a description of the video in youtube.

This was shortly before Barnabas' first album was released and contains some songs that never made it on the record. Unfortunately, the church parish hall it was recorded in was echoey. (I'm just tankful the tape has held up for 40 years.) The flyer here was Monte's creation.

Two of the songs were never recorded by the band, "Rock and Roll's Alright" and "Satan Agent Man."

Following "Crucifixion" is a recording of Monte and Kris jamming before the show. They enjoyed making stuff up on-the-fly, and they'd call themselves "The Skeletons" as sort of an act name for that. Monte once gave me some Skeletons fliers he designed. (I probably still have them packed away somewhere.) Monte worked at a printer.

This concert was something I sponsored with my church youth group. I sent flyers to other youth groups in the area and put flyers on telephone poles around North and West Torrance High. I was in 10th grade and was friends with Monte and the band. 

I met Monte the previous year when he answered an ad I placed in The Recycler, an L.A. classified paper, for a singer for my Christian heavy metal garage band. He was wanting to meet other like-minded musicians. We became friends and he invited me to one of Barnabas' practices. I remember it being a large, dark inroom above a storefront, probably in Inglewood, and I recall the band being blistering loud. They handed us a notebook with the lyrics printed out, which were overtly Christian. The band was super nice. Monte was soft spoken, (as you can hear on this recording), but was full-on metal in appearance, earring and all -- which, at the time, was not common. I was impressed, and a little in awe.

Besides this show, I saw Barnabas perform at the Vineyard in Santa Monica -- which I think was their church -- on a weekday evening and at a city recreation center in Cerritos.

When Barnabas moved to Chicago, I went over to Monte's apartment and he gave me some of his old Black Sabbath and Judas Priest records. I know he was making room for the move, but he was also getting rid of music he had lost interest in. He had become a big fan of the band X, frequently seeing them live in Hollywood, as well as Adam Ant. The Barnabas clan cut their hair right before the album cover shot, which really disappointed me. I thought they looked stupid.

Monte and I stayed in touch after he moved back to L.A. I bumped into him one night as he was exited the Troubadour, having just seen Stryper. He told me Stryper was doing exactly what he had envisioned for Barnabas when he founded the band. I can believe that.