more than just a band?

#journalismstress has forced me to skim over everything (including news, ironically). That is why this blog post is going to be short - purely because I don't really have time for Perhaps a Letter anymore - I've got a shiny new blog designed to 'promote my professional online presence', check it (and follow. please.) at http://helenawilliamsonline.wordpress.com/ . Perhaps a Letter doesn't quite cut it in terms of professionalism you see.

To all you Londoners out there: have any of you been stopped in the street around Angel or Holloway Road and given a 'free'* cd with 'More Than Just A Band' printed on the cover, above a picture of a curly-haired bloke with a dog looking at some kind of musical vortex opening out of the earth?
*suggested donation follows

The back cover says "'More than just a band is a one hour documentary featuring an underground group of musicians and their friends who aren't satisfied with just making music... they've decided to take their lyrics to the next level. Follow the band, whose lifestyle and beliefs have inspired and enraged (huh?) the hearts of many, while capturing the attention of the world's media. Find out for yourslef why this band of radicals are causing such a stir... before they are pushed even further undeground!"

Exciting stuff. I'm a journo student and haven't heard about it at all (granted. I don't have time to read the news... but I still know what's going on in the world). As for causing a stir... fair play, I'm blogging about them - however when I googled them to get background info nothing of relevance came up. Maybe not that big a stir, I guess.

Hoping for some awesome radical underground music, I cracked it on my laptop - to find a rather long documentary on hippyish Christian types (most probably born again...) complete with some accoustic guitar and vocals tracks. I started watching the homemade doc - looks like someone was just fooling around with a camcorder - and watched 20 minutes of these guys' lifestyle before I got bored and moved on to something more relevant to my life. Although I gave it a go it wasn't really my cup of tea, I'm afraid.

However, watching it made me feel slightly uncomfortable, and I can't really put my finger on why that is. Is it because serious belief in religion is a foreign thing to me? I wouldn't say I'm strictly atheist, and I do sometimes wish I could believe in something so illogical and yet so strongly, as a means of comfort. I just can't bring myself to do it though, because I don't think I can make that kind of leap of faith. I think it's the fact that these people are so dedicated to something which is so ambiguous.

Either way, I wouldn't say avoid these guys - be open to everything. I'm not entirely sure if they are more than just a band though.