Way back in I guess ’88 or ’89 I moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas. I started going to a club called River City that had a rock club called The Zoo. One night for no particular reason I wandered over to The Zoo to check out some band playing very loud music. From the very instant I walked in the music grabbed me like no other ever had. When I rounded the corner and saw the band for the first time I was surprised to see there were only 3 of them and blown away with their intensity. The drummer was standing up for most of the show often playing with his bare hands. The singer was in a cheerleading skirt, no shirt and had super long wild as hell black hair he was whipping around so hard the sweat was flying everywhere. The bass player was swaying like he was in a trance of some sort with the music in a world all his own. Their name were The Faith Healers and they opened a whole new world of music up to me that has brought me here to MusicFilter.

Before I heard these guys I was listening to shit like Motley Crue and boring radio crap. The Faith Healers played an original brand of in your face music but were very zen like at the same time. I was so blown away that first time I saw them that I waited around till after the show and introduced myself to the band and asked them if they would play at a private 21st birthday party I was throwing for myself at The Zoo in a few weeks. Wade told me it would cost $500 and I said lets do it. I had a bunch of friends from high school drive up from Kansas just to attend this huge bash. Lets just say they hadn’t never heard nothing like this before in their fucking lives and their faces showed it. A couple of good friends did some slamming but for the most part everyone just sat in their seats dumbfounded at the spectacle. The Faith Healers were blown away as well but not by the weird little crowd but by the two strippers dancing on their speakers. I never forget at one point Wade said, “Here is a good song to take your clothes off to”, and ripped into “Batman/Jesus”. I also remember getting drunk and asking Wade if they could play any Van Halen songs(I stand by my request to this day)and he looked at me like I was nuts and said “We only play our usual set.” After the show when I was leaving and the party was over, Wade walked up to me and handed me this cassette tape with a flyer folded up into a cover and a tape with a label that said ..”Faith Healers Unreleased Demo 1)Are You Experienced? by Jimi Hendrix 2)Dying Breath by Faith Healers c89 …Faith Music …. TO: Jeff Jackson FROM: Faith Healers” They used to open every show with “Are you Experienced”. I felt like I was holding a piece of gold in my hands. I still have and listen to that very tape. I also have some awesome video of the band performing at three seperate venues on VHS. I wish I still had the T-Shirt they put out for a while that said “Don’t Fuck With God” on the front in huge white letters on a black shirt. Has to be in my top 5 favorite shirts of all time. I still have one shirt that is about to fall apart that I treat like treasure.

Luckily for me, the whole band and me got to be good friends over time and I even used to watch them practice(they practiced every day)after work. I even remember walking in one time a little bit late and Wade, Paul, and Brian were just sitting there. I asked what was going on and Wade said, we were waiting on you. Damn I love those guys for making me a part of a bad ass rock band. I would always get to hear the new songs before they played them live or put them out on a cassette. I’ve always loved music, but now I was immersed in it. Sometimes they would let me run the lights at practice when they were rehearsing a show. Once or twice I even ran the lights at a real show. Not only were these guys cool as hell to me but they were great friends as well. I even got to scream words into the microphone at a show once while they hammered out “Love & Demonic Psych” if I remember right. Wade and me became really good friends and hung out together quite a bit and a lot of good times and good memories were had to say the least.

Faith Healers were pre-internet. They promoted themselves relentlessly with hand bills, posters on every corner and word of mouth. At that time they were the best and most well known band in the area. I always thought they should of hit it big, they were original with original songs and all the members were very talented musicians. Wade was kinda like a white Hendrix but had a style all his own. He spoiled me with his playing cause ever since, no other guitar player can match his playing in my mind. Many times I expressed that to Wade that I thought they should be huge and I wished they could make it big, and he looked at me and said “As far as I’m concerned I have made it big, I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing.” He was like a promotion machine. Always making copies of some flyer for the next show, walking down Dickson Street with staple gun in hand hanging flyers all over town. Their shows were always sold out and always a spectacle for the eyes and an intense mind fuck for the ears. Wade used to make huge balls of fire with a little known stage trick that I won’t divulge right now, thats for another post. He eventually retired the cheerleading skirt in the live show. The band went through a couple line up changes, different drummers, all who were kick ass, and eventually Faith Healers were no more. Wade went on to form Dali Automatic with Brian and Dave if I remember right, and then did some other projects I can’t remember the name of right now( but will investigate). I am also curious where and what the other members went off to do after the band. I once heard that Dave was some bigwig at some computer firm or something in Little Rock. The net is a small world sometimes so hopefully this will reach them by some miracle and we can find out.

I have found out that Wade now works as a manager at a club in Fayetteville called JR’s Lightbulb Club and is in charge of booking all the bands that play there. I have emailed him and begged him for some Faith Healers “stuff” and if he sends me anything, with his permission , you can count on a few of their songs on the Song Filter here at MusicFilter.

I hope to find some links out there that have ANY info on Faith Healers. So if you know of any post em‘ here on MusicFilter so everyone can share a piece of this awesome band that influenced my entire musical outlook.