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For Today is almost over. After releasing its debut album in 2008 (Ekklesia<\/span>, on Facedown Records), they quickly commanded attention and won the hearts of metalheads, hardcore and punk fans with their powerful, bombastic and ferociously fast-moving sound. Both lovers of Christ and the non-religious flocked to their shows for the intensity on display. Like the flame they chanted about in \u201cSeraphim\u201d (from the Breaker <\/span>album), this bold, brazen and unapologetic outfit was real, raw and in-your-face, but with a unassuming humility that spoke volumes without having to elaborate.<\/p>\n \n Fronted by lion-maned screamer named Mattie Montgomery, For Today was carrying the torch that bands like Barren Cross and Vengeance Rising lit in the metal and thrash world decades ago. Bands like Focused and Unashamed carried this torch under the common moniker Spirit-filled hardcore. Both the song lyrics and the proclamations made from the stage in a live setting were bold, biblical and passionately heartfelt. The sonic wall of power emanating from the speakers carried in it a muscular brand of hardcore\/metal that was undeniable, played skillfully and simply mind-blowing.<\/p>\n \n It\u2019s no surprise that For Today became a favorite in the hard music scene over much of the past decade. It was perhaps a shock to their many fans when they announced that 2015\u2019s Wake <\/span>album would be its last and that they would follow-up in 2016 with an ongoing goodbye on the band\u2019s farewell tour.<\/p>\n \n Once the final tour dates were announced and Austin, Texas, was spotted therein, it was easy to make this stop a mandatory event to attend. It was here that I met up with frontman Mattie Montgomery prior to the show in the alleyway behind 6th Street\u2019s Dirty Dog Bar for the following interview.<\/p>\n \n \n \n How did you know that this was the end of For Today?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis one was different for me. I\u2019ve had things in life where it\u2019s just kind of like, where God kind of makes it the only option, ya know? Like proposing to Candice, my wife, for example.<\/p>\n \n \u201cI was walking through the mall one day and the guy from Zale\u2019s Jeweler comes out and goes, \u2018You\u2019re Mattie from For Today, right?\u2019<\/p>\n \n \u201c\u2018Yeah, man. What\u2019s up?\u2019 And we started talking. I make the comment that I\u2019m going to be buying a ring here pretty soon and he freaks out and goes, \u2018Dude! Let me help you.\u2019 He wants to give me an employee discount and gives me all these markdowns for this ring and the ring winds up coming to the exact total of the amount of money I had in my pocket at that moment. That was also the exact amount of money I had to my name at that moment, too.<\/p>\n \n \u201cAt times like that, it\u2019s like, \u2018Okay, I get the message.\u2019 With this one it wasn\u2019t really such an overt thing. A couple of tours ago we were in the middle of it and it just felt different \u2013 not bad, just different. I was talking to my wife about it maybe a couple of weeks into the tour. I said, \u2018You know, it just doesn\u2019t feel important anymore.\u2019 There was a time when we walked on stage convinced that this was \u2018life or death, heaven or hell for the people in the crowd \u2026 and this is the moment that things change.\u2019 But at this point I remember saying, \u2018Okay, we\u2019re going to go play the songs and then go get some food.\u2019<\/p>\n \n \u201cThat could have been one of two things: one is that God is moving my heart away from this; and two is that I had gotten distracted and needed to bring my heart back to God and say, \u2018Correct me and bring me back to where my heart burns for this the way that Your heart does.\u2019 So I just spent the next couple of weeks praying and seeking counsel from people in my life, saying, \u2018This is kind of how I\u2019m feeling and I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s that I need to repent the way that I\u2019m approaching this and my attitude\u2026\u2019 It\u2019s not that I had a bad attitude. It\u2019s just didn\u2019t feel important. The more I prayed about it, the more it just felt like \u2026 not like God was saying, \u2018Mattie, you have to leave the band. Get out now. There\u2019s something wrong.\u2019 But the sense that I got from God \u2013 and this is the best way that I can describe it \u2013 it felt like He just sort of sat back and said, \u2018Okay. Well done.\u2019 And that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n \n \u201cAs I was thinking, \u2018God, I just don\u2019t want to miss out on what you have for this band in the future, that there wasn\u2019t\u2026 I don\u2019t know what that is. I\u2019d always sort of had stuff that I had in my heart \u2013 songs I wanted to write, tours I wanted to do or messages I wanted to convey or whatever. And this time, as I was praying, it just felt like I didn\u2019t have a vision for the future anymore. I just really had this sense from God, like He was saying, \u2018Okay. That\u2019s it. Good job. You did what I sent you to do.\u2019<\/p>\n \n \u201cNow, I could have stayed in For Today, because it\u2019s a job and played a whole bunch more shows and done a whole bunch more tours and probably cranked out a few more albums and maybe made money doing it, until I got to the point where I had to leave the band, like nobody cares about us anymore, we can\u2019t afford to keep touring or I don\u2019t get along with the rest of the guys and we can\u2019t stand to be around each other enough for a whole tour or whatever\u2026 I just felt like there was just this satisfaction in the heart of the Father. \u2018Okay, that\u2019s it. That\u2019s what I sent you to do.\u2019<\/p>\n \n \u201cI wanted to step out now, so that we could do it with grace and be able to enjoy the last show and enjoy the last tour and enjoy this closing season. Because people are still coming to our shows. I think tonight\u2019s sold out or close to it already. The farewell tour is going awesome and I think it is going to continue to go awesome. And we all still love each other a lot. I think it will be a really cool thing to end on a high note \u2013 to end it well.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \n \n While it may sound trivial to those who don\u2019t know this band and how profound their impact is on a worldwide scene, this is a historical moment and it\u2019s going down with grace, humility and simple obedience. Not many bands have gone out on a high note. I\u2019m reminded of Jim Brown and Barry Sanders \u2013 two NFL running backs that retired from playing the game of football while still in their prime. Seattle metal band Bloodgood had a similar ending back in 1993, calling it quits after sensing that they had crossed the finished line of the race that God had set before them. They heard the comforting words, \u201cWell done,\u201d and let it rest, also being able to say goodbye to their fans on the All Stand Together Tour<\/span>. (This was chronicled in the Heaven\u2019s Metal Video Magazine, Volume 3<\/span>, by the way).<\/p>\n \n \n \n While looking at the end of the band, I asked Mattie to look back and point out a few highlights in the long life of this band.<\/p>\n \n \u201cTo be honest, it\u2019s felt like every day has been a miracle or a highlight. I felt like this whole decade has been like a dream come true, ya know?<\/p>\n \n \u201cThis might sound a little bit weird, but I think one of my favorite moments was the day that all of our band\u2019s equipment got stolen. We lost probably $200,000 that day. It got stolen in San Antonio and we were supposed to play in Houston the next day.<\/p>\n \n \u201cWe all kind of sat around and we go, \u2018Well, we still know how to play the music. We could make it to Houston,\u2019 so we just rented some cars and let the police do their job in San Antonio and we drove over. We were headlining the House of Blues in Houston and we go in with no merch to sell and no drumset. We had to borrow guitar picks and drum sticks. Most of us didn\u2019t even have clothes to wear on stage. It was kind of an awkward thing. We have this whole light rig and backdrops, fog and a soundboard that we brought with us and it was all gone.<\/p>\n \n \u201cWe just played the show. We had nothing but the music inside us and the message that we carry. And it was just such a powerful show. 1,200 people came out that day and sang every word with us. It was such a really powerful moment, I think, in our time as a band to realize that it never was about lights, a backdrop and sound quality and stuff like this. It\u2019s not about looking cool, because we didn\u2019t look cool that day. It was about connecting with people on a real level and no amount of money lost or gear stolen can take that away. That\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n \n What\u2019s amazing about this story of loss to gain and devastation to thanksgiving was how the crime of the stolen gear worked out. The next day the band got a Facebook message from a kid saying, \u201cHey, if I know where your stuff is, do I get some kind of reward or something?\u201d The band\u2019s manager politely said, \u201cYeah, your reward is not going to jail.\u201d<\/p>\n \n This kid woke up to see his dad and uncle unloading this gear that said For Today on it. He was a fan of the band, so he reached out on Facebook. The band then sent two of their guys back to San Antonio, who contacted the police and the detective on that case and told them: \u201cWe\u2019ve got the address, so we\u2019re going to go over there if you don\u2019t do anything about it.\u201d The police told them that they had that address on file and warned them not to go over there. They were told to stay close by, hang tight and they\u2019d send someone over there.<\/p>\n \n They drove over and parked about 100 yards away from the house and they sat and watched. They soon saw people start to come out of the house and look at the car. A guy in the house comes out, looks around and then opens the trunk of a car and grabs a pair of binoculars and whips around real fast and looks at them. So they started driving around the neighborhood to try and not look conspicuous. As they were driving around, hoping to not get killed, they went by the house again and there was a bunch of cop cars (5-6) a couple SUVs, the SWAT vehicles and a helicopter that was flying around the house. Turns out it was a drug ring that was being funded by the cartels in Mexico. They found multiple weapons, bricks of cocaine and some of the band\u2019s gear. This raid helped put them away.<\/p>\n \n Talk about a dramatic highlight! Any others?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI met my wife at a show. That wasn\u2019t a (gasp) \u2018I\u2019m going to marry this girl! This is a highlight of my life,\u2019 but I did meet her at a show.\u201d<\/p>\n \n How\u2019d that go?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe were in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and we drove overnight to a city called McCalla, just outside of Birmingham, Alabama, and we got in at maybe 9 or 10 in the morning. Everybody else went inside and went back to sleep for a bit and I stayed up and was just kind of walking around outside. I found a ring on the ground. I thought it was kind of beautiful. It wasn\u2019t super nice, but I felt bad about just throwing it back into the parking lot, so I picked it up and stuck it in my pocket. I kind of forgot about it. Then, maybe 10, 12 hours later at the end of the night, we\u2019d done sound check, we\u2019d played our show, we\u2019d gone out to dinner and at the very end of the night I was standing there, talking to our merch guy and I stuck my hand in my pocket and felt that ring and I thought, \u2018Okay, I\u2019ve got to figure something out \u2013 figure out what I\u2019m going to do with this,\u2019 so I just handed it to the first person I saw, which was this random girl from the show, who was walking up to buy some merch. She stuck it on her ring finger and it fit perfectly and we all laughed about how we were supposed to get married. And that is how I met my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n \n What about special moments in the studio or songwriting?<\/span> \n \u201cRecording Breaker<\/span>, however, felt like a different experience for us. I don\u2019t really know in what way, but I remember feeling in the studio, like, \u2018This is important.\u2019 And that album was a real breakthrough for us, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n \n It\u2019s my favorite.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOh, thank you! That was a real special time, but I don\u2019t think I can explain how.\u201d<\/p>\n \n What does the future hold? What\u2019s next?<\/span> \n \n \n Mattie has just released a book, called Lovely Things in Ugly Places<\/span>.<\/p>\n \n \u201cThe book is equal parts wild victories and disappointments. One of the stories I share early on in the book is about a guy named Sam in Waco, Texas. I shared the Gospel with him and his two friends and at the end of the conversation I asked him and his two friends if I could pray for them. His two friends said, \u2018Yeah,\u2019 enthusiastically. And Sam sort of smirked and said, \u2018I\u2019m my own god. I don\u2019t need that.\u2019 I got a call a day or two later from the promoter of that show, looking for my wife. He said that those three kids had gotten in a car accident on the way home from that show and the two people that we had prayed for were okay. They\u2019d been to the hospital, but were home now. But the guy that had told me that he was his own god had been thrown from the car and killed. They left that conversation in the parking lot and went straight to their car and he died 15 minutes later, before he got home.<\/p>\n \n \u201cThat\u2019s a story that I explore in the book. The lesson that I take away from it more than anything is just the urgency of the Gospel and the mercy of God. It\u2019s incredible mercy, knowing that Sam\u2019s time on earth was short and he made sure that the last person Sam had a real conversation with was somebody that was sharing the Gospel with him and inviting him to place his faith and his trust in Christ. I think that God is really good for that and I also think that has really reminded me how desperately the Gospel is needed and how really desperately Gospel preachers are needed. Because there\u2019s a lot of people in the world like Sam that don\u2019t have a lot of time to sit around and considering that decision. I think it\u2019s important for people to be willing to share the Gospel with them. God\u2019s broken my heart and blessed my heart and touched my heart in many ways in the last ten years, but that\u2019s one of the ones early on that really has stuck with me for a long time and really changed and challenged the way I view God and people and ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Before I go, I can\u2019t help asking again why this band has chosen to go the mainstream route of clubs and bars rather than churches and youth groups. How’d that work out for you?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not the healthy that need a physician, but the sick. To be honest, it is way easier for me to preach the Gospel to a room full of drunk atheists than a room full of lukewarm Christians. The people in this scene, that have come to this hardcore metal subculture, they don\u2019t pretend like they\u2019re okay. They wear their brokenness on their sleeve. They carry their sin on the outside. God respects people who are openly cold than people that are pretending to be something they are not. We\u2019ve come here to this scene, because this is where the Gospel is needed. We could have come to the Christian youth group scene. I know that we are called to seek and save the lost, so that is what we want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \n I tell you what. God knows what He is doing and I\u2019m sure he\u2019s going to use the guys in For Today for many years to come, should He tarry, but this music scene is going to miss having this band around.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For Today is almost over. After releasing its debut album in 2008 (Ekklesia, on Facedown…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1021],"tags":[982,349,820,981,980,24,141,983,984,985],"class_list":["post-3596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features-d97","tag-brian-mccain-photography","tag-facedown-records","tag-for-today","tag-lovely-things-in-ugly-places","tag-mattie-montgomery","tag-metal","tag-modern-metal","tag-nuclear-blast","tag-razor-amp-tie","tag-spirit-filled-hardcore"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/heavensmetalmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ddaf77_4e379afdb6644ec6a837f262e2cb768e-mv2_d_1894_1604_s_2-7.jpg\")
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\n\u201cRecording sucks, really. It\u2019s not like, \u2018Wow! This is really beautiful! Look at the way it\u2019s coming together!\u2019 It\u2019s more like, \u2018That\u2019s pretty cool. Is there anything we can do better? I don\u2019t know, the take\u2019s not that good. Maybe let\u2019s do the take again. The mix is not that good. Wait a minute.\u2019 When it\u2019s over, it\u2019s like, \u2018Fine! It\u2019s done! Thank God! Let\u2019s move on.\u2019 It\u2019s such a tedious process.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYour guess is as good as mine. Most importantly, I\u2019m going to spend more time with my family. A couple of weeks ago it was my son\u2019s fifth birthday and, instead of being with him that day, I was at a concert in Pennsylvania. That sucks. I don\u2019t like that. So that\u2019s, I think, the first priority. Beyond that, I just started a company with a couple of guys that I\u2019ve been pastoring with for a while, which is pretty cool. It\u2019s doing really well so far. It\u2019s given me a cool opportunity to, instead of just seeing them on Sundays or Wednesdays or talking to them on the phone once or twice a week, I can spend time with them from 9 to 5 every day in this business environment and not only teach them kingdom principles, but give them a platform to be able to apply these kingdom principles that we learn. That business is going pretty well. I think I\u2019ll probably still preach a little bit. I\u2019ve been turning down about 90% of the invitations I get to preach at churches and conferences and things. It\u2019ll be nice to not have to do that and go and speak and serve the body of Christ in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/heavensmetalmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/ddaf77_adfca2e3660644709525c669f04d16c2-mv2_d_1600_2133_s_2-5.jpg\")
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