Please, forgive me for posting so much about Blaster the Rocket Man tonight.

But I hope you understand, it’s so hard to not to post so much about my favorite band in all the history of punk rock.

I sat down and listened to The Monster Who Ate Jesus tonight for about the hundredth time in my life. I have only come across two albums in my life that have had such an impact on my life. An impact in which, not only my perception of music changes, but also my perception of the world changes.

The first album I’ve heard that affected me in such a way is (as cliche as it’s going to sound) underOATH’s They’re Only Chasing Safety. I stumbled upon the album when my music taste was limited to pop punk music. Getting my hands on this underOATH album has probably been one of the most monumental moments in my life (after my salvation in Jesus Christ, of course). It was then that I was opened to the world of what to me seemed like an alternative Christianity. Before I thought the life of a Christian was to be reserved and, well, boring. But my introduction to underOATH, and the similar bands that followed, showed me that Christians didn’t have to lead a boring life, and they most certainly didn’t have to have a crappy taste in music.

Blaster the Rocket Man’s The Monster Who Ate Jesus has had just a substantial impact on my life as They’re Only Chasing Safety did. By this time, however, I have already found an interest in punk rock music, so it isn’t as though it introduced to me a whole new genre of music or anything, no. In fact, I was quite familiar with their song content already. Their album is heavily based on C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy, a series that I have read prior to the discovery of BTRM. It was because of the song, Ransom vs the Unman, that made me click on the video on Youtube; an act that I had no clue would change my life.

The months that followed, my computer was only used to track down all things Blaster, and to listen to every possible song that could be found. I even found Daniel “Otto Nobott” Peterson (BTRM’s vocalist) on Facebook. Since then, I have spoken to him many times, and believe it or not, he’s actually been a huge influence in pretty much everything (he has even given me advice on my amateur writing ventures in the genre of science fiction/horror).

Blaster the Rocket Man has taught me a great deal. Before, I would hide my interests in horror and science fiction before my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, simply because I have been shot down so many times for it. It’s BTRM that showed me how closely relatable science fiction, horror, and Christianity actually is. Because of The Monster That Ate Jesus, I have become much stronger in my faith, and I embrace it in every part of my life now. I no longer leave my Christian faith laying on the floor while I put in a horror/scifi movie, I now embrace it and see things through the eyes of a believer. Once you do this, your mind begins to open, and such things within the genre have a whole new and deeper meaning.