Power Pop / Punk Rock / New Wave / Alternative Rock
Fullerton, California, USA

Undercover is an American Christian punk band based in Fullerton, California, formed in the early 1980s by Joey "Ojo" Taylor and James “Gym” Nicholson. Through more than two decades and a few lineup changes, the band released eight studio albums and two live albums, and were pioneers in what would later be called Alternative music in the Christian world. The band was known for the spiritual growth shown in their music as their career progressed; CCM Magazine once called them “the band that grew up in public.”

Undercover started as a second-generation Jesus movement based band, associated with Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and its Maranatha! Music record label.

Undercover (and The Lifesavers) formed out of members that came from two earlier bands, J.C. Rose and Boaz. Both bands started in 1978. They were described by John J. Thompson as “edgier than Larry Norman and Love Song.” Jim Nicholson and Joe Taylor had been best friends since high school and were member of J.C. Rose and Boaz. Chris Wimber was in Boaz before forming The Lifesavors. Both J.C. Rose and Boaz had line-ups that were changing and intermixing. By 1979, J.C. Rose was Jim Nicolson, Joe Taylor, and Dave Hackbarth while Boaz was Chris Wimber, Danny Pavlis, Ray Hersom and Ric Alba (among a few others). J.C. Rose was also noted as having a demo tape, but it is unknown if Boaz ever recorded.

Gary Wilson tells what he remembers of J.C. Rose in the book God's Not Dead (And Neither Are We). As of 1979, Jim Nicolson and Joe Taylor were both in the band, and they had a tape that Wilson liked. They were eventually able to convinced Wilson to join on drums. About 4-6 weeks after he joined, the band split up.

Jim Nicolson, Joe Taylor, Danny Pavlis (drums), and Ric Alba (bass) started Undercover. Undercover started rehearsing in a greenhouse owned by Danny's parents. Chris Wimber and Ray Hersom formed The Lifesavors.

Ric Alba had this to say about the two bands:

“I played keys in Boaz starting in 1978. I met them when my drummer-since-childhood Frank Pipitone auditioned and joined J.C. Rose. Frank and I had 'got saved' at a hippie bible study group at the home of Ross Mann, and we had a hippy folk trio with Ross that broke up when Frank joined J.C. Rose. Ojo had a friend, Chris Wimber, with a band that needed a singer and keyboard player, so Ross and I joined up and there was Boaz.

“Chris' dad being John Wimber, we found ourselves opening for Lonnie Frisbee a number of times. Then we got some local notoriety for going, (gasp) “New Wave” when I wrote the song, “Francine” in 1979. This was the only Boaz song to outlive the big switcheroo of personnel when J.C. Rose and Boaz became Undercover and The Lifesavors.

“I had secretly idolized Taylor and Nicholson for their prog-rock abilities, as I was becoming a huge fan of Yes and Chris Squire at the time. I would have muscled my way into a band with them sooner but J.C. Rose's bassist, Jerry Davis, had become a good friend of mine and I respected that. Jerry became John's bassist for the Vineyard worship team, which lasted many years after that.”

After a couple of months of practice, Undercover had their first concert along with The Lifesavors (also their first concert) and another group, The Chosen Ones (which consisted of Chris Pavlis (Danny's brother) and Brian Doidge (who would later join The Lifesavors)). The concert was at a roller skating rink in Yorba Linda sometime late in 1980. In early 1981 after many more concerts, both Undercover and The Lifesavors caught the attention of The Ministry Resource Center (MRC) and were invited to do custom albums. Undercover recorded at a warehouse and live at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.

When Undercover released its first album in 1982, it was described by some as “Christian punk,” characterized by high-energy anthems, rebellious themes, and short, three-chord songs. Mohawk hairstyles, tattoos, and torn jeans did little to convince people otherwise; nor did the next few albums, which contained punk versions of traditional hymns (“Holy Holy Holy”), shouted vocals (“God Rules”), and simplistic, direct lyrics (“Jesus is the Best”). The CCM Magazine review of their God Rules album claimed the band was New Wave rather than punk, as “the anarchy of punk is 180 degrees opposite of these boys.”

After the first album, Alba, Hersom, and Paylis all left the band. Alba joined The Altar Boys. Hersom left The Lifesavors before they recorded their first album and joined Undercover after their first one was recorded… but before the photo session, so he never actually played on Undercover (hence the “After Tracks” credit on the original cover). Hersom also left before God Rules was recorded. Gary Olsen joined on drums, while Taylor filled in the bottom end with keyboard-bass.

“God Rules,” the title track of the second album, is the song that set apart Undercover in the Christian music scene from the rest of the “beginning” bands. With the God Rules album, the band signed with A&S Records, which brought wider national distribution. They started traveling and playing more outside of Southern California.

1986's Branded took Undercover in a different direction with keyboard-laden melodies and darker, more introspective lyrics. In “Pilate”, sung from the point of view of Pontius Pilate, the persona struggles with the guilt of having crucified Jesus, confessing, “I killed him, I killed him after all.” Other song titles on this album were “Cry Myself to Sleep” and “Darkest Hour.”

After the release of Branded, the label it was on (Blue Collar Records) went under due to the distributor not paying the label the money it was owed. The band had grown tired of the CCM scene, so they recorded a demo of songs without overt spiritual content to shop to major record labels. They started selling the demo and it became known as the You & I EP.

In 1987, the band played what they saw as their last concert and called it a day. The live show was recorded and released as 3-28-87 Live. Two songs from the You & I EP were played at the concert. Joey “Ojo” Taylor recorded and released a solo album as Ojo called Relative in 1988. Gym Nicholson and Sim Wilson formed a band called Boys Club. Broken Records released their first 4 albums on cassette as Volume 1 and Volume 2. Former lead singer Bill Walden joined with members of Malcolm and the Mirrors to form The Mirrors and released as album called I am Not Afraid in 1990.

The break up of the band proved to be short-lived, as they reunited to record and release Balance of Power in 1990. This album also went in a dark gothic alternative rock direction. They continued changing to various alternative rock styles on their next three albums.

On their alternative rock releases, the band would continue to explore aspects of Christian life not frequently addressed by the CCM musicians who were finding increasing acceptance on secular airwaves and with secular audiences. The next several albums each differed slightly in musical tone from the others, but the introspective lyrics would be a constant through the rest of the band's career.

While the band has seen several members come and go (and come again), Taylor has said on more than one occasion that the band decided sometime after 1994's Forum that “Undercover is Ojo, Gym, Sim, and Gary,” emphasizing that any other lineup, if any, would in the future be called something else.

Undercover played two reunion shows in California in August 2005. In a message posted on the band's forum that month, Taylor wrote, “We are internally, as a band, trying to figure out where to go from here and what that might look like, given our life realities and burning desire to fulfill whatever musical calling we might have, too. We appreciate your prayers.”

1982 Ministry Resource Center (MRC010A)

Bill Walden - Lead vocals, alto sax
Jim “Nuclear” Nicholson - All guitars, vocals
Ray Hersom - Rhythm guitar “After Tracks”
Rick Alba - Bass guitar, vocals
Joey Taylor - Organs, piano, synthesizer, Casiotone, vocals
Danny Paylis - Drums, kinding, vocals

Benjamin Taylor - Giggles
Chris Pavlis - Additional musician
Dave Hackbarth - Additional musician

1. Excuse Us (2:45)
2. Heal Me (2:15)
3. I'll Be a Fool (1:15)
4. Francine (2:45)
5. It's Official (2:20)
6. Turn Your Head (2:45)
7. Look It Up (2:40)
8. Read It in a Letter (2:05)
9. Daddy-O (1:15)
10. Tonight (1:47)
11. Stop (2:50)
12. He's in Love With You (2:45)
13. I.C.U. (2:40)
14. He Gives We Have (2:25)

1. Dying in Love (4:28)

1983 A&S Records (A&S0005)

Bill Walden - Lead vocals, tenor sax
Gym Nicholson - Guitar, BGVs
Joey Taylor - Keyboards, synthesizer-bass, BGV, lead vocals on “God Rules” and “Wait a Minute”
Gary Olsen - Drums, BGVs

Debbie Waldon - Alto saxophone on “New Creation”
Chris Brigandi - Backing vocals on “He Takes Care of Me” and “Jesus for Me”
Mark Krischak - Backing vocals on “He Takes Care of Me” and “Jesus for Me”

1. New Creation (2:40)
2. Closer to You (3:03)
3. He Takes Care of Me (3:00)
4. I Still Want You (2:16)
5. I Never Knew (2:28)
6. Jesus Girl (2:10)
7. His Love (1:59)
8. Jesus for Me (1:38)
9. Jesus is the Best (1:49)
10. I am the Resurrection (2:26)
11. God Rules (1:01)
12. Wait a Minute (1:57)
13. I Love God (4:04)

(…to be continued…)