LOCAL LIMELIGHT
He might be a committed atheist, but Jeff Meyers Jr. makes an excellent minister.
An ordained reverend in the state of Ohio (no, he is not free to officiate your wedding), Meyers has put most of his irreligious fervor into rock band Good Reverend.
He wears a collar, makes clerical puns and decries religion as an excuse for behavior.
Meyers has yet to encounter angry hordes of churchgoers. And if the time comes, his homily involves loud guitar solos and frequent swearing.
“It makes the Karens of suburbia a little nervous, which is fine with me,” said Meyers, formerly of the band the Weight of Whales.
Despite the tonguein-cheek attitude, the guitarist and lead singer credits Good Reverend with allowing him to process an abusive relationship and an ensuing diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Good Reverend’s songs, like his Jeff Meyers Jr. of the band Good Reverend
recovery period, jump from brash and jittery to mellow and melancholy.
He and his band — Lorenzo Doyle (guitar), Dan Sherwood (drums) and Jason Winner (bass) — will playthrough their debut EP, “Bonehoney,” tonight during a house show. (Find the details on Facebook.)
Meyers, 29, spoke in advance of the show.
Q: Why the Christian theme?
A: You get a lot of people, be it religious figures or political figures, that use religion as a shield to get away with a lot of horrible things. With ... megachurch stars siphoning money off of people who are donating, that really gets to me. The “good reverend” idea was to create some sort of outside costume around the band as a tongue-in-cheek jab to say we’re called Good Reverend because it’s hard to find good reverends nowadays.
Q: Why switch from a solo project to a band?
A: I don’t really enjoy playing music by myself. For the past two years, I’ve been making myself go to the Shrunken Head and trying new stuff at the open mic, but the real cash-out for me is playing with my friends. That’s the feeling you keep pining for, just being able to play this music with people you’re close to, especially when the music
represents certain types of vulnerability.
What do you talk about on “Bonehoney”?
A lot of it has to do with dealing with PTSD from a couple years ago. A lot of it is the conversation I'm having with myself when I wasn't on any sort of medication. There were these extremes of talking myself up and talking myself down. That was wildly tiring. Once I got around to telling myself I should talk to somebody and maybe try medication, it was one of the best things I did.