John Schlitt (left) and Bob Hartman

The last decade hasn't exactly been the most prolific period of Petra's career, but don't label these enduring Christian rockers "dinosaurs" just yet. With a few praise projects and greatest hits packages behind them, along with some studio albums that didn't hold up its rollicking tradition, Petra is back and louder than ever with Jekyll and Hyde (Inpop). Bob Hartman, the group's primary songwriter and lead guitarist, spent much of the '90s on semi-hiatus from the band, but returned in full force for Jekyll and Hyde. Hartman and longtime lead singer John Schlitt recently shared their visions for the band.

Bob, you spent most of the '90s off the road, just working with the band in the studio. Why?

Bob Hartman: I left the road for a few reasons, mainly because my son needed me at home. My wife and I began to homeschool him. We did that for about four years before we started transitioning him into a Christian school. Now he's 15 and he's going to a Christian school, and he's turning out great. So the door is open for me to play with the band again. I brought it up to John and he was excited about the idea.

John, what's it like to be reunited on the road with your musical soul mate?

John Schlitt: It's just very very cool. It seemed like we were going through personnel changes every year, and the idea of trying to find another guitar player was really scary to me. I thought, Exactly why was I going through this again? And, Who could I get to play just like Bob? We were sitting there and Bob goes, "Hey I don't mean to put another wrench in your life here, but what would you think about me joining the band again?" I looked at him and was like, "Yeah, we want you in."

You've endured so much over the years and have come out like a rock, no pun intended. How have you hung in the game for so long?

Schlitt: It's only though wisdom. I think it's because we've put ministry first. It's not because of the band. If it was because of the band, we would have changed off and on every other year. We'd like to get even busier. With all the changes we've gone through, it's really a miracle that we're even in the public eye at all. I'm pretty blessed by it.

How has the musical climate changed over the last 10 years?

Hartman: I'm just finding out all over again what's been going on. When I was not on the road, there were all kinds of groups and artists that I was missing and never heard of, so now I'm trying to catch up. It's been pretty overwhelming because there's been so many artists coming out now. I think one of the big changes is that it's hard to keep track of so many. There's a lot of great things happening with Christian music, but it's also very different from what it was, say, 10 years ago. I see it evolving, and from what I hear from people, some of that's good and some is not. We just hope we can still be appreciated for what we do and have a lot of fun doing it. It's been great for me to come back out on the road and play. I've had a ball. We're just having fun and doing something we believe in and something we love.

You've gone through several style changes, especially in the last few years. Now that you're a few years removed from the praise-focused Revival record, how does that fit into your career?

Hartman: Revival was definitely what we would consider to be a specialty album. It was a praise-and-worship album of songs being sung all over the world in praise-and-worship settings. There's always problems when you do a "specialty" album. For instance, before Revival we did Double Take, the last album on our Word contract. We took some of our old songs and re-did them more acoustically. Well, people didn't understand that was a "specialty" album and they labeled us as going in that direction. That is hard to overcome, but I feel like now we're doing what we do.

Jekyll and Hyde sure does rock hard.

Schlitt: That's what Petra does. It's what we naturally do, even with Revival, God Fixation [the last studio album of all original material], and Double Take. When you saw us live on those tours, there was rock happening. Petra to me has always been an exciting music forum live. Our last four or five records haven't showed it as much and it hurt us, so we're really overcoming a lot of preconceived ideas that "they're not what they used to be." Oh yeah we are! And the fans have been right there with us, convincing the record label "We want Petra the way Petra's supposed to be!"

Aside from fan support, what else made the label so supportive of this project?

Schlitt: When the record company started hearing Bob's normal writing and our normal demos, they started going, "Well, maybe this is okay," and they jumped on board. It didn't hurt that [Newsboys leader] Peter [Furler] said, "You know, I'd like to produce this." And that combination of his fresh ideas and our normal sound was a one-two punch. Again, a lot of people said, "Ah, they're back." And recording-wise, yeah we're back to what we call a record. Like Bob said, we've had about two or three specialty records in a row—well, that covers about six or seven years. That's a whole generation basically, so we've got to be rediscovered by everybody all over again. It's been a strange time for us, but also one of the most exciting times.

For more about Petra and their musical legacy, visit our artist page for the band, where you'll also find reviews of their albums, including Jekyll & Hyde. Visit Christianbook.com to listen to sound clips and buy their music.

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