Chagall Guevara

At the dawn of the 1990s, Chagall Guevara was the secular college rock project of singer/songwriter Steve Taylor, a contemporary Christian musician who alienated many of his fans with his satirical proclivities. Chagall Guevara released one album -- an eponymous effort helmed by Matt Wallace, a producer who earned attention for his work with Faith No More and the Replacements -- on MCA in 1991 before splitting the following year. Shortly after recording his 1987 album, The Innocence, New York City native Dave Perkins teamed up with Taylor, then a contemporary Christian musician on the rise. Perkins produced Taylor's I Predict 1990, an album that rankled his core Christian audience thanks to such controversial songs as "I Blew Up the Clinic Real Good." Taylor decided the time was ripe to pursue a secular career, so he and Perkins formed Chagall Guevara, a secular band who nevertheless dipped their toe into the CCM circuit to promote themselves. Taylor and Perkins recruited other restless CCM musicians -- guitarist Lynn Nichols, bassist Wade Jaynes, and drummer Mike Mead -- to round out the lineup. They recorded their 1991 debut with Matt Wallace, and while MCA put some promotional muscle behind it, the record failed to break into the mainstream. Shortly afterward, MCA restructured and dropped the group, and the band split. They reunited in 2020 and released The Last Amen, a recording of a 1991 concert, in 2021. Halcyon Days, consisting of previously unreleased studio material and three newly recorded songs, followed in 2022 and the band played their first live show in 30 years to support it.
© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo