"My main source of inspiration is the Bible," says David Eugene Edwards frontman of the American rockband Sixteen Horsepower. On their new CD Low Estate the young man from Denver refers to the Old Testament in abundance, but he also lets the devilish influence of The Gun Club and Nick Cave resound. The struggle between good and evil, between God and the devil; it's a recurring theme in Sixteen Horsepower's lyrics. And evil includes everything that involves electronics and technology: "Electronics do more harm to man than good."

"Plastics, television: what use are they to us? Why do we take the train when we can also travel by foot or on horseback?" David Eugene Edwards has problems with modern society in general and technological progress in particular. However, trains and planes allow him to travel swiftly from one concert to the next, and that's darn handy when you're on tour with your band? Or isn't it?

"Well, I happen to live in a world that isn't how it should be. That means I can't always do what I would want to do. And therefore I have to make compromises. I don't find anything wrong with opposing airplanes, and using them in the meantime. I know: if I would have had the choice, I would not use them."

Well, strange morals if you ask us. Because if he wants to, Edwards can just stay at home. Nobody forces him to play at Torhout/Werchter or Pukkelpop (Belgian festivals). Nobody forces him to make - high-tech - CD's. We think. "I am obliged to do so," Edwards corrects. "Music is a gift handed to me by God. And I see it as my duty to pass that music on to other people. That's why I signed a contract with a record-label, that's why I tour. I give. Not in order to receive, but because I want to give, because I have to give. And God will reward me for that. When you're acting out of self-interest, if you make music in an attempt to gather riches, God will not reward you. You will be rewarded by society, with money and prestige, but that's not what I'm after."

Westerns
Sixteen Horsepower plays rockmusic and not gospel, because of the fact that Edwards doesn't only love God, but westerns too, as well as old folkmusic and The Gun Club. And those who listen closely to Low Estate and their previous album Sackcloth 'N' Ashes, also recognises romance à la Leonard Cohen. "I'm a very romantic person," according to Edwards. "I love days long gone. Old movies, old music. Old instruments too, things that have a full life behind them and therefore show more character than modern stuff. I'm just not a romantic in the popular meaning of the word. Which my wife deeply regrets." Edwards inherited his faith from his grandfather, a priest in the Nazarene church, a particularly conservative and strict branch of Protestantism. "According to him women are not allowed to wear pants," Edwards says. "I don't want to go that far." If we ask his opinion on abortion, he replies diplomatically: he understands why women have an abortion, but he would like that they have no reason to do so.

The Bible
"I'm constantly looking for God. By that I don't mean that He hides from me. By that I mean: He's in all things. Everything I do, or don't do, or what others do...I compare that to what it says in the Bible. Because I know that the truth is in there." Well, it is something different then getting your inspiration from the pop-encyclopedia, of course. Recently we saw Sixteen Horsepower perform at the Torhout/Werchter festival and Pukkelpop, we heard David Eugene Edwards say "thank you for clapping" dryly and we thought, what a quirky fellow.

The wrong impression, so it seems. "When I'm on stage, I have to concentrate deeply. I'm not the world's most talented guitar-player you see, and I have to be careful not to make mistakes. Moreover I have to sing too, which makes it even harder. When I thank the audience, I'm not being cynical in any way. I'm sincerely surprised when people appreciate our music."

Sixteen Horsepower plays at the Gent Vooruit on October 24th.