In the New Testament, when Jesus said, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,” it’s likely that rock ’n’ roll wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.

At the quiet corner of Wardlaw Avenue and Nassau Street North sits Crescent Fort Rouge United Church (CFR). The 100-year-old facility is one of many churches founded in Osborne Village around the turn of the century, yet it’s decades ahead of the rest – at least musically.

It all began three years ago when Jesse Hill, vocalist/guitarist for Winnipeg-based rock band Right Through, found himself frustrated by finding available all-ages venues to play at with his fellow high school-aged band members.

As luck would have it, Hill ran into Bill Gillis, a rock fan and member of CFR, at a few house shows. Hill eventually inquired about the possibility of his band playing at the church. Gillis told Hill that he would have to write a pitch to the church committee to get a show approved, which Gillis would present to them.

In a surprise to both Hill and Gillis, the church embraced the idea with open arms.

“I was really not prepared for them being so totally OK with it,” Gillis explained. “There was no question. It was, ‘Well of course, why wouldn’t we?’”

CFR is already a staple of the Osborne arts community, hosting classical music recitals, theatre and choir performances, while strongly stressing investment in the arts as a part of their mission statement. This new program that Gillis has spearheaded has helped over 130 bands spanning the folk, indie, rock, punk and even metal genres play shows in the main sanctuary, basement and the upper hall.

“It’s something that had been needed because there’s fewer all-ages venues and I think we need a lot more of them,” Gillis said.

The program’s popularity has snowballed since Gillis first started it a few short years ago.

“There’s way more requests than we can possibly handle,” he said.

Hill agrees that the church fulfills a need, adding that as he was writing his proposal to open up CFR as a venue, he framed it in the context that it would be good for the community and that “the idea of a permanent venue was there.”

“CFR’s great and everybody should know about it,” he said.

Exactly what Winnipeg needed

A similar story to Hill’s is that of Grand Master, a local Winnipeg progressive/heavy metal band.

“CFR is exactly what Winnipeg needed, a space devoted to opening their doors to young musicians,” said 17-year-old guitarist/backing vocalist Shane Barron.

When CFR became a venue option, Barron said, Grand Master “began playing more often, and it was really a turning point for the band.”

That said, some are understandably weary about a church hosting rock shows, Grand Master included.

“At first we were sceptical about having a metal show in a church, but any concerns we had going into the show were soon gone,” said Barron.

“Nobody really said this, but there was kinda the idea of, ‘Are (the Christians) trying to get us in there and then get our scalps?’” Gillis added wryly.

When a band rents CFR, there isn’t a sermon to open the show or a priest to bless you, and above all, nothing is pressured on you. It’s simply a venue, a place to display something, and many Manitoba musicians are showing off their chops in this century-old building in a way almost unimagined before – with rock ‘n’ roll.

“Most of the people in the church ... are aware of (shows) going on, that it’s happening,” said Gillis when asked what CFR’s congregation thinks of the whole project.

“Most of those who know, know that it’s loud music and that it’s not anything they want to hear. If they were to walk into one of the shows, whatever the genre, they would be surprised and taken aback a little. But at the same time, there’s the trust level there that this is a good thing to do.”

It all comes back to the drive of Gillis, a soft-spoken, grey-haired man who is actively involved in all aspects of the shows at CFR. Gillis books the gigs, helps the bands set up, photographs the musicians during their sets and helps out with cleaning up afterwards.

“His ability to connect across generational lines, his organizational ability, he’s just a gift to us,” said Rev. Barb Janes, one of the two ministers at CFR.

To her knowledge, no other churches in Winnipeg are hosting these types of events, and it’s Gillis’s work that has really helped transform the space of the church and open its doors to a new group of people.

“I’m fortunate to be starting a sabbatical soon, and the area I’ve chosen to explore is to visit churches which are providing hospitality to arts in some way, shape or form,” Janes said when asked how this surge of arts and music at CFR has perhaps changed her own views of the church.

She is hoping to help continue to expand the way CFR conducts itself and opens its own doors to the arts.

There is no lack of that at CFR, as Gillis summed it up: “On Friday night we have a school-age choir, Saturday a metal show and Sunday there’s baroque.”

It’s just another weekend at CFR.

For questions and booking inquiries, you can e-mail Bill Gillis at [email protected]. The next CFR show is Death Toll Rising, Begrime Exemious, arcticcircle and PornoDeathGrind on Saturday, April 10.

Published in Volume 64, Number 25 of The Uniter (April 1, 2010)