Behind The Tracks: Pipe Bomb - Concrete (Single) (2024)

At its heart, Concrete is a song about people walking away from a faith that they previously were dedicated to. It’s always a bit disorienting when people make abrupt changes to their lives, like changing their faith or claiming membership to a cause (straight edge, veganism, etc.), but sometimes it’s even more disorienting when they jump ship.

These causes are more than just convictions: they’re ways of life. If someone’s been a vegan for years and then decides they want to start eating meat again, they’re going to leave their vegan friends pretty disappointed. Was it just a phase? Were the connections they made through being vegan even real? It’s strange watching someone be so dedicated to a cause and then giving it up. It shows how fickle people are and how impressionable we are to change.

The same applies to Christianity. I’ve seen so many people fall in and out of religion with ironic certainty. One year, they’re an on-fire evangelical Christian, and the next, they’re a staunch atheist. No matter what phase they’re in, they’re sure that they’re right.

There’s a growing trend of Christian deconstruction, which can take a lot of different forms, but in some cases, it’s actually a really positive thing. Using critical thinking to reevaluate and reform your convictions can lead you to a deeper belief and provide more of a solid foundation. Still, a lot of Christians approach it more as an unraveling. It’s a train that’s already left the tracks, and deconstruction gives them a path toward atheism.

I’ve seen countless friends, internet personalities, and artists fall prey to this movement, but it always happens the same way. At one point in time, they were on fire for the Lord and probably more outspoken about it than many Christians are currently. But, somewhere along the way, their priorities shifted, and politics, pop culture, and the societal status quo all outranked their faith. They slowly replace God with self, and before long, they start thinking they should call the shots. In a way, they become their own god.

When I wrote this song, I pictured someone pouring concrete for the sidewalk and smiling, waiting eagerly to sign their name on it. This is how some new Christians are: so excited and all-in, laying a permanent foundation for the rest of their lives. If you asked them to give up their life right there and then for God, they would. That’s how passionate and sure they are.

But wait a couple of years, then what happens? Piece by piece, the culture of the world seeps in like weeds through the concrete. First, they start excusing sin, then they encourage it, then they embody it. Once you ignore scripture, you go down a path to deconstruct not just your faith but everything in your life. When you become your own god, who’s to say you’re wrong? If everything is relative, then what’s real?

When you start picking and choosing what to believe in your faith, you’re not believing in a religion; you’re making your own. When someone deconverts from something they believed in, that person becomes ideologically (and sometimes physically) unrecognizable from who they were before. They’ve changed more than just their set of moral convictions. But still, once they were as sure and strong as concrete.