The members of Fraught say they are going to be more progressive in the music they write for their next album.

The album will be the band’s fourth, and with a cover album of Creed songs, a Christmas album and a full-length of original Christian rock songs, its sound has evolved and made progress.

Made up of three men who grew up north of Ames in the small town of Jewell, Fraught has recently stepped into the Ames scene and is trying to move beyond the association with Creed.

“There’s something about Creed that I’ll never stop listening to them,” says Austin Carlson, freshman in engineering.

“But when I hear them on the radio, they make me never want to hear them again.”

To justify the members’ mutual love for Creed, guitarist Beau Hindman calls upon the masses.

“It makes me mad when people say they hate Creed because they sold six million records, so somebody likes them,” he says.

From a Creed album to a Christmas album to a full-length original Christian rock album, a theme of Christianity can be heard. With the former two behind them, Fraught has bigger fish to fry.

“Now at Christian concerts there’s moshpits with groping girls,” Hindman says. “Guys are like, ‘Praise God … and tits.'”

Hindman says it has become too much of a “scene” at Christian rock concerts, where people can be seen passing joints and acting in inappropriate sexual ways.

Drummer and vocalist Carlson says he agrees, and even manages to bring Creed back to the table.

“I think if you’re going to be a Christian band, you need to say that you are and need to live it,” he says.

“I guess what Creed did was OK, but they said they were Christians but didn’t live it at all.”

The members say they weren’t devastated by the popular band’s breakup, however they were affected by the band’s actions that seemed to be out of line with its spirituality.

“There’s a lot of kids like me who hear bands like Creed and look up to them,” Carlson says.

“Then I found out more about them and realized [Creed’s Christian beliefs] didn’t really go beyond their lyrics … so I kind of lost my role models.”

The always-energetic Hindman quickly responds to Carlson’s stated ideals of Christian musicians with a counterpoint.

“But no one is ever as good as what they want to be,” he says.

Acknowledging this point, Carlson shifts his thinking to the reality of being imperfect.

“A lot of the lyrics I write are about how I wish I could be better — not saying that I’m the best,” Carlson says. “It’s a lot easier to write about the struggles of being a Christian than worship songs.”

Throughout the conversation, Hindman makes it clear he is dealing with some prevalent struggles of his own.

Feelings of insecurity and anger toward those closest to him seem to have him in an edgy mood.

“Love in general is kind of dead to me right now,” he says.

“Why don’t you write some songs then, since you’re so emotional?” Carlson asks.

And here the band comes back to where it began — with progression through music.