Catching up with Stryper

While Motley Crue and Twisted Sister were giving Tipper Gore fits because of their so-called "devil music," Stryper was scoring points with the angels.

Long regarded as pioneers of Christian metal, the band achieved the kind of success in the mid-'80s that planted it on MTV alongside Def Leppard and Van Halen.

Their power ballad "Honestly" -- still a wedding staple -- was as melodically flush as any of their peers' work. And with their yellow-and-black-striped spandex outfits and teased-to-the-heavens hair, Stryper found themselves as role models for a faction of fans who didn't want to compromise their faith for the sake of a few nifty guitar runs.

Flash-forward 25 years and the band -- singer Michael Sweet, his drummer brother Robert, bassist Tim Gaines and guitarist Oz Fox -- is still attracting fans and pounding out favorites "Free" and "Calling On You," while tossing in a few new songs from its current album, "Murder by Pride."

Though Stryper hasn't achieved the retro touring success of Poison or remained on the charts as steadily as Bon Jovi and Def Leppard, it is content doing the club rounds and making the occasional pop-culture splash.

In the Drew Barrymore-directed "Whip It," her paean to the roller derby, the main character played by Ellen Page sports a faded Stryper T-shirt that becomes a pivotal plot pointin the film.

Michael Sweet, calling last week from a tour stop in Indianapolis, said Barrymore contacted the band's management to get permission to use their image.

"I guess Drew is a fan of the band and, growing up, liked us at some point," he said.

Stryper's 25th-anniversary tour, which runs through the end of November in the U.S. and then hits Europe in January, requires a demanding lifestyle change for Sweet and the guys.

"I love writing and recording, but the travel side of it gets really rough. We're in a bus with 12 people," he said. "The turnouts at the shows have been great, all things considered with the economy. But as much as I love [performing], in my old age, I don't like living out of a suitcase and being away from home."

Home for the past 14 years has been Cape Cod, where he lives with his 18-year-old daughter, Ellena, and 22-year-old son, Michael, (whose band, Flight Patterns, is opening for Stryper).

Sweet's personal life underwent a significant adjustment when his wife of 22 years, Kyle, died in March after a two-year battle with cancer.

"It was a rough two years," he acknowledged, "but I started grieving when she was diagnosed. . . . I know where she is. I know she's OK. It helped me to have the attitude of, 'I have to move on here. I have to keep moving.'"

On Monday, Sweet, 46, announced on the band's Web site that he is engaged.

"She is an angel and a godsend and I look forward to a lifetime together," he wrote of his fiancée, Lisa, whom he announced that he was dating this summer in an open letter to fans.

In addition to his duties as the frontman for Stryper, Sweet has handled co-singing duties for Boston since 2008.

After the untimely death of that band's distinctive singer, Brad Delp, Boston needed a touring replacement, and Sweet's high-range vocal ability made him an ideal fit (Tommy DeCarlo, a fan whom Boston discovered singing on MySpace, shares live vocals with Sweet).

"It's surreal the way it worked out. I keep pinching myself, saying, 'Is this real?'"

Sweet said he is still in the band and hopes to participate in a new Boston album and 2010 tour.

But for the moment, Stryper -- along with those trademark yellow and black outfits -- is his priority.

So how did it feel putting on the rock-star outfits again?

"Oh, it's OK because they're modernized," Sweet said with a laugh. "The guy who did our original outfits made them for us, but these are not the outfits of old. That would be really, really uncomfortable."

Contact Melissa Ruggieri at (804) 649-6120 or .